A distressed mother strapped her baby boy to her chest and threw herself eight storeys out of an apartment window to her death - but the child miraculously survived.
Lawyer Cynthia Wachenheim, 45, fell into the street in Manhattan, New York, with her son, Keston, in her arms.
A police officer took the boy, believed to be 10 months old, to hospital where he is said to be in a stable condition.
The mum was clutching her son to her chest when her back hit the pavement. When she hit the ground, the baby bounced out of her arms and started crying.
Witnesses to the tragedy described the traumatic scenes to local reporters.
Neighbour Steven Dominguez, 18, said: "I heard a small scream when she was in the air, and then I heard a nasty bang," he told DNAInfo.com.
"It sounded like a big piece of wood hitting the ground."
When he approached the mother on the ground, he saw the baby crying on the sidewalk. He said his mother went to pick up the baby but an emergency response person told her to stand back.
Another neighbour said the woman – known as Cindy - was heard arguing with her husband at the upscale The Sutton co-op in Manhattan at around 1pm.
The man was seen on CCTV leaving the building after the argument. Then about two hours later, witnesses saw Cindy leaping from her eighth-storey apartment window with her son in her arms. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neighbours said baby Keston is the couple's only child together and Cindy was thought to have been suffering from severe Post Natal Depression.
The 44-year-old is said to have left a rambling, incoherent 13-page suicide note in which she referred to her failings as a mother.
Sources told the New York Daily News: "The note said she was not happy and she talked about what she planned to do."
In the note, Cindy says to her husband: "I love you. I'm making you suffer. You're going to think I'm evil."
The source said: "She thinks she's a failing mother. On the last page, she refers to postpartum depression. She was supposed to see a therapist, but she blew him off.
"As the note goes on, you get the idea she's explaining why she's going to do it," the source added.
The note also referred to a handicap that Keston was suffering from and said she was worried about how he was developing.
It is unclear if the baby had any mental or physical problems. Police say the child is being treated at Harlem Hospital Center and is expected to survive.
More on Parentdish: Please, let's take post natal depression seriously