Two young Florida children died in separate incidents while both were under the care of their grandmother. Now that woman’s daughter, the mother of the two children, says her mom should be behind bars.
“If I’m objective, she needs to go to prison,” Kaila Nix said in an interview with WSVN-TV. “As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it. I will fight for them.”
At the center of the heartbreaking story is 65-year-old Tracey Nix, Kaila’s mother. In December 2021, Kaila’s 16-month-old son Ezra drowned in a Florida pond while Tracey was napping, a death that was ruled accidental.
Then in November 2022, Tracey was babysitting her 7-month-old granddaughter, Uriel, but left her in the back seat of a Lexus SUV with the windows closed on a day when temperatures reached the 90s, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Tracey reportedly said that she had forgotten about the infant.
“How do you forget a little girl?” Drew Schock, Kaila’s partner, asked in an interview with ABC Action News.
Kaila said that after her son’s death in December 2021, she still wanted a relationship with her mother and believed in second chances. On November 1, she said she felt comfortable leaving her daughter with her mother.
But hours later, a police officer arrived at Kaila’s home and informed her that her child was dead, according to FOX 13.
“And I said, ‘I’m sorry, what? I know Ezra’s dead. Why are you here, like . . . what is this?’ ‘No, Kaila, your baby is dead,’” the grieving mother recalled the officer saying, according to ABC Action News.
Authorities have charged Tracey with aggravated manslaughter in connection with Uriel’s death, which carries a possible sentence of 12 to 30 years in prison upon conviction.
Ezra Schock Incident Report by Leigh Egan
“You know there are things you won’t be able to shield them from, but you never imagined what those things would be and just how damaging and impactful and how complicated they would end up being,” Kaila said.
William Fletcher, Tracey’s lawyer, said that Uriel’s death was “obviously an accident” and added that his client has been “totally devastated” by what happened to her grandchildren, according to FOX 13.
Fletcher has filed a motion to have Tracey treated at a mental health facility. A hearing on that motion is scheduled for April 27.
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[Feature Photo: Uriel (left) & Ezra/Handout; Robarts Family Funeral Home]
