Author Paul Auster's son charged with murder for lethal overdose of 10-month-old daughter

The alleged victim, 10-month old Ruby Auster, was found unconscious Nov. 1 at a home on Bergen Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, when the paramedics responded to a 911 call from that residence.

It is not yet clear how Ruby ingested the drugs, police said Saturday.

She was taken to Methodist Hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said. The medical examiner's office later determined that she died from "acute intoxication" from drugs.

“Auster was charged with involuntary manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after consultation with the district attorney's office,” police said. Information about Auster's attorney was not immediately available

Outside the Bergen Street townhouse Saturday, two neighbors said Auster and his partner were friendly as they strolled with their baby. But one fall day, a jumble of baby items – clothes, books and toys – appeared on the sidewalk and neighbors learned that the baby had died.

The medical examiner's office declined to comment on how the baby was exposed to drugs, citing the ongoing investigation.

In 1996, Daniel Auster played a minor role in a notorious murder case in the New York nightlife world, in which club promoter Michael Alig and an accomplice killed and dismembered a drug dealer, Andrew Melendez, also known as Angel, and dumped his body in the Hudson River.

Mr. Auster pleaded guilty in 1998 to possessing $3,000 that had been stolen from Mr. Melendez and was sentenced to probation. He was not implicated in the murder.

A police spokesman confirmed that the Daniel Auster charged in Ruby Auster's death had been arrested in 1998 on charges of possession of stolen property and that the charges were related to a murder charge against Mr. Alig.