Grandmother Allegedly Stabs Infant, Bakes Her in Oven

Shaw, Mississippi, authorities found the stabbed, baked corpse of a 20-month-old child when they were called to the home on Monday evening.

Bolivar County Sheriff Kelvin Williams said the unidentified infant’s grandmother has been taken into custody, and is being held at the Bolivar County Regional Correctional Facility. The baby girl’s body has been transported to the Mississippi state crime lab for autopsy. The state’s pathologist will try to discern whether the infant was dead prior to being baked in the oven.

It remains unclear who made the call to authorities, and the identity of both the victim and her grandmother are being withheld until formal charges are made. Both the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the State Crime Lab will participate in the investigation.

The national infant homicide rate is approximately seven for every 100,000 children born in the United States, according to nonprofit research organization ChildTrends.org.