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Parents charged with second-degree murder

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the additional charges were warranted because of her “persistent abuse with depraved indifference.”

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A New York couple was charged with murder on Wednesday after prosecutors said they “actively starved” their 4-year-old son and abused their three other children in their Harlem apartment.

Nytavia Ragsdale, 26, and Laron Modlin, 25, were charged with second-degree murder, four counts of first-degree assault, second-degree manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Online inmate records show the couple remained jailed without bail.

The pair were initially charged with second-degree manslaughter last month. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the additional charges were warranted because of her “extreme physical neglect and sustained abuse with depraved indifference.”

Prosecutors accused Ragsdale and Laron Modlin of starving 4-year-old Jah'Meik Modlin and his three older siblings, ages 5, 6 and 7, for about two years while they bought food for themselves every day.

“The death of Jah'Meik Modlin, an innocent four-year-old child, is a tragedy that has marked this city. That he died a slow and painful death, starving alongside his older siblings, somehow isolated in the heart of Harlem, is a stain on our collective conscience,” Bragg said in a statement.

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Jah'Meik Modlin was found lifeless in his Harlem apartment

Prosecutors said Jah'Meik Modlin died in a Harlem hospital after police found him lifeless in his home on Oct. 13. The boy received end-of-life care until he died around 5:50 a.m. Oct. 14, prosecutors said.

At the time of his death, Jah'Meik Modlin weighed about 19 pounds and had “almost no body fat,” prosecutors said. According to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the normal weight for 4-year-old boys is between 30 and 44 pounds.

Prosecutors said Jah'Meik Modlin suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and hunger. Court documents revealed that Ragsdale and Laron Modlin “actively starved” their four children but stocked their refrigerator every day.

According to prosecutors, the refrigerator contained fresh food but was against the wall so it could not be opened, and the cabinets containing food were zipped shut.

Prosecutors said the children lived in unsafe and poor conditions, detailing that a bedroom in the three-bedroom apartment was “covered in feces.” Prosecutors added that the bedroom was the only room in the apartment that had a doorknob and a lock on the outside – which “allowed someone to lock a person in the room.”

“The floor could not be seen due to the amount of dirt and excrement on the floor. The walls were smeared with feces approximately the size of a child,” said the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. “The only other items in the room were a few broken pieces of furniture and a mattress that was lying on its side and covered in feces.”

Jah'Meik Modlin and his siblings were also not enrolled in school and had not seen a doctor in over two years, prosecutors said. Both Ragsdale and Laron Modlin prevented in-person visits from family and friends, limited contact to phone or video chats, and isolated the children while hiding their deteriorating conditions.

When Jah'Meik Modlin and his siblings arrived at the hospital last month, prosecutors said they had “layers of dirt on their skin and feces in their hair.” The three older siblings, who remain in the hospital because of malnutrition, also “demonstrated very limited fine motor skills” and were unable to hold utensils or feed themselves, prosecutors said.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the three siblings have begun to regain motor skills since their hospital stay.

Reports: The New York City Department of Child Welfare was previously notified of neglect

The family had a history with New York's child welfare agency, the Administration for Children's Services, the New York Times previously reported. The agency has been aware of allegations of abuse and domestic violence against the family since 2019, but its most recent case was closed in 2022, according to the Times.

The Times reported that Ragsdale's sister, Nyisha Ragsdale, and Laron Modlin's mother, Laura Jones, are seeking custody of the surviving siblings. Nyisha Ragsdale also announced last month that she plans to sue the city for failing to protect Jah'Meik Modlin, according to The Times and NBC News.

Nyisha Ragsdale filed a $40 million lawsuit on Oct. 24, claiming the child care agency was previously notified of neglect, malnutrition and family abandonment, NBC News reported.

But despite those reports and Nytavia Ragsdale's requests for help, the lawsuit said the agency “failed to remove Jahmeik from the harmful environment, which worsened his condition and resulted in his death.”

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