The mother of Jahmeik Modlin, a malnourished 4-year-old boy who weighed just 19 pounds when he died last week in their Harlem apartment, was pointing the finger at city agencies she said ignored her cries for help.
Through relatives and a family adviser, Nytavia Ragsdale, 26, said she had reached out to social workers from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, and no one helped her, Jahmeik or her three emaciated young daughters.
“No one answered her cry for help,” said the Rev. Kevin McCall, who said he spoke with Ragsdale at Rikers Island, where the mother is being held without bail on manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child charges.
“They did not do their due diligence to help Nytavia,” said McCall, who was joined by Ragsdale’s relatives at a Monday press conference outside the ACS building on Bedford Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Family members said they saw the children during FaceTime calls, but the phone only showed them from the chest up.
“We are still coming to terms with this,” Ragsdale’s sister, Dianna Kerlegrand, said. “The family was not aware of the circumstances within the household. We stand firm behind Nytavia Ragsdale, and we are committed to seeking justice for her, Jahmeik and his siblings.”
The boy’s father, Laron Modlin, has also been arrested and faces similar charges.
A lawyer for Modlin and a representative for ACS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
ACS had visited the home before to investigate concerns about malnutrition, but investigators did not substantiate the allegation, a law enforcement source said.
The child’s death sparked a preliminary review by the city’s Department of Investigation of ACS’ handling of the child’s case, which may lead to a full probe, a spokesperson told the Daily News.
Ragsdale’s family said she was struggling with mental health issues. A lawyer for Modlin said he suffers from mental health issues, too
Police were called Oct. 13 to the family’s apartment on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. near W. 145th St.
A 4-year-old boy was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital after he was found unconscious and unresponsive inside apartment on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. in Manhattan on Sunday Oct. 13, 2024. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
When officers arrived Ragsdale was already outside with her son and told officers he was unconscious.
Medics rushed the boy to Harlem Hospital, where he died.
Prosecutors said the apartment where the boy fell unconscious as his rail-thin siblings, ages 5, 6, and 7, looked on, was stocked with food — but the cabinets were secured with child locks and the refrigerator was turned toward a wall so doors could not easily be opened.
The other children were hospitalized and hooked up to IVs because they were unable to eat solid food.
The boy had been starved for years and was so desperate for food that he ate his own vomit, prosecutors said.
Malnutrition wasn’t the only form of abuse and neglect, authorities said. A back bedroom in the apartment was covered in human feces, and prosecutors said Jahmeik had feces matted throughout his hair.