Woman charged in gruesome slaying of her grandmother in their Ambler home

Nicole Cadwalader did not mince words when she arrived at the Ambler Police Department just after 6 a.m. Monday.

She said she had slit her grandmother's throat and beat her with a baseball bat. Then, she threatened to kill the police officers with whom she was talking, according to an affidavit of probable cause released Tuesday by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

Fifteen minutes later, authorities arrived at the home that Cadwalader shared with the grandmother, Sharon Burke.

Officers found Burke, 68, dead on a bedroom floor. Her fingers were cut and her body looked as if it had sustained trauma. Authorities also reported that they found a bloody steak knife on the kitchen counter and a bloody baseball bat by the front door, which had been unlocked.

Cadwalader, 30, was arrested later that day and charged with first-degree murder and related offenses, as well as resisting arrest. Authorities say she kicked an officer in the shin.

No attorney for Cadwalader was listed on court documents. A relative who answered the phone at a home listed for family in Florida declined to comment early Tuesday afternoon.

In an interview with detectives, Cadwalader said she killed Burke in her kitchen by "slitting her throat" and beating her in the head, according to the documents.

But why?

Cadwalader told police she believed Burke was a "wretched, evil woman," according to the documents. Cadwalader also said she stabbed Burke in the neck to "cut her windpipe," and hit her in the head repeatedly with a pan and baseball bat, authorities said.

After the attack, believing her grandmother was dead, Cadwalader told police she left the home to go to a friend's place. She returned to find that Burke had dragged herself into a bedroom, where she lay lifeless, according to the documents. It was then that Cadwalader walked to the police department to tell what she had done.

When detectives searched the home, they found apparent blood on a baseball bat, kitchen knives, and a pan, according to the documents.

An autopsy determined that Burke died of multiple stab and incised wounds. Blunt impact to the head also contributed to her death, according to the coroner's office.

In the Philadelphia area, Cadwalader has a slew of prior charges, including theft, disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, harassment, and theft, according to court records. In Florida, she was twice charged with misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and twice charged with resisting arrest, according to the records.  Cadwalader was sentenced to a few months in a Florida jail in 2009 for criminal contempt and resisting arrest, according to the records. The details of those prior incidents were not immediately available Tuesday.

Cadwalader is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail. She awaits a preliminary hearing set for June 14.