A 7-month-old infant died in a heated care months after her elder sibling drowned in a pool, both incidents occurring while they were in the care of their grandma.
Tracey Nix, 65, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter following the terrible murder of her grandchildren.
On November 22, Uriel Schock died in the back seat of an SUV while unattended by grandma Tracey Nix in Florida.
According to the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office complaint document, the grandmother, a former school principal, “just forgot” about the newborn after driving home from lunch and going to practice piano, leaving Uriel alone all afternoon in 32C heat with the windows up.
The horrifying account comes only three months after Uriel’s brother, Ezra, drowned in a pond at Nix’s home when he was 16 months old and left alone.
Tracey Nix was caring for her granddaughter on Tuesday while her daughter, Kaila Nix, had her hair done.
Kaila and her partner Drew Schock “didn’t trust [Tracey] at all” after Ezra’s death and would never allow their four-year-old child stay with her mother.
“We were worried, but I loved my mother, and I am a daughter who wanted her mother to be a part of her life in some way, and in that moment, I thought I could believe in second chances,” Kaila said.
Nix’s “very minor amount of time” with Uriel, she added, was “almost always supervised.”
However, on November 22, 2022, Uriel was left unattended until one of Tracey’s grandsons arrived and “all of a sudden” she realized she had left the infant in the car all day.
Nun Ney Nix, her husband, failed attempted CPR on the infant.
On March 28, 2023, Nix attended a pretrial hearing.
Kaila said WFTS-Tampa, “If I’m being objective, she needs to go to prison.” It pains me to say this as her daughter. I demand it as their mother.”
They stated that they would like Ezra and Uriel to know “that we love them and are sorry.”
Just days before Christmas 2021, Ezra Nix perished in a pond near Tracey’s house while alone.
Tracey was at home with Ezra when he died, according to a Hardee County police report.
She’d slept off on the couch in the living room while her partner conducted errands. She called her husband when she awoke and couldn’t find the child.
Tracey then discovered young Ezra lying face down in the huge pond nearby, roughly knee-deep.
She did not contact 911 or begin CPR, as she was taught to do as an educator.
Tracey’s husband then dialed Drew’s number, who informed the child’s mother that “something happened to Ezra.”
Kaila, who was six months pregnant at the time, sped to her mother’s house, reaching 85 mph on country roads and colliding with another car.
When she saw the chopper land overhead, she said she rushed out and ran to her mother’s house without shoes in “desperation to get my son.”
Tracey was not charged because of the “one-time lapse in judgment.”
Kaila, a distressed mother, shared her sadness on Facebook after her baby was taken off life support and died in her arms on December 23, 2021.
Three months later, in March 2022, Uriel was born.
She said that two hours after leaving her mother with Uriel to attend an appointment, she was informed by the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office that her mother had abandoned her daughter “to die alone in her car.”
“Completely broken,” she wrote in November of last year. Traumatized. Enraged. Devastated. Overwhelmed.”
She is now looking for justice for Uriel and Ezra.
Tracey “did commit the offence of child neglect,” according to a May police report, falling asleep while babysitting Ezra and naming redacted medications as possible factors.
Her husband informed police that Ezra kept opening doors.
Nun had sealed the garage door and placed a metal door stop behind it, he explained.
The doorstop, according to Tracey, was not in use.
Then, in November 2022, local police returned to inform the mother that her baby had died.
“‘I’m sorry, what?’ I said. I know Ezra is no longer alive. What are you doing here, why are you here?’Kaila remembered.
“No, Kaila, your baby is dead,” she was told.
Drew, Kaila’s partner, stated, “You couldn’t imagine it happening twice.” Someone needs to take responsibility for that.”
Tracey’s attorney informed ABC Action News’ i-Team that Nix would not be making public statements.
He added that Tracey was “completely devastated” by the killings.
