AT A GLANCE
Victim: Hazana Anderson, age 2
Date: Friday, October 19, 2018
Location: Houston, Texas
Perpetrator(s): Tiaundra Kae Christon, 21, and Kenny D’Shawn Hewett, 32
Relationship to victim: mother and mother’s boyfriend
Crimes in sum: Tiaundra Christon, 21, brought her daughter, Hazana Anderson, 2, on a trip to visit her boyfriend, Kenny Hewett, 32, an hour and a half from their home. The toddler took her last breaths in a Houston hotel room after Tiaundra and Kenny beat her for not eating—but they didn’t stop there.
TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABUSE RESULTING IN LOSS OF LIFE.
Hazana Anderson was a beautiful baby girl from College Park, Texas; a city in central Texas that sits midway between Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin. She was a winter baby, born on January 18, 2017, Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. Her birth wasn’t planned and her death, presumed to be on Friday, October 19, 2018, was untimely. However, the actions that followed Hazana’s passing were indeed premeditated.
Hazana didn’t make it to her second birthday. She didn’t get to experience Halloween that year even though her mother already bought her a costume. Instead, on October 31, 2018, officials recovered Hazana’s remains from a Texas lake where her discarded body laid submerged for nearly 10 days.
Tiaundra Kae Christon, 21, called 9-1-1 on the morning of Sunday, October 28, 2010, to report her only child missing. The scene was a sinister one masked by the backdrop of a bright, sunny and warm Texas day. Hazana’s mother was distraught when she spoke with dispatchers.
Through exasperated breaths and hysterical pleas, Tiaundra told the dispatcher that she and Hazana went for a walk in Gabbard Park around 8 am; a public park in College Station, Texas, and nearby Tiaundra and Hazana’s home. The two of them settled at an playground in the park.
Around 9 am, Tiaundra ran back to her car to retrieve a bottle of milk for Hazana. Her car was parked some 1,800 feet away (0.3 miles) and it was out of view of the playground. Hazana sat in her stroller, alone and unrestrained. The stroller was also about 120 feet from a pond.
When Tiaunda returned, Hazana wasn’t there. She called 9-1-1 to report her missing at 9:21 am.
At least 163 officials, including higher-ups from the Houston law enforcement scene, met with volunteers and worried friends and family to scour the park for Hazana. Divers, canines and drones aided in the search. Still, there was no sign of the 2-year-old. Police grew suspicious.
Where was baby Hazana?
Police Interrogate Tiaundra on Hazana’s Whereabouts
Tiaundra thought her account was foolproof, but police poked holes in her story.
One of their curiosities speculated on the timespan that Hazana purportedly disappeared. Police spoke with several fisherman at the park that morning and none of them reported hearing or seeing a small child, or noticing any suspicious activity.
Tiaunda’s behavior as a mother was another curiosity. Why would a mother leave her toddler unattended in a public park and run a quarter-mile to her car? At the very least, her actions demonstrated poor parenting.
A doll that resembles Hazana.
The last time Tiaundra saw her daughter, Hazana wore a green jacket, cream-colored pants and a purple beanie. So, it was ironic when investigators found a life-sized baby doll wearing a similar outfit in a dumpster across the street from Tiaundra’s parked car. The doll was located inside of a large black handbag.
Tiaundra claimed to have no knowledge of the doll or its clothing. However, at this point, police had enough evidence to arrest Tiaundra on charges of filing a false police report and endangering/abandoning a child. She was booked to Brazos County Jail in Bryan, Texas.
Hazana’s missing person’s case officially became a criminal investigation.
Tiaundra Prioritizes A New Relationship Over Hazana
As standard procedure, police collected Tiaundra’s phone as evidence. From her phone records, they learned Tiaundra communicated frequently via texts and calls with Kenny D’Shawn Hewett, a 32-year-old man from Houston. She identified the man as her boyfriend.
Kenny, who was 11 years older than Tiaundra, had a lengthy criminal past that included violent behavior.
Kenny and Tiaundra dated for a few months, but loved ones already noticed changes in Tiaundra. Prior to having Hazana with ex-boyfriend Tobodrick Anderson, Tiaundra was in school for radiology. When she had Hazana, she paused her studies to dedicate herself to her daughter—for a time. After she met Kenny, Tiaundra lost all interest in her family life and baby girl.
Tiaundra became distant. When she was physically with Kenny, she was difficult to get ahold of. Tiaundra often ignored phone calls from her parents, regardless of whether it concerned Hazana. It didn’t help that Kenny kept himself away from Tiaundra’s family. When he picked up the 21-year-old, he waited in his car. He never went out of his way to greet or get to know her parents.
On Thursday, October 18, 2018, Tiaundra took Hazana with her to visit Kenny 1.5 hours away in Houston. The three of them planned to stay at a Houston Downtowner Inn & Suites from Oct. 18-20, 2018. Although Tiaundra’s mother lived in Houston and invited them to stay with her, Kenny and Tiaundra denied her request. They wanted to be alone. On the following day, they would be.
On Friday, October 19, 2018, Kenny took Hazana with him to a taco restaurant to pick up food while Tiaundra stayed behind in the hotel. During this 30-minute outing, Hazana refused to eat and it made Kenny angry—very angry. When the two of them returned to the hotel, Hazana was crying and noticeably uncomfortable. Then, the night became especially grim.
Kenny told Tiaundra that she didn’t do a good job “disciplining” her child. He took his belt and used it to beat Hazana on her arms, legs and face, leaving behind welts. He handed Tiaundra the belt and demanded she do the same. Tiaundra used the belt to hit her 2-year-old daughter, but Kenny didn’t think it was hard enough, so he continued. Then, Kenny and Tiaundra placed Hazana in the bathtub, where Kenny waterboarded the child. As she struggled to breathe, Hazana threw up bits of food and defecated in the tub.
After the beating, Hazana started to drift in and out of consciousness. Kenny suggested she take Tylenol and a laxative. When Hazana became cold to the touch, Tiaundra put her back in the bath tub, hoping it would warm her. It didn’t. Tiaundra’s watched her daughter’s eyes roll to the back of her head.
Hazana’s condition deteriorates.
While Hazana was in the bath tub, Tiaundra noticed one detail she didn’t want to believe: her daughter’s anus was gaping. She later told investigators that Hazana’s “butt hole was so huge” and questioned again and again how it happened. Sexual abuse allegations were never confirmed nor denied.
Photo from YouTube, credit Mamas Uncut.
After the bath, Hazana’s skin still felt cold to the touch. Instead of wrapping the toddler in blankets—or bringing her to the hospital—Tiaundra and Kenny used a hair dryer to warm her. They left the hair dryer on all night and kept it pointed in Hazana’s direction. The hair dryer did nothing but burn Hazana’s skin, thereby worsening her condition.
Noticing little to no improvement, Tiaundra tucked her daughter in to bed, hoping that somehow, some way, she would recover. Hazana’s shallow breathing grew softer and slower. Still, neither adult called 9-1-1.
When Tiaundra and Kenny woke the next morning, Hazana was dead. The medical examiner was never able to determine a cause of death, which played an adverse role in the case.
Tiaundra uses a a toy doll to impersonate Hazana.
Tiaundra and Kenny didn’t want to take responsibility for Hazana’s death. Instead, they concocted a disgraceful plan to conceal her body.
Photo from Facebook.
With her daughter now dead, Tiaundra wrapped her body in a plastic bag. She kept that plastic bag on the passenger-side floorboard of her car for three days. She tossed clothing and other items overtop the bag to hide the body from view.
Three days later, her and Kenny purchased chicken feet to add to the bag. Then, they tied it shut with a rope, attached it to a heavy rock and dumped the body in Moses Lake near Texas City.
Why the chicken feet, you ask? Tiaundra and Kenny used it as bait for fish and other water critters. They purposely wanted to attract sea life to Hazana’s body to eliminate potential evidence.
And that’s how Tiaundra bid farewell to her daughter; her only child here on this earth. She tossed her dead body in the water with a bunch of raw chicken feet.
Tiaundra attempts to cover up Hazana’s death.
On October 20, 2018, Tiaundra returned to College Station without Hazana. To avoid questions, she dressed a life-sized doll like Hazana and walked around with the toy in a stroller.
Tiaundra went to a friend’s house, who saw the doll in the backseat and assumed it was Hazana sleeping. She told her mother, who kept asking to see her granddaughter, that Hazana was napping. Other excuses followed. She sent her friends and family old photographs of Hazana and claimed they were current. Surveillance footage from a local Wax-Mart even captured Tiaundra pushing a stroller that contained a motionless “child.”
Tiaundra and Kenny’s Sentencing
Police arrested Tiaundra on October 29, 2019 and Kenny on October 31.
On November 8, 2019, Kenny pled guilty to tampering with a human corpse. He received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He will most likely serve most of this sentence due to his prior record.
Tiaundra entered a plea of not guilty to tampering with a human corpse.
Tiaundra’s trial began on December 8, 2019. Three days later, a jury found her guilty after only 40 minutes of deliberation. Tiaundra received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Unfortunately, she may only serve three years of her sentence, or 15%, before she is eligible for parole due to state criminal laws.
Hazana’s cause of death is undetermined. Neither Kenny nor Tiaundra were charged with her murder.
My Two Cents Corner
I wonder how much Tiaundra will regret so desperately wanting to be with a man that it cost her her daughter’s life. I say “a man” and not Kenny, because considering her age, recent behavior and decision to be with a person like Kenny, I think her choices were about being with someone in general; the feeling of being wanted and needed, and it being intoxicating like a drug. It wasn’t about love.
Tiaundra had a beautiful daughter. She lived with her grandmother. She had family members willing to help her. The father of her child loved his daughter and wanted to be present in her life. He even preferred having Hazana most of the time. She was in the midst of pursuing a degree in radiology. She had opportunities at her fingertips.
Tiaundra handed over her blessings for a man and it landed her a jail sentence and the permanent label of being a mother who killed her child. I don’t think it’s an excuse, but I personally believe that Tiaundra was naïve.
Kenny had a criminal record that included felony charges. He was also 11 years older than Tiaundra, which is a red flag—no, not for every age gap relationship, but for this one. The age gap placed Kenny in a position to manipulate Tiaundra, which is what I believe happened. I won’t speak too much on Kenny’s behavior in this case, because it is absolutely disgusting in every way. A grown man should never treat a child, especially a precious little girl.
Why didn’t Kenny date a woman closer to him in age? Because he couldn’t. Women his age have more life experience and are thus less willing (or unwilling) to deal with drama. A young, naïve woman may not know better. It probably fed Tiaundra’s ego to date an older “bad boy” and it definitely fed Kenny’s ego to date a younger woman. I’m sure Tiaundra wasn’t his first.
I don’t believe this was the first time Tiaundra saw Kenny express anger violently. I also don’t believe it’s the first time he was violent towards Hazana. In the sources I read, Tiaundra never expressed that it was the first time Kenny behaved that way or that she was shocked at his actions. However, I do think—and this is only my opinion—they were both irritated at the responsibility of caring for a toddler, especially for days in a row. I think Tiaundra was also probably in denial about how toxic the relationship was, also because of naïveté. I think she was also so desperate to please him that she was willing to do anything—clearly.
Again, these are only my speculations. Regardless, it’s an incredible shame that a precious child was taken from this world at the hands of selfish, inept adults.
What do you think about this case?
Resources
- Disturbing details revealed: Mother of Hazana Anderson sentenced in girl’s 2018 death – Click 2 Houston
- Mom dressed up life-sized doll & pretended it was her 2-year-old after dumping her body – Cafe Mom
- Kenny Hewett arrest affidavit – KHOU via Scribd
- Tiaundra Christon arrest affidavit – KHOU via Scribd
- Tiaundra Kae Christon: 5 fast facts you need to know – Heavy
- Sword & Scale PLUS, Episode 110
