Tracie Renee Puskac (via Marion County Sheriff’s Office)
A mother’s shifting stories failed to convince investigators of her innocence when her toddler son died from various injuries, including complications from a skull fracture, according to documents.
Tracie Renee Puskac, 36, allegedly said she could just “have another baby” after Jermiyah Puskac, 17 months, passed away. She is currently being held at the Marion County Jail in Florida, on a count of second-degree murder.
Deputies responded on April 27 to a home on SE 42nd Avenue in the community of Summerfield regarding an unresponsive toddler, according to the probable cause affidavit for Puskac’s arrest.
The child was taken to the emergency room at AdventHealth Belleview in critical condition with signs of significant brain injury. Medical staff found signs of physical abuse, the arrest documents stated. He had bruises all over his body that were consistent with abuse, and he had retinal hemorrhages, authorities said.
One of the visible injuries was a bruise to his forehead.
Jermiyah died on April 29. The autopsy ruled the death a homicide and determined that Jermiyah passed away due to complications from a skull fracture, subdural hemorrhage, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injury from abusive trauma of the head and neck.
Over the course of several interviews with authorities, Puskac denied wrongdoing and gave authorities varying stories on how her son might have gotten hurt.
At first, she allegedly claimed he had a “fit” and banged his head against the tile floor. Puskac said her son had autism and “bangs his head a lot,” documents stated.
“The Defendant advised that she moved the victim to a safe spot and held him down into a ‘lock’ position. The Defendant told Deputy Haufler that the victim was ‘stiff’ around 10:00 PM, and at that time he was ‘stiff as a board,’” authorities wrote.
Puskac claimed she put him to bed and periodically kept an eye on him until going to sleep herself. Then, at 7 a.m. the following day, Jermiyah had blue lip discoloration and shallow breathing, she allegedly claimed.
She believed he was having a medical emergency. According to documents, Puskac said she took the child to the living room and had her mother call 911.
She later introduced a claim that he had fallen and struck his head in the bathtub that evening, however, investigators said. Then Puskac allegedly tried to shift suspicion onto her 4-year-old daughter.
“The Defendant then asked about her statements being confidential and indicated that she did not want her 4-year-old daughter to get in trouble,” the affidavit stated.
She allegedly claimed that her daughter struck Jermiyah in the back of the head with a giraffe toy. Puskac and her mother discussed prior incidents in which the 4-year-old daughter struck Jermiyah with a giraffe and plastic dog toy, documents stated.
The affiant noted a small plastic giraffe toy no longer than six inches and a hollow plastic dog toy, but noted that both appeared incapable of hurting Jermiyah that badly when wielded by a 4-year-old.
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Puskac also told an investigator that Jermiyah had fallen off her bed several days before, landing on his back and being “kind of alert” after that, documents stated.
She allegedly said she was too scared to call because she did not want an open investigation by DCF.
DCF said that during the death investigation, however, Puskac resisted signing a safety plan and also made concerning statements that “DCF is taking my children,” “I’ll just have another one,” and “I can go and get pregnant and have my baby.” The defendant also allegedly said she could “have another baby.”
After deputies got the autopsy results on Friday, they started looking for Puskac at her home. Her mother allegedly told one of them that she was not at home but out buying clothing.
The lawman returned several hours later and found the defendant’s vehicle in the driveway. He knocked on the front door of the residence but heard the door lock from the other side, according to the affidavit.
Puskac is being held without bond. Court is set for Aug. 15. A Marion County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told Law&Crime there are currently no plans to charge the defendant’s mother.
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