The Manhattan mom accused of starving her four-year-old son to death was indicted on murder charges Wednesday — as prosecutors said her three surviving children are slowly recovering.
Nytavia Ragsdale, 26, pleaded not guilty to murder in the second degree at her Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment for allegedly killing tiny Jah’Meik Modlin, who prosecutors say weighed just 19 pounds when he died on Oct. 14.
Ragsdale starved Jah’Meik and his siblings, ages 5, 6 and 7, for two years — and the older kids were so malnourished when authorities found them that they couldn’t feed themselves or handle utensils, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Heather Buchanan said in court.
“Since admission to the hospital, each child has gained more weight in the past two weeks than they did in the past two years,” Buchanan said, noting the surviving kids are still on a liquids-only diet.
Ragsdale, who is charged along with Jah’Meik’s father Laron Modlin, 25, shed a single tear as prosecutors described the heartless couples’ Harlem apartment — where they purposely turned a fridge stuffed with fresh produce against a wall so that their kids weren’t able to open it.
The cruel pair sealed kitchen cabinets containing food with zip ties, except for one that contained cleaning supplies — all while stuffing their their faces “on a regular and daily basis” as they starved their children, prosecutors alleged.
Both Ragsdale and Modlin were also receiving medical care on a routine basis despite their children only last visiting a doctor in August 2022.
Little Jah’Meik slipped into unconsciousness at their apartment off Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard near West 144th Street on Oct. 13, and died the next morning at the hospital due to malnutrition, dehydration and starvation, authorities have said.
Medical staff at Harlem Hospital also found a burn mark on the child’s chest, and added that he suffered from hypothermia, police sources said.
His parents claimed they never denied Jah’Meik or his siblings foods despite the boy weighing only 19 pounds when he died — 80 pounds less than his mother believed, according to a criminal complaint.
None of the kids have ever been vaccinated or attended school, prosecutors have said.
Judge Ann Thompson remanded Ragsdale, who initially faced a manslaughter rap, to Rikers Island after prosecutors had asked for her $100,000 cash bail to be revoked due to the upgraded charges.
“The death of Jah’Meik Modlin, an innocent four-year-old child, is a tragedy that has scarred 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,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
Ragsdale also faces a new assault charge. She faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder in the second degree.
Modlin is set to be arraigned on Nov. 14.