Mom, Boyfriend Arrested in Toddler's Oven Death

The mother of a 19-month-old who died a horrific death after being left at home with three siblings may be in jail when her next baby arrives. Racqual Thompson, who is 8 1/2 months pregnant, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with child endangerment, along with boyfriend Cornell Malone, reports Click2Houston. Prosecutors say the couple left four children—two 3-year-olds, a 5-year-old, and 19-month-old J'Zyra Thompson—alone in their Houston apartment while they went out to get pizza and visit Malone's brother, ABC13 reports. They returned to find three of the children crying, with J'Zyra dead and "extremely burned" in the tipped-over oven, which had been turned on "all the way," according to court documents.

Earlier court records, which have now been sealed, according to the AP, stated the 3-year-olds told authorities they had put J'Zyra in the oven and turned it on. A neighbor tells Click2Houston that the couple had bragged about not facing charges over the Nov. 16 death. "They were saying that it wasn't their fault, and that they're gonna get away with it, and they weren't there and this and that," he says. Thompson and Malone are being held on $36,000 bond and the other children are now in the custody of Child Protective Services, the Houston Chronicle reports. Authorities tell Click2Houston that in cases like Thompson's, they'll wait for the mother to give birth before deciding whether to request CPS custody. (In New Hampshire, two 9-year-olds were left home alone—for four months.)