By Ivan Pereira
The boyfriend of the pregnant mother who was killed in a house fire along with her 2-year-old son was arraigned Friday morning for allegedly leaving the 25-year-old woman burning alive in her Springfield Gardens residence, the Queens district attorney said.
Jimmy Humphrey, 23, of Selover Road in Springfield Gardens, was charged with arson and assault in the early morning blaze on July 13, DA Richard Brown said. Humphrey allegedly got into an argument with Linda Anderson, who was 7 months pregnant with his unborn son, at her home on Anderson Road and it got physical, according to the DA.
The suspect grabbed the woman by her throat and threw her down on the floor, causing a bottle of nail polish and a candle to fall and set her on fire, Brown said.
Humphrey fled the two-family home, leaving Anderson to burn to death, according to the DA. Firefighters arrived at the scene following an anonymous phone call and were able to put out the blaze in less than an hour, but Anderson’s son, Ayden Hayes, was found unconscious at the scene.
The toddler was taken to Queens Hospital Center, but died a short time after arrival. No one else was killed or seriously hurt in the fire.
The DA said Humphrey was the person who made the 911 call to report the fire, but only made it after going home and waiting for a brief period of time. Additional charges are pending a full autopsy report from the medical examiner’s office, Brown said.
Ayden’s father, Rondel Hayes, said a funeral service for his son and Anderson was set for Saturday in Suffolk County, where Anderson lived before moving to Queens a year ago.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
