Vigil held for 4-year-old boy who prosecutors say was starved to death by his parents

NEW YORK (AP) — Residents of New York’s Harlem neighborhood are remembering a 4-year-old boy who prosecutors say was starved to death by his parents.

Community members lit candles and released balloons during a Friday night vigil in front of the apartment building where prosecutors say Jameic Maudlin was found so emaciated he weighed just 19 pounds.

A prayer service and wreath-laying ceremony, attended by members of the child’s extended family as well as the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, also took place Saturday outside the apartment where a makeshift memorial is growing.

Maudlin died Monday morning at a Harlem hospital after police found him unresponsive and unresponsive last Sunday night.

The boy’s parents, Nitavia Ragsdale and Laron Modlin, were arrested and charged with murder.

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

Ragsdale, 26, was set at $100,000 bail at a court hearing this week; Modlin, 25, is scheduled to appear in court next week on similar charges.

A spokesman for the public defender’s office representing the couple declined to comment Saturday.

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

Prosecutors said the couple stocked the house with food but turned the refrigerator toward the wall and installed locks on cabinets to prevent children from opening them.

They also stated that the four children never attended school and were hidden from the public for most of their lives.

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