NYC Mother Charged After Police Discover 4-Year-Old’s Body Burned And Malnourished

OAN Staff Avril Elfie
6:20pm – Monday, October 14, 2024

The mother of a 4-year-old boy found dead inside a New York City Harlem apartment has been charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.

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On Sunday, officers arrived at the scene on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard just before 7:45 p.m. and found 4-year-old Jermeik Modlin unconscious and unresponsive.

Police said the suspect's mother and suspect is Nitavia Ragsdale, 26. Her photo has not yet been released to the press.

Medical staff at the hospital also said they found the boy had burn marks on his chest and was severely malnourished and suffering from hypothermia.

Modlin died at a hospital early Monday morning.

“My God, what kind of chaos is going on?” one resident said. “It's hard. It's heartbreaking.”

Neighbors said they didn't even know Ragsdale had a son, leading officers to wonder if the mother had not let him out of the apartment for some reason.

“One of the biggest things that broke my heart this morning was that no one knew that this woman had children,” said Iesha Sekou, a community activist. “This woman has a child. If you have a 4-year-old, everyone knows about the child because the child usually plays outside and is naughty. I don’t know about her kids and I didn’t even know she had kids?”

Ragsdale had been the subject of a previous malnutrition investigation by the Department of Child Welfare, but the agency was unable to provide evidence to support the allegations.