FL - Tracey Nix, two of her grandchildren died in her care in separate incidents (7mo in hot car Nov '22 & 16mo drowned Dec '21)

[TwoLea]

Good Lord. Horrific. She is only facing charges for the hot car death.

Florida grandmother charged in hot car death of granddaughter, less than a year after grandson drowned while in her care

7-month-old Uriel died in 2022 after Tracey Nix said she "forgot" the baby was in the car. The year before, Uriel's brother died while Nix was babysitting.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[LoveyG]

Oh my.

 

[LisaEm]

I read this yesterday. It's so sad. Her daughter wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and give her a second change. What do you think the grandmother was thinking??

 

[ifindedout]

Good Lord. Horrific. She is only facing charges for the hot car death.

Florida grandmother charged in hot car death of granddaughter, less than a year after grandson drowned while in her care

7-month-old Uriel died in 2022 after Tracey Nix said she "forgot" the baby was in the car. The year before, Uriel's brother died while Nix was babysitting.

www.nbcnews.com

Mom and Dad are angry. From the article:
"How do you forget a little girl," Uriel's father, Drew Schock, said in a tearful interview this week with local station WFTS.

and further down

"Two children now who are no longer here," Drew said. "Somebody has to answer for that."

“She needs to go to prison," Kaila [Schock] told the news station. "As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it.”

 

[alexwood]

O.K. There's got to be more to this story than what we've read so far. Does Tracey Nix have dementia? Is she an alcoholic, or a drug addict?

Something is horribly wrong here. I cannot believe someone is that "forgetful", careless or evil.

 

[LisaEm]

O.K. There's got to be more to this story than what we've read so far. Does Tracey Nix have dementia? Is she an alcoholic, or a drug addict?

Something is horribly wrong here. I cannot believe someone is that "forgetful", careless or evil.

Right? And that poor daughter had a head-on car accident (at 6 months pregnant) on the way there and ran to get there. It doesn't make sense. And she should be charged in both.

 

[ifindedout]

O.K. There's got to be more to this story than what we've read so far. Does Tracey Nix have dementia? Is she an alcoholic, or a drug addict?

Something is horribly wrong here. I cannot believe someone is that "forgetful", careless or evil.

And as an elementary school principal, she was in charge of many kids not her own, over many years, and should have been more alert:
Tracey Nix - Principal - North Wauchula Elementary | LinkedIn

Apparently retired now:

Toddler drowns, infant left in hot car less than a year apart at grandma’s Florida home - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale

HARDEE COUNTY, Florida (WFTS) — Tracey Nix was practicing the piano while her infant granddaughter was dying in the back seat of an SUV.According to<a class="excerpt-read-more"...

wsvn.com

According to the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office complaint affidavit, Tracey, 65, told a detective that after she drove home from lunch with friends on November 22, she “just forgot” about 7-month-old Uriel Schock.

Uriel’s mother Kaila Nix, had gone to get her hair done that day and had asked her mom to babysit.

It wasn’t until one of Tracey’s grandsons arrived, the complaint affidavit said, that “all of a sudden” it “came across her head” that Uriel had been in the SUV all afternoon. Her husband, Nun Ney Nix, immediately began CPR.

Temperatures in Wauchula had reached 90 degrees that day. The Lexus SUV was parked in the yard with the windows rolled up.

Tracey, a former school principal in Hardee County, was charged with aggravated manslaughter. The pretrial hearing is scheduled for March 28.

edited to italicize

 

[alexwood]

She may have been a school principal . . . in her own mind. I frankly find it very hard to believe.

 

[IDK]

Have you seen the police report from the drowning incident? It is embedded in this earlier article. Multiple red flags IMO:

Toddler drowns, infant left in hot car less than a year apart at grandma’s house

One family. Two kids. Their deaths — both while in their grandmother Tracey's care. Hardee County grandmother charged after forgetting infant in a hot car.

www.abcactionnews.com

 

[ifindedout]

She was busy practicing the piano while Uriel was in the car:

Grandmother charged after two grandchildren die in her care less than a year apart

‘As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it. I will fight for them’

news.yahoo.com

Uriel Schock died in the back seat of an SUV, which was parked in the yard with windows rolled up while grandmother Tracey Nix practiced piano inside in Florida's Wauchula city, CNN reported.

The incident took place on 22 November last year when the temperature outside reached 32C.

Ms Nix, a former school principal, told detectives that she had "just forgotten" about the child after she drove home from lunch with friends, according to the Hardee County Sheriff's Office complaint affidavit.

---

State educational records indicate that Tracey was at the school up to the 2016-17 academic year inclusive, and the current principal has been in that position ever since.

 

[IDK]

Have you seen the police report from the drowning incident? It is embedded in this earlier article. Multiple red flags IMO:

Toddler drowns, infant left in hot car less than a year apart at grandma’s house

One family. Two kids. Their deaths — both while in their grandmother Tracey's care. Hardee County grandmother charged after forgetting infant in a hot car.

www.abcactionnews.com

The police report was redacted but it appears the grandmother was on 2-3 medications with side effects. Whatever condition she was taking them for is redacted. One week after the incident the deputy asked the grandparents to come to the office for a formal interview— she said she wanted to put away her Christmas decorations first??!! Very strange, IMO.

 

[alexwood]

The police report was redacted but it appears the grandmother was on 2-3 medications with side effects. Whatever condition she was taking them for is redacted. One week after the incident the deputy asked the grandparents to come to the office for a formal interview— she said she wanted to put away her Christmas decorations first??!! Very strange, IMO.

No doubt psychotropic meds -- believe me, I know of whence I speak. I am not disparaging her for having mental health issues. We've all had them (most of us), at times -- whether or not we were treated with medication. I've taken them. Some medications prescribed for mental health conditions can make you forgetful -- even simply antidepressant medication.

Makes me also wonder if her lunch with the girls consisted of alcohol. That, in conjunction with any psychotropic meds, could explain a lot. Falling asleep while the little fellow tottered off to the pond -- anti-anxiety medication? Who knows. But this is not normal behavior (IMO).

 

[alexwood]

And as an elementary school principal, she was in charge of many kids not her own, over many years, and should have been more alert:
Tracey Nix - Principal - North Wauchula Elementary | LinkedIn

Apparently retired now:


According to the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office complaint affidavit, Tracey, 65, told a detective that after she drove home from lunch with friends on November 22, she “just forgot” about 7-month-old Uriel Schock.

Uriel’s mother Kaila Nix, had gone to get her hair done that day and had asked her mom to babysit.

It wasn’t until one of Tracey’s grandsons arrived, the complaint affidavit said, that “all of a sudden” it “came across her head” that Uriel had been in the SUV all afternoon. Her husband, Nun Ney Nix, immediately began CPR.

Temperatures in Wauchula had reached 90 degrees that day. The Lexus SUV was parked in the yard with the windows rolled up.

Tracey, a former school principal in Hardee County, was charged with aggravated manslaughter. The pretrial hearing is scheduled for March 28.

edited to italicize

Well, maybe the pretrial and or/trial, if there is one (rather than a plea deal), will be televised -- it is Florida, after all ("The Sunshine State"). I would think a plea deal would be the outcome.

 

[DrQ]

IMHO There is no punishment strong enough for this Granny. This not the Nonna that I grew up with. NOT JUDGING but if my Mom was like this Granny, I doubt I would feel comfortable leaving my pet Ferret with her. I have had many bad reactions to medication. Certain meds for conditions can alter ones daily routine. We have a wonderful great grandbaby with special needs. I had open heart surgery 2 years ago. I no longer keep him because I don't want to put either one of us in a bad situation. There are times when parents don't have some one to watch the children and family makes us feel safe. It isn't easy. It makes me cringe to think of the loss of two children.

 

[Murphy1950]

Honestly if a was ever responsible for a child's death, other than an unavoidable accident, I would never ever put myself in the position again. I really don't get the parents, It isn't a matter of "trusting" mom, its common sense IMO. Once is enough.

 

[SuziQ]

I hadn't seen Tracey's mugshot anywhere, so I googled her name to find it. It is not a linkable source. It is disturbing. Something is off with this lady. Imo.

 

[SuziQ]

Mugshot at the below link

Daughter says mom should go to jail after her two toddlers died

Kaila Schock has tearfully requested her own mother go to prison over the death of her children Ezra, 16 months, and Uriel, seven months, who both died in her care.

mol.im

 

[Lilibet]

This is heartbreaking. No words.

 

[Telltale]

The police report was redacted but it appears the grandmother was on 2-3 medications with side effects. Whatever condition she was taking them for is redacted. One week after the incident the deputy asked the grandparents to come to the office for a formal interview— she said she wanted to put away her Christmas decorations first??!! Very strange, IMO.

The report also suggests that Tracy stated she had already fallen asleep with the little boy and the garage door had been left ajar before the grandfather left. Over his statement that she had been awake and he'd put a weight behind the door when he popped out.

Though police obviously decided she was the one who was culpible.

There has been more to this. Was she fit to have charge of a child? Did her mental health, medication regime or cognitive state make her fit as a caretaker? Did she get assessed after the first time? Were there any red flags in her quality of care between these two incidents?

It is possible for two terrible accidents to happen without a significant pattern of negligence. The odds are long, but the universe will roll those dice somewhere terrible as the idea is (and as little as people want to believe it.) I think a lot of investigation into her pattern of care will be needed.

I wonder if she does show a pattern of dangerous negligence or absent mindedness that the parents were aware of, if they will also catch some culpability. Grandparents and parents may differ in childrearing occasionally, but after one child's death, I would expect parents (if they could ever bring themselves to allow grandma to watch their kid again) to take a zero tolerance approach to any lapses.

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

Yikes!

I don't know whether to believe Grandma's medical cocktail, age, and possible dementia left her utterly incompetent, or if she just hated her grandkids for some reason.