Family, cops seek answers in deaths of woman, unborn child

IN THE WAKE of Sunday morning's shooting in Frankford that left 25-year-old Megan Doto and her unborn daughter dead, a question remained yesterday: Who is the heartless bastard who viciously sprayed gunfire down Griscom Street at noontime, not caring who or what was in its path?

"I can't believe somebody could be so evil," the victim's sister, Stephanie Doto, 27, said yesterday. "Not only did they take my sister away, they took my niece, and I feel bad for her kids. . . . She was a goodhearted person, and we can only hope, my whole family, that we find out who did this to her."

As Doto's family struggled to come to grips with the deaths of Doto and her infant daughter - who was delivered by emergency C-section Sunday after the shooting but died early yesterday morning - police announced a $40,000 reward for tips and implored neighbors to help get the killer off the street.

"This happened on a Sunday in broad daylight," Homicide Capt. James Clark said at a news conference announcing the reward. "We know that there were people that were out there. We need those people to give us a call."

Doto was sitting on a lawn chair near her apartment on Adams Avenue near Griscom Street just before noon Sunday babysitting a neighbor's little girl. Police say a man clothed in black began to fire down Griscom from about a block away, apparently aiming at a white sedan on the street near the young woman.

Investigators are eyeing whether drugs played a role in the gunfire, because the block is a "drug area," Clark said.

Stephanie Doto said she had just seen her sister a week earlier at her daughter's baptism.

"She was happy, she was helping out a lot," the sister said. "I was so busy that day, so she was taking care of my daughter for me."

Megan Doto, who graduated in 2006 from Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, Bucks County, left behind two other children - a 6-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son, her sister said. Those children will be raised by the grandparents and Megan's brother and sister.

If her baby girl had survived, Stephanie Doto said, she would have been named Nicoletta Rose. That's the name Megan had picked out if she had a girl. She was looking forward to having her baby, her sister said.

"She was really excited," Stephanie Doto said. "When I spoke to her last Sunday, she just was saying, 'I can't wait to have the baby.' "

Tipsters should call detectives at 215-686-3334, and may remain anonymous.

Blog: PhillyConfidential.com