A grandmother has been charged with the death of her granddaughter who sadly passed away at the same residence that her brother died at less than a year previously.
Tracey Nix, a 65-year-old former Florida principal returned home from lunch with her friends in November and began playing piano inside her home.
As reported by CNN, Tracey explained that she "just forgot" about her seven-month-old granddaughter, Uriel Schock, in the back of her SUV with the windows rolled up.
Tragically, with temperatures reaching 89 degrees Fahrenheit that day, Uriel lost her life in the back of the car while her grandmother was inside the home.
Kaila Nix, Uriel's mother, had entrusted the care of her daughter to Tracey while she attended a hair appointment.
Tracey became alerted to the fact that the seven-month-old was still in the car when her grandson came around and her husband, Nun Ney Nix, immediately administered CPR.
Sadly, this isn't the first loss that the family suffered at the location, with Uriel's brother Ezra drowning in a nearby pond less than a year previously when he was 16 months old.
Kaila opened up about her heartbreak to CNN, stating: "To think of the last moments of her life as a mother is gut-wrenching," with Uriel's father, Drew, adding: "And that it actually just f***ing happened twice. In our lifetime."
During the investigation into Ezra's tragic death, information was withheld from Kaila at her own request. "They withheld information from me, per my request, per my doctor’s advice, that any information that would work me up or make me emotionally distressful would be harmful to my unborn child," she explained.
"And I knew in that moment that as much as I loved [Ezra], that [Uriel] 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."
Following Ezra's death, Kaila and Drew didn't trust Tracey to look after the children unattended and wouldn't let their daughter go to her home.
"We were anxious, but I loved my mother and I am a daughter that wanted her mum in her life in some capacity, and in that moment, I thought that I could believe in second chances," Kaila explained.
"When I was told that Ezra’s death was an accident, some sliver child part of me, thought, okay good, I get to keep this mum. This grandmother. This person."
Tracey was asleep at the time that Ezra drowned, and it wasn't until Uriel sadly lost her life that Kaila was made aware that there were attempts to file charges of child neglect against the 65-year-old for the death of Ezra.
A comment from a police officer remains in the memory of the grieving mother, as she stated to CNN: "I was told unless I believed that my mum 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."
Tracey's lawyer, William Fletcher, has stated that the grandmother is "devastated" about the deaths of the two children. If she is found guilty of Uriel's death, she faces between 12 to 30 years behind bars.
