29-year-old Kryzie King pleaded guilty yesterday to abusing and murdering 4-year-old Myls Dobson in 2014. The toddler had been left in her care by his father; when he was taken to St. Luke's Hospital after King found him unresponsive on January 8th, he was "burned, bruised, emaciated, and severely dehydrated."
Myls was left in King's care at her Midtown apartment from December 17th until his death. During that period, King admitted to binding his hands and feet, whipping him with belts and electrical cords, locking him half-naked on her outside patio in subfreezing weather, and burning him on a toaster oven rack. In 2014, investigators also found King starved the child, reportedly giving him a last "Christmas meal" on December 16th. Myls apparently lost 14 pounds in the few weeks he lived with King.
The Post reports that prosecutors revealed King waited a full day before calling 911 after beating the child to death. “She had Myls Dobson in her apartment dead for at least 24 hours before notifying the authorities,” Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said in court yesterday.
Myls had reportedly suffered a lifetime of abuse. His mother, Ashlee Dobson, was arrested and charged with child abuse in 2011, after his grandmother brought him into a local medical center to treat bruises on his head and body. Dobson lost custody of Myls, who was given over to his father, Okee Wade. Wade had apparently been in a relationship with King; he left Myls in King's care to briefly go out of town, but was arrested on December 18th in New Jersey on an outstanding warrant for bank fraud.
Myls's death highlighted policy holes on the part of the Administration for Children’s Services, whose lack of oversight may have contributed to the tragedy. The agency was unaware that Myls's father, Okee Wade, was incarcerated from September 2012 to February 2013, and though they visited Myls on nine separate occasions once he was in Wade's care, he was "doing well in the care of the woman Mr. Wade was dating at the time, who reported to ACS that Mr. Wade was at work," according to a 2014 report from ACS. "Should we have done something differently? Yes, we should have," ACS commissioner Gladys Carrion told reporters at the time.
King pleaded guilty to charges of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree, and assault in the second degree. She is expected to be sentenced on October 21st; by agreeing to a judge's deal and pleading guilty, the Post reports that she faces 22 years to life, instead of the 25 years to life that prosecutors had pushed for.
