The killing of 15‑month‑old Charlie Ramraykha in Queens has left a family reeling and a city grasping for answers. His mother, 28‑year‑old Nicole Boodhai, now faces a murder indictment, while relatives say they are struggling to reconcile the devoted parent they thought they knew with the brutality of the charges. As they speak out in the aftermath, their grief is colliding with a criminal case that is only beginning to move through the courts.
What emerges from their accounts is a portrait of a tight‑knit extended family blindsided by a tragedy that unfolded inside a modest Queens home. They describe a young mother who once seemed besotted with her baby boy, even as prosecutors now allege she intentionally took his life and then tried to end her own.
The final hours and a family’s shock
According to relatives, the horror came into focus after On Monday, when police found Boodhai with her wrists slashed beside the body of 15‑month‑old Charlie Ramraykha inside their Queens residence, a scene that family members say they are still struggling to picture without breaking down. Kin of NYC relatives told reporters they had spoken with her shortly before the killing and noticed no obvious sign that anything was about to go so catastrophically wrong, a disconnect that has deepened their anguish as they replay those conversations in their minds.
Just before Christmas, they recall, Boodhai chatted excitedly about how Charlie would run to the door and how she loved to scoop him up and cradle him right away, a memory that now feels almost unbearable in light of the charges that she later killed the same child she doted on. One relative described how the news “hit hard,” saying the family of a Queens mother who had seemed so devoted to her son could not understand how they ended up planning a funeral instead of another holiday gathering, a sentiment echoed in their accounts to investigators and reporters.
Relatives say the disconnect between those tender scenes and the crime scene described by police has left them questioning everything they thought they knew about Boodhai’s state of mind. Some have pointed to the way she had recently withdrawn from parts of the extended family, while others emphasize that, in their view, there were no clear warnings that she might harm herself or Charlie, a tension that runs through the detailed recollections shared in family interviews.
Inside the Queens case against Nicole Boodhai
Prosecutors say the emotional turmoil now gripping the family sits alongside a stark legal narrative. According to Prosecutors, 28‑year‑old Nicole Boodhai was arraigned Wednesday on murder charges in the death of her son, Charlie Ramraykha, after authorities alleged she intentionally killed the toddler inside their Queens home and then tried to take her own life. Investigators say she called the boy’s father to tell him Charlie was dead before first responders arrived to find the child unresponsive and the apartment spattered with blood, details that have been outlined in charging documents.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has announced that Nicole Boodhai has been indicted on murder in the second degree for intentionally causing the death of her 15‑month‑old son, a charge that carries a potential sentence of 25 years to life in prison if she is convicted. In a separate statement, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz reiterated that the case would be prosecuted aggressively, underscoring that the alleged killing of a child inside a family home is among the most serious crimes her office can bring, according to official statements.
Authorities say the case began when officers in Queens responded to a 911 call about an unconscious child and found the mother and son in a bedroom, a development captured in early television coverage of the incident. Police later said the apartment was near 109th Ave and that Boodhai had been living at a separate address from the rest of the family a few blocks away, details that neighbors described as unsettling as they watched Medics rush mother and son to the hospital, where Charlie was pronounced dead, according to police reports.
Relatives’ grief, unanswered questions and the wider system
For the extended family, the legal language of indictments and arraignments sits uneasily beside their memories of Charlie as a playful toddler and of Boodhai as a once‑attentive mother. Kin of NYC relatives have described gathering in their Queens neighborhood to comfort one another, saying they are “struggling to understand what went wrong” and replaying every interaction with Boodhai for clues they might have missed, a theme that runs through their public comments. Some relatives have spoken about how the tragedy “hit hard” not only because of the loss of a child, but because it shattered their belief that they would have seen warning signs if something was deeply wrong.
Those close to the family say they are now wrestling with questions about mental health support, domestic stress and whether any intervention could have prevented Charlie’s death. They note that Boodhai was living apart from some relatives and that neighbors near 109th Ave were unsettled by the sudden police presence, as described in neighbor accounts, but they also emphasize that, from their vantage point, there was no single moment when it was obvious that mother and child were in imminent danger.
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