CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Day 2 in the jury trial for Cheyenne Maddox, charged with the neglect and the murder of her disabled, 13-year-old son, brought testimony from a pediatrician, a nurse and a home nurse who took a special interest in Kadaris in the months leading up to his death.
The Maddox trial began on Monday. On July 6, 2022, EMS responded to a call in her home, where they found the body of 13-year-old Kadaris Maddox. According to previous reports, officers stated that the home was in disarray inside and out. The autopsy report states that Kadaris’ death was the result of malnutrition.
On Oct. 9, 2022, Cheyenne Maddox, Kadaris’ mother, turned herself in after being indicted on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child neglect.
Pediatrician addresses weight loss
Dr. Gary Griffieth, Kadaris’ pediatrician, said he last the child for an in-person visit in December 2020. Griffieth explained that while Kadaris was “OK” in terms of general examination (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.), he was “most impressed” with his weight during that visit: Kadaris weighed 47 pounds at age 11.
“If we plot that on a growth chart … he’s below what we call the 5th percentile,” Griffieth explained. He was then invited up to describe using a copy of the CDC growth chart on the projector screen. “So, you’re comparing your child against other kids the same age, and then over time, you’re comparing the kids against themselves. … But again, remember, kids with CP don’t grow very well, and that is not that unusual. What I need is a second point, because then that tells me what the rate is.”
Griffieth said he told of Kadaris’ death in 2022, as well as his weight of 35 pounds.
“In the approximatley 18-month time period from when you last saw Kadaris at his well-child check and the date of his death, would cerebral palsy medically explain, in your experience, that kind of weight loss?” Assistant District Attorney Kayla McBride asked.
“Probably not,” Dr. Griffieth answered. “Not in total.”
‘In my head, he just couldn’t be that way’
Griffieth’s wife, Kathy Griffieth, was a pediatric nurse who worked regularly with Kadaris and his mother, specifically with scheduling appointments.
Throughout 2021 and into 2022, Kathy had several text conversations or office calls with Cheyenne Maddox that resulted in Kadaris’ appointment being rescheduled on several occasions. In one particular message thread, Kathy asked Cheyenne about Kadaris’ weight.
“She texted me that he was approximately 38 pounds,” Kathy recalled. “And I had looked in the chart when we saw him a year ago, he had been 47 pounds. So I just wrote back and said, ‘Are you sure that’s the correct weight?’ She responded that, ‘Oh, I just grabbed a huge stack of paperwork for him, and I just grabbed what was on top, and that’s the first I saw. Let me go back and look and see if I have something more recent.’ And I never got a response, and I didn’t follow up either.
“At the time, I was thinking she just had old paperwork, because in my head, he couldn’t be that way. … That just didn’t make sense to me,” Kathy said. “I would have said something to Dr. Griffieth about the weight and scheduled an appointment to get them in as soon as possible.”
Home nurse tearfully remembers Kadaris dancing
Myesha Mays, a former home nurse with Maxim Healthcare, delivered emotional testimony as she recalled the time she spent with Kadaris: Monday through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and sometimes much longer.
Mays described how she began taking care of Kadaris at their old home address while Cheyenne went to work in January 2022. Between April and May, she began to document the conditions that she found her patient in.
She testified that three to four times a week, she would enter the home and find Kadaris lying in the bathroom tub, with Cheyenne explaining that she was about to wash him off. Mays described seeing Kadaris in the tub, sometimes with a few sheets or blankets, but always wearing the same thing: a single disposable diaper that was full of feces, sometimes spilling into the tub.
Mays described Cheyenne’s relationship with Kadaris as “absent” and “unresponsive” often treating the child like he was invisible, and blaming him for many of the family’s issues, and even wished he was dead.
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Mays developed a personal relationship with Kadaris and Cheyenne, despite company policy. She often bought clothes for Kadaris, and was reimbursed by Cheyenne for buying them groceries. At one point, Mays even took Kadaris to her home for a week.
“It was really just a normal day, like he was really at home,” Mays recalled. “Once my husband got home, he would interact more with him. Dancing with (Kadaris), singing with him. We just wanted to make him feel at home.”
When Mays brought Kadaris home at the end of their week together, she testified that Kadaris cried.
She and her husband were preparing to move to a different state, but were still in Clarksville on June 1, 2022. That day, she texted Cheyenne asking if she needed her in the home for any more days, but never received a response.
Mays was still working a shift at Maxim on June 1, and when she got off at 4 p.m., she drove by Cheyenne’s home and saw that no one was there. After circling the block a few times and still seeing no sign of Cheyenne, “I called the cops because Kadaris was at home with no adult supervision,” Mays testified.
The trial is set to resume Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Montgomery County Courts Center.
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