Records show past supervision and safety violations at multiple Memphis-area centers connected to Raven Marshall-Lewis.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The discovery of a second child death at a day care connected to Raven Marshall-Lewis is widening scrutiny of a Memphis-area child care network after 6-year-old Winter Jones died at Kid University in August.
State records and reporting show that Colt Adkins, an infant nearly 3 months old, died in July 2021 at Ivy League Learning Center #2 in Bartlett, another facility under Marshall-Lewis’ ownership. His death occurred five years before Winter was found unresponsive in a vehicle at Kid University in Cordova. The two cases involved different circumstances, but both have raised questions about supervision, safety practices and how violations are reflected in public child care records.
In Colt’s case, a redacted Department of Children’s Services investigation confirmed an allegation of lack of supervision, according to records reviewed by WREG. His cause of death was listed as suffocation due to an unsafe sleep environment. State compliance records cited supervision problems, including that the infant was not moved to a crib after falling asleep and that required checks were not performed.
Winter died Aug. 13 after her family said she was left for hours on a day care vehicle that was supposed to take her to school. Winter was autistic and nonverbal. Memphis police said officers responded to Kid University after she was found in need of medical assistance. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
The Tennessee Department of Human Services conducted a fatality inspection at Kid University after Winter’s death. Inspectors documented five transportation violations. Among them, staff acknowledged that a required walk-through had not been conducted to make sure all children had left the vehicle, the transportation log was not accurately completed and documentation showing required transportation training could not be produced.
The inspection also found that the vehicle did not have a child-monitoring device. DHS later explained that during a June monitoring visit, the center had reported the vehicle was being used only for school-age children who did not meet the conditions under state rules that would require the device. Winter’s disability became a key part of the questions surrounding whether the safeguards in place were adequate on the day she died.
Kid University surrendered its child care license following Winter’s death and permanently closed. State officials said the closure did not automatically affect Marshall-Lewis’ other licensed facilities. Public records and local reporting have identified several other centers associated with her, including two Ivy League Learning Center locations, Klassy Kids facilities, Imagine Academy and Yaya’s Place.
Reviews of those facilities’ records have identified other violations over the years. WREG reported that an Ivy League location on East Shelby Drive had been cited after an educator used corporal punishment. At a Klassy Kids location, records included a failure to immediately report a complaint that a teacher had hit a child. The same facility also had a transportation-related incident involving a child leaving a bus and being outside without appropriate supervision.
Those incidents did not all involve the same employees, facilities or circumstances, and the existence of a violation does not by itself establish a continuing pattern of unlawful conduct. Taken together, however, the records have increased attention on how state regulators track problems across multiple child care businesses operated by the same owner.
Kid University itself had a history of compliance issues before Winter’s death. WREG reported six violations dating to 2018, including earlier concerns involving supervision, incident reporting and transportation procedures. A 2019 finding involved reviewers not physically walking through a bus, while a June 2026 violation involved required checks of sleeping infants.
The center also had been placed on a state Safety Plan before Winter died. DHS told WREG the plan began June 10 following a Department of Children’s Services-related investigation that started with a complaint. The allegations behind that complaint were unsubstantiated. Safety plans can bring additional monitoring and unannounced visits after certain complaints or violations.
The broader record has also renewed questions about how much information families can obtain from state child care databases. The 2021 Ivy League record showed supervision violations, but the publicly presented compliance history did not itself explain that the infant involved had died. More detailed information was contained in a redacted child-welfare investigative report.
Marshall-Lewis also was removed from Shelby County Mayor Mickell Lowery’s transition team after Winter’s death drew attention to the child care centers she operated. Lowery, who was mayor-elect at the time of the removal, later said volunteers for the transition effort had not gone through a formal vetting process.
Marshall-Lewis has not responded publicly to repeated requests for comment reported by local news organizations since Winter’s death. The other child care centers connected to her were not ordered closed as a result of Kid University surrendering its license, according to DHS.
Investigations into Winter’s death have involved Memphis police, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and the Department of Human Services. Local reporting has said the case was being prepared for presentation to a grand jury. The available reports reviewed for this article did not identify criminal charges against Marshall-Lewis in connection with Winter’s death.
For regulators and investigators, the immediate questions remain focused on what happened at Kid University on Aug. 13 and whether any additional action is warranted. The emergence of Colt’s 2021 death has added a separate chapter to that review, placing greater attention on the safety histories of other child care centers connected to the same owner.
Author note: Last updated September 6, 2026.