The parents of 16-month-old Madolyn “Maddy” Mitchell are taking their fight to civil court, accusing a Lenoir daycare worker of smothering their daughter during nap time and then failing to check on her for hours. The new lawsuit, filed this week in Caldwell County, comes on the heels of criminal charges and the state-ordered shutdown of the daycare center where Maddy died.
What the lawsuit says happened in that nap room
According to a lawsuit that alleges the worker laid on top of the toddler when she would not nap, employee Alexandra Coffey climbed onto Maddy during nap time when the child would not go to sleep. The complaint claims the toddler’s leg “kicked for several minutes and then stopped,” and alleges Coffey did not check on her for roughly three hours afterward.
The suit states that an autopsy listed smothering and compression asphyxia as the cause of death. Maddy’s family is seeking at least $25,000 in damages in the civil case, which accuses Coffey of causing the child’s death through her actions during nap time.
Criminal case and state shutdown
Law enforcement previously arrested 29-year-old Coffey in May 2025 and charged her with involuntary manslaughter, as reported by WRAL. Within days of the child’s death, regulators moved in.
The North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education issued a summary suspension for Creative Beginnings on May 21, 2025 and ordered the facility to close, according to a notice from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The notice lists the operator as Kids Time of Lenoir LLC at 1966 K Morganton Blvd SW in Lenoir.
How the family and community are responding
Mourners filled the church for Maddy’s funeral last May, turning out in force to support her parents and to ask how a routine nap could end in tragedy. Coverage by WBTV documented how Maddy’s mother, Angel Blankenship, remembered her daughter as a child who “filled our lives with nothing but love and joy.”
The new civil suit marks the family’s effort to pursue accountability beyond the criminal manslaughter charge already pending against Coffey.
Why two court cases can end differently
The family’s civil claim runs on a separate track from the criminal prosecution and can move on a different timetable, with different stakes and a different burden of proof. In the criminal case, prosecutors must convince a jury of Coffey’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil court, Maddy’s family needs to show Coffey is liable by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower bar that essentially asks whether it is more likely than not that their allegations are true, according to the Legal Information Institute.
That split in legal standards means it is possible for criminal and civil cases tied to the same incident to end with very different outcomes, even when they rely on many of the same facts.
What regulators had on the daycare
State reporting found that Creative Beginnings had earlier issues involving staff training and safe-sleep practices and that the center ultimately dropped an appeal of its suspension, according to WSOC-TV. The administrative order spelling out the state’s findings and the closure is contained in a public notice from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Those regulatory steps followed Maddy’s death in May 2025 and Coffey’s arrest.
What happens next in court
The new civil complaint will now wind its way through the Caldwell County courts, where the parties could face hearings, motions and a discovery process that requires them to exchange evidence and testimony. The involuntary manslaughter case against Coffey remains a separate criminal matter, still pending from last year.
Both cases are likely to generate more filings, deadlines and difficult days for Maddy’s family. This story will be updated as new court records and official notices are released.
