(Newser) – “I have never seen anything like this," says the Oak Lawn police chief in suburban Chicago. The case he's referring to makes for grim reading: Police say a 61-year-old woman killed her 6-month-old granddaughter with a sledgehammer and a knife, reports CBS Local. Alfreda Giedrocz is charged with first-degree murder, and police haven't speculated about a motive. The Tribune says she "stood impassively" in court yesterday and needed help understanding the proceedings from a Polish translator. She is a naturalized citizen who has lived in the US since 1983.

The slaying happened Sunday morning. Police say the baby's father, Giedrocz's son-in-law, dropped off the infant, then went across the street with Giedrocz's husband to work on the home of the Giedroczs' son. Left alone with the baby, the grandmother retrieved a sledgehammer she had placed in a closet the previous day, say authorities. "The defendant then hit the victim repeatedly in the head and body with the sledgehammer," says a state attorney. She then used a kitchen knife to cut the child's throat, he says. (Read more grandmother stories.)

