A disturbing discovery at a rural East Texas cemetery has led to the arrest of a 33-year-old woman accused of exhuming her own infant daughter and abandoning the remains at a vacant property. The case unfolded Thursday in Angelina County, about 130 miles northeast of Houston, after a report of a disturbed gravesite prompted a law enforcement response.
LUFKIN, TX – Deputies responding to Davis Memorial Gardens in the Cedar Grove area found that a newborn’s grave had been dug up and the burial container was missing. The grave had been recently disturbed, raising immediate concerns about the whereabouts of the child’s remains.
Investigators later identified Tamisha Cheyniece Drake as a suspect in the case. According to local reports, Drake admitted to deputies that she had exhumed the body of her baby, who she said died in February after not surviving childbirth.
Remains located at vacant property
Following her admission, Drake directed authorities to an unoccupied residence, where deputies located the infant’s remains. The child was still inside the original burial container when recovered from the driveway of the vacant home.
The recovery brought a key development in the investigation, confirming both the removal of the body from the cemetery and its relocation to the separate site.
Charges and custody status
Drake has been charged with abuse of a corpse, a state jail felony in Texas. The charge carries a potential sentence ranging from 180 days to two years in a state jail facility if convicted.
Jail records show Drake remained in custody at the Angelina County Jail as of Sunday. Court date information was not immediately available.
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