Court documents say the 3-year-old left an 11th-floor apartment alone and climbed onto a hallway window ledge.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A 26-year-old St. Louis father has been charged after prosecutors said he left his 3-year-old son alone in an 11th-floor apartment before the child wandered into a hallway and fell from an open window.
Tarvis T. Phenix Jr. faces one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death. The charge follows the April 10 death of his son, Tarvis Phenix III, known to family as T-3. Prosecutors say the case turns on what happened during the hour Phenix was away from the apartment and what surveillance video showed before the child fell.
The incident began late April 9 at Parkview Apartments in the 4400 block of Forest Park Avenue. According to court documents, Phenix left the 11th-floor apartment at 11:52 p.m., took the elevator to the first floor and left the building. About 44 minutes later, the child walked out of the apartment alone and began moving through the 11th floor. Investigators said he entered the elevator lobby, where two open windows had built-in benches beneath them. At 12:44 a.m., the boy climbed onto one of the benches, looked out, climbed onto the ledge and fell. Court documents said the window had “a straight drop” to concrete at ground level.
Police were first called for a missing child after Phenix returned and found the boy gone. Officers later found the child dead outside the back of the apartment building. Phenix returned to the complex at 12:51 a.m. and reached the apartment at 12:53 a.m., according to investigators. Authorities have not said whether any other adult was in the apartment when Phenix left. They also have not said whether the apartment door was locked, how the child opened it or whether the hallway windows were supposed to be secured. The criminal charge centers on the allegation that Phenix knowingly created a substantial risk to the child by leaving him unsupervised in the high-rise apartment.
Family members said the child and his father were visiting the apartment of Andrea Armour, the boy’s great-aunt. Armour said she was not home at the time, but Phenix had a spare key because he often checked on her due to her health issues. She said she had raised concerns before about hallway windows in the building. “These hallway windows, they stay open, they don’t lock, there’s no screen, none of that,” Armour said. Officials have not announced any finding that building conditions caused the death, and the charge filed against Phenix does not accuse the property owner of a crime.
The Parkview Apartments property is owned by the St. Louis Housing Authority, which has said it is conducting its own review along with the police investigation. The case has drawn attention because the fall happened from a common area, not from inside a private unit, according to the court account. Investigators cited surveillance footage as a key part of the timeline. The footage, as described in court records, showed the child alone in the hall before he reached the elevator lobby window. The records also placed Phenix outside the building during that time. Police have not released the surveillance video publicly.
Under Missouri law, first-degree child endangerment can apply when a person knowingly acts in a way that creates a substantial risk to the life, body or health of a child under 17. When the alleged conduct results in a child’s death, the offense is classified as a Class A felony. Phenix was charged Tuesday, April 21. Prosecutors will have to prove the allegations in court, and Phenix is presumed innocent unless convicted. Public reports did not list a plea, an attorney statement or the next scheduled hearing in the case.
Relatives gathered after the child’s death for a balloon release outside the apartment complex. Family members described T-3 as bright, loved and full of energy. Terance Hardy, a relative, said the boy was “just a ball of life” and wanted people to remember his intelligence. Armour called the death painful for the family and said the apartment had been a familiar place for the child. The gathering came before the charge was announced, when relatives were still waiting for investigators to explain how the child reached the window and why he was alone.
The case now moves through St. Louis courts while police and the housing authority continue their reviews. As of Friday, April 24, no public report had announced additional charges, and investigators had not released further findings about the hallway windows or building safety complaints.
Author note: Last updated Friday, April 24, 2026.