Search for Baby in NJ River Scaled Back

State Police have halted a widespread search for a 3-month-old girl believed to have been thrown off a bridge into a New Jersey river by her father.

State Police Sgt. Julian Castellanos said Friday evening that marine police and state police units will continue looking during their regular patrols, placing emphasis on areas where the child may be.

Police say 21-year-old Shamsid-Din Abdur-Raheem, of Galloway, told them he threw his daughter, Zara Malani-lin Abdur, off the Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway on Tuesday.

Abdur-Raheem has pleaded not guilty to charges including the attempted murder of the child's maternal grandmother whom police say he assaulted during the alleged abduction.

The child's mother had sought a restraining order against him.