Promise Cotton was found with the bodies after being in the house for two weeks.
The discovery of the young girl has raised concerns over why not enough was done for Promise’s welfare.
According to the New York Post, residents of an apartment building in the Wakefield section of the Bronx had been reporting a strong, unpleasant odor—described as resembling the smell of death—for weeks. Some neighbors also claimed they had heard disturbing screams coming from the apartment.
Police were dispatched to the East 231st Street residence on Tuesday after receiving an anonymous 911 call requesting a welfare check on the family living there. Upon arrival, officers knocked on the door but received no response. They reported that they neither heard any sounds nor detected any odors at that time, and therefore did not have grounds to force entry.
A neighbor recounted that officers said they would return in a few days, while a social worker was reportedly in the process of securing a court order to authorize entry into the apartment.
Sabrina Coleson, a resident of the building, stated that representatives from the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) had visited the building just one day prior to the eventual discovery inside the apartment.
“They were here ringing people’s bells the day before the wellness check,” Coleson told the Post. “They didn’t do anything.”
Lisa Cotton, 38, and her eight-year-old son, Nazir Millien, were declared dead at the scene.
Cotton’s father, Hubert, had received a call from her landlord asking if she had moved out of the property.
Hubert shared: “I had been trying to call her for days and she never answered… I figured she didn’t answer me because she didn’t want to talk to me.”
The father then sent his oldest granddaughter to check on the family.
When she entered the property, she found four-year-old Promise starving and in an awful condition on her mom’s bed, as bugs crawled over her deceased family.
The relative grabbed Promise, fled the scene, and called authorities. Hubert said his granddaughter had been surviving on ‘chocolate.’
Law enforcement sources revealed that Cotton had a history of mental illness and exhibited erratic behavior over the years.
At the time of her death, she had an open case with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) related to allegations of child neglect.
In 2021, Cotton was arrested on child abandonment charges after allegedly swinging her infant daughter around in a stroller and setting a wig on fire, according to police reports.
Her father, Hubert, believed she may have been struggling with bipolar disorder—a mental health condition characterized by intense mood swings that range from emotional highs (mania or hypomania) to severe lows (depression). According to the Mayo Clinic, hypomania is a milder form of mania.
Police don’t believe foul play was involved in Cotton and Nazir’s deaths.
Authorities told Hubert that his daughter, who suffered from asthma, may have died of a cardiac arrest, while Nazir, who was born prematurely and had a feeding tube, may have starved.
The four-year-old was taken to a local hospital in a stable condition and is now being cared for by her grandfather.
Hubert shared: “She hasn’t said anything. She’s a baby. She looks at me sometimes, you know? Like she knows something, we don’t know anything, we’re trying to find out.”
