DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) -- The grandmother of the newborn found dead in a toilet over the weekend is charged with first-degree murder.
Angela Small, 41, was brought into the courtroom handcuffed in a wheelchair before being charged Thursday in a Dinwiddie courtroom during her daughter's hearing.
Devin Monique Small
Devin Monique Small, 22, was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday.
Deputies were called to a home along the 18000 block of Namozine Rd. early Saturday morning after Small gave birth in the bathroom.
“Upon arrival deputies located the mother, and the baby was still in the toilet,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson wrote in a media advisory. “The baby was deceased upon arrival.”
As Devin Small's family left the courthouse Thursday, her father defended the first-degree murder charge she is facing.
"Only thing I know is that she was a good girl. She did good in school. She kept her mind to it. She never acted out or nothing,” said George Jackson, Devin’s father, when asked if he knew about the pregnancy. "The family didn't know. I didn't know.... I'm her Dad...that's all I got to say right now.”
Small's friend said he believed Small was keeping her pregnancy a secret from her parents.
Law enforcement sources said there were at least three other women inside the house at the time of the child's birth. Each failed to remove the newborn from danger, the sources said.
CBS 6 Legal Analyst Todd Stone says prosecutors will look into 911 and police records in this case. And since Devin Small was silent about her pregnancy, Stone believes prosecutors will go after that too.
"Maybe she wanted to hide it from people because she didn't want the pregnancy. And that could go a long way towards showing that there was premeditation that this was a pre-planned event to make it look like an accident,” said Stone.
Todd Stone said prosecutors could also go after other family members who were in the home to testify against the mother and daughter.
Both mother and daughter are due back in court Nov. 19.
