Tonya Danyial Monroe

Sandy Springs, Georgia Police said on Thursday that 9-month-old Koby Connelly died from a meth overdose in an apartment in Sandy Springs in March 2016. His grandmother has been charged with felony murder, possession of methamphetamine and cruelty to children after toxicology tests revealed Koby ingested meth.

The little boy's parents are pleading for the public's help finding 45-year-old Tonya Danyial Monroe. Police said the infant died after ingesting meth at an apartment in Sandy Springs. Taylor and Hayden Shaw said they last spoke to Tanya Monroe, Hayden's mother, about a week ago when she said she was moving in with a boyfriend in the Acworth or Cartersville area. Police said she has disappeared and is believed driving a 2004 Toyota Four Runner with a Georgia tag of RAL 9819. 

Pietrina Hoffman

Police have arrested Pietrina Hoffman in the death of 14 month old Neveah Doyle of Mahanoy City. The baby was found dead in a home on West Center Street in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, on January 10, 2016.

Police say Hoffman was babysitting her granddaughter, 14 month old Navaeh Doyle, and another 2 year old girl on the night of January 10, 2016, at a home on West Centre Street in Mahanoy City. Hoffman said she put Doyle on the floor to sleep while she went to sleep on a nearby chair, when she woke up, some 12 hours later, the baby was dead. Hoffman insists she didn't do anything.

But investigators say they found evidence that the baby had been smothered by being held face down on the floor. An autopsy shows the toddler had bruises and lacerations on her face and coffee grounds in her throat. Hoffman faces at least 20 to 40 years if convicted on these charges including homicide.

Dawn Diana Raines-Hewes

Dawn Diana Raines-Hewes, 51, has been charged with murdering her grandson Richard Kite in a bathtub while she was babysitting in her Fairfield, California, home on December 29. Police say Raines-Hewes admitted intentionally drowning Richard.

The four year-old was found unconscious by a neighbor after the grandmother ran screaming from the house and called 911. Police then arrived at the scene and tried to resuscitate the boy who was taken to hospital but died a short time later.

Two of her granddaughters, aged one and six years old, were in her care at the time but were not harmed.Raines-Hewes is being held in Solano County Jail without bail. 

Manuela Rodriguez

Rose Herrera, just seven months old, was killed Monday because she wouldn’t stop crying, according to Chicago Police. Her grandmother allegedly beat her with an 18-inch pipe wrench and stuffed a sock into her mouth, then took a circular power saw to the baby’s throat.

Manuela Rodriguez, 52, was taken into custody and was treated at Mt. Sinai Hospital after attempting to take her own life with the saw, cutting herself across her own throat. Rodriguez is reportedly on antidepressant medication. She’s now charged with first-degree murder. A Cook County judge denied bail, and Rodriguez was taken to Cermak Hospital at the jail for observation.

Rosie, as the infant was called, was already dead of from the pipe-wrench beating and asphyxiation when the grandmother cut her with the saw. Rodriguez will be tried in Cook County, Illinois.

Martha White

On August 5, 2014, a 6-year-old boy was stabbed to death in his own home in Tallahassee. His grandmother Martha White is accused of killing him. Deputies say that when they arrived on the scene at 7712 Bass Ridge Trail they found Mason Rhinehart lying on the bathroom floor with stab wounds. When deputies spoke with Rhinehart's older brother, he said that their grandmother, identified as Martha M. White, told the boys that she had a surprise for them.

White then took Mason into the bathroom and shut the door. Mason's brother called their father and hid. He later tried to open the bathroom door where White and Mason were but said that the door was locked. He said he saw White leaving the residence holding a bottle of wine saying that she had a surprise for him too.

According to Mason's parents, the 63 year-old White was babysitting the children while they were at work. When deputies arrived, White had already left the residence but her vehicle was later discovered at the dead end of Valley Creek Drive, about a half mile from the residence. When they located White at a nearby park, deputies say she was covered in blood and in possession of a bottle of wine and Xanax. The LSCO affidavit states that White, a retired nurse, was uttering spontaneously that she had been tortured for years by the children's parents and she was fed up.

On September 15, 2014, a judge declared White incompetent to stand trial. She remains incarcerated.

Alfreda Giedrojc

 

Authorities have charged a 61-year-old Oak Lawn, Illinois, woman with murder in the death of her 6-month-old granddaughter. Alfreda Giedrojc, 61, of the 6600 block of West 91st Street, is charged with one count of first degree murder in the October 6, 2013 death.

The baby named Vivian lived with her parents in Bolingbrook. Her father and grandfather had stepped out of the grandparents' Oak Lawn house for a short while, during which time the baby died. Her grandmother does not have any prior criminal convictions, according to authorities. 

Giedrojc, a Polish immigrant, is alleged to have killed the young infant with a sledge hammer and knife. She's currently in jail and will face a sanity hearing on March 6, 2014.

Doris Becky Trujillo

Doris Becky Trujillo, 61, had been caring for Gabriel Trujillo, 4, and also had custody of his sisters, ages 10 and 13. The grandmother called police on Feb. 14, 2012, and reported that her grandson "fell from a chair." The police report stated she said, "He is breathing, but he won't wake up."

Gabriel Trujillo died on Feb. 17, at The Children's Hospital in Aurora.  An autopsy determined he died from blunt-force trauma to his head and neck and his death was ruled a homicide. Trujillo was arrested and tried; a jury found the Colorado woman Not Guilty of murder on June 7, 2013. She was found guilty of child abuse and will be sentenced on August 2nd.