Background: Kadaris Maddox can be seen in a framed photo during a memorial held for him (WKRN/YouTube). Inset: Cheyenne Maddox (Clarksville Police Department).
A Tennessee mother accused of starving her 13-year-old son to death appeared in trial court this week, with prosecutors laying out details of the harrowing case of alleged abuse.
Cheyenne Maddox, 35, stands charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child neglect in the 2022 death of Kadaris Maddox. Per Tennessee law, she faces life in prison and possibly the death penalty if she is convicted of the murder charge.
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First responders arrived at the Maddoxes' home on Virginia Terrace in Clarksville, on the afternoon of July 6, 2022, to a startling scene. Kadaris was pronounced dead soon after, according to the Clarksville Police Department.
The home was in disarray. An officer stated there was so much trash strewn about that he could not touch the floor, Clarksville Now reported. As for the bedrooms, Kadaris' was especially bare, with only a mattress, pillow, comforter, drying rack, and electronic equipment inside. In the yard was a wheelchair that a detective described as "weathered."
Kadaris lived with cerebral palsy, according to Nashville-based ABC affiliate WKRN. But one of his doctors stated that he was cognitively intact and optimistic about his future.
Prosecutors this week said Kadaris weighed 47 pounds the last time he visited a doctor. When he died, his weight was reportedly down to about 35 pounds. He was "just skin and bones," Clarksville police officer Joshua Clegg testified. He said he was the first officer to arrive at the scene, and several other children let him into the residence.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Cheyenne Maddox was initially charged with five counts of aggravated child neglect because of the living conditions for the other kids. While she posted a surety bond for the child neglect charges, she was later charged with murdering Kadaris.
"He died of malnutrition and he died of starvation," Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Mary O'Connor said in court. "It was almost [as] if his skin was wrapped around his bones."
Dawn Maddox, Cheyenne's mother and Kadaris' grandmother, told Clarksville Now a month after her daughter's arrest that she knew her grandson died because of parental mistreatment.
"It's hard to say how I feel because that is my daughter and I love her. How could she do something like this? Because he was a good baby," she said.
A memorial was held for Kadaris in November 2022. Dawn Maddox said on that day that "there was a lot of people that loved him because he brought so much joy into the world," per WKRN. "Just to look at him, when he smiled, his eyes, he just lit up a room. An angel was taken the day he passed away."
The trial has taken an emotional toll on many involved. As photos taken during Kadaris' autopsy were shown in court this week, multiple jurors reportedly had to wipe tears from their eyes. The trial resumed on Wednesday morning.
