Brooklyn Parents Indicted for Manslaughter in Connection with Fatal Drug Exposure of Four-Year-Old Boy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, March 20, 2026

Brooklyn Parents Indicted for Manslaughter in Connection with
Fatal Drug Exposure of Four-Year-Old Boy

Child Was Allegedly Exposed to Fentanyl Inside East Flatbush Family Shelter

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a man and woman have been arraigned on an indictment charging them with reckless manslaughter and other crimes in connection with the death of their four-year-old son Aron Sklar, who was exposed to fentanyl in the East Flatbush family shelter where he lived with the defendants.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, "This indictment alleges a heartbreaking level of neglect that resulted in a fatal overdose of a four-year-old boy. Parents have a fundamental responsibility to keep their children safe, and by allegedly allowing fentanyl and other narcotics into their residence, these defendants failed in that duty. This prosecution seeks to ensure that there is accountability for Aron Sklar's senseless death."

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Yitzchok Sklar, 33, and Miriam Elkayam, 27, both of whom were living in the East Flatbush shelter at the time of their son's death. They were arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo on an indictment charging them with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Sklar was remanded without bail and Elkayam was held on a $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond. They were ordered to return to court on May 1, 2026.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on March 4, 2025, police and emergency medical personnel responded to a 911 call at a family shelter located on Glenwood Road in East Flatbush after a four-year-old boy was found unresponsive. Emergency medical workers administered Narcan, an overdose-reversal medication, and transported him to a hospital. The victim, Aron Sklar, was later pronounced dead and subsequent toxicology reports confirmed that the cause of death was fentanyl exposure.

According to the investigation, suspected fentanyl and other narcotics were allegedly recovered from the defendants' residence, along with drug paraphernalia. The indictment supersedes the earlier misdemeanor charges against the defendants of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child and adds additional charges connected to the child's death.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Stephen Van Doran and Deputy Bureau Chief Perry Cerrato, of the District Attorney's Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Bureau Chief.

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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant's guilt.