A Missouri daycare director has been indicted for the death of a nonverbal 3-year-old boy with autism in her care, after allegedly covering him with a weighted blanket.
Tiffany Hedrick, 40, of Park Hills, was indicted by a St. Francois County grand jury on Thursday, Aug. 14, in connection with the May 16 death of Conrad Ashcraft, according to a press release from the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Hedrick faces charges of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, armed criminal action, and second-degree murder, the JCPO confirms.
According to the indictment obtained by PEOPLE, Hedrick allegedly caused Conrad’s death by asphyxiation after placing him “face down under a weighted blanket with his arms immobilized.” The filing claims she “knowingly caused the child to suffer physical injury and that [the child] died as a result of injuries sustained from this conduct” with the use of a “dangerous instrument, namely a weighted blanket.”
Conrad was discovered when his mother arrived to pick him up at Poppy’s Playhouse 2 in Park Hills.
On May 27, his father, Joshua Ashcraft, filed a petition for wrongful death seeking $25,000 against Hedrick, the daycare director, and the facility’s owner, former city councilwoman Spring Gray, according to court records.
The petition alleges that on May 16, Hedrick initially placed Conrad on his back while tucking the sides of his blanket under him, trapping his arms. When he struggled, she allegedly turned him onto his stomach “to further restrain” him.
“She again tightened the blanket, trapping [his] arms under the blanket” before covering him with a weighted blanket weighing about 18.2 pounds, the petition states.
The blanket, which did not belong to the family, was reportedly used by staff to “subdue small children at naptime.” Hedrick allegedly isolated Conrad in a hallway and restrained him further by placing her legs over his, failing to check on him until she left the daycare at 2 p.m.
Conrad’s mother, Tara Williams, filed a separate lawsuit against Poppy’s Playhouse LLC, alleging that an employee “applied weight and pressure” to Conrad’s chest or abdomen while he was lying down in an effort to make him sleep. The lawsuit also claims the daycare “failed to properly train and supervise its employees” and allegedly approved the use of such restraint techniques.
Conrad’s aunt, Lacey Hardie, told KDSK that he was nonverbal with autism. In his obituary, Conrad is remembered as a child who “loved swimming, Toy Story, Ms. Rachel, Cocomelon, and the movie Cars,” as well as pizza and spending time with family.
Hedrick was arrested and is being held without bond in the St. Francois County jail.
Following the incident, Gray resigned from her position as Ward 2 City Council member, Mayor Stacey Easter said in a statement on May 20. Williams alleges the daycare failed to recognize when her son “was suffocating or had suffocated” and that he “remained [lying] on the floor of Defendant’s facility for hours without any effort to determine his wellbeing.”
