A 65-year-old grandmother from Florida is facing charges of aggravated manslaughter after she left her seven-month-old granddaughter Uriel in her SUV for several hours last November.

The Hardee County Sheriff's Office said that Tracy Nix told investigators that she "forgot" Uriel was in the car after returning home for lunch. As the temperatures soared into the 90s, Nix was inside practicing piano and went about her day until 4:30 in the afternoon.

She then went outside, moved her car to the backyard, and spent about ten minutes talking to her husband. When her grandson arrived at the house, she remembered that Uriel was in the car. They called 911 and tried to perform CPR, but the young girl was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was not the first time that one of Nix's grandchildren died while in her car. In 2021, she was supposed to be watching her 16-month-old grandson Ezra, but she fell asleep. During that time, the boy left the house and drowned in a nearby lake.

As Nix's daughter Kaila, who was six months pregnant, rushed to her house, she was involved in a head-on crash with another vehicle.

"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," Kaila told WFTS. "That was my desperation to get to my son."

Now, Kaila and her husband, Drew, want to see Nix behind bars.

"You couldn't fathom it happening twice," Drew told the news station. "Somebody has to answer for that."

If convicted, Nix faces up to 30 years in prison.

"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. "I will fight for them."

WRAW Newsroom