Geneva Jarvis mustered only a blank stare after being indicted on murder charges for the starvation death of her autistic son, 16-year-old Adonis Jarvis.
Photo by Jonathan Portee
Two Bronx women could do nothing but stare outside a local precinct on Thursday afternoon after being charged with a heinous crime: the murder of their 16-year-old autistic son and grandson, allegedly by starving him to death.
Denise Jarvis, 62, and her daughter, Geneva Jarvis, 36, were escorted in handcuffs from the 40th Precinct stationhouse on July 30, hours after detectives booked them on murder charges for the death of 16-year-old Adonis Jarvis earlier this year.
Denise, the teen’s grandmother, and Geneva Jarvis, his mother, are accused of allegedly depriving Adonis Jarvis and his twin brother, both of whom are autistic and nonverbal, inside their home on East 147th Street between Brook and St. Ann’s Avenues in the South Bronx.
Both suspects were silent as detectives walked them out of the 40th Precinct stationhouse on July 30. Denise Jarvis just stared at the concrete steps below her feet, while Geneva mustered only a blank stare. They offered no response to questions from reporters and photographers as they were loaded into a waiting police vehicle en route to their arraignment hearing.
Denise Jarvis, the grandmother of Adonis Jarvis, looks down in silence after being charged with his murder.Photo by Jonathan Portee
Police said the 16-year-old victim and his twin brother had been brought to Lincoln Hospital’s Pediatrics Department seeking treatment on or about March 19 of this year. According to published reports, both brothers — who were autistic and nonverbal — exhibited signs of long-term malnourishment, starvation and chronic neglect, and had sores about their bodies.
Adonis Jarvis would later die while undergoing treatment at Lincoln Hospital. His body was transferred to the Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy that concluded that starvation was the cause of his death. The teenager’s twin brother, however, would recover.
Medical staff at Lincoln Hospital reported the boys’ condition to the 40th Precinct, which conducted an investigation that ended with a grand jury indictment of both Denise and Geneva Jarvis on murder charges.
Both were arraigned in the Bronx Hall of Justice on the afternoon of July 30.
With reporting by Jonathan Portee