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

[LisaEm]

RSBM for brevity.

Either I didn't read the article carefully first time or it's been redacted since then - I just realise now that the grandma was having lunch with friends and that's why the daughter trusted G'ma to look after the baby - the friends were reliable. SMH about G'ma.

The poor daughter and her husband and the poor surviving child too - lost 2 siblings.

Yes, I read that too.

 

[fred&edna]

'Can't help but wonder if mom assumed grandmother would be with these lunch friends for the duration of her hair appointment? And, I wonder if these friends noticed and shared anything "concerning" (about TN's behavior or attitude) with LE.

 

[PayrollNerd]

My word this is a bizarre case. So many opportunities to protect this second baby.

Case: 252022CF000289CFAXMX
NIX, TRACEY HOWARD

ONLINE COURT RECORDS SEARCH

 

[fridaybaker]

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??

She wasn’t thinking. She’s 65 years old. She’s not in the habit of being in charge of small children daily. Many 65 year-olds are more than capable of taking care of small children, but it very much depends on the individual. I’m not 65 yet, but I’m quite forgetful, at least compared to my younger self.

It’s actually quite common for even parents to forget little ones in a car. Thankfully, it usually doesn’t result in death, but for a person who isn’t used to having that day to day responsibility for a little one/one’s, and especially as we age, it just becomes much more of a challenge. I don’t think many young people are aware of what a difference of 30 years is: 30 years old vs. 60 years old is very different, at least in many cases.

I feel terrible for the parents and the grandmother, but I don’t think a charge of homicide is inappropriate. Homicide requires intention, and it sure seems like an accident to me.

MOO

 

[fridaybaker]

I do get wanting to trust again…

I don’t get it at all. Did she think her mother did it on purpose? If not, how is it about trust? It’s about competency.

65 is not 30 and it’s a lot to ask of a 65 year old who hasn’t been routinely responsible for the care of small children to do so. Unless there are factors that we don’t know about, I find it offensive for her to want her mother to go to prison. Really? Her mother is the only one responsible?

 

[fridaybaker]

I don't know, my Mom routinely loses her keys, runs out of gas, forgets to pay bills, ADHD x 10, she has always been this way, but she sticks to kids like glue. I never felt like my kids were unsafe with her.

Yes, but not everyone is the same. I’m not 65, but I would be hard pressed to care for little ones. The ultimate responsibility lies with the parents and the judgements they make about whether or not someone is capable of to fit. Clearly, grandma had shown in the past that she wasn’t up to it.

 

[IDK]

It’s actually quite common for even parents to forget little ones in a car.

MOO

Snipped by me. IMO, I totally agree with the above—the article I posted earlier noted that ever since the guidelines changed and babies are now placed in the rear seat facing backwards, instead of in the front passenger seat, the incidence of hot car deaths increased dramatically.

 

[Lusitana]

One time is a tragic accident, two times is suspicious.

 

[mickey2942]

I am always confused by "hot car deaths", was it malfeasance? Or genuine forgetfulness?

My daughter told me that she recently rented a car in Florida that annoyed her, because it had a reminder to check the backseat for the baby. Every single time she stopped the car. Sounds like car manufacturers are adding safety devices to stop hot car deaths.

Sensors, 4D imaging, flashing lights: How automakers are trying to prevent hot car deaths

Automakers are working on advanced technology to prevent pediatric and pet heatstroke.

abcnews.go.com

 

[alexwood]

She wasn’t thinking. She’s 65 years old. She’s not in the habit of being in charge of small children daily. Many 65 year-olds are more than capable of taking care of small children, but it very much depends on the individual. I’m not 65 yet, but I’m quite forgetful, at least compared to my younger self.

It’s actually quite common for even parents to forget little ones in a car. Thankfully, it usually doesn’t result in death, but for a person who isn’t used to having that day to day responsibility for a little one/one’s, and especially as we age, it just becomes much more of a challenge. I don’t think many young people are aware of what a difference of 30 years is: 30 years old vs. 60 years old is very different, at least in many cases.

I feel terrible for the parents and the grandmother, but I don’t think a charge of homicide is inappropriate. Homicide requires intention, and it sure seems like an accident to me.

MOO

[BBM]
Did you mean to say, you don't think a charge of homicide is appropriate?

 

[fridaybaker]

[BBM]
Do you mean to say, you don't think a charge of homicide is appropriate?

Yes. Thank you for correcting!

 

[IDK]

If this case goes to trial, I am curious if the events and death of Ezra would be allowed as testimony? Since TN has only been charged in Uriel’s death, not sure if the prior death could be presented to the court?

I’m kind of hoping they can work out a plea deal of some kind. The parents have been through so much already. I’m not sure how they would feel about it though. IMO only.

 

[LisaEm]

One time is a tragic accident, two times is suspicious.

I agree.

 

[Lusitana]

If this case goes to trial, I am curious if the events and death of Ezra would be allowed as testimony? Since TN has only been charged in Uriel’s death, not sure if the prior death could be presented to the court?

I’m kind of hoping they can work out a plea deal of some kind. The parents have been through so much already. I’m not sure how they would feel about it though. IMO only.

Well, there will be suffering regardless what happens in court. Two of her daughter's children died while in her care due to alleged negligence. There's just no way around it. Whatever happens to her won't bring those poor babies back to life. A mother and a father lost two children to very preventable deaths.

 

[redabby]

One thing I don't understand with the little boys drowning is why the grandmother was blamed over the grandfather. She says she was asleep when he left and he says she was awake, she says the little boy hadn't seemed to use door handles and he says he did. And he says the door was shut and secure and she says it was ajar. So she is ultimately saying that she dozed off but the grandfather had not secured the door , where he is saying he secured the door but she opened it for some reason and then went back to sleep.???

 

[Imogenia]

I wasn’t sure whether to post this or not, since it deals only with hot car deaths, and Tracey Nix was involved with two different baby deaths.
I decided to share, just because it is so well written and offers different perspectives and examples of when hot car deaths are charged as crimes, or just treated as a tragic accident:

“The defendant was an immense man, well over 300 pounds, but in the gravity of his sorrow and shame he seemed larger still. He hunched forward in the sturdy wooden armchair that barely contained him, sobbing softly into tissue after tissue, a leg bouncing nervously under the table. In the first pew of spectators sat his wife, looking stricken, absently twisting her wedding band. The room was a sepulcher. Witnesses spoke softly of events so painful that many lost their composure. When a hospital emergency room nurse described how the defendant had behaved after the police first brought him in, she wept. He was virtually catatonic, she remembered, his eyes shut tight, rocking back and forth, locked away in some unfathomable private torment. He would not speak at all for the longest time, not until the nurse sank down beside him and held his hand. It was only then that the patient began to open up, and what he said was that he didn’t want any sedation, that he didn’t deserve a respite from pain, that he wanted to feel it all, and then to die.

The charge in the courtroom was manslaughter, brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia. No significant facts were in dispute. Miles Harrison, 49, was an amiable person, a diligent businessman and a doting, conscientious father until the day last summer -- beset by problems at work, making call after call on his cellphone -- he forgot to drop his son, Chase, at day care. The toddler slowly sweltered to death, strapped into a car seat for nearly nine hours in an office parking lot in Herndon in the blistering heat of July.

It was an inexplicable, inexcusable mistake, but was it a crime? That was the question for a judge to decide.“

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_12

These hot car deaths of babies or young children are truly the most heartbreaking thing I have ever read about.

It has happened to normally the most conscientious of parents, or grandparents, but something happened to cause a problem with their memory, or they had a false memory of dropping the child off, but had not done so.

If a person is not routinely driving with a baby in the car, it is apparently very easy to forget that the baby is strapped into a seat in the back.

Lack of sleep, a fight with a partner, trying to do too much, have all been cited as possible factors.

I would like to think that I could never, under any circumstances, forget such precious cargo.

However, I have learned from the dreadful experience of a nurse who also thought that she could never do this ...

I have also learned from the doctors who have claimed that a person’s brain can be ‘tricked’ causing such memory problems, and those at risk are the ones who think that they could never do this.

 

[Telltale]

These hot car deaths of babies or young children are truly the most heartbreaking thing I have ever read about.

It has happened to normally the most conscientious of parents, or grandparents, but something happened to cause a problem with their memory, or they had a false memory of dropping the child off, but had not done so.

If a person is not routinely driving with a baby in the car, it is apparently very easy to forget that the baby is strapped into a seat in the back.

Lack of sleep, a fight with a partner, trying to do too much, have all been cited as possible factors.

I would like to think that I could never, under any circumstances, forget such precious cargo.

However, I have learned from the dreadful experience of a nurse who also thought that she could never do this ...

I have also learned from the doctors who have claimed that a person’s brain can be ‘tricked’ causing such memory problems, and those at risk are the ones who think that they could never do this.

I could do it. I have ADHD, breaking a well worn routine can completely short circuit my brain. My sister who also has ADHD forgot the dog in the car for a hour once (dog was fine.) It is terrifyingly easy with the right distraction at the wrong time. I have had my brain hop-skip-jump over appointments, car keys, work shifts, and all sorts of other things.

I'd get some kind of baby alarmed seat because I'd be terrified of being prone to exactly this sort of thing.

Of course nobody wants to imagine they could do something like that because it's terrible to contemplate. The idea that any good loving parent or carer might have a brain skip and leave their child to a horrible death while they pottered about, oblivious. It's horrifying, much more of a comfort to think they were bad parents because if it only happens to bad parents it can't happen to you.

 

[IDK]

One thing I don't understand with the little boys drowning is why the grandmother was blamed over the grandfather. She says she was asleep when he left and he says she was awake, she says the little boy hadn't seemed to use door handles and he says he did. And he says the door was shut and secure and she says it was ajar. So she is ultimately saying that she dozed off but the grandfather had not secured the door , where he is saying he secured the door but she opened it for some reason and then went back to sleep.???

This bothers me too. I wish the investigators at the time had dug a little deeper, IMO. Did they ask the parents if Ezra was opening doors at his own home? ( though they may not have had the lever type) And if he was, why not install safety latches at the grandparents home?

A pond on the premises is a huge safety risk, just like a pool would be.

Some type of corroboration at least that this was the most likely scenario would have been very helpful. Again, IMO.

 

[x_files]

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.

Why wasn't the grandfather also responsible? He's an adult correct? When his wife took a nap he should have been on duty!

 

[x_files]

One time is a tragic accident, two times is suspicious.

65 isn't elderly or even that old unless there are mental competency issues, to begin with.
If the grandma doesn't have medical, or memory issues or is on prescription drugs or illegal drugs that cause memory issues then really what is the reason this happened TWICE in less than a year?
Did they ever investigate the other adult she is living with?
That adult should be held responsible too.