Tracey Nix: Woman charged in granddaughter's death hugged by daughter in court as husband seeks mental health treatment
HARDEE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Tracey Nix, 65, who has been charged in the death of her seven-month-old granddaughter Uriel Schock, was in court on April 27, 2023. Throughout the hearing, Tracey's daughter and Uriel's mother Kaila Nix had uncontrollable tears in her eyes while holding her husband Drew Schock's hand. While Tracey's husband Ney Nix requested to allow his wife to seek mental health treatment.
Tracey, a former school principal in Hardee County who worked as an educator for 39 years, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter in Uriel Schock's death after she left her granddaughter in the back seat of a hot car on November 1, 2022, after returning home from taking the child to lunch with friends. Uriel's death came less than a year after her 16-month-old brother Ezra also died by drowning in a pond while he was at Tracey's home in December 2021, reports ABC Action News.
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'She’s having a hard time'
The April 27 hearing saw Tracey being silent and keeping her head down for most of the time. It also heard concerns from Tracey's attorney Drew Davis who said, "She’s having a hard time discussing the incident with her husband, with any other people and that includes her attorneys. As we all very know that could very well prove a competency issue down the line judge. One of the main reasons why we are filing this motion is to nip that in the butt (sic) early," states Yahoo!.
Meanwhile, Tracey's husband asked Hardee County Judge Reinaldo Ojeda to allow her to go to an in-patient facility in St Cloud for 30 days for her to open up and talk about what happened. He expressed, "I would just like to see her get help. I would like to see her come back to whatever normal will be. She is a very smart and intelligent person. She has a psychology degree, but the fact that she’s not talking tells me she needs someone that can help her work through these issues."
Kaila hugged her mother Tracey
Commenting on the request, Judge Ojeda said, "The request on its face is not unreasonable. Ms Nix is not asking to go out of state or the four corners of our state. She’s asking to go an hour and a half away." After the judge made the statement, the court saw Kaila hugging her mother Tracey, and crying, which came as a shock to many as the daughter previously demanded her mother to be "criminally charged," as per Inside Edition.
However, Kaila cleared the air that the hug was not in support but rather a goodbye. She said, "I chose to hug her to say goodbye to my mother because things are too far gone, and so while it might've looked as a hug of support, I don't know when and if I will ever touch or look or be near her in such a way again. So I treated her like I treated my son as I removed him off of life support. I hugged her and I told her that I loved her regardless because I knew it was goodbye," states ABC Action News.
The next pretrial hearing has been scheduled for June 22, 2023. According to Yahoo!, if Tracey is found guilty of aggravated manslaughter, she could face a minimum sentence of 12 years and a maximum of 35 years.