Harlem neighborhood remembers 4-year-old boy prosecutors say was starved to death by parents

NEW YORK– Residents of New York’s Harlem neighborhood remember a four-year-old boy who prosecutors say was starved to death by his parents.

Community members lit candles and released balloons during a Friday evening vigil in front of the apartment complex where prosecutors say Jahmeik Modlin was found so severely malnourished that he weighed just 19 pounds.

There was also a prayer service and wreath-laying ceremony with members of the child’s extended family held on Saturday morning outside the apartment, where a makeshift memorial has grown.

Modlin died Monday morning in a Harlem hospital after being found unresponsive and unresponsive by police last Sunday evening.

The boy’s parents, Nytavia Ragsdale and Laron Modlin, have been arrested and charged in the death.

Ragsdale was charged with negligent homicide later upgraded to second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child.

Bail for Ragsdale, 26, was set at $100,000 during a court appearance this week; Modlin, 25, will be arraigned on similar charges next week.

Spokespeople for the public defender’s office representing the couple did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.

Prosecutors said in court that the boy’s three other siblings, ages 5, 6 and 7, are under the custody of child welfare officials and are being treated at a hospital for malnutrition. They say the young people cannot eat solid food and are fed intravenously.

Prosecutors said the couple stocked the house with food but turned the refrigerator toward the wall and placed locks on cabinets so the children couldn’t open them.

They also said the four children had never attended school and had remained hidden from the public for most of their lives.