The Heartbreaking Story of Mackenzie and Matthew Maison

The Heartbreaking Story of Mackenzie and Matthew Mason

In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about a very heartbreaking case involving a five-year-old girl named Mackenzie Mason. Please note that this case deals with child abuse, so if you’d prefer another case type, we have plenty of other episodes to check out.

In general, it’s said that parents are supposed to protect and care for their children, right? This is why it’s so unfortunate to hear cases involving people doing the exact opposite: harming their children. Hillary and Andrew Mason both say their daughters, Mackenzie and Michaela, were just picky eaters. But when paramedics responded to a 9-1-1 call about one of the girls being unresponsive, it seemed like there was a larger, more concerning issue at hand. And just a few years later, something similar happened to the girls’ cousin. What is the deal with the Masons?

The first incident took place in May of 2015. A 25-year-old woman named Hillary Mason called 9-1-1, saying her stepdaughter, Mackenzie, was refusing to eat—or as she put it, “rebelling against food.” And I know you’re probably thinking that’s an odd reason to call 9-1-1, but it didn’t take long for Hillary to mention her real reason for calling: Mackenzie was unresponsive.

Hillary claimed she was bathing Mackenzie and suddenly she became incoherent and stopped breathing. Hillary told the dispatcher that her husband, Andrew, 27, was doing CPR, but it wasn’t working. Paramedics rushed to the Masons’ home in Port Huron, Michigan. Mackenzie was still unresponsive, but they took her to the hospital, where nurses and doctors attempted to revive her for over 45 minutes. Defeated and heartbroken, they had to call it. Mackenzie was pronounced lifeless.

The first responders and medical professionals were shocked at how bad Mackenzie looked. She was severely malnourished and dehydrated, weighing in at 25 pounds at five years old. The average weight for a healthy five-year-old is 34 to 50 pounds. Mackenzie didn’t look like a kid who just rebelled from food for a few days; she looked like a child who’d been deprived of food and water for a very long time. She also had several bruises on her body and a severe infection in her genital area. An autopsy was later performed, where Mackenzie’s COD (cause of death) was labeled as dehydration and malnutrition, complicated by pneumonia and its related conditions.

The Masons had another little girl, Michaela, who was also in rough condition, but thankfully, she was still alive. At age three, Michaela weighed 17 pounds, which is the average weight of an eight-month-old baby. Michaela apparently chugged four glasses of water when the police arrived, and she was so weak she could barely bite into an apple. Because of her unhealthy state, Michaela was also brought to the hospital.

A pediatrician who saw Michaela said she was so thin that you could see her ribs sticking out. In addition, her skin was extremely dry, and her stomach was distended. The doctor diagnosed Michaela with failure to thrive, severe and chronic malnourishment, and neglect. She suspected Michaela had been malnourished for at least a year and a half, and this is also why her speech and motor skills were delayed.

Michaela was immediately taken from Hillary and Andrew’s care, along with two other kids who reports say were Hillary’s biological children. And interestingly enough, Hillary’s kids didn’t show signs of severe malnourishment—just Andrew’s kids did.

Right off the bat, police made the statement: “There is evidence of foul play present at the scene. We are treating this as a homicide investigation.” And within days, Hillary and Andrew were charged with murder, torture, and child abuse.

Andrew and Hillary both claimed they were innocent. Hillary asked for an attorney; Andrew did not. They both were denied bail. Hillary was quoted saying, “I would like to fight with this. There is no truth in most of what was said. I’ve given the detectives everything, every detail of what happened that day. There was no intention on any of this.”

I have a hard time believing that. Whether you intentionally kept your kids from eating or not, the bottom line is they weren’t eating. And anyone should know that not eating, especially in your developmental years, is dangerously unhealthy and leads to malnourishment.

So let’s get to the trial, which you can imagine was a tough one given the matter at hand. It’s one thing to harm an adult, but to hurt your own child? That’s another level. Although Hillary and Andrew maintained their innocence throughout, there was a lot of evidence piling up against them.

Mackenzie and Michaela’s past doctors took the stand, saying the girls hadn’t been brought in for a checkup for over a year. In Mackenzie’s last visit, which was a year and a half before she passed, the doctor started to notice Mackenzie’s stagnant weight. At this point, though, she weighed 27 pounds. So over a year and a half, Mackenzie lost two pounds when she should have been gaining several. The doctor recommended Mackenzie be taken to a specialist just in case it wasn’t a thyroid issue or anything, but of course, Hillary and Andrew never did that.

The defense argued that Mackenzie and Michaela were super picky eaters and must have had an illness that caused their malnourishment. But that didn’t seem to be true, as Michaela about doubled her weight in the six months after she was taken from Hillary and Andrew’s home. Also, side note: a few months after the incident, Michaela literally broke both femurs because her bones were so weak from the malnutrition. Isn’t that horrible? Michaela has since seen several specialists, including a gastroenterologist, geneticist, and endocrinologist, and no one believes she has any sort of underlying illness that would cause malnutrition. So this must have been caused by her parents, who were supposed to be feeding her regularly.

The first person to take the stand for the defense was Michaela and Mackenzie’s great-grandma, Sharon. She claimed Hillary was very loving to both girls and said Andrew acted normal with them too. Sharon said Michaela and Mackenzie were super picky eaters, especially Michaela.

Then the prosecution questioned Sharon. Two weeks before the incident, Sharon went on a camping trip with the family. The attorney showed her several photos from the trip of the girls looking very thin and asked, “Did you have a phone?” Sharon replied, “Yes.” “When did you use it to get help for Michaela?” the attorney replied. “We didn’t,” Sharon said.

Dang, that’s so true. I didn’t even think about all the people around the Mason family that could have spoken up. It might seem awkward for a friend or relative to have to report that, but at the end of the day, those girls were in danger. And if the parents weren’t going to step in and do something, someone else should have. But Sharon didn’t think it was her place to say anything, or it seems more like she was trying to prevent Hillary and Andrew from going to jail. Sharon even tried to be all smart with the prosecutor, pointing out photos from the trip where Mackenzie was eating potato salad, cake, or a banana as labeled in one of the reports—all of which aren’t full meals or sustainable enough for a growing child.

Hillary’s father also spoke up in support of his daughter and son-in-law. He said, “The kids have been giving her problems with eating, both of the little girls have. We’ve lost a wonderful, young, beautiful grandchild. I don’t think this was an intentional starvation, whatever. It was not anything like that. My daughter is not malicious, nor is my son-in-law.”

Michaela and Mackenzie’s biological mom, Shelby Coffee, had other opinions about her girls being in Hillary and Andrew’s care. After losing custody of them in a legal battle with Andrew in 2013, Shelby believed her girls never had a chance. Unfortunately, Shelby couldn’t give them a loving, nurturing home either, as she was involved in a domestic disturbance and served jail time. She tried to visit them after losing custody but was never able to for various reasons. Sometimes she wasn’t allowed; other times Hillary and Andrew would just say the kids weren’t home. But Hillary and Andrew would always reassure Shelby that the kids were doing great.

So when Shelby saw the photos of how terribly thin her daughters were, that had to be heartbreaking—not to mention finding out one of them passed. Yeah, Shelby wasn’t perfect, but no matter what, a mother losing their child has to be one of the hardest things in the world.

The paramedics who first arrived at the Mason home after the 9-1-1 call was made also testified. They said Mackenzie had no sign of pulse or breath when they arrived. Mackenzie looked like she’d been lifeless for a while, despite Hillary’s claim that it had only been a few minutes. And then Daniel Spitz, the medical examiner who performed Mackenzie’s autopsy, said her temperature at the hospital was much too low for her to have just passed away. In response, Hillary’s attorney, Michael, diverted the conversation by asking Daniel about all of the mistakes he’s made in the past. But as much as Michael tried to prove Hillary’s innocence, the court wasn’t buying it.

In January of 2016, both Andrew and Hillary were found guilty of the abuse and torture of both children and the demise of Mackenzie. Hillary bawled her eyes out as she was cuffed and sent away to await her sentencing. Nope, I do not feel bad for Hillary one bit.

In March, Andrew and Hillary had their sentencing hearing. Both parents were sentenced to jail for life without the possibility of parole, which was a relief for just about the whole courtroom. The judge told everyone this was the third case he’s presided over where a kid has lost their life at the hands of their parents and/or stepparents. He said, “What puzzles me is how in a community so dedicated to combating child abuse and neglect, these conditions go undetected until it is too late. Those who saw and chose to do nothing are, in my mind, equally responsible for this crime. They must share the blame.”

As for the three kids who were removed from Andrew and Hillary’s care, most reports say Hillary’s two biological children were sent to foster homes. Michaela was also sent to a foster home but has since been reunited with her biological mom, Shelby. After passing psychological and psychiatric evals, and taking a reunification course, counseling, and parenting classes, Shelby was able to regain custody of her daughter. Good for her. She’s happy to share that Michaela is in much better health. She seems really happy, and her speech and motor skills have improved a lot too.

But just as the loose ends were being tied in this case, there was another sudden death of a child in the Mason family. In February of 2018, first responders were sent out to a home in Port Huron for an unresponsive three-year-old child. It’s unclear as to who made the 9-1-1 call and what was said because the county dispatch auto-deletes recorded calls after a year—which seems a bit too early, if you ask me. So many cases take years to solve, so why can’t they just archive those calls somewhere?

Anyway, here’s what we know: three-year-old Matthew Mason was found lifeless in his home. To give you context, Matthew’s mom, Amanda, is Andrew’s sister, so these kids were cousins. There’s barely any information out there about Matthew’s case because it is still ongoing. All we know is Matthew’s death certificate wasn’t filed until May. It said he was pronounced lifeless at 9 a.m. on February 19th, but the actual time of his passing is unknown, and the COD was labeled as pending investigation. Matthew’s autopsy report still hasn’t been released because it apparently hasn’t been finalized still, and the case is ongoing. The assistant prosecutor was quoted saying, “Cases involving young children can be extremely difficult, sometimes taking years, as in this case.”

This leads most people, including me, to believe that this is another case involving abuse. Both Amanda and her boyfriend, Maurice, have given statements to the police, and from what I can tell, neither of them have been arrested or anything. Although there are rumors out there about people having possibly called CPS on the family, a spokesman from Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services said in an email: “By law, I can’t discuss specifics of a Children’s Protective Services case, including whether or not there were reports made to CPS about a specific family.”

It’s been over four years, and no one knows why or how Matthew passed away, which is absolutely tragic. Reporters have tried contacting Great-Grandma Sharon—remember her?—but she declined to comment. And we all know Sharon will do whatever she can to protect her children, so I don’t think we’ll hear a peep from her. I hope investigators find the answers for this case soon so justice can be brought to Matthew’s name.

I just find it strange that something so horrific happened twice to one family, and I wonder why there are so many cases like these in this area of Michigan. Apparently, in 2014, there were at least 527 cases involving kids being harmed in St. Clair County. That’s absolutely horrific. In fact, a few months after Mackenzie’s case, one mom in the same county gave her 16-month-old son too much Benadryl, causing him to pass away. She was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse.

There are also several other cases that happened in that area that I just don’t have the emotional bandwidth to talk about today. On that note, please be kind in the comments and let me know what case you’d like me to cover next. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Thank you.