By WMBD TV

PEORIA – Two women allegedly gave a 13-month-old boy more than the recommended dose of an over-the-counter sleep aid, a move that appears to have contributed to his death late last year.

According to court records filed within the past two months at the Peoria County Circuit Clerk’s office, Tasheaunna R. Williams, 26, and Nausicca Thomas, 27, both allegedly told police the baby had been given 40 ml of ZzzQuil.

The recommended adult dosage is 30 milliliters.

Hezekiah Williams also showed signs of severe malnourishment, poorly healing wounds, bruising and bleeding diaper rash, according to the court documents. In short, according to the court record, Hezekiah was in a coma and on a ventilator when police arrived.

He was on life support for several days before dying on Dec. 27, 2024.

One doctor at the pediatric intensive care unit at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center described the child’s physical shape this way, “he looks like a baby from a concentration camp.”

Both women have been charged with first-degree murder and with aggravated battery in connection with the infant’s death. Each faces at least 20 years and possibly up to 100 years behind bars. That’s more than the normal range for murder due to the age of the child.

They were arrested at their Lexington Hills apartment Tuesday night after being indicted. An additional charge of animal cruelty was added as police found a “cat found in poor condition inside of a closet,” police said.

Peoria County prosecutors have asked a judge to detain both pending the outcome of their case. A court hearing on that petition has not been held.

The baby’s initial condition

WMBD was able to obtain multiple search warrants that were filed within the past two months that detailed portions of the investigation. The files contain affidavits that explain to a judge why an officer thinks there is probable cause to allow a search of a phone or an apartment or whatever is being requested.

A Peoria police officer went to Saint Francis where he was told the baby was undergoing a procedure for a central venous catheter. He had initially been taken to Carle Health Methodist Hospital just before 3 p.m., according to the affidavit.

Doctors at Methodist couldn’t get his vital signs, had to intubate the child and noted he was in shock. Within two minutes, they decided to rush him to the PICU at Saint Francis, the complaint stated.

According to the baby’s parents, the day began fairly normal. Hezekiah would normally sleep until early afternoon and go to bed around 10:30 p.m., the court records say. The baby would consume “what can only be described as minimal sustenance,” the complaint stated.

They had gone to work and dropped him off at a relative’s house. When they came to get him, they noticed he was having trouble breathing and brought him to Methodist.

Both told police that he seemed to have “very sensitive skin which broke out in a rash around his ankles and was being treated at home, organically, with coconut oil but the rash became open sores.”

They would give the infant ZzzQuil “once in a blue moon” to help him sleep due to teething and having loud neighbors above their apartment. Both parents said the baby was last seen by a doctor at the Heartland Clinic roughly six or seven months prior to his death.

“information would later be determined questionable as a nurse advised according to Hezekiah’s chart, he had not had any well baby visits since his 2 month visit at the age of 3 months,” according to court records. “The nurse noted there were numerous attempts to contact the parents with negative results regarding missed appointments and the scheduling of his next milestone visits.”

His mother, Tasheaunna, was asked by a police officer if her 13-month-old son was walking yet and “she replied he was only crawling; he was too lazy to stand or walk.”

A doctor at Saint Francis noted the child had a “massive brain bleed” and there was “significant concern for non-accidental trauma.”

Specifically, there was a brain bleed, herniation of the brain which was irreversible, laceration of the spleen, and four fractured ribs. The child was on life support and would die soon, they said.

He died on Dec. 27, just before 4:30 p.m.

DCFS allowed both parents to visit with the child without a “safety plan” in place, saying that visits within the hospital were considered supervised, the complaint said.

Conditions at the apartment

A detective and an agent with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services went to the couple’s Lexington Hills apartment complex.

There was food in the apartment but some of the baby food was expired, the complaint said. No baby bottles were found and there was only one sippy cup which had a “liquid with a foul, pungent odor.” Police were told Hezekiah was still on baby formula and one can was found in the kitchen.

They also found several ZzzQuil dosing cups. At some point, permission to look through the unit was revoked, the complaint said, and they stopped. Two baby diapers were collected and a ZzzQuil bottle.

According to one of the parents, the bottle was purchased a day before the child’s death and had 100 milliliters missing after police measured the amount inside. No one else, they said, had used the medicine but the child, the complaint said.

Statements

Later, the mother, Tasheaunna, said she had lied to police originally as she didn’t want them to know the child had been home alone. She said her partner Nausicca had measured the 30-to-40-ml dose of the sleep aid for the baby on the evening of Dec. 18.

The ZzzQuil was taken from the measuring cup by a syringe and squirted into the sippy cup which was full of juice, Tasheaunna allegedly told police.

“Tasheaunna stated that Hezekiah was fed and didn’t realize his malnourished weight loss/deficiency was occurring. She did notice he was looking thinner and believed he was shedding his baby weight and growing into his body,” the complaint said.

She also told police, according to the complaint, that she was “unaware of how Hezekiah had broken ribs and a lacerated spleen. She described Hezekiah as showing no signs of this injury.”

When questioned by police, Nausicca declined to answer questions after being read her Miranda rights.

Other cases

However, this isn’t the first time that deadly child neglect has been in the news.

Within the past year, two other cases have made headlines, including the death of Navin Jones in 2022. His parents, Brandon Walker and Stephanie Jones, were both sentenced this year to de facto life terms in prison.

Navin weighed 30 pounds when he was found unresponsive in his North Gale Avenue home on March 29, 2022. The room he was in was tied shut. There was urine and feces throughout the room. He had one bed, one dresser, and one toy in the room. There were marks showing alleged abuse, prosecutors have said, on his face, body, arms, and legs.

Then in September, Andrea Luncsford was arrested and charged with murder for the death of her son, Grayson, who was a month-old when he died. The baby allegedly was left in a hot pickup truck for hours and died of dehydration and hyperthermia.

WMBD TV can be reached at [email protected].