Missouri day care worker Tiffany Hedrick, 40, is accused of murdering a 3-year-old nonverbal boy with autism named Conrad Ashcraft with a weighted blanket. On May 16, 2025, Conrad died while at Poppy’s Playhouse 2 day care in Park Hills, Missouri. Hedrick was indicted by a grand jury in St. Francois County on August 14 in connection with his death, according to a Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office news release.
The indictment alleged that Conrad was “killed by asphyxiation” after Hedrick positioned the boy “face down under a weighted blanket with his arms immobilized” and left him like that, per People.
Additionally, it alleged that Hedrick “knowingly caused the child to suffer physical injury and that (the child) died as a result of injuries sustained from this conduct” by using a “dangerous instrument, namely a weighted blanket.”
CHILD DEAD. NOT NAPPING! 😭
— The Last Show- Karen Lee (@thelastshow) May 29, 2025
‘Horrific’ Autistic and nonverbal boy age 3 died at #daycare after being physically held down for nap time, lawsuit says
Conrad David Wade Ashcraft was killed May 16 at Poppy’s Playhouse 2 in Park Hills, Missouri.#autism https://t.co/52Q03A0NFp pic.twitter.com/TmDAWvDcqD
The child’s father, Joshua Ashcraft, filed a petition for wrongful death for $25,000 against Hedrick on May 27, the director of Poppy’s Playhouse, and its owner, Spring Gray, according to online court records, People reported. Allegedly, Hedrick caused Conrad’s death by putting him on his back and tucking the sides of a weighted blanket under his body. She allegedly turned the boy over on his stomach “to further restrain” him.
“She again tightened the blanket, trapping [his] arms under the blanket” before covering him with a weighted blanket weighing approximately 18.2 [lbs.],” the petition continued.
The weighted blanket was reportedly used by day care staff to “subdue small children at naptime” and covered Conrad’s face the day he died. Allegedly, Hedrick “secluded” the 3-year-old by putting him in a hallway and restrained him by placing her legs over his legs, per People. When Conrad stopped struggling, Hedrick reportedly did not check on him for the rest of the time she was at the day care, according to the petition.
Conrad was found unresponsive when his mother, Tara Williams, picked him up at the day care, KSDK reported. Williams, meanwhile, filed a separate lawsuit against Poppy’s Playhouse LLC.
In the August 14 indictment posted by the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office, Hedrick was charged with abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, second-degree murder, and armed criminal action. She is being held in the St. Francois County jail without bond.
