The son of famed Brooklyn writer Paul Auster was charged in November in the death of his 10-month-old daughter, authorities said after a toxicology report found the infant overdosed on heroin and fentanyl.
Daniel Auster, 44, was charged Sunday with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering a child’s welfare. Prosecutors said he was caring for his 10-month-old child, Ruby Auster, when she was found unconscious and unresponsive at her Park Slope home on November 1.
Rescue workers took the child to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead the same day. An autopsy later revealed the cause of death to be acute heroin and fentanyl poisoning, police said.
Auster, a 44-year-old Park Slope resident, admitted to injecting heroin on Nov. 1, according to a criminal complaint. He said he took a nap with his daughter, put her on the bed next to him and woke to find her lifeless and blue.
He then administered Narcan, a treatment to reverse an overdose if she was exposed to narcotics, prosecutors said.
After his appearance in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Sunday, Auster’s bail was set at $100,000 in cash and $250,000 on bail. He didn’t immediately post bail. An attorney for Auster did not respond to requests for comment.
His father, Paul Auster, is the award-winning author of The New York Trilogy, Sunset Park, and other novels. The narrator of his 2004 novel Oracle Night, widely credited as a stand-in for the author, has a son who struggles with drug addiction. His mother, Lydia Davis, is also an acclaimed short story writer.
In 1998, when he was 20, Daniel Auster pleaded guilty to stealing $3,000 worth of property. The cash belonged to Andrew Melendez, a drug dealer who was killed by Michael Alig and Robert Riggs in the infamous “Club Kid” murder. According to reports at the time, Auster was not involved in the crime.
The 10-month-old’s death comes amid a surge in overdose incidents across the country, a trend largely driven by the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
More than 1,200 people died from overdoses in New York City in the first half of last year, a 78% increase from pre-pandemic levels and an increase from 2020, when the city had a record number of fatal overdoses, according to newly released data.