What Happened to Joshua Plath? Inside ‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Kim and Barry’s Son’s Tragic Death
What happened to Joshua Plath? The Plath family, who star on TLC’s Welcome to Plathville, were a family of 12 until the tragic death of Kim Plath and Barry Plath‘s youngest son in 2008. Joshua was only a toddler when he died during a terrible accident at the brood’s home in Cairo, Georgia, leaving fans of the show with more questions than answers.
How Did Joshua Plath Die?
During a season 1 episode of Welcome to Plathville that aired in November 2019, now-exes Kim and Barry opened up about their son Joshua’s death while celebrating their 22nd wedding anniversary at their favorite beach, St. George Island, in Florida.
“I can’t help but reflect on all the times that we’ve come here. In the last 22 years, we’ve been through some life changes: a lot of them good, some of them not good,” Kim explained as she and Barry enjoyed a sunset stroll on the beach.
“It’s been probably 10 years since we lost our son Joshua,” Kim said in her confessional. “He was 17 months old.”
Barry continued, “Joshua died — and it was an accident, just a terrible accident.”
“It was a normal day and we were doing some yard work,” Kim recalled. “I pulled a vehicle forward — I had just seen him. So I thought I was OK, but I pulled forward and I ran over him. And the ambulance comes and we’re all just praying, crying and the lady came, she took him to the ambulance and she came back and she said, ‘I’m sorry.'”
Kim continued, “I can tell you that those next six or eight months of my life were hell on Earth. And [Barry], I was dealing with losing a son, he was dealing with losing a son and a wife. Cause I wasn’t there. I was there, but I wasn’t there.”
According to the Grady County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by In Touch, the responding officer “observed a female later identified as Kimberly Plath, the mother of the child, bent over doing CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] on the child.”
“The victim received injuries to his head from the vehicle running over his head,” the report continued. “EMS [emergency medical services] personnel provided medical treatment to Joshua but was unable to revive the child.”
After the Grady County Corner arrived on the scene, Joshua was pronounced deceased.
When Did Joshua Plath Die?
Joshua died on September 19, 2008, according to the incident report documents obtained by In Touch.
Joshua Plath’s Death Was Ruled an Accident
The Grady County Sheriff officially ruled Joshua’s death as accidental in September 2008, according to local newspaper the Thomasville Times-Enterprise. Investigator Daniel Singletary confirmed at the time that an investigation that had been opened following the death had since been closed.
“This is the first death like this I’ve had to investigate,” Singletary said at the time. “You try to separate yourself but, as a parent, it pulls on your heartstrings. There was no wrongdoing, no negligence we could foresee. It was just a freak accident that occurred and we don’t believe we will be pursuing any charges. This was an unfortunate accident. We all pray for the family and hope they can get their lives back together.”
How Did Kim Plath Cope With Son Joshua’s Death?
“I would just cry and cry out, ‘Oh God, help me,’ that’s the only thing I could pray,” Kim said. “We got through that together as a family.”