Seven-month-old Uriel died in November 2022
A Florida grandmother has been sentenced to five years behind bars after her infant granddaughter tragically died in a hot car while in her care.
On November 1, 2022, seven-month-old Uriel Schock was in the care of her grandmother, Tracey Nix, who had taken the baby out to lunch with friends. Surveillance footage captured the moment around 1:40 p.m. when Nix carefully strapped Uriel into her car seat for the short 10-minute drive back to their home in Wauchula, Florida.
Upon arriving home, Nix parked the car, rolled up the windows, and stepped inside—reportedly to greet her dog and play the piano. Unknowingly, she left baby Uriel alone in the vehicle. As the Florida sun bore down, temperatures soared to a sweltering 90 degrees.
Tragically, by the time Nix realized Uriel was still in the car, it was too late. Her husband rushed to perform CPR, desperately trying to save the infant, but investigators later confirmed that Uriel had died from hyperthermia—the result of being left in the overheated vehicle.
In a heartbreaking police interview, Tracey Nix admitted she had “just forgotten” her seven-month-old granddaughter, Uriel Schock, was still in the car. “I literally forgot for a long period of time,” she confessed, her voice trembling. “I’m broken about what happened. I don’t want to leave anyone with the thought that I’m making excuses, because I’m not.”
According to the official affidavit, Nix told investigators she had parked the car in the yard and gone inside to greet her dog and practice the piano, preparing for an upcoming lesson. “The defendant said she didn’t have anything specific on her mind,” the report reads. “It’s not like ‘I was rushing in the house to do anything’… I just forgot.”
The tragedy of Uriel’s death by hyperthermia was compounded by an even more devastating truth: it wasn’t the first time. Less than a year earlier, Nix had been caring for another grandchild—16-month-old Ezra Schock—when she fell asleep. During that time, Ezra wandered through a gap in a fence near her home and drowned in a nearby pond.
In that case, Nix was previously found guilty of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, resulting in great bodily harm. Though she was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter—a charge that carried a potential 30-year sentence—she was ultimately sentenced to five years in prison for Uriel’s death. Nix chose not to testify in court, maintaining that she simply didn’t realize the infant was in the back seat.
The sentencing was emotional and gut-wrenching. Kaila Nix-Schock, Uriel’s mother and Nix’s own daughter, stood before the court and addressed her mother directly—having now lost both of her children under her care.
“I still love you. I hate this,” she said through tears, as reported by Fox 13 Tampa. “I hate that I have to choose, but you know I had to. But it doesn’t change my heart.”
Delivering his final judgment, Judge Brandon Rafool was firm in his assessment: “Uriel is not an isolated incident. I do not believe she is showing remorse; I believe she is showing sorrow.”
