He left the woman carrying his child to die, along with her son, and now the boyfriend of a St. Albans woman who perished in a fire last week has been charged.
According to District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Jimmy Humphrey, 23, of Springfield Gardens, admitted that he was in the apartment with Anderson and her son just prior to the fatal fire on Tuesday, July 13.
Humphrey said that he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her, causing her to fall. Humphrey additionally admitted that as she fell, so did a bottle of nail polish remover and a candle, which set the six-months pregnant woman on fire. He then ran from the apartment, leaving behind Anderson – with her body on fire – and her son, Ayden Hayes, 2, asleep in a bedroom. The boy later died at Queens Hospital Center.
After fleeing, Humphrey admitted to going home and lying down for a period of time before walking to a phone to call 9-1-1 to report the fire.
According to the FDNY, a call came in at 4:39 a.m., but the dispatcher was given an intersection, not an address, and the 12 responding units had to find the fire, at 179-56 Anderson Road.
“The defendant is accused of deliberately setting a fire in which a pregnant woman and her 2-year-old child lost their lives, and in doing so exhibiting a wanton disregard for the safety of responding firefighters and others who may have been in the building at the time,” said Brown. “The senseless death of this young woman and her infant child cries out for justice.”
Humphrey, who is presently awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court, is charged with first- and second-degree arson and first- and second-degree assault. Brown noted that, pending the results of an autopsy, additional charges may be filed.
If convicted, Humphrey faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
