One of the two toddler brothers left alone by their mom and critically hurt in a Washington Heights fire last month has died of his injuries, police confirmed Tuesday.
The boys’ mother was arrested for acting in a manner injurious to a child for leaving her three young children home alone before the deadly blaze broke out.
The 2-year-old child was pulled off life support last week after being declared brain dead, friends of the child’s father, Francisco “Gus” Corporan, wrote on Facebook.
“Currently, Gus’ 1 year old remains in critical condition, bravely fighting as he continues to receive medical care,” wrote Princiee Norvil, who put together a GoFundMe post to raise money for the children’s care. “We remain hopeful for his recovery.”
The blaze broke out in Corporan’s apartment on Audubon Ave. near W. 175th St. about 10:25 p.m. on March 20, officials said. The two tots and their 8-year-old sister had been left in the apartment alone by Skilyn Maldonado, the mother of the children, according to prosecutors.
Cops arrested Maldonado for endangering the welfare of a child.
Police said Corporan wasn’t home and it was understood that Maldonado would watch the children. Surveillance footage from outside the Washington Heights apartment building shows Maldonado leaving about a half hour before the fire erupted.
Neighbors told the Daily News Maldonado frequently left her children alone.
“She would just leave the kids home by themselves,” said one neighbor who wished not to be named. “She doesn’t have a job at all. She would leave them alone morning, day and night.”
“I saw the 8-year-old daughter alone coming up the stairs with milk the day of the fire,” the neighbor added.
Four days before the fire, Maldonado was arrested for robbing a 29-year-old woman of her phone with two accomplices who have not been caught, police said.
“She’s young and wanted to enjoy her life,” the neighbor said about Maldonado. “[Corporan] been trying to get her out of the house for a bit. They fight all the time. You can hear him screaming, ‘Leave the house! You don’t do nothing. You been going into the street and never coming home!’”
Fire marshals are still trying to determine what sparked the fire, although it doesn’t appear to be suspicious, an FDNY official said.
Cops charged the mom with three counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child, misdemeanors. Manhattan prosecutors asked Maldonado be held on $30,000 bail but a judge instead had her enrolled in an alternative to incarceration program.
When the fire broke out, Maldonado’s daughter ran out of the apartment and banged on a neighbor’s door, pleading for help.
“She was saying there is a fire in her apartment,” neighbor Jayden Zorilla, 14, told The News. “My mom and I were trying to see if we can bring out the kids but the couch was on fire. When I entered, the window glass broke and there was blazing fire.”
Jayden’s mother, Yucania Germosen, 40, wrapped Maldonado’s daughter in a blanket and asked her 10-year-old son Justin to take her downstairs.
“She had burns on her face and her hair was also burnt,” Justin said.
Doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia treated the girl for burns to her scalp and shoulder. Her brothers suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
It took nearly 60 firefighters an hour to bring the fire under control after flames spread in the building above a street-level restaurant, the Emergency Snack Bar Plus.
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