HARDEE COUNTY, Fla. — Tracey Nix used to be working towards the piano whilst her infant granddaughter used to be demise in the again seat of an SUV.
According to the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office grievance affidavit, Tracey, 65, advised a detective that once she drove house from lunch with buddies on November 22, she “just forgot” about 7-month-old Uriel Shock.
Uriel’s mom Kaila Nix, had long past to get her hair completed that day and had requested her mother to babysit.
It wasn’t till considered one of Tracey’s grandsons arrived, the grievance affidavit stated, that “all of a sudden” it “came across her head” that Uriel were in the SUV all afternoon. Her husband, Nun Nix, instantly started CPR.
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Temperatures in Wauchula had reached 90 levels that day. The Lexus SUV used to be parked in the backyard with the home windows rolled up.
Tracey, a former college essential in Hardee County, used to be charged with irritated manslaughter. The pretrial listening to is scheduled for March 28.
Uriel’s loss of life is prompting her folks, Kaila and Drew Schock, to percentage their circle of relatives’s tale with the ABC Action News I-Team. After figuring out their daughter at the health center, Drew stated he recollects status in the parking space, looking to grab what came about.
“To call to mind the ultimate moments of her lifestyles as a mom is gut-wrenching,” Kaila said.
“And that it in truth simply f—ing came about two times. In our lifetime,” Drew said.
Twice in less than a year. One family. Two kids. Their deaths — both while in their grandmother Tracey’s care.
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“Something Happened to Ezra”
Kaila and Drew grew up in Wauchula, a small the town in Hardee County with a inhabitants of less than 5,000. They reconnected 5 years in the past after what started as a highschool friendship. They quickly made up our minds to have youngsters and lift their kids the place that they had roots.
“This was the plan. We were going to have three kids and — you know what I mean, that was our goal,” Drew advised the I-Team.
“It’s really difficult to know that my mom is the one that, you know, broke his heart, Kaila said, handing Drew a tissue. “You know, my mother, my mother.”
Kaila stated her son’s tale has gotten misplaced in her daughter’s.
Uriel’s 16-month-old brother Ezra additionally died whilst he used to be at his grandmother Tracey’s house. He drowned in a within sight pond. Drew were given the decision from Kaila’s father 3 days prior to Christmas in 2021.
Kaila Schock
“He is going, ‘Something came about to Ezra,'” Drew said, who then called Kaila.
She said she rushed to her parents’ home as fast as she could, driving 85 miles an hour on country roads.
“I could see the helicopter landing,” Kaila stated. “I didn’t glance. When there used to be a prevent signal.”
Kaila, who was six months pregnant at the time, was in a head-on crash with another driver.
“All of my airbags went off, I don’t keep in mind how I were given out, however I were given out and began operating to my dad or mum’s house and at this level, I don’t have sneakers. I’m simply operating,” Kaila said. “That used to be my desperation to get to my son.”
Kaila said during the investigation into her son’s death, her doctor told her she needed to make a choice.
“They withheld information from me, consistent with my request, consistent with my physician’s recommendation, that any information that will paintings me up or make me emotionally distressful can be destructive to my unborn kid,” Kaila said. “And I knew in that moment that as much as I loved him, that she was a real life and she was coming and it would be wrong of me to lose her over him and hurt her and take her.”
Kaila stated the whole thing came about so rapid.
Kaila Nix
“There wasn’t a moment to get a grip of the death of my son before there was the life of my daughter. And how beautiful is that, her name is Uriel, and it’s a Hebrew name and it means, ‘God is my light’ and she came out so small, she was beautiful and just radiant.”
Kaila and Drew had never seen the incident report detailing how Ezra drowned the afternoon his grandmother Tracey fell asleep.
A detective wrote that a complaint affidavit for child neglect would be filed and forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office for additional evaluation. Kaila stated it wasn’t till fees had been filed in opposition to her mom in the loss of life of her daughter Uriel that she realized that they had tried to report fees in her son Ezra’s loss of life.
Incident Report for the dea… by way of ABC Action News
Kaila told the I-Team she will never forget what a deputy told her.
“I was told unless I believed that my mom held my son’s head under the water and intentionally killed him, that there is nothing else that they can do about my son’s death.”
In a statement, the State Attorney’s Office told the I-Team, “In circumstances involving the unintended drowning of a infant, Florida appellate courts have said that a one-time lapse of judgment would no longer identify culpable negligence of the caretaker. (However, if the caretaker used to be proven to have many times allowed the infant get entry to to the water danger and no longer taken steps to stop, that will identify culpable negligence). In the 2021 incident, there used to be inadequate proof to determine culpable negligence. The 2022 incident is factually distinguishable and fees had been filed.”
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“You couldn’t fathom it happening twice”
Kaila and Drew stated that once Ezra’s loss of life, they “didn’t trust (Tracey) at all.” And would by no means let their 4-year-old firstborn kid pass to their grandparent’s house.
“We were anxious, but I loved my mother and I am a daughter that wanted her mom in her life in some capacity, and in that moment, I thought that I could believe in second chances,” Kaila stated. “When I was told that Ezra’s death was an accident, some sliver child part of me, thought, ‘Ok good, I get to keep this mom. This grandmother. This person.'”
Kaila and Drew had been protecting.
“The very minor amount of time that she saw my daughter was almost always supervised,” Kaila stated of her mother.
Kaila Schock
On Uriel’s ultimate day, Kaila stated she knew her mother’s plans.
“Uri was at a restaurant with other people that I knew and trusted, they were in the friend group and were keeping her safe, and I had supervised many, many, many interactions that his point at my house,” Kaila stated.
Within hours, anyone from the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed up at her house.
He stated, “‘Your baby is dead.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry, what? I know Ezra’s dead. Why are you here, like what — what is this?’ ‘No Kaila, your baby is dead.’”
“You couldn’t fathom it happening twice,” Drew stated. “Somebody has to answer for that.”
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“There’s no winners here”
“Because somebody dies doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody has to pay,” stated William Fletcher, the legal professional representing Nix. “This obviously was an accident and the question was — is it culpable negligence?”
Fletcher told the I-Team that Nix will not be making any public statements.
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“Tracey loves her daughter and her son-in-law and all of her children and her grandchildren,” Fletcher said, adding that she is “totally devastated” by their deaths.
Fletcher said he chose to take on the case because it was so incredible.
“I couldn’t conceive — as a parent when my child was growing up, I always worried. I mean, I was almost obsessed that something would happen. How anybody handles that, I don’t know. And I know that mom here has two children to have to deal with, and I just — I can’t conceive of the pain,” Fletcher said.
He continued, “I got a couple grandkids and you feel the same way about your grandkids, so the parents are hurting, but the grandparents are hurting too. So there’s no winners here. Certainly no winners. Everybody, I mean, it’s just total devastation. Terrible situation. And so I met them, saw how good of people they are, they’re very fine people, and decided I’d take it.”
Fletcher advised the I-Team he hasn’t ever handled a case like this in any method.
“I know you’ve heard sometimes people have been struck by lightning two different times. And that’s the way I look at this case,” he stated.
Fletcher stated the jury must focal point at the information of this one case.
“Looking at what really happened, as far as Uriel, the baby girl,” Fletcher stated. “And deciding, is this culpable negligence?”
“I need justice for my son”
Fletcher said if found guilty, Tracey could be sentenced to between 12-30 years in prison.
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“If I’m objective — she needs to go to prison. As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it,” Kaila stated. “I will fight for them.”
Drew stated the entire explanation why they are sharing their tale is that they would like justice.
“I want justice for my son. I want justice because he didn’t get that. And now I got to sit here and expose this. That way, I don’t let what happened to my son happen with my daughter. And just get off scot-free because I couldn’t live with that as a parent,” Drew stated.
Kaila stated she would wish Ezra and Uriel to understand that they cherished them and “that we’re sorry. Because they had been stunning kids they usually had been taken by way of anyone that we believed used to be worthy of consider.”