THIS BLOG IS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER – SCROLL DOWN FOR TRIAL UPDATES
Tracey Nix is a Florida woman who is currently on trial for the hot car death of her grandchild Uriel. Uriel was 7 months old when she was left in the car by Tracey in November 2022.
This was not the first child that died while in Tracey’s care though. In December 2021, her grandchild Ezra (16 months) drowned in a pond while in Tracey’s care.
Tracey’s daughter Kaila Schock was the mother to both now deceased children.
Tracey is only on trial for Uriel’s death. Ezra’s death is not allowed to be discussed in court.
We will start by discussing background of the people involved and the lead up to Ezra’s death.
Tracey had worked as a principal and educator in Hardee County for 39 years before the incidents. Her husband is Nun Ney Nix.
Tracey’s daughter Kaila Schock-Nix is married to Drew Schock – they are the parents of both Uriel and Ezra.
The town where these incidents happened is Wauchula, in Florida. It is a small town in Hardee County, with less than 5,000 people living there. Drew and Kaila grew up there and they began a relationship around 2018. They decided to start a family together.
“This was the plan. We were going to have three kids and — you know what I mean, that was our goal,” Drew told the media.
The couple had one son, Asher. Their second child Ezra Franklin Schock was born on August 13th, 2020 in Sebring, Florida.
Uriel was born on March 5, 2022.
In terms of Ezra’s death, Tracey was meant to be watching him on December 21, 2021. Nun Ney left the home to run errands and Tracey apparently fell asleep. This was in the morning. Tracey would say that she had woken up around 9am and the call about the incident came in at 12.52pm.
This information is from the incident report:
‘The victim was being supervised by his grandparents. No one else was at the home. There is a large pond that is stocked with ducks, located on the west side of the property, within feet of their home.
Mr Nix was rocking Ezra in a recliner in the living room. Tracey was on an adjacent sofa. Ezra fell asleep. He was left on the recliner by his grandfather. Nun Ney told Tracye that he was going to Wal-Mart to run some errands.
Tracey said she fell asleep soon after her husband told her he was leaving. When she woke up, she could not find Ezra. She told police later that the garage entrance door was ajar. She drove her vehicle to the end of the driveway and was unable to find Ezra. As she drove back to the house, she saw Ezra face down in a pond.
She pulled him out of the water and began CPR. She did not call 911.
A neighbor heard her screaming and corroborated Tracey’s story about giving Ezra CPR. The neighbor went to help, and by this time Nun Ney had arrived back and was also helping.
Ezra ended up being airlifted to hospital and he was said to have a faint pulse.
Police asked Nun Ney how long he had been at the Wal-Mart. He said ‘15, 20, 25 minutes? It could have been up to an hour.”
The police measured the floor to the garage door handle and found that it measured 35 inches. The door had a pull handle which could have easily been opened by a child.
Nun called Drew and told him ‘Something happened to Ezra.’ When Kaila found out about the incident, she rushed to her parents’ home and was involved in an auto collision. She was driving at 85mph and was six months pregnant with Uriel at the time. She said she was watching a helicopter flying towards her parents’ house.
‘I could see the helicopter landing,’ she recalled to WSVN. ‘I didn’t look when there was a stop sign.
‘All of my airbags went off, I don’t remember how I got out, but I got out and started running to my parent’s house and at this point, I don’t have shoes. I’m just running.
‘That was my desperation to get to my son.’
The incident report says “this appears to be a tragic accident involving non-criminal negligence.’
Ezra passed away in hospital, the following day on December 22, 2021. The medical examiner gave information that Ezra’s maximum reach was 36 inches (the door handle was 35 inches).
Ezra’s funeral was held on December 28, 2021. This is some information from his obituary:
Despite his short time on Earth, he was deeply loved and brought immense joy to those around him. Ezra will be forever remembered for his tender spirit and loving smile. He was his brother’s best friend and the light in his parents’ eye. It was impossible to not smile in his presence.
He will be desperately missed by his parents, Kaila and Drew Schock, and his brother, Asher. He is also survived by his grandparents, Tracey and Ney Nix, Joanne and Greg Schock;
On December 31, police returned to the Nix home to get some more information.
Nun said that when he left to goto Wal-Mart, he pulled the garage door closed and placed a metal doorstop behind it. He said he did that because Ezra was known to open doors and this would have prevented the child from doing so.
Nun also said that Ezra hated water and did not even like taking a bath.
Nun also clarified to police that he was gone for about 2 hours. He said he got gas, went to the bank and then to Wal-Mart.
Tracey’s version of events is quite redacted. You can read the document here:
Despite Nun saying that Ezra could open doors, Tracey said the opposite. She said she had never seen the child open a door.
Police had attempted to file charges against Tracey at the time, but the Florida Attorney’s Office ‘stated that a one-time lapse of judgment would not establish culpable negligence of the caretaker.’
Kaila and Drew said they did not allow their first-born son, Asher, to be alone with Tracey after Ezra’s passing because they didn’t trust the grandmother ‘at all.’
“We were anxious, but I loved my mother and I am a daughter that wanted her mom in her life in some capacity, and in that moment, I thought that I could believe in second chances,” Kaila said. “When I was told that Ezra’s death was an accident, some sliver child part of me, thought, ‘Ok good, I get to keep this mom. This grandmother. This person.'”
After Uriel was born in March 2022, Kaila and Drew were very protective of her.
“There wasn’t a moment to get a grip of the death of my son before there was the life of my daughter. And how beautiful is that, her name is Uriel, and it’s a Hebrew name and it means, ‘God is my light’ and she came out so small, she was beautiful and just radiant.”
“The very minor amount of time that she saw my daughter was almost always supervised,” Kaila said of her mom.
On November 1, 2022, Kaila made the fateful decision to let Tracey watch Uriel while she got her hair done.
“Uri was at a restaurant with other people that I knew and trusted, they were in the friend group and were keeping her safe, and I had supervised many, many, many interactions that this point at my house,” Kaila said.
This information about how Uriel died is from the arrest affidavit.
Tracey could be seen taking Uriel into a restaurant at 12.28pm. She was joined by three friends. The group left at 1.42pm.
At around 2pm, Tracey arrived back at her home after leaving the restaurant. She got out of her vehicle and left Uriel in the Lexus RX, with the windows rolled up. The temperature that day reached a high of 90 degrees fahrenheit or 32 celsius.
Tracey went inside her home. She said she ‘just forgot’ about Uriel until hours later. She was practicing the piano when she ‘all of a sudden’ remembered the child in the car.
Nun ran out to the vehicle and began performing CPR on Uriel but was unsuccessful. A 911 call was made at around 5pm, advising that a child had been left in a vehicle and was no longer breathing. Authorities raced to the scene, but Uriel was pronounced dead by fire rescue personnel at 5.01pm.
A Hardee County Sheriff’s Officer went to Kaila to inform her of the news.
He said, “‘Your baby is dead.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry, what? I know Ezra’s dead. Why are you here, like what — what is this?’ ‘No Kaila, your baby is dead.’”
On November 2, 2022, the medical examiner confirmed that Uriel’s cause of death was hyperthermia. This was the result of her being left in the car with the windows rolled up and with the engine turned off. Uriel was said to have no acute injuries, no infections and no signs of suffocation. The medical examiner estimated that the baby died shortly after being left in the car as there was undigested food in her stomach. Uriel’s death was ruled a homicide.
On November 4, 2022, Tracey was charged in relation to Uriel’s death.
Uriel’s funeral was held on November 8, 2022. No mention of Tracey in her obituary.
Uriel will be desperately missed by her parents, Drew and Kaila Schock, and her brother, Asher. She is survived by her grandfather, Ney Nix, and grandparents, Joanne and Greg Schock; her aunt and uncle, Jonathan and Rebekah Tucker; aunt, Kayla Schock; and her cousins, Ayden, Cooper, Arias, Alys, and Enoch. Uriel has joined her brother, Ezra Schock, in Heaven.
After the charges were filed against Tracey, Kaila found out about the charges that had been a possibility following Ezra’s death.
Kaila said ‘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 told WSVN.
In a statement, the State Attorney’s Office told the media, “In cases involving the accidental drowning of a toddler, Florida appellate courts have stated that a one-time lapse of judgment would not establish culpable negligence of the caretaker. (However, if the caretaker was shown to have repeatedly allowed the toddler access to the water hazard and not taken steps to prevent, that would establish culpable negligence). In the 2021 incident, there was insufficient evidence to establish culpable negligence. The 2022 incident is factually distinguishable and charges have been filed.”
Kaila spoke about what a deputy told her about Ezra’s death when she questioned if charges could be laid.
“I was told unless I believed that my mom 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.”
Kaila and Drew spoke to the media in 2023.
‘You couldn’t fathom it happening twice,’ Drew said. ‘Somebody has to answer for that.
‘I want justice for my son. I want justice because he didn’t get that. And now I got to sit here and expose this. That way, I don’t let what happened to my son happen with my daughter. And just get off scot-free because I couldn’t live with that as a parent.’
‘If I’m objective – she needs to go to prison. As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it,’ Kaila said.
They said they wanted their children to know they are ‘sorry’ and that their lives were ‘taken by someone that we believed was worthy of trust.’
Tracey’s trial for her role in Uriel’s death is currently underway. Tracey could be sentenced to between 12-30 years in prison. Ezra’s death is not allowed to be mentioned in court.
Jury selection began on January 13, 2025.
TRIAL DAY ONE – JANUARY 14, 2025
On day one of the actual trial, the prosecutors argued that Tracey was negligent when she left Uriel in the vehicle. Her defense team argued that it was a tragic accident, not culpable negligence.
Kaila also took the stand and spoke of learning that Uriel had died.
Paramedics who attended the scene on the day also testified and said that Uriel had rigor mortis and was hot to the touch.
SOURCE LIST
https://www.robartsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Ezra-Schock/#!/Obituary
https://www.robartsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Uriel-Schock/#!/Obituary
https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-woman-standing-trial-infant-granddaughters-2022-hot-car-death