Neighbors of a mother and grandmother charged with murder for allowing an autistic 16-year-old boy to die from starvation and neglect said the tragedy came as a complete surprise, but sources told the Daily News that at least two city agencies had been involved with the Bronx family before the death unfolded in its decaying house of horrors.
The city’s Administration of Children’s Services had previously investigated the family, determining after a 2021 complaint alleging their Mott Haven apartment on E. 147th St. near Brook Ave. was unlivable that the children were not in any danger, sources told the News.
The family also reportedly had problems with the city’s Department of Education and pulled victim Adonis Jarvis and his twin brother out of school, claiming they were unable to get help from a paraprofessional transporting the severely disabled children to school.
Geneva Jarvis, 36, and her mother, Denise Jarvis, 62, were arrested Thursday morning and charged with murder in the death of 16-year-old Adonis, who died from “starvation and dehydration,” according to the city Medical Examiner, who deemed his death a homicide. Both were held without bail.
Adonis was just 59 pounds and covered in feces and flies when first responders rushed him to Lincoln Hospital on March 19. He died later that day.
The News has learned that his family has been on the city’s radar since 2014, when ACS investigated an allegation that Geneva Jarvis was not giving her children their seizure medication, police sources said. The city medical examiner said Adonis suffered from epilepsy. It was not immediately clear if his twin brother did as well.
The second visit — alleging unlivable conditions — was seven years later, but ACS could not substantiate the complaint.
Then in January, sources said, the mom abruptly pulled her twin boys from P.S. 811X, the Academy for Career and Living Skills in the Bronx, claiming that the school didn’t have any paraprofessionals who could carry her weakened children from her home to the school bus and into the school, where they would have had access to free breakfasts and lunch.
“(Her children) used to be strong, but then she had to push them up the steps,” building super Dennis Rivera told The News Thursday. “They couldn’t climb.”
Sources said the DOE had reached out to Geneva Jarvis and tried to support the family over an extended period of time before Adonis’ death. It was not clear if DOE officials, feeling concerned for the welfare of the teens, reached out to the state Child Abuse Hotline, which would have triggered an ACS investigation.
A DOE spokeswoman couldn’t comment on any specifics about Adonis’ case.
“The loss of this young person is heartbreaking, and we grieve this tremendous loss along with their community,” spokeswoman Onika Richard said. “Our thoughts remain with those grieving.”
The city is undergoing a 1,600 paraprofessional shortage across the five boroughs, according to the United Federation of Teachers. A Chalkbeat article earlier this month featured an autistic student at the same school Adionis attended, P.S. 811X. The news outlet found the teen missed half of his 2024 school year because he couldn’t get a one-to-one paraprofessional to take him on the bus to school.
The chronic lack of paraprofessionals in city schools has sparked calls for boosting salaries. The City Council recently passed a controversial law to send paraprofessionals a one-time $10,000 “workforce stabilization payment” in a bid to address the shortage.
When asked for comment Thursday, an ACS spokesperson said, “The safety and well-being of New York City’s children is our top priority. We are investigating this tragic incident with the NYPD.”
When pressed about its history with Adonis’ family, ACS officials wouldn’t comment, claiming state law prohibits them from sharing case-specific information.
A call to Mayor Mamdani was also not immediately returned.
The NYPD was never alerted to any problems with the family, with a source noting that the only time officers had been to the address before Adonis’ death was in 2021 when one of the women was injured inside the apartment. It wasn’t immediately clear which woman was hurt or what led to the injury.
The revelations about the city’s interactions with the family come amid shock and sadness over the tragedy among neighbors of the Mott Haven family.
Rivera said he had only been inside the family’s unit once or twice, and was stunned by the piles of garbage and clothes cluttering their home. A Daily News reporter photographed similar circumstances inside the overstuffed, filthy apartment Thursday.
“It was nasty. Even the walls were broken. The city had to remove over two hundred pounds of clothes,” said Rivera. “[The mother] didn’t talk to us and she never let us in the apartment.”
Rivera said he’d offered to repair the walls and clean up the apartment, but Geneva always brushed him off, repeatedly telling him he could do it, “tomorrow.”
“They are nice people. I never saw them do anything bad to the kids,” he admitted. “[Their mother] was always there to take them to and from school. Every day she bought four pieces of Dominos pizza, but I didn’t know if she fed them.”
Another neighbor whose disabled daughter went to Public School 811X with the twins said Adonis’ death came as a shock.
“They were very disabled. They needed a lot of help. It was more than the mom and grandma could handle,” Christine Valentin, 54, said. “It’s sad. It’s a shock. It could have been prevented.”
Geneva Jarvis was home feeding her twin 16-year-old sons in their apartment on March 19, when she realized Adonis was not breathing and called 911, according to police sources.
The boy, who is nonverbal, was rushed to Lincoln Hospital. He died the same day, and hospital staff alerted cops to his suspicious death.
It was at the hospital when responding officers were first told of Adonis’ twin brother, who is also autistic and nonverbal, police sources said. Cops went to the family’s apartment against Geneva Jarvis’ wishes and found the other boy lying still with bedsores.
When he was hospitalized, Adonis’ sibling weighed 60 pounds, having lost 20 pounds from his last documented doctor’s visit in August 2024, prosecutors said.
The surviving brother gained 30 pounds since being hospitalized, but remains unable to walk, McCale said. He is still facing a lengthy recovery, officials said.
“They were unable to walk, unable to communicate, kept in separate rooms… not being fed, not being cared for, all while the defendants went about their lives,” Bronx Assistant District Attorney Siobhan McCale said of the victims during the arraignment hearing. “The defendants essentially left these children to starve and rot.”
The mother and grandmother, who were also hit with charges including manslaughter, assault and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person, were held without bail at their Thursday arraignments.