A mother whose 9-year-old daughter was found dead in their Bronx apartment was given supervised release Tuesday as she faced a potential homicide charge.
Lynija Eason was waiting to be fitted for an ankle monitor before getting sent back to the home where her young daughter Jalayah was found unconscious early Friday inside the family’s squalid home.
Authorities are awaiting autopsy results before determining if homicide charges are warranted in the case.
In the meantime, Eason has been hit with child endangerment charges for allegedly neglecting and harming her other two children, an 8-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
“The investigation into the cause and manner of the defendant’s 6-year-old child’s death continues,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. “She was given supervised release at arraignment. She will remain in custody until an ankle monitor is installed.”
Court documents described an insect-infested apartment that reeked of rotted food, feces and urine.
Cops who responded to a 911 call observed soiled clothing and linen and open containers of food stacked up into piles and covering the floors of the apartment.
The young boy had “countless small lacerations in various stages of healing on his back, scalp, arms and legs,” according to a criminal complaint.Cops also said he had a laceration to his forehead and a deep healing laceration on his scalp.
The surviving girl had “a long discolored scar to the right side of her waist” and a “widespread discolored rash to her inner thighs and buttocks,” the complaint stated.
“I take care of my kids by myself,” Eason told cops, according to the complaint. “No other adults live in my apartment with me and my kids.”
Neighbors recalled the family’s residence as a house of horrors, with Eason constantly screaming at Jalayah and her siblings.
One neighbor described hearing howls from the apartment before cops found the little girl with bruising and trauma to her chest and neck. Jalayah was pronounced dead shortly after 4 a.m. Friday at Lincoln Hospital.
Jalayah’s siblings were in the apartment at the time. They were unharmed, although police spotted bruises and what appeared to be ligature marks from old injuries on both children, cop sources said.
“Mommy hit me,” the boy told police when asked, although the child said the assault happened in the past.
The Administration for Children’s Services responded to the home for allegations involving the oldest child at least twice, according to a police source with knowledge of the case.