A North Augusta mom was jailed Monday on charges that her drug use caused the death of her unborn son, authorities said.
Erin Leigh Grandy, 31, was charged with homicide by child abuse in the death of her son, identified by the coroner as Zaxton Grandy.
The murder arrest comes nine months after she was rushed to Piedmont Hospital with vaginal bleeding and delivered a baby that was deceased. That day – July 6, 2022 – she told doctors that she had used heroin and fentanyl within the last 24 hours.
The mother suffered placental abruption, causing the placenta to detach from the womb. An emergency C-section was done in which the baby was deceased, a police report says.
Officers talked to David Hall, who told authorities that Grandy called him and said she was bleeding. He hung up and called 911. By the time he got home, she had been taken to the hospital by paramedics.
Coroner Darryl Ables said an autopsy shows the child’s cause of death was “intrauterine fetal demise due to maternal methamphetamine use.” Other contributing factors included use of fentanyl, he said.
The mother is being held in the Aiken County Detention Center under no bond. She faces 20 years to life of convicted of homicide by child abuse. It’s unclear why it took nine months to charge her.
Narrative from the NADPS incident report:
Grandy joins two other Aiken County mothers whose use of fentanyl led to their children’s death and charges of homicide by child abuse.
In December 2022, North Augusta authorities arrested Brittney Hamilton for allegedly inhaling meth and fentanyl near her daughter and causing fentanyl toxicity and the death of in the baby girl, Mollie Jay Hamilton. The 36-year-old mother was charged with murder/homicide by a child abuse after the autopsy results came back in the October death.
Last month, Aiken County authorities charged 23-year-old Alexzandra Howell with homicide by child abuse after toxicology tests showed her 1-year-old daughter died in January after ingesting a fatal amount of fentanyl. The young mother is accused of “carrying out normal activities and ignoring the medical emergency for hours, depriving the child of medical attention and demonstrating extreme indifference to the life of her child,” according to arrest warrants.
