A bereaved mother has taken to TikTok to relay the harrowing fate of her daughter, who tragically passed away on her first day at daycare at just two months old.
Martasha Robinson shared the story in a now-viral video, which gives an overview of her daughter, Jersi McNight’s, death while attending the Hugger Family Daycare in Florida back in 2021. According to Martasha, the baby fell off a changing table she was left on and into a nearby mop bucket, where she drowned.
In the aftermath and according to media reports about the incident, Hugger Family Daycare claimed that Jersi had “scooted” herself off the changing table and into the bucket, but Martasha has a different account of the tragedy. “[My] daughter was not strong, [my] daughter did not ‘scoot’ off a table,” the mother says in the video, instead claiming that the daycare was negligent for leaving Jersi unaccompanied in the first place.
Martasha further explained in the caption that in her view, Jersi was “left in the middle of the changing table” and was “approximately 18 [inches] AWAY from the edge near the bucket.” These questionable circumstances around Jersi’s death led to a grand jury trial, which Martasha also recounts in the video. The mother said she was initially assigned a “POS” state attorney to represent her in the case, but days before the grand jury, the attorney “all of a sudden got sick,” leaving Martasha with a new state attorney who she had “never met.”
Three months later, the ordeal ended in another tragedy, as Martasha recalled the grand jury’s decision not to indict Delores Hugger, who operated the daycare, in relation to Jersi’s death. “Those 18 jurors voted 8 to 10 not to indict her, charges were never filed.”
Viewers flocked to the comments section in support of Martasha, with many demanding justice for those responsible for the death. One user claimed that babies of Jersi’s age can’t even scoot or sit up on their own,” while others said the mother should “be ripping the city to shreds” to avenge the death.
“You are very strong to still be here today fighting for your baby,” another supporter wrote, “I am so sorry this happened to you. A mother’s worst nightmare.” In follow-up videos, Martasha shared a slideshow of photos of her late daughter, as well as a recording of the police interviewing a witness who “saw Jersi LIFELESS on the changing table,” according to the caption.
The interviewee is said to be a person who had arrived to pick up a child from the daycare, only to discover Jersi’s body. Martasha claimed in the caption that the interviewee — who is seen answering questions about the state they found Jersi’s body in — was “NOT subpoenaed for the grand jury.” She continued: “this person was unexpectedly at the scene BEFORE any law enforcement or paramedics.”
Users were equally as enraged by this clip, with many questioning why the interview didn’t have more bearing on the result of the grand jury, and demanding that Martasha be offered a retrial in the case. It’s a truly devastating story that, for now, has no happy ending, but given TikTok’s ability to resurrect decades-old true crime cases, perhaps there’s still hope for justice in this tragic tale.