Her Father Assaulted Her. She Died 9 Years Later — and Now Her Mother Wants to Change a South Carolina Law By Christine Pelisek

Kaya Jackson was at her Greenville, S.C. home on Feb. 23, 2015 when she got a call that would change her life.

Her 17-month-old daughter Egypt Henderson was at the hospital and about to undergo brain surgery.

Egypt had been spending the weekend with her father, Joseph Morales.

At the hospital, medical staff told Kaya that her daughter had suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“They had to do emergency brain surgery, and they put me in a small room and said if she made it, she would be a vegetable or she was going to pass overnight because it was so severe, and they don’t feel like it was accidental,” she tells PEOPLE.

According to Kaya, who started a nonprofit to raise awareness for the syndrome, Morales admitted to beating Egypt because she wouldn’t stop crying.

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“That’s just how Egypt was,” says Kaya. “She cried just like any typical baby, and he never called me and told me he couldn’t handle the crying. I even offered one time to come and pick her up, and he said, ‘No, I’m good. I can take care of her. This is my baby. This is my time.’ So, I allowed visitation to go back and forth.”

Morales pleaded guilty to inflicting injury on a child and was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2016.

Egypt survived the attack but suffered from cerebral palsy, epilepsy, partial blindness and hip dysplasia.

“Her hip started coming out of socket due to her not walking, no head control, no body control,” Kaya says. “She couldn’t move her hands up. She was nonverbal, everything through her G-tube. They had to do surgery for the feeding tube, so she had a lot of disabilities due to what happened to her.”

She died at the age of 10 in Feb. 2024 of pneumonia.

After her death, Kaya was told that Morales couldn’t be charged with murder because of a South Carolina law that states a person can’t be prosecuted for a homicide if a victim dies more than three years after the injury.

“My baby will never come back to her family, and he will get to see the daylight again,” she says about Morales, who is scheduled to be released from prison in 2030. “He will get to do stuff out here, and my baby, she will never have a chance of having a best friend. She never experienced kindergarten.”

Kaya is now working to change the law and take away the statute of limitations that would make a person accountable, regardless of how much time has passed.

“I’m hoping to save another child in honor of my daughter,” she says.

South Carolina Rep. Wendell Jones (District 25), who is working with Kaya on the bill, says he plans to file legislation in November ahead of the next legislative session in January. He hopes it can be enacted into law sometime in 2026.

“It’s very black and white,” he tells PEOPLE. “It’s safety and general welfare. And to me, it’s the right thing to do, and it just makes sense. When you sit down and talk to Ms. Jackson and you see this grief that she’s been carrying for several years and the feeling of injustice on behalf of her daughter … I want to make sure, and she wants to make sure that no other parents, no other families have to endure this nightmare.”

In the meantime, Kaya, 40, has petitioned to have the street where Egypt lived named after her daughter who loved Elmo and gospel music. In May, she unveiled a billboard to raise awareness for shaken baby syndrome. In July, Kaya gave out free school supplies as part of “Egypt’s Honorary Bag Giveaway,” Fox Carolina reported.

“My daughter’s life mattered, and every child that’s been abused or shaken as either a survivor or an angel, their life matters,” she says. “I just feel like this is what my grief is about, of raising awareness.” 

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.