COLUMBUS, Ohio — A mother is recounting the day she dropped her 5-month-old twin sons off at day care in Reynoldsburg, where one of them later had a medical incident that ultimately resulted in his death.
Stacia Crawford said she dropped her sons, Kiyan and Kashan, off at an in-home day care run by 51-year-old Tammra Straughter on Oct. 9, 2023.
Later that day, she said she received a call from the Reynoldsburg Division of Police telling her that there was a medical incident and that Kashan was with medics because he had stopped breathing for a short period of time. Medics then told her that he was OK now.
"I dropped him off perfectly healthy. He was in a really great mood that day," Stacia said. "He was smiley and babbling."
According to an affidavit, Straughter stated that she laid Kashan on his back on the floor to help another child and when she returned, she saw that he had spit up and appeared to be aspirating.
Straughter reportedly attempted to clear his airway manually with his bib and a nasal aspirator, patted his back and gave him rescue breaths before calling 911.
"I could tell something wasn't OK, like he wasn't fully awake. I called his pediatrician and she recommended we take him to [Nationwide] Children's close to home," Stacia said.
Stacia took 5-month-old Kashan to the urgent care and he was placed in an ambulance to be transferred to Nationwide Children's Hospital. According to the affidavit, the ambulance had to stop at Mount Carmel East to stabilize him because he “coded” for approximately 45 minutes.
He then was taken to NCH, where Stacia and her husband learned more about his injuries.
"They said his injuries were consistent with shaken baby [syndrome] and he had two fractured jaws and his brain was swelling," Stacia said.
Stacia said both of her sons were fighters and were born premature. Kashan was the younger of the two.
"Even though he was little, he had a lot of personality. He had a mean side eye and his brother's a lot louder than him so he'd often give his brother, Ki, the side eye when he was screaming and yelling, like 'you're too loud.'"
Stacia said she knew Straughter because she's the mother of a student at a local high school.
"I hate I didn't see something sooner... like there were no clues. No baby deserves this. There's nothing a 5-month-old can do to deserve any of this ever," Stacia said.
Straughter was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury last week on charges of murder and endangering children. She is accused of causing harm to the boy.