Parents of Harlem Boy Who Starved to Death Are Charged With Murder

The parents of Jahmeik Modlin, 4, were initially charged with manslaughter. They are accused of locking away food from their children and showing “depraved indifference” for their son’s life.

The parents of Jahmeik Modlin, a 4-year-old boy who starved to death at his Harlem apartment last month, have been indicted on charges of second-degree murder, prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

The couple, Nytavia Ragsdale, 26, and Laron Modlin, 25, were initially charged last month with second-degree manslaughter. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg Jr., said the additional, higher charge was warranted because Jahmeik’s parents had caused his death “through extreme physical neglect and persistent abuse with depraved indifference for his life.”

Jahmeik weighed only 19 pounds when paramedics found him dying at home on Oct. 13. His three older siblings — ages 5, 6 and 7 — were also severely malnourished and remain hospitalized, prosecutors said.

The couple “actively starved” the children for about two years but bought food for themselves every day, prosecutors said in a statement. The apartment’s refrigerator, with fresh produce inside, was kept turned to the wall, and cupboards with food were secured with zip ties, prosecutors said. Jahmeik and his siblings were never enrolled in school and had not seen a doctor in over two years, and their parents kept family members and friends from visiting in person, prosecutors added.

The family had an extensive history with the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, but its last case was closed in 2022.

In a statement, Mr. Bragg said that Jahmeik had “died a slow and painful death, starving alongside his older siblings, somehow isolated in the heart of Harlem” and called the death “a stain on our collective conscience.” Prosecutors said the boy’s weight was “less than zero percent on the growth chart for children his age.”