Winter Jones was 6 years old and could not speak.
She was nonverbal, autistic, and completely dependent on the adults who were supposed to care for her. On August 13, she was taken to Kid University daycare in Memphis, Tennessee, as on any other day. No one noticed that she had been left inside the school bus, in unforgiving heat. They found her unconscious hours later. She died in the hospital, having been unable to say a single word about what she felt while she waited for someone to look for her.
This week, three women appeared in court: driver Tametria Norry, deputy director Sabrina Powe, and assistant Amilya Hardin. They are charged with aggravated child neglect, criminally negligent homicide, and alteration of records. Two have already paid a bond of 50,000 dollars and are free.
The family’s lawyer, Taurus Bailey, said that this is only the first step toward justice. Winter’s parents hope for answers that will no longer bring their daughter back to life, but that may prevent another family from having to ask the same question: how does one forget a child who could not call out her own name?