Homestead woman accused of stabbing daughter-in-law in front of grandchildren

‘Grandma started to kill mommy with the knife,’ girl tells officers, according to arrest report

Celestine Ward. (Miami-Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A Homestead woman was arrested Wednesday after she stabbed her daughter-in-law, authorities said.

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According to Homestead police, the stabbing occurred around 3:42 p.m. at a home in the 700 block of Southwest Fourth Avenue.

Police said a responding officer knocked on the front door and when Celestine Ward, 57, opened the door, the officer spotted the victim sitting in a pool of blood on the living room floor, leaning against a cot bed.

According to Ward’s arrest report, the victim was airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center in critical condition.

Police said the victim’s daughter told officers that her mother and father were arguing and her father eventually left the home.

The girl said her mother and grandmother then began to argue, authorities said.

According to the report, the girl told officers, “Grandma started to kill mommy with the knife. The knife is in the room under the bed.”

Police said the victim’s children were turned over to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

According to the report, the victim was interviewed at the hospital by a detective and said she and her mother-in-law had been drinking alcoholic beverages at a Chili’s Grill & Bar earlier that day.

She said they went back home and an argument ensued between them.

She said she didn’t remember what the argument was about, but remembers Ward charging toward her, the report stated.

According to the report, the victim said she defended herself and her mother-in-law then charged at her a second time with the knife, stabbing her multiple times.

Police said Ward provided a recorded statement to detectives, claiming the victim had punched her several times in the face and the stabbing was self-defense.

But police said Ward did not have any visible injuries.

She was arrested on an attempted murder charge.

As of Thursday morning, Ward was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed her bond as “to be set.”


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Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.

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