KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas City, Kan., mother told FOX 4 what life has been like without her two-year-old daughter, killed in an apartment fire in February. The woman spoke to FOX 4 one week before the sentencing of the man charged with killing the girl’s aunt first, then starting the blaze that killed the little girl.
Ajja Boyington said her daughter Amiyah McClenton was a bubbly and smart two-year-old girl just shy of her third birthday.
“She came up to me, she was like ‘hug,’ and I gave her a hug and she was like ‘kiss,'” and I gave her a kiss. And I was like, ‘I love you’ and she said ‘I love you too.’ That was the last time I heard her voice,” Boyington said.
That haunts Boyington. Her place at the Legend Oaks Apartments went up in flames after that.
“When I got to the hospital, they had already told me she was gone,” Boyington said.
Amiyah’s aunt, 34-year-old Brandi Johnson, was babysitting her at Boyington’s apartment.
Prosecutors said Curtis Horn was a friend of Johnson’s. They said he became enraged with her during an argument and killed Johnson before starting the fire that then killed Amiyah.
“He took my innocent two-year-old child, my sister, he took my apartment. I lost everything or whatever, and its upsetting like I just feel lost,” Boyington said.
Many other families were sent packing because of the fire.
In addition to the first-degree murder charges for Johnson and Amiyah’ deaths, prosecutors also charged Horn with multiple counts of endangering a child because many families were sound asleep inside the building at the time of the fire.
“I think he’s a sick individual, honestly,” Boyington said.
Boyington said she has come face-to-face with Horn in a few court appearances. She hopes this next appearance will be her last.
“I hope he never gets to see daylight again. He don’t deserve it,” Boyington said.
Horn is expected to be in court on Oct. 3, for his sentencing in the case.
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