Cassandra Norwood, 21, Accused of Murdering Her Own Newborn, Enters Jail

She or someone else changed her profile picture on Facebook at the end of October. She or someone else "liked" the website Digital Gravel on October 27. And just a few days later, police believe, 21-year-old Cassandra Norwood gave birth in her parents' Waverly Woods home, alone, and then afterwards stabbed her newborn son to death.

She was transferred on Friday to the Clarke County Jail from Athens Regional, where she had gone to recover from the blood loss she experienced during the birth. According to a story in the Athens Banner Herald, she has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.

There was another case in Athens of a newborn being stabbed to death. In early January 1996, a custodian in UGA's Oglethorpe House found a newborn's body that had sustained more than 40 stab wounds before being dumped in a trash can. The mother was presumed to have been a UGA student who killed her child, but she was never identified and no one was ever charged in the incident. Dubbed Jonathan Foundling, the baby was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

In that case, UGA Police officials talked with experts and other law enforcement officials who had dealt with similar situations. They said that 80 percent of baby murders occur where the mother lives. In 70 percent of those cases, the mother kills the baby and in 95 percent, she acts alone.

Athens Clarke County Police Captain Clarence Holeman told the Athens paper that there were several people in the house--Norwood has three older siblings-- at the time of the birth and the stabbing, but no one was with Norwood. No one else is expected to be charged.

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