ORMOND BEACH, Fla. - An Ormond Beach man has been arrested and charged with the murder of a mother and her ten-month-old baby, the Daytona Beach Police Department confirmed Wednesday. 34-year-old Charles Ivy is accused of stabbing both the mother and child to death, and then setting fire to their apartment.
Ivy was arrested in a traffic stop near his Ormond Beach residence, according to Daytona Police Chief Jakari Young. He was promptly booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail, charged with two counts of first degree premeditated murder, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of first degree arson on a dwelling with people present. Prior criminal charges of Ivy's include operating a vehicle with a suspended license in 2015, and battery in 2016.
"The defendant in this incident deserves a special place in the gates of hell for what he did to this mother and these children," Young said in the press conference, in an uncharacteristically fiery rebuke of Ivy. "I have never witnessed anything this horrific in my entire career."
As of Wednesday, the four and-five-year-olds who were also in the apartment are in critical condition for injuries sustained in the apartment fire. The two surviving children were taken to Gainesville for treatment, while the ten-month-old was hospitalized at Halifax Health Daytona. The late mother of the children was identified as 30-year-old Den'Jah Moore.
