A woman was charged Saturday with the murder of her nine-year-old stepdaughter in Queens, according to the city police department.

Shamdai Arjun, 55, was charged with murder by strangulation, one day after Ashdeep Kaur's body was found inside a home in Richmond Hill.

Police were called to the home, near 101st Avenue and 112th Street, around 6:03 p.m. Friday.

Sources said a second family living in the apartment became concerned after Ashdeep had been in the bathroom and would not answer the door.

Investigators said Ashdeep was found in a first-floor bathtub.

Police sources said she was lying in a fetal position and had some bruising on her upper body, but they initially said they did not know the cause.

A man, Manjinder Singh, who said he was the victim's cousin, initially identified her and said that there was no water in the tub in which she was found.

He said Ashdeep told him that her stepmother was physically abusive.

Singh: She was telling me that she got beat up, she beat her — you know, her stepmother.

Reporter: Many times?

Singh: She told me twice.

"Three days ago she showed me something on her hand," Singh also said. "Maybe she held her hand hard, you know?

Reporter: It was bruised?

Singh: It was OK, kind of like scratches, little bit scratches on the arms.

For those who live in the neighborhood, that claim is now a painful missed opportunity to help. 

"I don't understand if they knew that why they would keep her there," one neighbor said. "Look what happened."

Singh also said his dad and the landlord were the ones who discovered Ashdeep.

"He came here and as soon as he saw the landlord was here, they broke the door and tried to see her," Singh said.

"When I came down then I saw the ambulance and the fire truck and everything, and I just wondered what happened. And then I heard somebody passed away," one nearby resident said.

Those who know the family said they cannot comprehend what has happened.

"They were kind of peaceful people. It's kind of shocking, I don't know what's going on," one neighbor said.

Police had questioned Arjun most of Saturday at the 102nd Precinct before she was charged.

Earlier Saturday, Ashdeep's father was also at the precinct. Family members were supporting him as he left, as he was still in grief.

"We are saddened by this news and are investigating the circumstances that led to this devastating incident, along with the NYPD," the Administration for Children's Services said in a statement Saturday.