‘My whole reason for living’: Mother of girl mauled by gators recounts her sorrow
Quatisha Maycock, 5, had just learned how to write her name and practiced scribbling it every day up until she was thrown into the Everglades and left to be eaten by alligators.
Shandelle Maycock, Quatisha’s mother, broke down on Monday as she detailed how her daughter loved coloring, playing with dolls, dressing up and especially going to school to learn new things alongside her classmates.
“Quatisha was my whole reason for living,” Maycock said on the stand. “[She was] the only person I knew really loved me besides God.”
Maycock’s testimony came as a Miami jury is tasked with weighing whether Harrel Braddy, now 76, should again face execution. Braddy was on Florida’s Death Row from 2007 to 2017, until he was granted a new sentencing trial due to constitutional issues surrounding the state’s death penalty.
Braddy kidnapped Quatisha and Maycock, who met Braddy in a church group, on the night of Nov. 7, 1998. Braddy beat Maycock, choked her, put her in the trunk of his car and left her on a deserted stretch of U.S. 27 near the Broward-Palm Beach county line, prosecutor Abbe Rifkin said. Maycock survived — although he didn’t count on her living through the repeated attacks.
Braddy’s motive, Rifkin said, was that he was spurned by Maycock, who had repeatedly rejected his advances. Fearing Quatisha could identify him, Braddy dumped the child — alive — on the side of Alligator Alley. Quatisha’s body was found in a canal days later by fishermen.
READ MORE: Mother of girl left to be killed by alligators testifies about horrors they saw
On Monday, Maycock said that for 27 years, she has had recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks about Quatisha’s grisly fate — and has mourned the death of her daughter, who was reserved but loved singing along with the church choir.
“She was being raised with love and affection, and she would have been somebody who made a difference,” Maycock said. “She showed respect and love to everyone she met. And in her quiet way, she lit up a room when she walked in... That light has been snuffed out. And my world will be forever dark without her.”
Maycock, tears streaming down her cheeks, wiped her face with a tissue as she walked out of the courtroom.
Braddy did not display any emotion as Maycock wept.
Prosecutors rested their case after Maycock delivered her victim impact statement.
READ MORE: Girl left for dead in Everglades was alive when gators attacked: medical examiner
Quatisha was alive when alligators mauled her, forensic pathologist Dr. Emma Lew testified last week. Lew said she had “no way of knowing if [Quatisha] was conscious” when gators and other swamp critters bit parts of her body. Jurors saw the graphic photos of Quatisha, who was missing her left arm and had bite marks on her head and stomach.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 1:23 PM.
