Background: A Chili’s Bar & Grill location in Homestead, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset: Celestine Ward (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation).
A Florida woman is behind bars after her own grandchildren reportedly told police that she allegedly attacked their mother.
Celestine Ward, 57, was charged with attempted murder after she was arrested by Homestead police officers on Wednesday. According to an arrest report obtained by local ABC affiliate WPLG, officers responded to a call at a residence on Wednesday afternoon and found the alleged victim — Ward’s daughter-in-law — inside on the floor in a pool of blood. The alleged victim, who was not named, was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.
When police asked the children inside the home about what happened, Ward’s granddaughter reportedly told them, “Grandma started to kill mommy with the knife.”
Ward’s granddaughter also reportedly told police that before the alleged stabbing, her mother and father were both having an argument and the father left the home. Ward then reportedly began arguing with the girl’s mother, and the verbal altercation allegedly turned physical.
According to Ward’s granddaughter, “Grandma started to kill mommy with the knife. The knife is in the room under the bed.”
The arrest affidavit stated that police interviewed the alleged victim at the hospital. She corroborated what her daughter said about the argument they had at home, explaining that she and Ward had been at a Chili’s Bar & Grill earlier that day, where they consumed alcoholic beverages.
The alleged victim reportedly told police that she remembered Ward charging at her and she defended herself. Then Ward allegedly stabbed her multiple times.
Ward also provided a recorded statement, police said in the affidavit. In her statement, Ward said that her daughter-in-law was the one who allegedly attacked her, punching her in the face. Police noted that Ward did not have signs of visible injuries.
WPLG reported that the children were taken into the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Ward was arrested on Wednesday and is being held without bond at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
