Adams County mother sentenced to five years in toddler’s death case
A West Union mother got five years in prison in her 2-year-old daughter’s death, ending another major chapter in an Adams County case that already sent Brian Moser away for up to 22.5 years.
A West Union mother was sentenced to five years in prison in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, closing another major chapter in an Adams County case that already produced a much longer sentence for a second defendant. Tien Hawkins, 26, was sentenced after pleading guilty in Adams County Common Pleas Court to child endangering and three counts of permitting child abuse.
The case began when Adams County deputies and emergency personnel responded to a 911 call at about 9:08 a.m. on July 1, 2025, at the Timber Ridge Apartment Complex in West Union. The toddler was pronounced dead at the scene, and a preliminary autopsy found suffocation as the cause of death. What started as an emergency response quickly became a broader criminal investigation that drew the attention of families across the county.
Court records show the Adams County Grand Jury later returned an indictment alleging Hawkins permitted repeated abuse between April 1 and July 2, 2025, that resulted in her child’s death and caused substantial harm to other minors in the household. Hawkins’s case was reported as including eight felony charges tied to the toddler’s death and abuse of two other children. The original investigation had begun with child-endangerment arrests before prosecutors expanded the case.
Brian Moser, who is also identified in court reporting as Terry Smith III, pleaded guilty on March 3, 2026, to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangering. Judge Brett Spencer sentenced him on March 24 to 17 to 22.5 years in prison and a $2,000 fine, exceeding the 15- to 20-year range jointly recommended in the plea agreement. The judge cited Moser’s lack of remorse in imposing the sentence.
Hawkins entered her guilty pleas on May 8, 2026, and her sentence brought the proceedings another step closer to resolution. For Adams County, the case has underscored how child abuse investigations can unfold over months, with criminal charges shifting as evidence develops and with each court hearing adding to the public record of a tragedy that began in a West Union apartment complex and reached all the way to the county courthouse.
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