CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – Daycare workers who knew a 1-year-old boy who died while in the care of his mother and her boyfriend say they tried to warn child services about obvious signs of abuse. Both are now facing charges in his death.

Emotions are still raw for those who knew the child, Jaheim Richardson. The director of the east Charlotte daycare he once attended spoke only to FOX 46, saying she wishes the boy had been helped before this tragedy.

“I have been shedding a tear here and there.”

She didn’t want to be on camera, but wanted to be a voice for a child whose picture she still has inside the center.

“He was a happy baby, he crawled all over the daycare floor and he played with the toys. He interacted. He was just a happy little baby.”

She says the signs of neglect were obvious: Improper diapers and bruises on his body. Some were so bad, they were written up and reported to child services. She also says at one point he had a contagious skin condition.

“He had rash one time, and we told his mom, and she finally took him to the doctor and they said he had scabies.”

The CDC says scabies is usually spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has it, and is easily spread to household members.

She says as a daycare, they can only do so much as childcare providers before they have to rely on the courts.

“We can give them referrals to get help, but they don’t feel like they need help. This is where the system should step in.”

Police responded to the Best Western Hotel off Woodlawn Road on July 30 where Richardson was found in need of medical attention, with burns to his private parts. The 1-year-old later died at the hospital.

His mother, Yasmine Danielle Richardson, was charged with child abuse causing serious injury. Her boyfriend, Daquan Harmon McFadden, was charged with murder and felony child abuse.