A 40-year-old day care worker in Missouri has been arrested and accused of suffocating a 3-year-old boy to death, allegedly binding his arms and covering him with a weighted blanket that weighed more than 18 pounds. Tiffany Hedrick was indicted by a grand jury in St. Francois County last week on one count each of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, armed criminal action, and second-degree murder, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.

According to the indictment, Hedrick was “responsible for the care” of Conrad Ashcraft when she “neglected” him by “placing and leaving [Conrad] face down, under a weighted blanket, with his arms immobilized.” The document goes on to state that Conrad “was killed by asphyxiation as a result” of Hedrick’s actions.

The armed criminal action charge stems from Hedrick’s use of the weighted blanket in allegedly causing the death, court records show.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed against Hedrick in May by Conrad’s father provides additional allegations surrounding the boy’s tragic death. The day care, Poppy’s Playhouse 2, is also the subject of a civil lawsuit.

The suit claims that Hedrick put Conrad “on his back while tucking the sides of his personal blanket under his body trapping his arms,” then flipped the boy onto his stomach because he was struggling.

“After forcing decedent on to his stomach, she again tightened the blanket, trapping decedent’s arms under the blanket,” the complaint states. “She covered decedent with a weighted blanket, weighing approximately 18.2 pounds, including covering the decedent’s face. The weighted blanket covering decedent did not belong to decedent or his family, instead it was a blanket that Defendants used to subdue small children at nap time.”

The incident occurred on Friday, May 16, at the establishment located in the 100 block of Mitchell Street in Park Hills, approximately 65 miles south of St. Louis.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the owner of the day care, Park Hills Ward 2 Councilwoman Spring Gray, stepped down from her role on the council following Conrad’s death.

The civil suit further alleged that the day care was “negligent to such a degree” that none of the employees working that day realized that Conrad was being suffocated, nor did they realize the boy had died.

“[O]n information and belief, [Conrad] was killed and remained laying on the floor of Defendant’s facility for hours without any effort to determine his wellbeing,” the filing states.

Conrad’s family provided some additional details in an interview with St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK.

Lacey Hardie, Conrad’s aunt, told the station that her nephew was nonverbal with autism, and said it was a “nightmare” to think that the toddler was in pain but unable to vocalize his need for help.

Regarding the amount of time Conrad’s well-being was allegedly ignored, Hardie said that nap time for kids at the day care was 12:30 p.m., but when his mother arrived at about 4:15 p.m. and “found him deceased,” he was still on the floor where the day care employee had allegedly forced Conrad to sleep.

Hedrick is currently being held at the St. Francois County Jail without bond, records show. She is scheduled to appear in court on the morning of Aug. 22.