Missouri Mother Sues Park Hills Daycare After 3-Year-Old Son Allegedly Suffocated During Nap Time

A tragic loss: a smiling 3-year-old boy, Conrad Ashcraft, whose life was taken in a heartbreaking incident allegedly involving daycare neglect, is now the subject of a wrongful death lawsuit.

PARK HILLS, MISSOURI- A Missouri mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a local daycare and its owner, alleging that her 3-year-old son was suffocated to death by an employee using their legs or feet to force him to sleep. The incident occurred at Poppy’s Playhouse, a daycare located in the 100 block of Mitchell Street in Park Hills. The facility was owned by Park Hills Ward 2 Councilwoman Spring Gray, who abruptly resigned this week in the wake of growing scrutiny surrounding the death of toddler Conrad Ashcraft.

According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in St. Francois County by Conrad’s mother, Tara Williams, the events leading to the boy’s death began around nap time on Friday, May 16. The complaint alleges that a daycare employee used their lower body to apply pressure to Conrad’s chest and abdomen to make the nonverbal child sleep. The child, who reportedly had autism and was unable to communicate his distress, allegedly suffered fatal injuries from this method. The employee in question is not named in the complaint, but the filing states that Poppy’s Playhouse and its leadership approved the use of this type of restraint.

Williams argues that the technique, which involved using an adult’s legs or feet to force a child to lie still, was already known to the daycare and condoned despite its obvious risk of suffocation. The lawsuit states that the use of the method was not isolated and that the daycare failed to train or supervise staff properly, allowing unsafe tactics to be used in managing young children during rest periods.

In the hours that followed the alleged suffocation, no staff member noticed that Conrad was in medical distress. The lawsuit claims the boy was left lying on the floor of the facility for hours. “[O]n information and belief, [Conrad] was killed and remained lying on the floor of Defendant’s facility for hours without any effort to determine his wellbeing,” the complaint reads. By the time his mother arrived to pick him up shortly after 4:00 p.m., Conrad was dead.

In an interview with KSDK, Conrad’s aunt, Lacey Hardie, revealed more details. She said nap time at the facility typically began at 12:30 p.m., yet Conrad was still in the same spot, and lifeless when his mother arrived nearly four hours later. “He was nonverbal. He had autism. And it’s a nightmare to think that he was in pain and couldn’t say anything,” Hardie told reporters.

As of Thursday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed against the daycare or any individual staff members. The St. Francois County Prosecutor’s Office has not commented publicly, and the daycare has not issued a statement. However, the facility’s political connection raised public concern when it was revealed that the daycare was owned by Spring Gray, a sitting councilwoman at the time of Conrad’s death. Gray resigned from her city council seat on Tuesday following the filing of the lawsuit.

The civil suit seeks damages and accountability for the alleged suffocation and wrongful death of Conrad Ashcraft, describing a system of negligence that failed to protect a vulnerable child and led to a preventable tragedy.