Investigators documented cockroaches and unsafe conditions as they reconstructed how a 3-month-old boy became severely malnourished before his death.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Boarded windows, exposed electrical wiring and cockroaches throughout a Fort Pierce mobile home became part of a broader investigation into how a 3-month-old boy living there lost significant weight and died without receiving medical care that authorities say his worsening condition demanded.
The physical condition of the residence offered investigators an immediate view of the environment in which Robert Gunter had been spending most of his time. Detectives described substantial numbers of live and dead cockroaches and reported insects in areas used by the children, including a collapsed playpen. They called the home an environmental hazard. Other children were living there as well, according to investigators. A neighbor later described seeing at least one child from the household outside in poor condition and asking for water, adding a community account to the conditions documented by law enforcement.
But the criminal investigation did not stop at the state of the house. The medical examiner determined that Robert died from dehydration and malnutrition, making his intake of food and fluids a central question. Authorities say his weight fell from more than 11 pounds at a July 24, 2025, medical appointment to about 9 pounds by his death on Aug. 20. Investigators described the 3-month-old as severely underweight. The medical findings directed attention toward the adults responsible for feeding him and toward the weeks in which the decline allegedly became visible.
Robert’s day-to-day living arrangement placed him with his grandfather, Robert Maxwell, and Maxwell’s girlfriend, Vikki Koon. His mother, Nicole Maxwell, lived elsewhere in Vero Beach with her boyfriend and visited, detectives said. His father, Jason Gunter, lived in Virginia. Authorities therefore had to examine a caregiving system spread among several adults rather than a household in which both parents were continuously present. Prosecutors have since filed charges against all four, although the counts and allegations differ depending on each person’s alleged role.
Koon told investigators she was primarily responsible for feeding the infant, according to accounts of court documents. Detectives said she reported feeding him only twice each day. When formula ran out, investigators said she described using regular milk diluted with water and mixed with baby cereal. Authorities contend the child was not receiving adequate nutrition or hydration. The allegations about feeding are particularly important because the medical examiner identified lack of food and fluid as the cause of death, rather than an unrelated illness or injury reported in the publicly available findings.
The home also contained evidence of a larger family situation that authorities said was already known to child-welfare officials. The Department of Children and Families had prior involvement with the family, according to Detective Jennifer Diaz. Nicole Maxwell’s other children were later in foster care. Public reporting does not provide enough information to reconstruct every earlier DCF contact, determine what workers observed during each interaction or establish whether the agency had recently visited the specific residence before Robert died. Those unanswered questions remain distinct from the criminal allegations now pending against the four adults.
Investigators say the adults themselves had begun discussing problems before the death. Family messages referenced the baby’s lack of food and his changing condition. Robert Maxwell contacted the child’s biological father to express frustration and concern about caring for the infant. He said the child slept excessively and suggested something was wrong, according to the arrest affidavit described by Law&Crime. Other records reported by local media show that Nicole Maxwell was asked or informed about problems involving the baby’s food. The communications gave detectives a dated record showing that concerns had arisen before the hospital visit.
The day before Robert died, his mother allegedly saw evidence of his decline herself. Detectives say Nicole Maxwell found him thin, ill and less responsive than expected. She later told investigators she considered obtaining medical attention but left because her boyfriend was pressing her to return home. Her father encouraged her to stay with the child, according to the investigative account. Prosecutors allege her decision not to seek care is part of the conduct supporting the charges against her. Maxwell has not been convicted, and the allegations in an arrest affidavit remain subject to challenge in court.
By Aug. 20, the question was no longer whether the baby’s condition was worsening. Robert Maxwell and Koon brought the infant to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center, where medical personnel pronounced him dead. Hospital staff notified the sheriff’s office because the child’s condition suggested neglect. Deputies, detectives and crime scene investigators responded. Their work spread from the hospital to the mobile home and eventually into medical records, interviews and electronic communications. The medical examiner’s homicide ruling then provided investigators with a formal finding about the cause and manner of death.
The homicide classification did not mean investigators immediately arrested anyone. Nearly 11 months passed before the sheriff’s office announced its first charges. That interval allowed detectives to assemble evidence about who had custody of Robert, what he was being fed, how quickly his weight changed, what different adults knew and what the home looked like. Diaz later said the facts described publicly still did not convey the full impact of what investigators encountered. The long investigation resulted first in charges against the three adults most closely connected to the child’s care in Florida.
Nicole Maxwell, 27, Robert Maxwell, 61, and Koon, 38, were arrested in July 2026. Each was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse. Authorities initially set bond at $1.5 million for each. The charges accuse the three of serious criminal conduct but do not constitute findings of guilt. The state must prove each required element, and the defendants are entitled to challenge investigators’ conclusions about responsibility, knowledge and the events leading up to Robert’s death.
The case expanded beyond the mobile home on Aug. 4. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Jason Gunter, 45, at his residence in Mechanicsville, Virginia, on a warrant obtained by St. Lucie County detectives. He was charged with felony child neglect resulting in great harm. Officials said he was awaiting extradition to Florida when the arrest was announced. Unlike the other three defendants, he was not publicly charged at that time with aggravated manslaughter or aggravated child abuse. Authorities have disclosed fewer specifics about the evidence supporting his charge.
That fourth arrest underscores the wider question investigators have pursued: not simply who was physically present in the mobile home, but which adults had responsibility for the child and what each allegedly did after learning of concerns. The evidence described publicly touches several points in that chain. Koon allegedly handled much of the feeding. Robert Maxwell was caring for the infant and messaging the parents. Nicole Maxwell allegedly observed the child’s condition the day before the death. Jason Gunter was out of state but was among those receiving family communications. The legal significance of those different facts will have to be considered separately for each defendant.
The presence of other children also gives the case consequences beyond the prosecution over Robert’s death. Investigators said the home housed additional children, and local reporting indicates they were removed from the environment. That does not establish that every child experienced the same circumstances or that every previous child-welfare intervention concerned the same allegations. It does, however, explain why investigators publicly discussed the home’s safety conditions alongside the baby’s medical findings rather than treating the death as an event affecting only one person in isolation.
The sheriff’s office has said the investigation remains active as the four cases advance through the judicial system. No authoritative update located through Aug. 29 announced a final disposition of the charges. The central evidence described so far combines three separate strands: the medical finding that Robert died from dehydration and malnutrition, the documented condition of the home where he was living, and investigators’ allegations that adults had warning of his deteriorating state before he was finally brought to a hospital. It will now be for the courts to determine whether that evidence proves criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.
Author note: Last updated Aug. 29, 2026.