The loss of a child is a pain no parent should ever have to experience. When your child dies in the care of someone you trust, it’s unfathomable. On June 26, 2024, Illinois mom Branda Nichelle received a call no mother should ever receive. Her 10-month-old baby, Sylvie Zacovic, was unresponsive. When she arrived at the home where Makenna Rhodes was watching Sylvie, she had no idea things would take the most devastating turn.
Bodycam footage from the Pekin Police Department in Illinois that has just been released shows Nichelle rushing to police and asking if Sylvie was breathing. An officer tells her he’s unsure but warns that she will likely see her baby hooked up to medical equipment. While delivering the news, an eerily calm Rhodes attempts to console the mother. Moments later, paramedics delivered the heart-wrenching news that Sylvie had died.
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” a devastated Nichelle wails.
“I’m trying to keep it together, but I can’t,” she tells police at the scene. “Oh my god!”
All the while, Rhodes paces in the background, showing little emotion. Later, in footage from the police station, Rhodes is shown crying and telling someone on the phone that she’s scared and doesn’t know what to do. She makes another call a short time later to tell someone Sylvie “didn’t make it.” The person on the phone tries to console her, but Rhodes says through tears, “I’m just in this room by myself, and I don’t like it.”
According to court documents, in an interview with detectives Rhodes admitted to silencing Sylvie.
“She eventually admitted to holding a pacifier in the child’s mouth and then when the crying continued around the pacifier using that lovey to be placed over her head and face and applying pressure to get her to stop crying. She described holding that position for at least a minute if not longer,” investigators noted in the documents.
“She stated to police that she likely used more force because she was angry at the child during that time. She admitted that she held that lovey across her face until the movements of the child ended and her eyes closed before returning downstairs. She went downstairs for approximately an hour and a half before returning upstairs and alerting anyone to the condition of S.Z.”
The bodycam footage left many in disbelief as they watched Rhodes.
“She had the nerve to attempt to hug that mother?!!! She is EVIL,” one comment on the video reads.
“The mom’s crying made me cry. Pregnancy, birth, bonding, dreaming about the future, and then some monster just murders your baby,” another commenter agreed. “A piece of that woman’s heart died with her child.”
One parent claimed they wouldn’t have held back.
“The babysitter trying to hug the mom is just creepy. If I was the mom, the EMTs would be trying to save the babysitter’s life,” the person wrote.
According to an online tribute site, Sylvie loved to smile and try new things. Her family misses her dearly.
“She is loved by so many. Sylvie loved watching Ms. Rachel and Shrek. She knew how to use sign language to say ‘all done.’ She was always smiling and laughing. At almost 11 months old she had already tried 102 different foods! Her favorite foods were pizza, pickles, sweet peppers, avocado toast, and peanut butter banana pancakes,” her family shared in the tribute. “Her best friend was her cat Morty. He made her laugh uncontrollably when he played with his toys. Her face lit up when her daddy walked into a room. She loved being held and cuddled. We love and miss you so much baby girl.”
Per Illinois law, Rhodes, who faced a first-degree murder charge, could spend life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
