Authorities say Cassie Owens was unresponsive when deputies and emergency crews were called to Chinquapin Road.
TRAVELERS REST, S.C. — A 911 call for an unresponsive child led deputies to a Travelers Rest home where 4-year-old Cassie Cheryl Ann Owens was in cardiac arrest, beginning an investigation that later produced homicide charges.
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said Nancy Dianne West, 42, and Bradley Kyle Craig, 46, were caring for Cassie when first responders were called April 24. The child was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. Investigators said West and Craig deprived the girl of proper nutrition, and both were later arrested on homicide by child abuse charges.
The medical emergency is the point around which the case now turns. Deputies have not released the full emergency call, the time stamps from the response, or the hospital’s medical findings. What they have said is stark: the child was unresponsive at the Chinquapin Road home, was experiencing cardiac arrest, and died after being transported for care. Cardiac arrest means the heart stops pumping blood effectively. In a criminal case, however, the medical term alone does not explain why it happened. That question is now part of the evidence prosecutors must connect to the alleged deprivation of nutrition.
The investigation did not lead to immediate charges on the day Cassie died. Instead, authorities reviewed the circumstances for several weeks before making arrests in early June. Local reporting said officials in homicide by child abuse cases often must collect medical and background records before filing charges. That review can include checking for preexisting conditions, chronic disease, birth defects and other possible causes. By the time deputies announced the arrests, they said the investigation had revealed that West and Craig deprived Cassie of proper nutrition. They did not release a complete list of injuries or medical conclusions.
Cassie was a Greenville-area child who died shortly before her fifth birthday. Public obituary information said she was born May 23, 2021, and died April 24, 2026. The notice listed her parents as Matthew Owens and Tashia Baldwin, and named several siblings and relatives. It also said she was predeceased by grandmothers and uncles. Those details stand apart from the criminal filings, but they identify the child at the center of the case as more than the unnamed victim first described in emergency and police language.
The home where deputies responded sits on Chinquapin Road in Travelers Rest, a city north of Greenville. The sheriff’s office said West and Craig were Cassie’s legal guardians at the time. The South Carolina Department of Social Services later said the pair had never been licensed foster parents through DSS. That public clarification came after confusion over their role. A licensed foster placement and a legal guardianship can involve different paperwork, oversight and legal authority. Authorities have not released the guardianship order or said when Cassie entered West and Craig’s care.
The case also includes an earlier allegation tied to the same residence. Deputies investigated a reported assault at the Chinquapin Road home on March 28, 2025. Craig reportedly admitted that he hit a child twice in the back of the head with his hand. Officials have not confirmed whether that child was Cassie. They also have not said whether the alleged head strikes caused injury, whether any child protective action followed, or whether the report became part of the later homicide investigation. The lack of a public connection keeps that earlier event as a known but unresolved piece of the timeline.
The criminal charge, homicide by child abuse, is among the most serious charges tied to the death of a child in South Carolina. The allegation can involve an act of abuse or a failure to provide necessary care that results in death. In public statements so far, the sheriff’s office has emphasized alleged deprivation of nutrition rather than a single moment of violence on the day of the 911 call. That means investigators may rely on medical findings, witness statements, home evidence and records showing Cassie’s condition over time. Prosecutors have not yet laid out that proof in public.
West and Craig were arrested at their Travelers Rest home by the sheriff’s Fugitive Apprehension Specialized Investigations Team. Both were booked into the Greenville County Detention Center and denied bond. Local reports said their cases were moving to the solicitor’s office for the next steps in circuit court. Bond denial keeps the defendants jailed while prosecutors prepare the case. It does not decide guilt. No defense statement has been reported, and the public record does not yet show how either defendant plans to respond to the charges.
The known statements in the case are limited and formal. The sheriff’s office said the child was found in cardiac arrest and that the defendants deprived her of proper nutrition. DSS said the defendants were not licensed foster parents in the state system. Public obituary and funeral pages identify Cassie and her family. Missing from the record are the full autopsy report, details of the child’s weight or physical condition, the 911 caller’s identity, and any explanation from West or Craig. Those omissions are common in active criminal cases, but they leave the public account incomplete.
The timeline now runs from a prior assault allegation in March 2025, to the emergency call on April 24, 2026, to the June arrests after further investigation. The next phase will test whether prosecutors can prove that the alleged failure to provide nutrition caused Cassie’s death. Court filings may also clarify whether the state will raise the earlier assault report, the guardianship arrangement or any medical records at hearings.
Prosecutors are expected to set the course for future hearings, where more of the medical and investigative record may become public. West and Craig remained jailed with bond denied.
Author note: Last updated July 8, 2026.