A daycare should be a place where our children — the most precious things we have — are safe, protected, and cared for. Parents trust the staff, the facility, and those in charge to keep their children out of harm’s way.
But for 3-year-old Conrad Ashcraft and his family, something at his daycare would become an unimaginable death trap.
On May 16, 2025, Conrad was found dead at the daycare beneath a weighted blanket. What staff reportedly said about the heartbreaking incident is difficult to comprehend.
Last year, a Missouri daycare director was accused of causing the death of a 3-year-old autistic boy who was in her care, allegedly suffocating him with a weighted blanket.
Months later, Tiffany Hedrick was indicted by a St. Francois County grand jury on charges including abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, armed criminal action, and second-degree murder. Hedrick pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Arms allegedly restrained
According to the indictment obtained by PEOPLE, prosecutors allege that Conrad died from asphyxiation after Hedrick placed him face down beneath a weighted blanket while his arms were restrained.
The indictment further alleges that Hedrick “knowingly caused the child to suffer physical injury and that (the child) died as a result of injuries sustained from this conduct,” allegedly using a “dangerous instrument, namely a weighted blanket.”
Prosecutors allege that Conrad was separated from the other children during nap time and taken into a hallway. Hedrick reportedly claimed that the little boy was refusing to sleep.
