A St. Louis-area family is reeling after a little boy fell out of a window while his father briefly stepped outside of the apartment. Travis Jr. was supposed to be sleeping when his father went to have a cigarette. Sadly, the boy wasn’t asleep. At first, it was believed that perhaps the boy had simply escaped. Because the door was open, his father believed that he had run away. He had no idea there was any possible alternative option. But then the discovery was made, and it broke an already hurting family.
Hopefully the housing authority who owns the apartment will take concerns raised more seriously after this tragedy.
Family described the boy as ‘intelligent’ and a ‘ball of life.‘
According to Terrance Hardy, one of the boy’s relatives, the incident took place in the early morning hours of April 10, 2026, KSDK reported. The boy, who the family affectionately called “T3,” was put to bed by his father before he fell out a window.
After putting him to bed, his father thought he had some time to himself. Around 2:30 a.m., he stepped outside to have a cigarette. When he returned, the apartment door was open, and his son had disappeared.
“He went down the hall searching, knocking on people’s doors,” Hardy explained. “He couldn’t find him, and that’s when they originally thought he was missing.”
The boy was reported missing before the tragic discovery.
Police officers responding to the report of a missing child were the ones to discover Travis Jr. had fallen out of a window.
Neighbors speculated that the boy fell from around the 11th floor, but it is still unclear if he fell from inside the apartment or if it was a hallway window.
“It was my apartment, I wasn’t at home. It was my apartment, where they were at. They were visiting me,” T3’s great-aunt, Andrea Armour, told KMOV.
Armour explained that the boy’s father had a spare key to her apartment because she has health problems and he often checks on her. She also shared that she had previously reported safety concerns about the apartment.
“These hallway windows, they stay open, they don’t lock, there’s no screen, none of that,” she said.
Parkview Apartments, where the incident took place, is owned by the St. Louis Housing Authority. It is conducting an assessment of the property and is investigating the boy’s death.
The family is going through several tragedies at once.
“It’s a hurting feeling,” Armour said. “It hurts me because I have to go and look down on another loved one, this is… this is my baby.”
One of the reasons the boy was with his father is because his mother is in a rehab facility after having her leg amputated. Hardy, who is her cousin, told KSDK that she’s “devastated” after her son’s death.
In an effort to help the family, Hardy created a GoFundMe account for funeral expenses.
“Diamond has 2 other children to care for, but now has to grieve and try to make sense of something so senseless while still recovering from gun violence that led to her having to get her leg amputated,” he wrote on the page. “Her support system is doing everything we can to try to lessen the burden & her responsibilities until she’s able. Her heart is shattered!!”
