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

NEW YORK — Residents in New York’s Harlem neighborhood are remembering 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 night vigil in front of the apartment building where prosecutors say Jahmeik Modlin was found so severely malnourished that he weighed just 19 pounds.

A prayer service and wreath laying ceremony that included members of the child’s extended family and Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network was also held Saturday outside the apartment, where an impromptu memorial has been growing.

Modlin died Monday morning at a Harlem hospital after being found unconscious and unresponsive by police last Sunday night.

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

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

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

A spokesperson 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 under the custody of child welfare officials and are being treated at a hospital for malnourishment. They say the youths are unable to eat solid foods and are being fed intravenously.

Prosecutors said the couple had stocked the house with food but turned the fridge toward a wall and placed locks on cabinets so the children could not open them.

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