Inset, from left to right: Conrad Ashcraft (Coplin Funeral Home) and Tiffany Hedrick (St. Francois County Jail). Background: Poppy’s Playhouse in Missouri, the alleged site of Conrad Ashcraft’s murder (Google Maps).
A 40-year-old child care worker in Missouri faces arrest under suspicions of fatally suffocating a 3-year-old boy by purportedly restraining his arms and covering him with a weighted blanket exceeding 18 pounds. Tiffany Hedrick was charged by a grand jury in St. Francois County last week with counts of abuse or neglect of a child leading to death, armed criminal action, and second-degree murder, as court records accessed by Law&Crime indicate.
The indictment claims Hedrick bore “responsibility for the care” of Conrad Ashcraft when she allegedly “neglected” him by positioning him face down, beneath a weighted blanket, with his arms secured. It states that as a consequence of Hedrick’s actions, Conrad “was killed by asphyxiation.”
The armed criminal action charge stems from Hedrick’s use of the weighted blanket in allegedly causing the death, court records show.
A wrongful death lawsuit initiated by Conrad’s father in May against Hedrick offers further allegations connected to the boy’s tragic demise. The daycare center, Poppy’s Playhouse 2, is also embroiled in a civil lawsuit.
The legal action alleges that Hedrick put Conrad “on his back while tucking the sides of his blanket underneath his body, pinning his arms,” subsequently turning the child onto his stomach amid his struggles.
“After forcing the decedent onto his stomach, she again tightened the blanket, pinning the decedent’s arms beneath it,” the lawsuit asserts. “She covered the decedent with a weighted blanket, weighing approximately 18.2 pounds, including covering the decedent’s face. This weighted blanket was not the property of the decedent or his family, but instead, it was a blanket typically used by Defendants to pacify small children during nap time.”
The incident occurred on Friday, May 16, at the establishment located in the 100 block of Mitchell Street in Park Hills, approximately 65 miles south of St. Louis.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the owner of the day care, Park Hills Ward 2 Councilwoman Spring Gray, stepped down from her role on the council following Conrad’s death.
The civil suit further alleged that the day care was “negligent to such a degree” that none of the employees working that day realized that Conrad was being suffocated, nor did they realize the boy had died.
“[O]n information and belief, [Conrad] was killed and remained laying on the floor of Defendant’s facility for hours without any effort to determine his wellbeing,” the filing states.
Conrad’s family provided some additional details in an interview with St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK.
Lacey Hardie, Conrad’s aunt, told the station that her nephew was nonverbal with autism, and said it was a “nightmare” to think that the toddler was in pain but unable to vocalize his need for help.
Regarding the amount of time Conrad’s well-being was allegedly ignored, Hardie said that nap time for kids at the day care was 12:30 p.m., but when his mother arrived at about 4:15 p.m. and “found him deceased,” he was still on the floor where the day care employee had allegedly forced Conrad to sleep.
Hedrick is currently being held at the St. Francois County Jail without bond, records show. She is scheduled to appear in court on the morning of Aug. 22.
