Inset: Tammra Straughter (Franklin County Jail). Background: The Ohio home where Straughter ran her own daycare (Google Maps).
A 54-year-old daycare operator in Ohio could spend the rest of her life in prison for killing a "fussy" 5-month-old boy who suffered fatal head injuries while at her home daycare.
Franklin County Judge Bill Sperlazza on Wednesday ordered Tammra R. Straughter to serve life with the possibility of parole in a state correctional facility for the 2024 slaying of Kashan R. Crawford-Chatman, court records show. She will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 15 years.
The sentencing comes after a jury in August found Straughter guilty of one count of murder and one count of child endangerment. The court credited her with 54 days of time already served.
On Oct. 9, 2023, Kashan's mother, Stacia Crawford, dropped him and his twin brother off at Straughter's home in Reynoldsburg, where she operated a daycare, according to criminal and civil court documents.
The twins had been born prematurely on April 25, 2023, and spent several weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit before coming home. Crawford, a licensed counselor, had returned to work after the boys came home from the hospital, according to a wrongful death lawsuit.
A few hours after Crawford dropped them off, Reynoldsburg police called her and said EMTs were treating Kashan at Straughter's home after the infant had briefly stopped breathing. She was told he was breathing again and was OK, according to the lawsuit.
Straughter told Crawford that "she had hit Kashan on his back after he choked on formula, left to help another child, and when she returned, Kashan appeared to be having trouble breathing," the civil suit stated.
Crawford then took Kashan to an urgent care facility, where he stopped breathing again.
He was initially rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital but "coded" en route. He was soon transferred to Nationwide Children's Hospital, where staff "immediately noticed bruising on Kashan's body."
"He also has two jaw fractures and bruises all over his body," the complaint says. "They told Ms. Crawford that Kashan's injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome and that his brain was swelling."
Hospital staff reported the injuries to Franklin County Children Services for investigation of physical abuse. Kashan was pronounced dead less than a week later.
The Franklin County Coroner's Office determined Kashan's death was a homicide caused by "closed head injury consistent with shaken baby syndrome."
Crawford's lawsuit says Children Services later found the physical-abuse allegations against Straughter to be substantiated, while allegations against Crawford and Kashan's father, Jontue Chatman, were unsubstantiated.
The lawsuit, like prosecutors, asserted that Straughter violently shook Kashan and caused the injuries that led to his death.
Straughter was indicted and arrested in February 2024 on murder and child endangerment charges. Columbus CBS affiliate WBNS reported at the time that Straughter told police that the child had been "fussy" during the day but provided no explanation as to how he suffered the fatal injuries.
A search of Straughter's phone reportedly showed that she had deleted text messages in which she complained about the "fussiness" of the twin boys she was watching.
At an earlier hearing, a prosecutor said investigators recovered video from inside Straughter's home showing Kashan appearing fine earlier on the day of his death before his condition changed that afternoon. The prosecutor also said Straughter was alone caring for Kashan, his twin brother and six other children.
Under Ohio law, small daycare operations don't require a license, provided they care for a maximum of six kids total, with no more than three children under 2 years old.
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