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A four-year-old girl was found alive in a New York home with her dead mother and eight-year-old brother.
She is believed to have survived by eating chocolate.
Lisa Cotton, 38, and her son Nazir Millien, 8, were found dead at home after their landlord raised concerns.
Lisa’s father, Hubert Cotton, 71, got a call from the landlord asking if she had moved out.
He told the New York Post, “I had been trying to call her for days and she never answered.”
“I figured she didn’t answer because she didn’t want to talk to me.”
Worried, he asked Lisa’s eldest daughter to check the apartment.
She made the heartbreaking discovery inside.
Nazir, who was disabled and had a feeding tube, was found slumped in his chair.
“When she came in, [Nazir] was slumped over,” Hubert said.
The young woman searched for Lisa and found four-year-old Promise “feeding herself with chocolate” on her mother’s bed.
“She picked her up and ran out, then called the police,” Hubert said.
A 911 call transcript revealed that she saw “bugs crawling” on Nazir’s body.
It’s unclear how long Lisa and Nazir had been dead, but neighbors reported a foul, “death-like” odor for weeks.
Police had conducted a welfare check on Tuesday after an anonymous call, but no one answered the door.
Neighbors said they hadn’t seen Lisa or her children in two weeks, but police saw no reason to break down the door.
One neighbor shared, “[The police] said they’d be back in a few days. A social worker said she was trying to get a court order to break the door.”
“She picked her up and ran out, then called the police,” Hubert said.
A 911 call transcript revealed that she saw “bugs crawling” on Nazir’s body.
It’s unclear how long Lisa and Nazir had been dead, but neighbors reported a foul, “death-like” odor for weeks.
Police had conducted a welfare check on Tuesday after an anonymous call, but no one answered the door.
Neighbors said they hadn’t seen Lisa or her children in two weeks, but police saw no reason to break down the door.
One neighbor shared, “[The police] said they’d be back in a few days. A social worker said she was trying to get a court order to break the door.”
Neighbors claimed they heard “screaming” coming from the apartment for days.
Neither Lisa nor Nazir showed signs of trauma. Police believe Lisa, who had asthma, may have died from cardiac arrest.
This left Nazir to tragically starve to death.
Promise likely survived by eating chocolate found in the home. She was brought to a local hospital in stable condition.
Hubert now cares for Promise in his Bronx home and mourns Nazir, saying he was “so small. I held him in my palm, like a bird.”
He fears Promise may be traumatized from living with the bodies for several days. She hasn’t spoken much but often looks at him “like she knows something.”
Hubert, originally from St. Kitts, said his daughter struggled with mental health, possibly bipolar disorder.
He broke down, concerned about how to bury both his daughter and grandson, saying, “I’m sorry… two of them. How am I going to get the money?”
Eric Perez, who lived above Lisa, said, “The landlord hadn’t done wellness checks, despite calls from neighbors.”
“The smell was like rat infestation… the exterminator said it resembled rats and even death.”
Police sources revealed Lisa had an Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) case pending after her June 2021 arrest for child abandonment.
She allegedly acted erratically, swinging her daughter in a stroller and lighting a wig on fire near White Plains Road.
When police arrived, she was reportedly walking away from her child. The case was later sealed.
An ACS spokesperson confirmed the incident is now under investigation.
