News

ATHENS, GA, November 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Georgia mother has been charged with murder and aggravated assault in the death of her newborn son.

Twenty-one-year-old Cassandra Elyse Norwood is being held at the Clarke County Jail in Athens, GA, the Athens-Banner Herald reports. Police believe that Norwood gave birth to the baby last Thursday at her home in the Waverly Woods subdivision of Athens, where she lives with her parents and other family members. The infant was found stabbed to death in the house that afternoon.

Athens-Clarke police Capt. Clarence Holeman told the news service that several other family members were at home, but not present in the room, when the baby was murdered. No one else is expected to be charged in the case.

Norwood was jailed Friday morning, after being treated for blood loss at a local hospital. A bond hearing has been scheduled for this Thursday morning.

The case highlights a national trend of disturbingly high infanticide rates. According to figures recently released from the CDC, 256 infants were murdered in 2011. The report revealed that infanticide had caused more deaths among babies than influenza and pneumonia combined, which are considered among the leading causes of death in children.

Homicide also topped many other potentially fatal conditions including meningitis, whooping cough, tuberculosis, spina bifida, and down syndrome.

The 2011 figure, which the CDC says is still preliminary, does represent a decline from 2010, when 311 infants were reported dead from homicide.