Charles Ivy is the father of the other two children inside the apartment.
A Florida man was arrested early Wednesday for stabbing a mother and her 10-month-old son to death and then leaving them in a burning apartment with two other children.
Charles Leon Ivy, 34, was arrested at a traffic stop in Ormond Beach, according to Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young. Ivy is charged with the deaths of Den’Jah Moore, 30, and the young boy, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
He has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder for the 4-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy he left in the apartment Monday night. He is the father of the two older children, but Moore had legal custody.
Moore was found with more than 100 stab wounds after firefighters extinguished the blaze. The baby boy was also stabbed and was found still in his crib. The other two children were not stabbed, Young said.
“Their injuries were as a result of being left to die in a fully engulfed fire,” he said.
“With what we witnessed throughout this investigation, the defendant in this incident deserves a special place in the gates of hell for what he did to this mother and these children,” Young said. “Again, I have never witnessed anything this horrific in my entire career.”
The two surviving children were taken to University of Florida Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where they were in critical condition on Wednesday.
Firefighters responded to the blaze late Monday night. They found evidence of arson throughout the apartment and evidence leading to Ivy. He was taken into custody after police saw him and an unnamed woman loading suitcases and bags into an SUV.
Young said the woman is cooperating with police and is not facing charges. According to an arrest report, she said that Ivy left for work at 4 p.m. on Monday and said he was going to drop off money for Moore after work. He arrived back at home shortly before midnight and undressed on the porch because, he said, he didn’t like how his work clothes smelled.
Ivy had injuries to his leg and hand, and the woman said he told her he hurt himself while working on a trailer. Police questioned co-workers at the fast food restaurant where he worked, and they said Ivy left just after 10 p.m. and had no injuires at the time.
Young said Ivy has not confessed but “put himself on scene around the time that these murders would have occurred.”
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[Featured image: Den’Jah Moore/Facebook and Charles Ivy/Volusia County Corrections]
