{"id":375747,"date":"2026-10-17T19:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T19:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375747\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T19:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T19:10:11","slug":"what-we-know-about-mental-illness-and-the-accused-queens-mom-who-killed-her-5-year-old-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375747\/","title":{"rendered":"What we know about mental illness and the accused Queens mom who killed her 5-year-old daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday afternoon, an emotionally disturbed Francis Cabello\u00a0grabbed her 5-year-old daughter Fabiana as she innocently played with her toys, took her to an upstairs room of their 110th St. home, closed the door, and asphyxiated her, leaving her wide-eyed child\u2019s cherubic face scratched, with blood coming out of the tot\u2019s nose and mouth.<\/p>\n

Forty-five minutes later, the 32-year-old mom \u2014 who neighbors described as a doting parent, although they had grown concerned for her well-being of late \u2014 emerged from the room and called 911, chillingly telling a dispatcher, \u201cI killed my daughter<\/a>,\u201d police<\/a> and prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI killed my daughter,\u201d she said repeatedly as cops were called to the scene and found the little girl unconscious, lying face-up on a mattress, covered in vomit.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the gaunt, hollow-cheeked Cabello was arrested for murder. Her struggles with mental illness, which led to a long hospitalization and visits to her home by the NYPD, led to the cold-blooded killing that rattled the entire neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a heartbreaking story,\u201d said neighbor Luis Salomon Perez, 60, whose grandchildren often played with Fabiana \u201cIt really hurt those neighbors who knew her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know about Francis Cabello, and how her mental illness led to this heartbreaking tragedy.<\/p>\n

Francis had been struggling with mental illness<\/p>\n

When cops showed up at Cabello\u2019s home on Wednesday, they quickly realized they had been there before.<\/p>\n

Police sources said Cabello has a history of mental health problems recorded by the NYPD, who have responded to the home at least once.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, police were called to the family\u2019s home and Cabello was taken to a hospital for observation, a police source with knowledge of the case said.<\/p>\n

She was not violent during that prior incident, which did not involve the daughter, the source said.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD detectives investigate the day after the death of a 5-year-old girl (inset) inside a 110th St. home near 95th Ave. in Richmond Hill, Queens, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News; Courtesy of Kuldeep Singh)<\/p>\n

She had been hospitalized before<\/p>\n

Her father, Franklin Cabello, admitted that Francis had spent several months in Jamaica Hospital\u2019s psychiatric unit earlier this year<\/a>, prompting him to keep an eye on her, he told Spectrum News NY1.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if Cabello\u2019s months-long hospitalization was connected to the NYPD\u2019s visit to her home.<\/p>\n

His granddaughter Fabiana, he said, \u201cWas very intelligent, very important to the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter, she loved her 100%,\u201d he said about Fabiana. \u201cI can\u2019t believe this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FranklinFranklin Cabello, the father of Francis Cabello and grandfather of Fabiana Cabello, is pictured outside Queens Criminal Court (main) on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, and inset with Fabiana in an undated photo. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News; Courtesy of Franklin Cabello)<\/p>\n

Francis seemed fine \u2014 at first<\/p>\n

To those who knew and loved her, Francis appeared fine and never raised any red flags.<\/p>\n

Francis\u2019 ex-boyfriend and Fabiana\u2019s father, Kuldeep Singh described his ex was a loving mom he never would have suspected to be involved in the girl\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never see anything in her actions to cause concern,\u201d Singh said. \u201cShe cared for her so much. When I took my daughter, she called me many times to check on her, like, \u2018Everything OK? Any problems?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KuldeepKuldeep Singh and his daughter, “Fabi,” are pictured in an undated photo. The girl was found dead inside a 110th St. home near 95th Ave. in Richmond Hill, Queens, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (Courtesy of Kuldeep Singh)<\/p>\n

Neighbors started growing concerned<\/p>\n

About six months ago, Perez said he noticed a change in Francis\u2019 behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe used to come around to take her daughter to school \u2014 and then, from one moment to another, she stopped coming out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a good mother, but she was suffering from depression. I even spoke to her sister about it, how she was acting depressed, hardly ever leaving the house, not even taking the child to school or out to play anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis may have gone off her medication<\/p>\n

Family members believe Francis may have gone off her prescribed medication, causing her to become more erratic.<\/p>\n

She told her father that her doctor said she could stop taking her medications, but the dad didn\u2019t believe her and felt she was acting strange, NY 1 reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that (she) had mental problems,\u201d Franklin Carabello said. \u201cShe takes medication, and she left the medication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not clear if the city stepped in to help<\/p>\n

Besides the visit by police earlier this year, it wasn\u2019t immediately clear if any other city agencies had offered to help Francis with her struggles.<\/p>\n

When reached Friday, the city\u2019s Administration for Children\u2019s Services refused to say if they stepped in on Fabiana\u2019s behalf or had any prior contact with the family, claiming that state law bars them from releasing such confidential information.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur top priority is the safety and well-being of New York City children,\u201d an ACS spokesperson said. \u201cWe are investigating this tragedy with the NYPD.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Francis had received help and had a large support system, New York City has struggled with the care and treatment of the mentally ill for years. The shutdown of large-scale psychiatric institutions left a void in the system, as the community-based care network that was supposed to fill the gap is widely seen as inadequate and underfunded.<\/p>\n

\"FrancisFrancis Cabello is pictured during her arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. Cabello is accused of killing her daughter, Fabiana Cabello, in their 110th St. home near 95th Ave. in Richmond Hill. (Stephen Yang \/ Pool)<\/p>\n

The long road ahead<\/p>\n

After being charged with murder, Francis, dressed in a white Tyvek suit and appearing confused at court, said nothing as she was ordered held without bail for her daughter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Her defense attorney asked that she be put on suicide watch and undergo a new psychological evaluation in preparation for her next court hearing.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Franklin Cabello said her daughter would be OK again if she went back on her medication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith more medication, my daughter will get better,\u201d Cabello\u2019s father said as he fought back tears. \u201cI\u2019m hoping the judge takes into consideration her mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

But nothing would bring Fabiana back.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe might be facing a long time,\u201d he said after watching the brief arraignment proceeding. \u201cMy family is crushed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday afternoon, an emotionally disturbed Francis Cabello\u00a0grabbed her 5-year-old daughter Fabiana as she innocently played with her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":["post-375747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}