Grandmother Killed Her Grandchildren Twice Through Carelessness

1. Overview

A Florida grandmother, Tracey Nix, lost two grandchildren in her care: once in late 2021 and again in November 2022. In the first incident, her 16-month-old grandson, Ezra, got out of the house and drowned in a pond. In the second, her seven-month-old granddaughter, Uriel Schock, died after being left in a car on a hot day. The title comes from an anecdote in which, when a sheriff came to tell the baby’s mother that her daughter had died, she reportedly replied, “I know Ezra is dead.”

Prosecutors did not charge Nix over the first incident, and the child’s mother, Kayla, gave her own mother “a second chance.” But that chance ended with a second death in the same family. In January 2025, a jury found Nix not guilty of aggravated manslaughter but guilty of leaving a child in a vehicle. That April, she was sentenced to five years in prison. After the case became known, some online responses reportedly blamed the baby’s mother.

2. First Incident: Ezra’s Drowning

One day in 2021, three days before Christmas, Nix fell asleep while caring for her 16-month-old grandson, Ezra. According to a post by the X (formerly Twitter) account Creepy.org, Nix was a former school principal. When she woke up, Ezra was already gone.

The post says the child opened the door, went under a fence, and headed for a nearby pond, where he drowned. A Reddit post also summarized the incident, saying that in 2021 Nix fell asleep while caring for her 16-month-old grandson and the child left the house and drowned in a pond. Kayla was six months pregnant when Ezra died.

Prosecutors did not charge Nix. Rather than punish her mother, Kayla decided to give her a second chance. A few months later, she gave birth to her daughter, Uriel.

3. Second Incident: Uriel’s Death

In November 2022, Kayla left her seven-month-old daughter, Uriel, with her mother so she could get her hair done. According to the Creepy.org post, after having lunch with friends, Nix drove home with the baby in the back seat, parked, and went inside. She reportedly forgot that the baby was still in the car.

The post says the outside temperature was 32 degrees and the windows were rolled up. Uriel was trapped in the car for several hours and had already died by the time paramedics arrived. FOX 13 also reported that the baby died after being left in a hot car in Hardee County, Florida, in November 2022.

There is a story that, on the day Uriel died, a sheriff knocked on Kayla’s door to tell her about the baby’s death. Confused and not understanding what was happening, Kayla reportedly replied, “I know Ezra is dead.” However, this anecdote appears only in the Creepy.org post and responses quoting it, and has not been corroborated by separate reporting.

4. Trial and Sentencing

Nix was charged over the second incident. In January 2025, the jury found her not guilty of aggravated manslaughter, the most serious charge. However, it found her guilty of leaving a child in a vehicle, causing serious bodily injury.

After an emotional sentencing hearing, the judge sentenced Nix to five years in prison. FOX 13 reported this on April 3, 2025, nearly two and a half years after the baby’s death. The YouTube video by COURT TV, “Victim's Mother Speaks After Tracey Nix Verdict,” appears from its title to show the baby’s mother speaking after the verdict. However, the video description confirms only that Nix was found not guilty of aggravated manslaughter; it does not establish what the mother said.

5. Online Reactions

The case drew reactions in online communities in Korea and elsewhere, including X and theqoo. The X post has received 1.54 million views. One user wrote that Kayla had learned of another child’s death while still trying to recover from the first loss, and said that the reply, “I know Ezra is dead,” was heartbreaking. Another user wrote that bodycam footage of the second incident was on YouTube and was extremely difficult to watch.

Comments on a Korean theqoo post reportedly included many people insulting the baby’s mother. The poster added that the grandmother did not have dementia and continued to live without problems after the incident. Many also said they could not understand how a 16-month-old child could open the door and leave. On English-language X, this point was also turned into a meme combining the phrase “A 16-month-old baby opened the door?” with a photo of actor Matthew McConaughey looking shocked.

6. Authenticity debate

Reactions suggest a divide over whether the two deaths should be seen as unforgivable negligence by Nix or as tragic lapses that do not warrant criminal blame. The issue could also extend to whether the mother was responsible for leaving her second child in Nix’s care after the first incident.

6.1. Those who believe she should be held fully accountable

This view begins with the fact that the first incident had already served as a warning to Nix. Having lost one grandchild, she should have been far more careful when caring for another infant less than a year later. Yet she parked the car and went inside with a seven-month-old baby still in the back seat. The theqoo post says Nix did not have dementia and continued to live without problems after the incident. If that is true, cognitive decline is difficult to cite as an excuse. The jury did find her guilty of child neglect, and the judge sentenced her to five years in prison.

The mother has also been blamed. The many comments insulting the baby’s mother on theqoo reflect this line of thinking. The criticism is that, after her first child died when the grandmother fell asleep, leaving her second child with the same person was a careless decision. From this perspective, the second incident was not a sudden misfortune, but the result of two adults ignoring the warning signs left by the first.

6.2. Those who caution against excessive condemnation

The opposing view sees the incident as the result of a lapse in memory rather than malice or indifference. It cites reports that Nix forgot the baby was in the car, as well as the jury’s decision to find her not guilty of aggravated manslaughter, the most serious charge. Prosecutors did not even charge Nix over the first incident. This view holds that it is excessive to equate Nix falling asleep and waking up during the first incident with forgetting the baby after lunch during the second, as if both were acts of intentional harm.

Kayla’s decision to give her mother a second chance also carries weight for those who take this view. If the person who knew her mother best and suffered the greatest loss chose to trust her once more, the argument goes, outsiders should not dismiss that choice as careless. This does not erase Nix’s guilt, but neither does a prison sentence necessarily resolve every question of responsibility.

Neither perspective disputes the basic facts. FOX 13’s reporting confirms the second baby’s death, the guilty verdict, and the prison sentence. However, the sources alone do not settle the extent of Nix’s duty of care or how the mother’s decision to leave the child with her should be judged. A summary in one Reddit post cuts off after a phrase beginning with “8” when describing the second baby, so it cannot be confirmed whether it matches the reported age of seven months. Community accounts of the details should be read in comparison with news reports.

7. Trivia

• An English-language X post in the form of a meme questioned the claim that a “16-month-old baby opened the door.”
• One user mentioned that bodycam footage of the second incident was available on YouTube. The user said that even though they were not usually affected by tragic videos, they found this one difficult to watch.