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.

Elaine Springs

Elane Springs, 50, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children in the death of one-month-old Tyjahe Springs on 17 September, 2008. Springs had put the baby to bed on the couch at 10.20 pm and used a pillow to keep her from falling off. She then left her there while she did some housework, according to court documents.

When she grew tired from housework, she sat down on the couch for several hours. At about 3:00 am, she got up to use the bathroom and realized she had been sitting on the baby.

Springs was sentenced to two years probation, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office.

Nance Rivera

A Taunton, New Jersey, grandmother who was warned to be more watchful with her young granddaughter has been charged with two counts of reckless endangerment in the toddler’s October 21, 2011 accidental drowning death. Rivera's daughter doesn't believe it was accidental.

Nance Rivera, 52, was just out of jail, living with her daughter and helping care for her granddaughter in October 2011 when 18 month-old Aylah Reed died during a bath, police said. Rivera’s own mother, the dead child’s great-grandmother, said she warned Rivera not to leave the child alone in the tub, but she often found Nance Rivera on the phone downstairs while the 19-month-old played alone in a tub upstairs.

Rivera has a 12 page rap sheet, mainly composed of drug crimes. Arrested in November 2012, after 13 months of investigation, the Latina grandmother faces up to 30 months in prison if convicted.

Pamela Shank Raymond

Pamela Shank Raymond, 54, is in prison, awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder and cruelty to a child in the 2010 death of infant Warren Bailey, her daughter's young son. She has pleaded not guilty. According to a police affidavit filed with Lamoille (Vermont) Superior Court, Raymond, a nurse, told police that she placed one of her husband’s antidepressant pills in the baby’s mouth, watched it dissolve, and washed it down with a few ounces of formula. She told police she drugged the infant so he wouldn’t wake up and disturb her husband while she was at a doctor’s appointment.

Raymond, who has twice lost her nursing license, was previously investigated in the suspected poisoning of another grandson who survived. Her court appointed attorney will claim not guilty by mental defect once the charges come to trial.