The father of a 4-year-old boy found dead in a Harlem home on Sunday has joined his child’s mother behind bars, authorities said.
Twenty-five-year-old Laron Modlin was charged Tuesday with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child in the shocking demise of little Jahmeik Modlin one day after the boy’s mother, 26-year-old Nytavia Ragsdale, was booked for the same crime.
Police sources alleged that Modlin dialed 911 at around 8:42 p.m. on Oct. 13, informing authorities that his son was unconscious inside the sixth-floor apartment before disappearing.
When officers from the 32nd Precinct arrived, they found the young boy unconscious and unresponsive. Police said he was also visibly emaciated and suffering from severe eczema.
Police immediately took Ragsdale into custody for questioning while the child was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he later died. The tot’s body was transferred to the Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy to determine the official cause of death. Sources familiar with the incident believe Jahmeik succumbed to malnutrition.
Neighbors told amNewYork Metro they were left stunned about the tragic incident after Ragsdale was taken into custody, most notably because they say they were not even aware the couple had children, reporting that they were never seen with kids.
“I was watching last night when they brought the baby out,” Erica Speed recalled. “I couldn’t believe that he was a four-year-old. I thought it was a little baby, that’s how small he was. He looked malnourished.”
At around noon Monday, the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit entered the location, heavily armored and carrying shields, but they left without anyone in custody. Sources now say they had been searching for Modlin, who reportedly had attempted to evade police before they caught up with him on Tuesday.
The couple are believed to have at least three other children who were initially reported missing but were later said to be with another family member. The three other children, ages 5 through 7, were so malnourished that they require intravenous feeding, according to court documents. None of the children have also attended school.
Additional charges against Laron Modliln and Ragsdale are pending the results of the ongoing investigation.
