Texas mother, grandmother arrested after 4-year-old child allegedly killed with an 'edged weapon'

ATHENS, Texas (TCD) -- A mother and grandmother were arrested and charged in connection with the death of a 4-year-old child who was reportedly killed over the weekend.

According to a news release from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, on Monday, March 13, at approximately 6:41 a.m., Mary Johnson called the Athens Police Department and reported that she believed her daughter, Monica Figueroa, had hurt her son. Officers responded to the home on Mitchell Street, where they reportedly found the child deceased and "partially covered with a blanket."

The Sheriff’s Office determined the child, Grayson, had been killed on Sunday, March 12.

Johnson allegedly heard the boy scream and then witnessed her daughter "on top of a rolled-up blanket cutting it with a wooden handled knife." Eventually, "the screaming stopped."

Figueroa reportedly "threatened" her mother and ordered her to leave the home, and she did. When Johnson returned to the home the next day, the child was dead, and she called for help, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas will perform an autopsy, but investigators believe the child was "killed with an edged weapon."

Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse told KYTX-TV that Figueroa confessed to the slaying of her son. She was reportedly charged with capital murder and is awaiting arraignment.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, a judge issued an arrest warrant against Johnson for endangering a child, and her bail was preset at $250,000.

Grayson was the only child in the home, and Figueroa’s other children are not in her custody, KYTX reports.

MORE:

• Update — Henderson County Sheriff’s Office
• OFFICIALS: Mother of East Texas woman who confessed to murdering 4-year-old son arrested — KYTX