LUFKIN, Texas — A Lufkin woman has been arrested after deputies say she dug up her infant daughter’s grave and removed the remains from a cemetery.
According to the Angelina County Sheriff's Office, 33-year-old Tamisha Cheyniece Drake was charged with abuse of a corpse following an investigation into a disturbed gravesite.
Deputies responded Thursday to Davis Memorial Gardens in the Cedar Grove area after receiving a report that a grave had been disturbed. Investigators found that the burial site of a newborn infant had been dug up and that both the child’s body and the burial container were missing.
During the investigation, authorities developed information that led them to Drake, the infant’s mother.
Officials said Drake admitted during an interview that she had dug up the grave and later directed deputies to the location where she left the container.
Deputies responded to North Avenue in Lufkin and located the container, with the infant’s body still inside, in the driveway of an unoccupied residence.
Authorities said the infant had died in February after not surviving childbirth and had been properly buried by Colonial Mortuary.
The mortuary, along with the Lufkin Police Department, assisted in the investigation.
Officials said arraignment and bond settings for Drake are pending.
