Baby Thrown From 15th Floor To The Pavement Below – A “Fathers” Jealousy – The Story Of Kharel Slade
Before we start today’s video, I would like to give my heartfelt condolences and say a big thank you to Carrie Flowers, the mother of Kharel Slade, who we’ll be discussing today. Today’s story is one that I covered close to two years ago when I first started this channel. I truly want to thank Carrie for her kind words on the original video I did. I let her know that this was a story I definitely wanted to cover again at a later date with more details, which brings us to today. Upon the original video’s release, Miss Flowers received a lot of support from you guys, which I always appreciate, and I hope it’s the same this time around.
Carrie’s story is one very reminiscent of the others that I cover on this channel: a cautionary tale of what happens when a violent relationship goes too far, and how the victims, in a lot of cases, are small children who pay with their lives. As always, I have to warn that today’s story is going to have a lot of details that are very hard to make it through, so before jumping in, viewer discretion is strongly advised.
“To take some baby and throw him out the window like it’s a piece of garbage or something, it’s the most terrible thing anybody could imagine. But the terrible did happen. Three-month-old Kharel Slade didn’t have a chance; his life was tragically cut short. Now a plant sits where the infant lost his life. Police say his father, 30-year-old Derek Slade, is responsible for his death. Now, police say Derek Slade tossed the baby from the 15th-floor window just after an argument with his wife. The boy landed on this patch of grass you see behind me, just outside the courtyard where residents place flowers in his memory.”
By the year 2000, the Co-op City section of the Bronx was no stranger to surprising news headlines. You name it, and it’s definitely happened here: everything from officers getting caught in the line of fire, to women being violated on the streets, to young children experiencing their final horrific moments. But one story in particular would leave the entire neighborhood shaken. When a person who called himself a father would take every last bit of resentment he held for his son’s mother and decided that his son would be the one to pay with his life, committing one of the most heinous crimes that officers ever responded to. It would remain on the minds of the entire neighborhood as they tried to put one of the darkest moments they ever experienced behind them, knowing all too well that it would be close to impossible to forget. On today’s episode of Evil Intentions, this is The Garden: The Story of Kharel Slade.
Landscapers planted a tree in memory of Kharel Slade. The three-month-old’s life was tragically cut short after police say his father tossed him out of a 15th-floor apartment window. Kharel Shamar Slade was born on July 20th of the year 2000 and resided in the Bronx. He was born to his mother, 29-year-old Carrie Flowers, and a man named Derek Slade, 30 years old.
According to reports, Carrie and Derek had a history that began long before they had a child, having known each other for about 20 years already. Since they were young, there was an interest that sparked between the two, and knowing each other for so long as they became older, they would begin dating and eventually end up marrying in 1997. Carrie always wanted a family and saw a future with Slade, even though their relationship had endured a great deal of ups and downs where disputes between the two often escalated. It was said that since the couple’s marriage began in 1997, neighbors, friends, and family all witnessed domestic issues between the couple. Slade was also said to be someone who abused alcohol, often fueling the fights. In the three years that they were married, a total of eight calls were made to 911, and most of them involved domestic disputes that had reached violent levels.
On one occasion in September of 1997, Slade was arrested after having a fight with Carrie, one that turned physical. He would strike her during the fight, and for this, she received a year-long order of protection, one that would expire in September of 1998. The order did very little to stop the violence brought on by Slade, but still, they would remain together, and throughout that time the couple would face more moments like these while they were living together on and off. When he wasn’t at home with Carrie, Slade was said to be living with his father on Hunter Avenue in Co-op City, while Carrie stayed at 140 Debs Place, also in Co-op. In August and October of 1998, the authorities were called to the address for different reasons: one being a fight that the couple had where Carrie’s cell phone was destroyed by Slade, and another where Slade accused Carrie of breaking a mirror in the home. But by the year 2000, things had become much, much worse.
It was in August of 2000 that Carrie would get a second order of protection after calling officers to the home three days back-to-back. One of the times that she called was because Slade punched her, and the other two times were because he left their home with their newborn baby, Kharel, leaving with the child and not telling Carrie where he was going. Carrie, of course, was highly upset at this, one reason being that this isn’t something you do with a young child, especially one that is still being breastfed, which Carrie had in mind. Both of the times that Kharel was taken out of the home by Slade, he was brought back unharmed and perfectly fine. Baby Kharel was described as a happy and healthy baby boy. He was far too young to understand or even know the type of situation that he was born into. Kharel was often called “Puff ‘n Stuff” as a nickname since he was known for his chubby cheeks, legs, and hands—an adorable child who was new to the world and in good health.
Carrie had her reasons to leave, and she understood that how she was being treated wasn’t right at all. But, like many other stories like this, when two people are in that type of relationship, leaving could be much easier said than done. If someone is being mistreated, especially physically harmed, it’s safe to say that they’d want it to end. Everyone has their own story, their own reasons for staying or leaving, even when things are reaching dangerous levels. Carrie knew what type of situation she was in, but still, she wanted to make things work. She always wanted to be a mother; she always wanted to have a family. Slade was someone that she had known since she was young, and she saw a future with him. Now that they had Kharel, she wanted to make the family work despite their history.
According to anyone who knew Carrie and spoke to reporters, Carrie was a doting mother to her baby, always showing him the care and love that a child should expect from a mother. But making the relationship work with his father would prove to be much harder than anyone thought. Family and friends all witnessed Slade’s treatment of Carrie, as mentioned, and they, of course, wanted the best for her and wanted her to be free of harm, to be in a healthy relationship. But it still wasn’t easy to end things.
Carrie had also been experiencing a great deal of grief that was unrelated to her relationship with Slade. She had been grieving the loss of her grandmother; she also had recently lost her father to colon cancer and was still learning to cope with the immense loss. But Carrie would have very little time to grieve, because on October 17th of the year 2000, police were once again called to apartment 15F at 140 Debs Place, Carrie’s apartment. And when authorities arrived, they had no idea that they would soon be witnessing the unthinkable.
It was around 2:30 a.m. that morning when Carrie dialed 911 to let authorities know that Derek had been at the home demanding to see his son, even though she had a new order of protection. At the time in New York City, getting locks changed in an apartment like this often required authorization from management, so Carrie hadn’t had a chance to change her locks, and Slade had a key to the apartment. He let himself into the home, waking Carrie out of her sleep abruptly.
By this point, Carrie was looking to truly move on and not let this relationship consume her or negatively affect the life of baby Kharel. But unfortunately, it was already far too late. They started arguing over whether or not Derek had a right to be in the home visiting his son. Derek, who had primarily stopped by to pick up clothes, said he wasn’t leaving the home without seeing his child, and he wasn’t budging. Attempting to put an end to the arguing, Carrie left Derek in the room with little Kharel, and he lifted the small three-month-old out of his crib, who was also fast asleep. He began to feed him, and the argument just kept getting worse as words of anger and resentment toward Carrie poured out of Slade. She would ask him to leave the apartment several times, but he refused.
Recognizing how bad it was getting, Carrie’s only way of stopping this was to call the cops. While in the room with the child, Derek had opened the window, but Carrie came in and closed it because Kharel was sick, suffering from a cold. She then went into the other room to call authorities to see if they might defuse the situation and get him out of the apartment, because trying to do this herself may have resulted in violence, like many times before this.
When officers arrived at the location, Carrie would show them the order of protection while Derek stood in the back room with baby Kharel, locking himself inside. He would come out of the bedroom a few moments later, and he didn’t have Kharel in his arms like before. He was put in handcuffs for violation of the order and was to be hauled off to jail. But something wasn’t right. Carrie didn’t hear Kharel—no cries, no movements—and Slade was suddenly much calmer than before.
Carrie began to search the bedroom frantically, turning it upside down as she looked for her baby, before one of the officers noticed a wide-open window in the bedroom, the same one that Carrie closed earlier. The rolled-up blanket on the bed showed no signs of a moving baby underneath, leading one of the officers to flat out ask Slade if he threw the baby out of the window, and his reply was, “Yeah, I did.” They were shocked at his cold and blunt answer. They didn’t want to believe him at first. Carrie, horrified at what she was hearing, would begin to scream, “Where’s the baby?” and ran to the window to look out. That’s when she saw little three-month-old Kharel’s broken body lying 150 feet below in the garden in front of the building.
Officers ran down the 15 flights as fast as they could, making their way to where Kharel’s body was. He was on a patch of grass in the garden, lifeless and wearing only his diaper and a t-shirt—a perfectly healthy and happy infant who was alive just a few minutes ago. They would then take a sheet and cover his small body. “My baby, you killed my baby!” Carrie screamed as the awful reality began to set in.
Slade, who knew taking this child’s life would completely destroy Carrie, did exactly that. He figured if he couldn’t hurt her in any other way, this might be how he hurts her the most. Being that she was done with him and his abuse, looking to be happy, he took his own son’s life without a second thought, wrapping him up and tossing him 15 stories to the pavement below, ending his life instantly. And all of this took place while police officers were a few feet away in the next room. The baby would have no chance of survival. When asked why he did it, Slade’s only response was, “I know I shouldn’t have done it, but if I wasn’t going to have my son, no one was.”
As more authorities and EMS arrived, neighbors looked on from their balconies after hearing all the commotion, trying to make sense of it all in complete disbelief at what they’d heard and now what they were seeing. A horrified neighborhood heard the entire thing. They heard the arguing, all the cursing, and a few minutes later, after some silence, the loud thud of something crashing to the ground. They had no idea that what they heard was little Kharel’s body when he was thrown out of the window. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head, and he was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m.
The thought of her child’s last moments would nearly cause Carrie to have a nervous breakdown just moments after. Her cries of grief could be heard throughout the entire building as she screamed about her baby. A neighbor had this to say about what they heard: “I don’t think I’ll ever forget her cries last night. It was a sound that tore through your heart.” Carrie had to be rushed to Jacobi Hospital, where she was sedated and treated for shock and trauma.
“Baby, innocent baby, to throw him out the window like it’s a piece of garbage or something, it’s the most terrible thing anybody could imagine. But the terrible did happen. Three-month-old Kharel Slade didn’t have a chance; his life was tragically cut short. Now a plant sits where the infant lost his life. Police say his father, 30-year-old Derek Slade, is responsible for his death. Slade violated an order of protection Monday night when he entered his estranged wife’s apartment building at 140 Debs Place. Carrie Slade called police from another room, and when she returned, she frantically searched the apartment for her missing son and found the open window.”
“What was your reaction when you first heard?” “Shock, shock. You know, someone would do that, you know, even if he was angry at his wife or whatever, but for the baby, innocent, it’s terrible.”
“Now, police say Derek Slade tossed the baby from the 15th-floor window just after an argument with his wife. The boy landed on this patch of grass you see behind me, just outside the courtyard where residents place flowers in his memory.”
“I heard the arguing, I heard the man, he’s saying profanity, and then after that, so quick.” “Did you know Derek Slade?” “I knew him just a little bit. You know, I’m in that building, he’s in this building. He was a nice guy.”
Billy July is the building superintendent. The father of three was clearly shaken: “I’m sorry, just…” Neighbors claim Slade is an alcoholic who didn’t take care of his family, and now they don’t know how they’ll pay for a funeral service and a decent burial for their three-month-old son. Derek Slade faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted on second-degree murder charges. In Co-op City, The Bronx, Sade Baderinwa, NY1.
When neighbors were asked why they thought this happened, one of the first things people said was that Slade was jealous of the love his son received from Carrie. Jealous of his own child, a child only three months old who only spent a few weeks in his mother’s arms before suffering the unthinkable. Kharel’s life was taken by someone who was supposed to protect him, but instead, he was used as a tool for some sort of twisted revenge. He didn’t care for his child, he never wanted to be a father; he just wanted to do what he had been doing for so long already: hurting Carrie however he could.
The events that took place that day mirror a lot of the other horrific instances in which an order of protection failed to keep a woman and a child safe. Carrie was already dealing with so much loss, and now her innocent child, who never even got to say his first words, was gone, his life taken by someone who was supposed to love him.
Carrie and Slade had a well-known history of violence in their relationship, but she never thought that he would ever do something like this—something so cold and calculated. The morning that he came by and did this to Kharel, the first thing he did was open a window before Carrie closed it, and then she went to call the police. It makes you wonder if he wanted to do this from the very second he entered the room. An order of protection doesn’t protect anyone; it’s not like the crucifix and the vampire. Flashing a piece of paper doesn’t mean these problems just vanish. It’s the opposite; the situation almost always takes a turn for the worst.
A neighbor named Calvin, who was close to Carrie, would help start a fund to help pay for Kharel’s funeral costs. Collections were taken from friends, family, and neighbors. A burial plot was donated by Woodlawn Cemetery on Jerome Ave to help alleviate the cost. This would be Kharel’s final resting place, laid to rest as the youngest to be buried there at the time. Derek Slade was charged with second-degree murder and was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison for the callous slaying of his own son. But for years now, he’s been a free man as if he never did anything. Now he gets to live his life, while his son Kharel couldn’t even take his first steps.
Kharel’s memory lives on through loved ones, especially his mother, who still mourns him today. Over the years, she’s found herself thinking about what Kharel would be doing with his life as a grown man: what he would act like, how he would sound, how it would be to just have him around, alive and well. Thinking about the hopes and dreams she had for her son, thinking of the unwavering love she had for her baby.
Anytime her or neighbors made their way past the front of the building after this happened, they couldn’t help but be reminded of what took place, knowing that this garden—the flower bed where Kharel landed—was where his life came to a brutal and terrifying end, and not even three months after he came into this world. Rest in peace to Kharel Slade, and my deepest condolences go out to his mother Carrie and the rest of Kharel’s loved ones. You aren’t forgotten.
It happened around 2 a.m. Officers responded to a domestic dispute call at apartment 15F, the home of 29-year-old Carrie Flowers Slade. Friends and relatives are now preparing for funeral arrangements in Co-op City.
