West Allis Mother Charged In Death Of 6-Year-Old Boy

MILWAUKEE COUNTY, WI — A West Allis mother was charged in connection with the Sept. 6 death of her son, Hank Brown-Rockow, 6.

Tasha Rockow, 32, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one count of chronic neglect of a child (consequence is death) and one count of false imprisonment.

A $250,000 cash bound was set. Her next court date is Sept. 22.

If convicted, she faces more than 60 years in prison.

Preliminary results from an autopsy determined that the boy's death was a homicide resulting from blunt force trauma to his abdomen, the criminal complaint said.

The West Allis Fire Department went to a house in the 1500 block of South 73rd Street on Sept. 6 on a report of a child with a stab wound, according to the criminal complaint.

Responders found a boy who appeared malnourished with bruises covering his body from head to toe, according to the criminal complaint.

His skin was gray and cool to the touch, the complaint said. A small stab wound was found on his lower abdomen but appeared to be an older injury, the complaint said.

Brown-Rockow had no pulse as first responders attended to him, the complaint said. They administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and transferred him to Milwaukee Hospital-Children's Wisconsin, the complaint said. A physicians also noted human bite marks in addition to the other injuries, the complaint said. Brown-Rockow later died at the hospital, the complaint said.

The boy previously lived with his father, who died in 2020, the complaint said. Brown-Rockow was placed with his mother, the complaint said.

Rockow told police the boy liked to play with knives and claimed his bruising was the result of fighting with the three other children in the home, the complaint said.

Rockow said the boy had been playing with a knife and fell on the day of his death, the complaint said.

A witness who lived upstairs from the family said Rockow abused the boy and denied him food, the complaint said. A second witness told police Rockow would handcuff the boy and shackle his legs, the complaint said.