Bronx mom of dead 6-year-old Jalayah Eason charged with endangering surviving children: police source
The mother of a bruised 6-year-old girl found mortally injured in their Bronx apartment was hit with child endangerment charges Saturday for abusing her surviving children, a high-ranking police source told the Daily News.
Lynija Eason was brought in by police for questioning after her daughter Jalayah was found unconscious early Friday inside the family’s squalid home.
After being questioned by detectives for hours, Eason asked for an attorney, the police source said.
As they await the results of Jalayah’s autopsy — which will help determine if homicide charges are warranted in the case — detectives charged Eason with child endangerment for neglecting and harming her other two children, an 8-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
No further charges are expected until Jalayah’s autopsy is completed. “We have to wait until the medical examiner does a determination,” the source explained. “It jeopardizes the entire case if we aren’t prudent.”
Eason remained in police custody on Saturday night pending her arraignment, expected to take place in Bronx Criminal Court.
Neighbors recalled the family’s residence as a house of horrors, with Eason constantly screaming at Jalayah and her siblings.
One neighbor recalled 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. 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 admitted that the assault happened in the past.
One neighbor said she was hardly surprised by the news, recalling how her sister — who lived right below Eason’s apartment — often expressed her fears of something bad happening one floor above.
“I was crying when the detectives told me,” said neighbor Michelle Abreu.
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.
Eason, 26, told authorities she called 911 when she couldn’t wake the child up, with a failed attempt at CPR following before authorities arrived. She was the only adult in the apartment when police reached the home.
“I’m in shock,” said a longtime friend of the mother who last saw Eason five years ago, when she dropped off a dog to live with the woman and her children.
“She told me she was working,” the friend recalled by phone Saturday. “She was happy to have her apartment. I would have never thought [this could happen] ... This is shocking to me.”
The friend recalled seeing Jalayah when the child was still a baby.
“They didn’t look unhappy,” she said of the child and her older brother. “They were just very shy ... The little girl was so great, it’s surprising.”
The NYPD and ACS both launched investigations into the girl’s death. Her siblings were found uninjured in the home when police arrived, with EMTs noting the bruises on the 6-year-old.
Eason, who once lived in Queens, was previously arrested in 2016 for stealing a co-worker’s credit card and running up more than $200 in charges. She pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and avoided any jail time.
The old friend recalled how adorable Jalayah looked the last time she saw Eason and the kids.
“So beautiful and her mom is very beautiful,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking. I have children.”
