A mom in New York has been found dead in her jail cell. Manuela Morgado killed her 4-year-old son in 2012 and tried to take her own life after a pretty intense custody battle with her ex-partner. Many believe she killed her son to end the custody fights, which seemed to mainly revolve on where the boy would attend kindergarten. Two years after the boy’s death, she was sentenced to prison, where she has been ever since. Although New York State officials have confirmed her death, they are keeping many of the details under wraps. We may never know exactly what happened.
There aren’t many details yet about her death.
Morgado’s death was confirmed by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision database.
She was found dead in her cell at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility around 2 a.m. on March 4, 2026, People reported, citing the Journal News. Currently her death is under investigation.
According to the magazine, Morgado smothered her son, Jason “Jake” Reish, with a pillow after giving him Benadryl. She then attempted suicide by overdosing on Xanax. She left a suicide note.
When she was interviewed by police, she said she wanted Jake’s death to be “quick and peaceful so we could be happy together forever.”
She’d already been in jail for 12 years.
On December 5, 2014, it was announced that Morgado was sentenced to 20 years to life for second-degree murder.
“This defendant methodically planned and carried out the murder of her four-year-old child, a child whose life was taken well before his time by the very person whose job it was to protect him. She will now spend the next 20 years in prison, and will have to live with her conscience for the rest of her life,” then-District Attorney Janet DiFiore shared in a statement at the time.
Around 10:45 a.m. October 2, 2012, Mamaroneck Village police were dispatched to Morgado’s home, where they found her semi-conscious. Her 4-year-old son was unresponsive next to her.
He was declared dead at the scene, and she was taken to Sound Shore Medical Center.
Manuela Morgado had been fighting her son’s father in court for some time.
Morgado shared her son with Timothy Reish, a sports medicine doctor who worked with both the New York Knicks and New York Yankees, according to the New York Post at the time.
When Reish arrived at the home, he allegedly yelled “Where is he? Where is his mother?”
The former couple shared joint custody of the boy and were fighting about where he was going to go to school. He had been attending preschool near Reish’s home, but after being evaluated for special needs, Morgado had asked that he attend a school recommended by specialists, her custody lawyer, Dennis Light, told the Post at the time.
“I don’t think anybody ever saw this coming,” Light said, adding that she had recently dealt with a difficult day in court.
“Looking back now, she seemed a little detached. At the time, she just seemed cold. I believe she took it as yet another defeat,” he said, per the Post. “It’s surreal; I’m in shock and disbelief.”
