Aunt Pleads Guilty in Murder of 3-Year-Old Nephew Pushed off Pier Into Lake Michigan

A woman pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her 3-year-old nephew’s death after prosecutors said she killed the boy by shoving him off Chicago’s Navy Pier and into Lake Michigan.

Victoria Moreno, 38, allegedly watched Josiah Bell Brown sink after pushing him into the lake on September 19, 2022, the Chicago-Sun Times reported. The boy, who was rescued by divers nearly 30 minutes later, spent six days in critical condition at a hospital, where he died.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office conducted an autopsy on the boy, which determined he died as a result of complications from drowning. His death was ruled a homicide.

Following Moreno’s guilty plea on Wednesday, September 16, a Cook County judge sentenced her to 40 years in prison and found that she was mentally ill at the time of Josiah’s death, according to court records viewed by the newspaper.

Four years ago, Navy Pier surveillance cameras captured Moreno pushing her nephew into the waters of Lake Michigan, prosecutors said, per NBC 5 Chicago.

Before the incident, Moreno was reportedly staying at her family’s home and left the residence with Josiah.

She allegedly stole the keys to a relative’s truck and “snuck out of the residence without anyone knowing that she had left,” despite not being allowed to drive due to medication for “mental health issues,” as well as a prior incident with Josiah and other children at Navy Pier, prosecutors previously said, per the Chicago Sun-Times.

The surveillance footage from Navy Pier that day showed Moreno letting her nephew crawl under a fence near the water before she pushed him into Lake Michigan, according to NBC 5 Chicago.

Other people tried to help Josiah, but Moreno reportedly didn’t.

“She really was not active in any of the rescue help,” one witness, Ashton King, told the TV station. “Essentially as soon as we got there, she kind of backed away.”

Another witness, who asked to remain anonymous while speaking with the TV station, said that when a Chicago police officer questioned Moreno about what happened, she shrugged.

Moreno’s defense attorney said she had been diagnosed with multiple mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. She also was said to have taken mental health related medication for years.

The attorney also reportedly had argued Moreno didn’t push the boy into the lake on purpose.

Moreno’s sentencing comes after the court ruled this month that she was fit to stand trial in her nephew’s death, following multiple psych exams, per ABC7 Chicago.

Josiah’s grandfather, Dan Brown, told the TV station the boy was “just a bundle of joy” who was “full of energy, wants to do everything” and that he loved his father.