A four-year-old child was discovered in an apartment with the bodies of her mother and brother, who were believed to have died about two weeks ago.
According to neighbors, Child Services came to the Bronx apartment the day before Lisa Cotton, 38, and her 8-year-old son, Nazir Millien, were discovered by relatives on April 19.
Neighbor Sabrina Coleson said, “They didn’t do s–t. They were here ringing people’s bells the day before the wellness check. They were here, but they didn’t do s–t.”
“One rang my bell and asked if I had any concerns for upstairs. And then a man opened his door and started yelling,” she said, according to The Post. “Lisa was a very cool girl. I never saw her son with her, only the girl. It’s terrible.”
When worried relatives eventually came to check on the family, they discovered 4-year-old Promise on her mother’s bed, alone, famished, and in terrible shape, with bugs crawling over her deceased family.
Lisa Cotton’s father, Hubert, 71, had dispatched his oldest granddaughter to visit the apartment at East 231st Street. According to neighbors, police were also sent to the apartment but left without smelling the foul odor that others had complained about.
According to Hubert Cotton, the 4-year-old managed to survive by “feeding herself with chocolate.”
Lisa Cotton, according to law enforcement officials, had a history of unpredictable conduct and a pending ACS case for alleged child maltreatment before she was discovered dead.
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She was arrested in 2021 on child abandonment charges after being found swinging her then-infant daughter about in a pram and setting fire to a wig on White Plains Road, according to sources.
According to reports, she was leaving Promise behind when police came. A neighbor reported that the mother had previously experienced “episodes.”
Investigators believe Lisa Cotton, who had asthma, died of cardiac arrest, and that her prematurely born son, who required a feeding tube, may have starved to death.
Meanwhile, an ACS representative declined to comment on the issue, except to note that the agency is “investigating this tragedy with the NYPD.”
