Bite Marks Found on Baby Allegedly Killed by Father

A Queens man was arraigned yesterday for murder after allegedly shaking his baby, biting her, and then leaving her to die while he fled to Philadelphia.

The Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, said Peter O'Keeffe, 35, an accountant for a Manhattan printing firm, was left alone with his 13-month-old baby when his wife went shopping on Saturday.

Prosecutors said Mr. O'Keeffe took the baby, Jessica O'Keeffe, out of her playpen when she began crying. When the baby wouldn't stop, he allegedly shook her and then threw her onto the floor. Afterward, prosecutors said he turned over the baby's body and then ran away when he saw that she was bleeding because he believed she had already died. Bite marks were found on the baby's right arm.

When his wife returned in the evening, she found the baby lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding, and Mr. O'Keeffe gone, according to prosecutors.

The baby died shortly afterward at the hospital.

Mr. O'Keeffe took out cash at an ATM and then went to Philadelphia, according to prosecutors, who said police found him on Sunday when he returned to his mother's house in Brooklyn.

His attorney could not be reached immediately for comment yesterday evening.

A judge ordered that Mr. O'Keeffe be held without bail yesterday and put on suicide watch. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

A spokeswoman for the Administration for Children's Services said the agency was investigating the case, and would not comment about whether caseworkers had prior contact with the family.