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Bronx teen who died of starvation was found covered in bed sores, feces and flies
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Jul 31, 2026
Modified Jul 31, 2026
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Brittany Kriegstein / Gothamist
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Jul 31, 2026
Modified Jul 31, 2026
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An autistic Bronx teen who died of starvation in March was covered in bed sores, feces and flies when first responders found him and his twin brother in the squalid apartment they shared with their mother and grandmother, prosecutors said Thursday.
Adonis Jarvis, 16, weighed just 59 pounds on March 19 when paramedics responded to a 911 call at the family’s third-floor apartment on East 147th Street and Brook Avenue in the South Bronx.
He was taken to Lincoln Hospital and pronounced dead, according to an indictment released by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. Adonis’s twin brother was “severely malnourished” and weighed just 60 pounds, having lost 20 pounds from his last documented doctor’s visit in August 2024. Both had been diagnosed with autism, were nonverbal and had a history of seizures, prosecutors said.
The boys’ mother, 36-year-old Geneva Jarvis, and grandmother, Denise Jarvis, 62, were arraigned late Thursday on charges including depraved indifference murder, manslaughter and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person. They were ordered held in jail as their case proceeds.
On Friday, the three-bedroom apartment remained with garbage piled so high in places it was almost impossible to walk in. Flies buzzed around the ceiling, where spiderwebs hung. A Gothamist reporter observed what appeared to be urine-soaked mattress in the smallest, darkest bedroom.
Despite the conditions inside the apartment, building superintendent Dennis Rivera said it was hard to tell from the outside that something was wrong.
He said the last time he saw the twins was several months ago when they came home from school.
“They went upstairs, and then after that, everything went quiet,” he said. “I never again saw them or heard them making noise.”
The smallest apartment in the Bronx apartment where officials say two boys suffered severe malnourishment, leading to one boy's death.
Brittany Kriegstein / Gothamist
Rivera said he’d see the mother every evening around 8 p.m., coming home from work at Target with a small box of pizza.
“We didn’t see nothing wrong,” he said.
Neighbor Veronica Rosales lived right below the family and said she also didn’t notice anything amiss — though she said stopped hearing the boys several months ago.
“I didn’t realize how they were living. Because if I’d realized, I would have called,” she said in Spanish. “I thought they were outside the city maybe, on vacation. I didn’t know if maybe they had other family [to stay with]."
Rosales said the boys’ mother and grandmother would just tell her “‘they’re OK,’” when she asked.
She said the incident has left her questioning what responsibility the city had to watch out for the boys more carefully, given their special needs. She recalled that city workers had come to clean the apartment several years ago, throwing out large bags of trash.
“Why didn’t they come more regularly?” she asked.
The city’s Administration for Children's Services said it was investigating alongside the NYPD but declined to comment on the family's case because of state confidentiality laws.
"The safety and well-being of New York City's children is our top priority. We are investigating this tragic incident with the NYPD," agency spokesperson Marisa Kaufman said.
The agency said it could not provide details about when they had last visited the family.
District Attorney Darcel Clark said the two women had "failed in their duty and responsibility to care for these boys.
"One child has died. The other faces a lengthy recovery,” Clark said.
The medical examiner determined Jarvis’ death was the result of neglect, starvation and dehydration, officials said.
Geneva and Denise Jarvis are due back in court on Oct. 27. Information for their attorneys was not immediately available Friday.
Rivera, the superintendent, described the day the ambulance came for Adonis.
“They brought him down naked, he looked just like a sack of bones,” he said.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
Tagged
bronx
children's services
murder investigation
nypd
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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