A Texas mother and her boyfriend are behind bars after police say the woman's toddler was baked to death inside an oven after being left home alone with her older siblings.
That horrifying nightmare led to Racqual Thompson, 25, and Cornell Malone, 21, being booked Tuesday into a Harris County jail, each on four counts of endangering a child.
Houston police say the couple left 19-month-old J'Zyra and Thompson's three other children, all under the age of 5, alone on Nov. 16 when they went to get pizza.
They said they were gone for about two hours before they returned to find three of Thompson's children hysterically crying inside and pointing toward the kitchen. That's where they said they found the tipped-over oven turned on "all the way" and little J'Zyra suffering fatal burns after allegedly being placed inside, according to court documents obtained by KTRK. The documents also describe Thompson as being seven-months pregnant with Malone's child.
Neighbors told the station the mother would regularly leave her children home alone.
KPRC also said that there were previous reports made to Child Protective Services concerning the mother, and that her surviving three children have since been taken into the agency's custody.
Their grandfather, Frederick Price, is seeking custody of the three children.
"She was the happiest baby you could find," Price told KPRC of J'Zyra. "She was an awesome child. She was an angel. I truly believe she was an angel sent from God."
Jailhouse records show that Thompson and Malone are each being held on $30,600 bond.
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