The Robertson family was forced to say goodbye to their five-month-old son, Brayden, almost exactly a month ago after an employee at his Alabama daycare allegedly caused his death through sustained physical abuse.
Police arrested and charged Versa Mae Simmons, 68, who worked at Tender Years Preschool & Nursery, with murder and four counts of child abuse.
Court records obtained by WFSA 12 claims that Simmons abused, hit and mistreated Brayden on more than one occasion, leading to his tragic and untimely death on March 25.
In an interview with WFSA 12, a teary-eyed Taylor Robertson, the boy’s mother, said she received a call informing her that her son was unresponsive and rushed to daycare in just three minutes.
“I saw his lifeless body on the changing table while they were trying to take measures to save his life.”
In the photo: the Robertson family all together.
Versa Mae Simmons (pictured) worked at the now-closed Tender Years Preschool & Nursery and is accused of murdering Brayden.
Pictured: Taylor and Paul Robertson talk to WFSA 12 about the tragic death of their son, allegedly at the hands of a daycare worker.
Pictured: Brayden Robertson, who died on March 25 when he wasn’t even six months old.
“No parent should have to watch someone else throw their child to the ground.”
Simmons is that “someone else,” according to police, who say Brayden wasn’t his only victim.
Brayden’s mother called on other parents of young children to look for warning signs of abuse and be relentlessly vigilant.
‘I had no voice. He couldn’t tell me, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go here,'” Taylor Robertson said. ‘Every afternoon he lit a cigarette when we picked him up. I just thought my baby was excited to see me. But now I wonder if she was excited because she was finally getting him away from something she didn’t like.
‘Monsters come in all shapes and sizes and there are people you would never imagine. So don’t be fooled,’ Taylor Robertson warned.
Taylor Robertson tearfully recalls the day she ran to her son’s daycare and found “his lifeless body on the changing table while they were trying to take life-saving measures.”
Brayden Robertson (pictured) underwent an autopsy following his suspicious death. When it was ruled a homicide, Simmons was arrested shortly after by police.
Brayden Robertson (pictured) leaves behind his parents, Taylor and Paul, and his older sister.
Paul Robertson (pictured left) said the daycare was quick to tell him and Taylor that any scratches his son returned home were self-inflicted.
Taylor Robertson (pictured left) pleaded with parents to be vigilant and ‘ask’ when their child comes home with injuries.
Paul Robertson, Brayden’s father, said the daycare was quick to tell them that any scratches his son returned home were self-inflicted, raising questions about the daycare’s level of culpability.
The daycare’s license has been suspended, WFSA 12 reported.
“Ask all the questions,” Brayden’s mother said.
‘Request video footage. Ask. I wish I could go back and change a lot of things, but I can’t.
“Losing a child is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to endure, but losing a child that you shouldn’t have lost because he was perfect and perfectly healthy is something different,” Brayden’s mother said. “And I don’t want any other mom or dad to feel that way.”
Brayden leaves behind his parents and an older sister.
Simmons is being held at the Marengo County Detention Center on $1 billion bail.
It is unclear if she entered a guilty plea at this time.