Oxford Woman Charged With Killing Her Son, Granddaughter
OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP/WWJ) — Suburban Detroit authorities have filed first-degree murder charges against a 65-year-old woman they say slashed her son's throat and then fatally beat her 7-month-old granddaughter.
Oakland County authorities say that Sylvia Majewska then tried to kill herself by slashing her arms. She was arraigned Monday in a hospital room and faces a Dec. 18 probable cause hearing.
Deputies went to the woman's house Nov. 23 after her son failed to return his daughter to the baby's mother on time. The home is in Oxford Township, 45 miles north of Detroit.
They found the bodies of 29-year-old Daryne Gailey and his 7-month-old daughter Charley Hendrick.
It wasn't immediately known if she has a lawyer.
Sheriff Michael Bouchard says Majewska "came to the conclusion that the son and the child would be better off if they weren't alive."
"Now that the totality of the evidence has been found and gone over and collated, it looks like this was a long-term plan for her, that this was -- for whatever reason in her mind -- the best outcome from the situation," Bouchard said.
Officers found Majewska at the scene bleeding from her left wrist into a bucket, with a box cutter on the table next to her that police believe she used to cut the throat of her sleeping son. Bouchard said that Majewska's self-inflicted wounds were meant to be fatal.
"At that point, I don't know how much blood loss she had and what her mental acuity was at that point," Bouchard said. "But, she did say, 'come on in.' More than likely -- if left alone -- she would have expired from those wounds."
Majewska remains hospitalized and under guard.
Bouchard said investigators found several handwritten notes and other documents in the case.
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