Parents of infant 'shaken to death' by daycare worker are heartbroken

• Brayden wasn’t even six months old when his life was tragically taken
• Versa Mae Simmons, a daycare worker, was charged with Brayden’s murder
• Simmons allegedly has a history of abuse and is being held on a $1 million bond 

The Robertson family was forced to say goodbye to their five-month-old son, Brayden, almost exactly one month ago after an employee at his Alabama daycare allegedly caused his death by continued physical abuse.

Police arrested and charged Versa Mae Simmons, 68, who worked at Tender Years Preschool & Nursery, with murder and four counts of child abuse.

Court records obtained by WFSA 12 claims Simmons abused, beat and mistreated Brayden on more than one occasion, which led to his tragic and untimely death on March 25.

In as sit down interview with WFSA 12, a teary-eyed Taylor Robertson, the boy’s mother, said she got a call that her son was unresponsive and rushed to the daycare in just three minutes.

‘I saw his lifeless body on the changing table as they were trying to do life-saving measures.’

Pictured: The Robertson family all together

Versa Mae Simmons (pictured) worked at Tender Years Preschool & Nursery, now shut down, and is accused of murdering Brayden

Pictured: Taylor and Paul Robertson talk to WFSA 12 about the tragic death of their son, allegedly at the hands of a daycare worker

Pictured: Brayden Robertson, who died on March 25 having not even reached six months old

‘No parents should have to watch their child be lowered into the dirt at the hands of somebody else.’

Simmons is that ‘somebody else,’ according to police, who say that Brayden wasn’t her only victim.

Brayden’s mother made a plea to other parents of young children to look for warning signs of abuse and be relentlessly vigilant.

‘He didn’t have a voice. He couldn’t tell me, “Momma, I don’t want to go here,”‘ Taylor Robertson said. ‘Every afternoon he would light up when we picked him up. I just thought my baby was excited to see me. But now it makes me wonder, was he excited because I was finally taking him away from something that he didn’t like.’

‘Monsters come in all shapes and sizes and people you never would think. So, don’t be fooled,’ Taylor Robertson warned.

Taylor Robertson tearfully recounts the day she rushed to her son’s daycare only to ‘his lifeless body on the changing table as they were trying to do life-saving measures’

Brayden Robertson (pictured) had an autopsy performed after his suspicious death. When it was ruled a homicide, Simmons was arrested shortly after by police

Brayden Robertson (pictured) leaves behind his parents, Taylor and Paul, and his big sister

Paul Robertson (pictured left) said the daycare was quick to tell him and Taylor that any scratches their son would come home with were self-inflicted

Taylor Robertson (pictured left) pleaded with parents to be vigilant and ‘ask’ when their child comes home with injuries

Paul Robertson, Brayden’s father, said the daycare was quick to tell them that any scratches their son would come home with were self-inflicted, which raises questions about the daycare’s level of culpability.

The daycare’s license has been suspended, WFSA 12 reported.

‘Ask all the questions,’ Brayden’s mother said.

‘Ask for video footage. Ask. I wish I could go back and change a lot, but I can’t.

‘Losing a child is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to endure, but losing a child that you shouldn’t have lost because they were perfect and they were perfectly healthy is something different,’ Brayden’s mother said. ‘And I don’t want any other mom or daddy to feel like this.’

Brayden leaves behind his parents and an older sister.

Simmons is being held at Marengo County Detention Center on a $1 billion bond.

It is unclear if she has entered a plea at this time.

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