Abused Child Dies; Foster Mother Questioned

JAMES BENNET

A 6-year-old girl, severely beaten and sexually abused, died yesterday and her 4-year-old sister, who had also been abused, was taken to a Bronx hospital in critical condition, the police said.

The girls' foster mother, Mary Ann Ayala, and four other people who were in the apartment were being questioned last night in connection with the case, said Sgt. Tina Mohrmann, a police spokeswoman.

Neighbors in Ms. Ayala's building, at 2995 Botanical Square in the Bedford Park section, said they believed that the children, Millicent, 6, and Stephanie, 4, were the daughters of Ms. Ayala's brother and had been taken from their mother.

Neighbors said Ms. Ayala also has two children of her own, Benjamin, 17, and Flora, whose age was unknown. Anonymous Caller

An anonymous caller reporting a child not breathing directed police officers to Ms. Ayala's apartment yesterday about 2 P.M., Sergeant Mohrmann said.

When officers arrived at 2995 Botanical Square in the Bedford Park section, they were told by people gathered on the sidewalk that Millicent had already been taken to the hospital, said Sergeant Mohrmann. The girl was dead on arrival at Montefiore Hospital, she said.

As the officers drove to the hospital, a dispatcher informed them of another anonymous call saying that a second child was injured at the same address. "Baby not moving, baby not breathing," was the message that the 911 operator had recorded, said Sergeant Mohrmann.

When they returned, the officers found Stephanie, whose heart had stopped and who had been badly beaten, the police said. Robert Leonard, a spokesman for the Emergency Medical Services, said that paramedics took the girl to North Central Bronx Hospital, where she was reported in the intensive care unit in critical but stable condition last night. Like her sister, she had been sexually abused and beaten, Sergeant Mohrmann said. 'Her Lips Were Purple'

A neighbor, Vivian Torres, said she heard some commotion early in the afternoon and went to the Ayala apartment across the courtyard. When she got there, she said, she saw Ms. Ayala giving Millicent mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a sofa. "Mary Ann was hysterical," Ms. Torres said. "Millicent was covered with a blanket. Her lips were purple. Her mouth was foaming. I touched her and she was cold."

She said Ms. Ayala screamed in Spanish, "I was just giving them a bath."

She and other neighbors said Ms. Ayala carried Millicent as she ran to the street and screamed for a cab. When it arrived, she yelled to the driver to take them to the nearest hospital.

A man who lives across the courtyard from the Ayalas said the mother called his wife about 2 P.M. to say that Millicent was not breathing, and that she was sending Stephanie and Flora over to his apartment.

Stephanie was pale and cold when she arrived, the man said, and he called an ambulance. When it arrived, the two went downstairs, he said.

Several of the neighbors said they believed the children had been abused. One neighbor said her brother had called the Child Welfare Administration, but "they never did anything."

Another longtime resident of the building, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "They don't get too close, as far as being neighborly. But she was always nice. I think she even took care of other children, baby-sat."