‘She loved her kid’: Relative of mom charged in capital murder of infant speaks out

Latoya Brooks, who said she is a cousin of the 4-month-baby who died in a Phenix City apartment fire Wednesday, told the Ledger-Enquirer on Friday that despite charges against the infant’s mother, Ashley Nicole King, she was a good mother.

“I’ve been knowing her for a very, very long time and she is a good mother and she loved her kid,” Brooks said in a telephone interview as she left an attorney’s office. It was unclear if the attorney that Brooks and other family members met with Friday was Jeremy Armstrong, a Phenix City criminal defense attorney who has been appointed to King’s case.

King, 31, was arrested and charged with capital murder Thursday after an investigation revealed the fire Wednesday was deliberately set, Phenix City police Capt. Darryl Williams said.

Williams said that management at Clover Leaf Apartment Homes called the fire department around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday and let them into the apartment, which was filled with smoke when firefighters arrived.

“There was zero visibility,” Williams said.

Fire crews rescued King and once she was outside, neighbors starting asking where her baby was.

Williams said King repeatedly said “there’s no baby,” but crews went back into the apartment anyway and found the boy. He was found unresponsive and suffering from severe burns, Williams said.

He was later pronounced dead at Piedmont Columbus Regional, Midtown Medical hospital and his body has been sent to the Alabama Forensics Crime Lab for autopsy, Williams said.

Brooks told the Ledger-Enquirer that she is related to the baby on his father’s side of the family. In fact, Brooks said her mother often babysat her young cousin, whom she identified as E’styci King. Police have not identified the infant.

Brooks declined to answer most of the reporter’s questions saying that she and other families members will meet again with the attorney next week and will consider speaking to the media after they “get everything situated.”

She said family members appreciate all the thoughts and prayers that people have offered via social media.

“Let everybody know, thanks for all the prayers and things of that nature,” Brooks said. “We will get through this as a family, as one.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2019 at 3:49 PM.