Man faces death for stabbing, apartment fire murders

Charles Ivy, left, allegedly stabbed the mother of his children, Den’Jah Moore, to death and then set her Daytona Beach, Florida, apartment on fire with kids inside. One of the kids, 10 months old, died. Ivy is charged with murder, attempted murder and arson. (Ivy: Volusia County Jail; Apartment: Daytona Beach Fire Department)

Prosecutors in Volusia County, Florida, are seeking the death penalty for a man who allegedly stabbed the mother of his children more than 100 times and left her three kids to die in a raging fire. The youngest, 10-month-old Messiah Calixte, died as result of the arson, said Daytona Beach cops.

“The capital felonies were especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel,” prosecutors wrote in their death penalty notice filed on Wednesday against the defendant, Charles Leon Ivy, 34.

Among other aggravators, they described the crimes as being done “in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.”

Authorities also noted Calixte’s youth. Under Florida law, it’s an aggravating factor to commit a capital felony against someone less than 12 years of age.

Cops and prosecutors have said that Ivy was the person who stabbed Den’Jah Moore, 30, more than 100 times, and setting fire to her apartment. Police and firefighters responded to the residence just before midnight on Nov. 21 because of the raging flames.

First responders managed to find Messiah in his crib, and also save Moore’s two other children, ages 4 and 5. Calixte died at a hospital. The older children survived, albeit in critical condition.

Investigators determined that the fire was set in two locations: first in a bedroom, and then on the kitchen stove, with all four burners turned on.

Police said that Ivy first landed on their radar because he was father to at least two of the children. They went to tell him about the fire, and discovered him loading suitcases and bags into an SUV outside his home in the nearby city of Ormond Beach, according to the arrest affidavit.  Investigators claimed to spot an injury to his leg and a cut to his hand. Ivy and another person drove way in the SUV. Police pulled them over.

According to documents, this other person said that Ivy told her that he hurt his leg and his hand removing a fender on a trailer.

Ivy’s co-workers told investigators he clocked out around 10 p.m. Ivy told investigators he admitted to being at the apartment complex at the time of the fire but denied partaking in the crimes, according to the redacted affidavit. He could not think of anyone who would want to hurt Moore or her children.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young told reporters that investigators obtained traffic camera footage showing Ivy leaving the scene around the time of the fire. He also had Moore’s cellphone, Young said.