The mother of a West Babylon carbon monoxide victim said Tuesday she plans to sue the town and a landlord for $20 million.

"I am sad and I am angry," Maxine Holder said of losing her son, 27-year-old Ricardo Pearce. Holder said her 9-year-old granddaughter asked, "How am I going to live without my dad?"

Holder, of Virginia Beach, recently came to Long Island to bury her son. Pearce, a woman and the woman's 4-year-old daughter were overcome by carbon monoxide in their illegal apartment Nov. 20. The town condemned the property, which had no electricity, in June.

According to Holder, the town is liable because it failed to properly enforce its codes, leaving landlord Wilson Milord to illegally rent out the condemned property. The town had issued summonses to Milord.

However, Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone adamantly denies the claim. "We did everything we could do under the law," Bellone said. "If we had the authority to board up the house we would have."

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