The ex-boyfriend of a pregnant woman who died in a Queens fire -- along with her toddler son -- has been charged in connection with her death.
Prosecutors say Jimmy Humphrey, 23, admitted to grabbing Linda Anderson by the throat and shoving her in her Springfield Gardens home early Tuesday morning. And as Anderson fell a bottle of nail polish fell along with her -- and so did a candle, investigators said.
The combination sparked a fire, and Humphrey did nothing but run from the house, prosecutors said. Not only did he run, he even went home and took a nap, investigators charge.
“The defendant is accused of deliberately setting a fire in which a pregnant woman and her 2-year-old child lost their lives, and in doing so exhibiting a wanton disregard for the safety of responding firefighters and others who may have been in the building at the time," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. "The senseless death of this young woman and her infant child cries out for justice.”
Humphrey eventually used a distant pay phone to call 911 anonymously, prosecutors said, but he didn't report the right location.
Firefighters eventually saw the smoke at the correct location, and were able to respond -- although they were delayed severely.
The fire killed Anderson, 25, who was allegedly pregnant with Humphrey's child, and her 2-year-old son Ayden Hayes.
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Humphrey, who is expected to be arraigned on Friday in Queens Criminal Court, is charged with first- and second-degree arson and first- and second-degree assault. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
