A Florida man is accused of fatally stabbing a woman and intentionally setting a fire at her apartment, sending three children to an area hospital where the youngest one later died, authorities said Wednesday.
Charles Leon Ivy, 34, of Ormond Beach, was arrested Wednesday, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office online booking records. He was charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson, online records show.
Ivy is accused of killing Den’jah Moore, 30, and her 10-month-old son, at the Countryside Apartments in Daytona Beach, WFTV reported.
Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young said during a news conference on Wednesday that the boys’ siblings -- a 4-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy -- were hospitalized in critical condition at Shands Hospital in Gainesville. They remain intubated, Young said.
The chief added that the crime was domestic and “horrific and horrendous.”
“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 told reporters Wednesday. “Again, I have never witnessed anything this horrific in my entire career.”
[ Police: Mom fatally stabbed, baby dies when apartment with children inside set ablaze ]
The 10-month-old child was found in cardiac arrest, WFTV reported. He was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach, where he later died.
Young said that Ivy is the father to at least two of the children, according to WFTV. Young told reporters that Ivy is the father of the two surviving children but Moore had custody.
Firefighters responding to the scene late Monday observed heavy smoke and entered the residence, the television station reported. Young told reporters that Moore was found with numerous stab wounds, along with the 10-month-old boy, who was in a crib.
The other children were not stabbed, Young said.
“Their injuries were as a result of being left to die in a fully engulfed fire,” Young said.
Ivy was being held without bail in the Volusia County Branch Jail, online records show.