Death of three-year-old occurs at Park Hills daycare
Three-year-old Conrad Ashcraft was found deceased by his mother on May 16 at Poppy’s Playhouse on Mitchell Street in Park Hills. Death investigations are underway. Photo by Tara Williams
On May 16, the shocking death of three-year-old Conrad Ashcraft at Poppy’s Playhouse in Park Hills left a family in mourning and the surrounding community in outrage.
Family members told the Daily Journal that Conrad was a non-verbal child with autism. They said that at approximately 4:15 p.m., on Friday, Tara Williams arrived at the Mitchell Street daycare to pick her son up as usual, and staff indicated that he was still asleep from his midday nap. She found him on the floor near a bathroom, covered with a weighted blanket, in a prone position. When she reached out to wake him and rolled him over, his body was stiff, his skin was cold, and he was not breathing. The family member said the child’s arms and face had already become a dark purplish discoloration, indicating that Conrad had been deceased for more than several hours.
Other parents also arrived to pick up their children and watched the tragic drama unfold. The mother began screaming, and the staff also started screaming and crying. Someone ran to the other building for director/owner Spring Gray, who instructed the employee to call 911 while she began life-saving efforts with an automated external defibrillator (AED).
An eyewitness said police and EMS arrived within minutes and rushed to assess the situation. The witness said a paramedic ran out of the building with Conrad in his arms, and the child was immediately put in an ambulance. The mother called family members who lived nearby and were also able to arrive within minutes to be with her.
A family member said they overheard part of a conversation between a law enforcement official and a daycare staff member. The official asked about marks or impressions on the boy’s lower body. Allegedly, the staff member said the boy did not want to take his mid-day nap, so they covered him with the weighted blanket and held him down on the floor with their legs until “he was still.” According to information obtained by the Daily Journal in interviews with parents of children enrolled at Poppy’s, this is a common practice at the facility and most often employed by a specific staff member. In other interviews with parents who asked their children about the day’s events, they all reported that “Conrad was in trouble for not taking his nap,” and the staff member either “sat on him” or “held him down with her legs” because of it.
Conrad was assumed by staff to be asleep on the floor for approximately three or four hours until the time his mother arrived to discover him deceased. Other children at daycare were around him during this time, some also napping on the floor near him, and later witnessed the arrival of law enforcement and emergency medical personnel who “took their friend away in the ambulance.”
There are many unanswered questions related to the child’s death. In the aftermath, information regarding apparent abuse of children has surfaced, as well as questionable policies and procedures at the Desloge and Park Hills locations. What is known is that an autopsy is being performed to establish a cause of death, and law enforcement has opened an investigation into the child’s death. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Childhood, Child Care Compliance and Regulation sections provide regulatory oversight to child care providers. They will conduct their investigation in conjunction with law enforcement or independently of other agencies.
Immediately upon learning of the death, the Daily Journal attempted to contact Gray, but has received no response to the request for a statement. A parent whose child attends the Park Hills early childhood program shared two communications that Director Gray sent to all parents via a communication platform called ProCare.
The first, sent Friday evening, stated, “I’m sure a lot of you have seen on social media that there has been a medical emergency at Poppy’s Playhouse 2, at the preschool building. At this time, we cannot go into any further details, but please trust that my staff and I took all protocol measures. We will remain closed until further notice. As soon as I am able to get more information, I will do that. Thank you.”
The second message, sent on Saturday, said, “I apologize for not getting a message to all my parents sooner. With the events that took place yesterday, I am just beside myself, and I haven’t been able to think clearly. As you know, a medical emergency occurred yesterday at our preschool location in Park Hills and resulted in this tragic outcome. Please trust that myself and my staff followed protocol and immediately took action to do everything we could.”
Coplin Funeral Home will handle funeral arrangements. The family has not requested it, but community members who desire to make financial contributions toward Conrad’s final expenses can do so directly to the funeral home or at any First State Community Bank location to the “Conrad Ashcraft Benefit Account.” Several fundraisers are being planned, and that information will be shared as the Daily Journal can verify them.
This is a developing story. The names of persons providing information will be withheld to protect their privacy. The Daily Journal is conducting research and information gathering and will publish updates as new information becomes available.
Lisa Brotherton-Barnes is a Daily Journal and Farmington Press staff writer. She can be reached at lbarnes@dailyjournalonline.com.
I cannot believe they didn’t check on that baby for five hours and then the poor mother had to come in and find him gone. I’m hearing the daycare is open. I hope not and if people take their children there they’re crazy these people all need to be in jail. I pray for the baby’s family.
I want to extend condolences to Conrad’s family and also the community. May God be with you all as you try to make sense out of all that happened to such an innocent child. It shakes me to the core and hurts my heart so, to know that this happened to a child where he was supposed to be taken care of and loved by others until he was picked up. Shame on the staff that knew fellow a fellow employee(s) treated anyone like that should have notified the state immediately. All employees are MANDATED WORKERS. Turning a blind eye to what has been going on does not make you innocent.
The mother will forever be heart broken over finding her little one like that. I can’t even imagine.
No, I do not know the family but was told by a friend what happened. The facility that was reponsible for little Conrad should have stepped up immediately and had all bills, related to Conrad’s death, sent to them immediately.
Sincerely,
Linda Osborne
St. Louis, MO
I’m very happy that at least the daily journal has released this tragic story for this family I pray justice will be served
I worked in day care never knew that their was a policy to hold a child down till they slept.Unbelevable this was allowed , and a weighted blanket. Hope they are charged this devastating my heart goes out to family.
Justice for Conrad!! My heart is in such turmoil! They all need to be held accountable. No daycare would ever leave a child that long without checking on them. There is more to this story than has been told.
What I think is out of character is that the owner of Poppy’s Playhouse #2 took her family to Florida the day after this incident. That in my eyes shows no remorse for this tragedy. I do not personally know the mother, I do know the father. This event is something the parents will never fully recover from, what about his siblings? They lost a brother! As for the person that physically held this child down I hope you rot in a prison cell, you are a disgrace to all women!
This is so sad if a parent would treat a child this way it would be child abuse and dfs would have been called this being a daycare there’s no excuse it’s just plain abuse they all need charges put on them the worker’s that stood by and let it happen are just as guilty prayers for the family and the ones that witnessed it
Amen to that! We 100% agree on that.
My deepest condolences to the Ashcraft family. This is heartbreaking and for the mother to be the one to find her son is beyond comprehension. If the authorities don’t step in and take control of this tragedy another family will possibly suffer the same fate. No child should be left unattended to for this amount of time in a daycare. The family is in my prayers.
Holding them down until they go to sleep is about the most crazy thing that I have ever heard of. They are not animals, they are children. The owner is at fault for allowing this to happen.
As a grandmother of a child who is noncommunicatable (one who does not talk) and is autistic, I wonder if any of the staff have been educated about autism. If not, why would they accept this child in their program. People and day care providers should all be educated about autism.
Absolutely true. That is NOT the way to treat any child
Prayers to the family for their tragic loss. For a parent to come in and find their child dead is the possible worst thing that can happen. To the staff not checking on that baby after force holding down with your legs and heavy blankets you should all be accountable for your actions. I believe since it is an incident that happened where your child is to be taken care of and they were not. I feel the facility should be shut down until farther notice and should be responsible for the child’s expenses. If they were caring they would offer that to the family. Senseless action caused the life of a child.
I have a grandson who is non verbal Autistic and this is just disgusting that they did this to this child. They should all have charges filed on them, none are innocent. You should never sit on a child, or hold their legs down so they can’t move. I hope this family gets justice for Conrad. No excuse for any of these people at the daycare. Prayers for this family.
🙏🙏🙏🙏😇
My deepest and sincerest condolences to the family of this little angel taken too soon.This is my opinion and only mine of course, But the funeral arrangements should 100% be paid by the daycare facility AT THE VERY LEAST. My personal experience with daycares are nothing but good ones. For this HORRIBLE thing to happen to anyone’s family is somthing that should never happen.100% This should be looked into by state officials and everyone in that facility should be held accountable PERIOD.No child should be left unattended for that amount of time without being regularly checked on. DO BETTER AMERICA .GOD BLESS THIS FAMILY & REST IN PEACE 🙏 ANGEL
Not checking a child during a nap is insane much less after five bloody hours! I have never heard of children in a day care facility letting children sleep for more than an hour and even then they are being constantly monitored. This makes me sick to know that this child’s family trusted them to take care of him and the facility failed miserably.
It doesn’t surprise me one bit that this happened due to knowing first hand how care facilities in this state neglect and abuse the elderly. How are we to trust them with our babies? So called “care” facilities are seriously lacking in their responsibilities to hire and to continue to educate the providers that apply for these jobs, they will hire anyone fresh off the street and just out of jail with no licensing or credentials to take care of anyone. It’s disgusting that the state doesn’t do more inspections and crack down on the neglect and abuse in these places.
May little Conrad rest in peace, may his family obtain justice for his loss. May the person that caused his death find no mercy whatsoever and also the place where this happened and the people that ran it, never earn another dime or have any peace for the rest of their sorry existence.
I’m so sorry for the families loss. The daycare employees should have checked on Conrad. But I feel like they should have never sat on him. Adult weight is too much for a little boys stature. I will say a prayer for the mother. Again my condolences to the family.
In Jesus name I pray.
This is beyond disgusting my heart goes out to everyone who knew this little guy there is never any reason to abuse a child I hope everyone in the daycare is held accountable for the loss of this precious child close that daycare down permanently this family has been through enough
This is so aggravating makes my blood boil. The staff and owner should all go jail they say this is normal practice shouldn’t have been. The owner said in letters twice his staff followed protocol so that means abusing the child basically how’s protocol hold down kid til they stop moving omg there’s no way they couldn’t tell he wasn’t breathing. They should get eye for eye
My heart ❤️ aches for you tara I’m so sorry for your loss he is such a handsome Lil guy he has a smile that would light the room up your such a strong woman I hope you get the justice you deserve for your precious baby boy no words can explain how much I hurt for you I have literally been so destroyed since seeing this and hearing this I hope you rest easy baby boy and may God wrap his arms around this precious baby boy and hold him so tight and love him so hard as his momma and daddy does fly high baby boy your momma is your voice and she is doing an amazing job she is going to get all the justice she can for u Lil man rock those pretty Lil golden wings handsome fly high and watch over your mommy brother and daddy they love u buddy so much😍🥰💙💙💙💙🤎🤎🤎💚💚💚🩷🩷🩷
I couldn’t agree more , this daycare should be shut down pending investigation atleast. They are more than responsible for this child’s death . They all need to be held accountable period. Prayers for the family of Conrad and prayers 🙏 for such a sweet little boy who definitely did not deserve this!
#chargethemall
Bless this family and the small angel God has accepted into heaven. My heart just hurts for them. I too, agree that ALL personnel should be held accountable. I also pray that this is not the way they treat their own children. It’s disgusting!! Absolutely, Poppy’s Playhouse should be CLOSED FOR GOOD! License suspended. The owner hired the employees, so she’s accountable as well! Many prayers for the family for strength, healing heart, and justice.
My condolences to the family of conrad. My wife and i will keep your family in our prayers.
Please don’t trust the local police department to investigate your sons death. Contact the state hwy patrol and ask them to investigate your childs murder. If the owner of the daycare is a counsel women there in your town, then the police department should remove themselves from the investigation. Also try calling the St. Louis Major crime investigation team ans see if they can help.
All the adults that were there working that day should be charged and the owner. There is so many charges that can be applied to the death of this little boy. Start a petition to get the prosecutor to file charges. Justice for Conrad! R.I.P little Angel.