Military base tragedy: Army wife pleads guilty to fatally stabbing infant son

A woman whose husband serves in the U.S. Army at Fort Eisenhower in Georgia has admitted to the tragic killing of her baby son back in 2023. The lifeless body of the infant was discovered with multiple stab wounds concealed in a shower curtain.

The culprit, April Evalyn Short, aged 31 and a resident of Fort Eisenhower, has confessed to the charge of second-degree murder. This was revealed in an announcement made on Tuesday by Tara M. Lyons, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

Under the terms of the plea deal, Short has agreed to a 20-year jail term. In addition, she will face significant monetary fines and be subject to five years of supervision post her incarceration, as outlined by Lyons. It is important to note that there is no provision for parole in the federal correctional system.

April Short pleaded guilty in the fatal stabbing of her infant at Fort Eisenhower in Augusta, Georgia. (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office)

“The plea agreement in this disturbing case represents a difficult but appropriate resolution to this tragic and shocking homicide,” Lyons wrote in the statement.

Short remains in U.S. Marshals Service custody, and will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall after a pre-sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services.

Paul Brown, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta said the mother “will now have 20 years to think about her heinous actions.”

“This plea cannot undo that tragedy and loss, but brings another measure of justice to those who knew and loved the child during his short life,” Brown wrote in the statement.