Toddler who died after he was left at NYC hospital was locked in custody battle, sources say — as hunt continues for mom, boyfriend

The couple suspected of leaving a 3-year-old boy to die at a Brooklyn hospital were still nowhere to be found Monday, as sources revealed the boy was the subject of a custody battle when he was about a year old. 

The child’s mother, 24, and her boyfriend, 38, allegedly dropped the unconscious toddler off at University Hospital at Downstate just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday – covered with what initially appeared to be bruises, cops and sources said.

Hospital staff tried to save the boy’s life – but to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the medical center, where the couple abandoned him and made a beeline out the door, the sources said. 

Now, investigators are uncertain whether the child was actually bruised-up, or if he was showing signs of lividity – discoloration that sets in after death when blood pools and settles in the body, sources said. 

He also showed signs of rigor mortis, according to the sources. 

The city medical examiner’s office had not yet made an official ruling Monday morning – with a spokeswoman saying that “we will be investigating but have no additional information to share at this time.”

Sources revealed Monday that the boy’s maternal grandmother, 57, applied for custody of him 2022, claiming that his mother allegedly had a drug problem. 

But the city’s Administration for Children’s Services did not hand over custody to the grandmother, sources said. 

The still-at-large couple was last seen driving a white four-door sedan with a Pennsylvania plate that does not match the vehicle, sources said. 

The plate has not recently turned up on the NYPD’s electronic readers, and investigators could not find the pair at their last-known addresses, according to sources.