'Depressed' Indiana Woman Kills 4-Year-Old Grandson By Drowning Him In Bathtub, Arrested

A woman in Kokomo, Indiana, was arrested for drowning her four-year-old grandson.

Police and medics responded to a home Saturday after receiving a report of an unresponsive child. After attempting to revive the child, the medics rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The child’s grandmother, identified as 56-year-old Helen Martin, was detained for questioning.

According to the court documents, the woman initially told the officers that she lost her memory due to mental health issues and that she had no idea about what happened to her grandson.

Upon further questioning, Martin said she and her husband had the custody of the boy. On Saturday, she took him to the bathroom to give him a bath. She then put him into the bathtub. Suddenly, she drowned the boy by holding his head underwater. Her husband returned home and pulled the child out of the bathtub.

The woman told the investigators that she "had been so depressed recently that she thought the child would be better off in heaven than to be with her.” The woman was taken into custody following the confession. Meanwhile, the investigation was ongoing and the boy’s body was sent for autopsy.

The incident comes a few months after a woman in California was arrested for drowning her toddler daughter. Police responded to a home after receiving a call from a woman stating that she had drowned her two-year-old daughter. The responding officers found the body of the girl, identified as Mackenzie Montelongo, in the tub filled with water. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead. The mother was arrested and charged with murder.