PARK HILLS, Mo. – The death of a three-year-old at a Park Hills daycare is now in the hands of the prosecutor as the daycare’s owner continues to operate a separate facility right next door.

It has been more than two weeks since three-year-old Conrad Ashcraft died at Poppy’s Playhouse 2. The facility almost immediately lost its license. A memorial still sits on the front steps of the daycare.

“For this to still be out here just to remind everybody this is where it happened, he deserves justice and it’s just great. We love it,” Lacie Hardie, Ashcraft’s aunt, said.

The St. Francois County coroner has not declared a cause of death yet. An inspection from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said that on May 16th, a caregiver put Ashcraft under an 18.2-pound weighted blanket during naptime. Ashcraft was left there for four hours until he was found dead. The blanket was partially over Ashcraft’s head. The sheriff’s office has handed the case over to a special prosecutor, but no charges have been filed yet.

“I do understand that it takes a while for them to get their ducks in a row and I appreciate them going through what they have to go through and doing it with a fine-toothed comb,” Hardie said.

Meanwhile, children are still going to daycare at Poppy’s Playhouse Etc., a facility directly next door to Poppy’s Playhouse 2. The facilities have different licenses. Poppy’s Playhouse 2 served children under 5. Poppy’s Playhouse, ETC serves children ages 5 to 14, but the facilities have the same owner and even some of the same employees.

In an inspection done this past March, the caregiver accused of putting Conrad under the weighted blanket at Poppy’s Playhouse 2 was also listed as a caregiver at Poppy’s Playhouse ETC.

When FOX 2 asked DESE about this situation, it sent a statement saying, in part, “Childcare licenses are granted to facilities, not individuals/personnel working at those facilities. The immediate license suspension only pertains/applies to Poppy’s Playhouse 2.”

Poppy’s Playhouse’s owner declined to talk about the investigation, but told FOX 2 that the employee in question no longer works at Poppy’s Playhouse, ETC.

FOX 2 reached out to Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Trisha Stefanski, the special prosecutor on the case, but did not hear back.

Stefanski accepted role as special prosecutor after it was revealed that the daycare’s owner had previously worked in the St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. It was one of multiple potential conflicts of interest to arise in the case. Park Hills police originally passed the case over to the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office because the daycare’s owner was also a sitting city councilmember before resigning in the wake of Ashcraft’s death.