November 26, 2015
CHICAGO (AFP) - A toddler left alone with her pre-school siblings in their Texas home suffered fatal burns after they put her in the oven and switched it on, US media reported.
J'Zyra Thompson, 19 months, was left unsupervised along with her three-year-old twin siblings in the Houston apartment. A five-year-old was also present.
Court records obtained by ABC-13 News in Houston said the twins told child protective services that one of them put their little sister in the oven and the other one made it "hot."
Their mother Raqual Thompson, 25, is set to appear in court Monday on four counts of child endangerment, according to the Harris County Sheriff's office.
Thompson reportedly told police that she had gone out with her boyfriend to collect a pizza and a prescription at the drug store when her child burned to death on November 16.
When they returned home they found the three other children crying and pointing to the kitchen. The oven had toppled over with the door face down on the floor.
Child protective services, quoted by local media, said the couple had failed to alert a grandmother who lived in the same apartment complex that they were leaving the children unsupervised.
Neighbors expressed outrage that the children had been left alone.
"Call a family member, call a friend, put them in daycare. Don't leave your kids at home man," Aisha Eason said. "This is serious right here. There's a baby dead."
