Paul Auster's son was arrested for the overdose death of his 10-month-old daughter

The son of successful writer Paul Auster, Daniel Auster, was arrested by the NYPD on charges of manslaughter after the overdose death of his ten-month-old daughter, official sources reported Saturday.

According to law enforcement, Daniel Auster, 44, was taking care of his daughter Ruby on Nov. 1 when he called police at her Brooklyn County residence, local media said.

The emergency services who came to her home found the girl unconscious and transferred her to Methodist Hospital, where her death was confirmed.

Now, the autopsy reveals that the minor overdosed on fentanyl and heroin, but how she ingested the drugs is unknown.

Daniel Auster, who has a criminal record related to drugs, was arrested last Friday night and charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Two of Daniel's neighbors told The New York Post that after the baby died, he had taken several of the baby's belongings and items out onto the street for anyone to take. “Everything, the baby clothes, the books, the toys... it was heartbreaking,” said one of the residents who wouldn't say his name.

As a teenager, Auster frequented clubs in New York City and was involved with drugs, according to The New Yorker. At the age of 18, in 1996, when he was 18, Daniel witnessed the murder of the drug dealer named Andre 'Angel' Melendez by Club Kid Killer Michael Alig, who was a nightclub promoter.

Then, Daniel received $3,000 of Melendez's money in exchange for his silence. He later pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property and received five years of probation.

He was arrested on other occasions, including several times for drug possession in 2008 and 2010. In 2009 he was charged with petty theft and possession of stolen property.

Auster is currently awaiting arrests for the arraignment in the Brooklyn Criminal Court. His Instagram account is full of photos of his daughter and mother, and in many of the images he is seen posing with his little girl, or hugging her.

Paul Auster is a well-known novelist who has written works such as “A Man in the Dark”, “The Book of Illusions”, “The New York Trilogy” or “Leviathan”, and has received numerous awards, including the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 2006.

Daniel's mother, Paul Auster's first wife, is fellow writer Lydia Davis.

According to an article in The Daily Mail, Daniel and his father did not seem to have contact at present, even though the writer has included Daniel in his work.

In his 2004 novel entitled “Oracle Night”, the narrator is a writer named Trause whose son is a drug addict who terrorizes his stepmother.

During an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian in 2006, Paul Auster's second wife, Siri Hustvedt, who is also a writer, refused to talk about her stepson. “Yes. You know, I'm not going to talk about any of that, no. No,” she said clearly excitedly.

People linked to the case claimed that the family was dealing with Daniel's troubled past and uncertain present by writing about him in their own fictions.

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