SAMANTHA PTASHKIN, KPRC CHANNEL 2 NEWS. THANK YOU. NOW TO BREAKING NEWS WE'VE WITHIN FOLLOWING SINCE 4. A MOTHER OF A BABY BURNED TO DEATH AND HER BOYFRIEND JUST FACED A JUDGE IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON CHARGED WITH ENDANGERING A CHILD. 19ED-MONTH-OLD BABY DIED AFTER HER PARENTS LEFT HER AND HER YOUNG SIBLINGS HOME ALONE LAST MONDAY AND TODAY HER MOTHER AND HER BOYFRIEND WERE ARRESTED. KATHY HERNANDEZ IS LIVE IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON WITH WHAT HAPPENED. Reporter: GOOD EVENING. RAQUEL THOMPSON AND HER BOYFRIEND, CORNELL MALONE, APPEARED BEFORE A JUDGE FOR THE FIRST TIME JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO. THOMPSON, WHO IS PREGNANT, WAS HOLDING HER BELLY. CORNELL AND RAQUEL TORCHSON. Reporter: THE MOTHER, WHO IS 8 1/2 MONTHS PREGNANT AND HER BOYFRIEND AND FATHER OF HER UNBORN BABY, STOOD BEFORE A JUDGE TUESDAY EVENING. THEY'RE BOTH CHARGED WITH FOUR COUNTS OF CHILD ENDANGERMENT AFTER LEAVING HER FOUR CHILDREN ALONE FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE OF HOURS. NEIGHBORS SNAPPED THESE PICTURES OF THEIR ARREST AT THE ANGEL RIDGE APARTMENTS ON TUESDAY MORNING. I'VE NEVER HEARD OFFED A BABY BEING BURNED UP AND NOBODY BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE. YOU KNOW WITH A I MEAN? I THINK THAT'S WHAT THEY NEED TO DO DO. Reporter: ACCORDING TO COURT DOCUMENTS. THOMPSON FIRST LEFT THE CHILDREN TO PICK UP MALONE FROM WORK LAST MONDAY NIGHT. THEY RETURNED AND PUT THE KIDS TO BED. DOCUMENTS SAY THE TWO AGAIN LEFT TO GET PIZZA AND VISIT CORNELL'S BROTHER. TWO HOURS LATER, THEY CAME BACK TO THREE OF THE CHILDREN CRYING AND POINTING TO THE KITCHEN. THERE, DOCUMENTS SAY THE OVEN WAS TIPPED OVER. WHEN MALONE UPRIGHTED IT, THEY SAW 19-MONTH-OLD BABY ON THE FLOOR EXTREMELY BURNED AND THE OVEN TURNED ON ALL THE WAY. THE JUDGE SET A BOND OF $36,000 FOR EACH OF THEM. AS THOMPSON SITS IN A JAIL HERE IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON, CPS HAS CUSTODY OF HER THREE OTHER CHILDREN AND THEY TELL ME IN CASES LIKE THIS, THEY WAIT FOR THE MOTHER TO HAVE BIRTH AND THEN DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO REQUEST CUSTODY THROUGH A JUDGE. 
 
 HOUSTON - 
 
 A pregnant mother and her boyfriend faced a judge in downtown Houston charged with endangering a child after the mother's 19-month-old girl burned to death. 
 
 Racqual Thompson, who is 8 months pregnant, and the father of her unborn baby, Cornell Malone, wore orange jumpsuits during the court appearance Tuesday evening. Thompson held her belly. 
 
 The judge read the charges against them and set a bond of $36,000 each. Both requested court-appointed attorneys. 
 
 Neighbors snapped pictures of their arrest at the Angel Ridge Apartments on Tuesday morning. 
 
 “I've never heard of a baby being burned up, and nobody being held responsible. I think that's what they needed to do,” said Jeremy Tilley. 
 
 According to court documents, Thompson first left the children at the apartment on Sterlingshire to pick up Malone from work last Monday night. They returned and put the kids to bed. 
 
 Documents said the two again left to get pizza and visit Cornell's brother. They came back two hours later to three of the children crying and pointing to the kitchen. Documents said the oven was tipped over, and when Malone uprighted it, they saw J'zyra on the floor "extremely burned," and the oven turned on "all the way." 
 
 Tilley said the couple was bragging about not facing charges earlier. 
 
 “They were saying that it wasn't their fault, and that they're gonna get away with it, and they weren't there and this and that,” said Tilley. 
 
 Child Protective Services has custody of Thompson's three other children. The next hearing was set for Dec. 2. 
 
 Authorities said in similar cases, they'll wait for the mother to give birth and then decide whether or not to request custody through a judge. ||||| HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston mother and her boyfriend have been charged in connection with the death of her 19-month-old daughter, who was severely burned inside an oven when she and her three young siblings were left home alone, police announced Tuesday. 
 
 Racqual Thompson and Cornell Malone have each been charged with four counts of endangering a child. Both remain jailed, each with bonds totaling $36,000, after their arrests Tuesday morning. 
 
 Court records didn't list attorneys for either Malone, 21, or Thompson, 25. 
 
 KTRK-TV reported last week that according to court records, J'zyra Thompson's two 3-year-old siblings told Child Protective Services that one of them put J'zyra inside the oven and that they made the oven "hot." 
 
 According to court records prosecutors filed Monday, Thompson told investigators that on the evening of Nov. 16, she had left her four children, including a 5-year-old, alone in their apartment for about 30 minutes to pick up Malone from work. 
 
 Later that night, Thompson and Malone again left the children alone after putting them to bed to go get some pizza and visit Malone's brother. The couple was gone for about two hours. 
 
 "Mr. Malone stated that when they returned and went into the apartment, he could 'smell something burning,'" according to a probable cause affidavit. 
 
 Thompson and Malone told police they found the three other children crying and pointing to the kitchen. In the kitchen, the oven had tipped over, with the oven's door face down on the floor, with J'zyra apparently inside, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Malone "stated he uprighted the 'range' and the next thing he noticed was J'zyra was lying on the floor. He stated that she was obviously burned and deceased," according to the affidavit. The oven had apparently been turned on "all the way." 
 
 CPS has declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the girl's death as the court records it filed in the case have since been sealed by a judge. 
 
 The three other children who were living in the apartment have been taken into CPS custody, with the agency saying it was concerned the children were often left home alone and without adult supervision. 
 
 Police said Malone is not J'zyra's father. According to court records, Thompson is currently 8½ months pregnant. Both are set to make their initial court appearance before a trial judge on Monday. 
 
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 Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter at www.twitter.com/juanlozano70 ||||| Couple charged after toddler found dead, burned inside home oven 
 
 Charges of endangerment have been filed against a Houston couple after the woman's daughter apparently burned to death in an oven at a northeast Houston apartment. 
 
 Racqual Thompson, 25, and her boyfriend, Cornell Malone, 21, left her four children alone at the home the evening of Nov. 16, officials next. The couple arrived home after midnight to find Thompson's 19-month-old girl dead inside the oven, which had tipped over, apparently trapping the child inside. 
 
 RELATED: Custody hearing reveals infant found dead in oven 
 
 Thompson told authorities that she had twice left the children, the eldest 5 years old, unattended that evening, according to court documents. The first time was to pick up Malone from work. The second time was when she and Malone left for pizza, then to visit his brother. That trip took about two hours, according to the document. 
 
 When they returned home, she heard the children crying and pointing to the kitchen. The range was tipped over and lying on the side of the oven, Thompson told authorities. When Cornell uprighted the range, she saw her daughter, J'zyra Thompson, on the floor. The toddler was extremely burned, according to the document. 
 
 Child Protective Services was still working to determine how the child got in the oven. 
 
 The Houston Police Department said officers arrived to find the toddler beside the stove, dead with severe burns. 
 
 The two each face four counts of endangering a child, a state jail felony. They were both arrested at their northeast Houston residence around 9:30 Tuesday morning. Thompson told authorities she is pregnant with Malone's child. 
 
 The other children are in CPS custody. ||||| EMBED More News Videos Mother and boyfriend face the judge after being charged with child endangerment 
 
 A mother and her boyfriend are now facing charges after 19-month old J'Zyra Thompson died from burns suffered inside an oven, while the couple allegedly left several kids home alone.Racqual Thompson and Cornell Malone are each charged with two counts of endangering a child. They appeared in probable cause court around 4pm Tuesday. Both dressed in orange jail house uniforms, neither said much during the quick appearance.However, people who knew Thompson were quick to react."She had to be doing that more than once," said Alice Price, the great-grandmother to two of the four kids who were left home alone a week ago. "Thinking you can run out there and run back. You can't do that. You cannot do that."Price first met Thompson when her grandson, Fredrick Price III, dated the mother. The former couple produced at least two kids, both are three years old. Investigators believe Thompson left her five-year-old, the two three-year-olds, and baby J'Zyra at the northeast Houston apartment she shared with her current boyfriend, Malone, on November 16. The couple allegedly went to get pizza and visited with Malone's older brother.When Thompson returned home, prosecutors say three of her children were in the living room crying and pointing to the kitchen. Thompson then discovered the range in the kitchen had been tipped over, and J'Zyra Thompson, was inside the oven which had been turned on "all the way." The child was badly burned and died."Kids will play with those knobs. I've seen my kids messing with those knobs," said great-grandmother Price, who spoke to Eyewitness News with tears in her eyes. "But I always stay on them, you got to constantly watch kids."Eyewitness News also reached out to Fredrick Price, the father, Tuesday. He told us that he is not focused on the arrest. He just wants his children out of foster care."To see my kids or even have my kids back with me, where they need to be, protected by their dad, so nothing like what they 've been through will happen, ever again," said Price.He says he has a court hearing next week to ask for visitation and possible custody of his children.Court documents say Thompson is 8 and a half months pregnant, and Cornell is the father of the unborn child. Besides the four children she allegedly left home alone, Thompson also has an older child who lives with a different father.
– The mother of a 19-month-old who died a horrific death after being left at home with three siblings may be in jail when her next baby arrives. Racqual Thompson, who is 8 1/2 months pregnant, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with child endangerment, along with boyfriend Cornell Malone, reports Click2Houston. Prosecutors say the couple left four children—two 3-year-olds, a 5-year-old, and 19-month-old J'Zyra Thompson—alone in their Houston apartment while they went out to get pizza and visit Malone's brother, ABC13 reports. They returned to find three of the children crying, with J'Zyra dead and "extremely burned" in the tipped-over oven, which had been turned on "all the way," according to court documents. Earlier court records, which have now been sealed, according to the AP, stated the 3-year-olds told authorities they had put J'Zyra in the oven and turned it on. A neighbor tells Click2Houston that the couple had bragged about not facing charges over the Nov. 16 death. "They were saying that it wasn't their fault, and that they're gonna get away with it, and they weren't there and this and that," he says. Thompson and Malone are being held on $36,000 bond and the other children are now in the custody of Child Protective Services, the Houston Chronicle reports. Authorities tell Click2Houston that in cases like Thompson's, they'll wait for the mother to give birth before deciding whether to request CPS custody. (In New Hampshire, two 9-year-olds were left home alone—for four months.)