She died in a pool of blood near her toddler. Boyfriend stabbed her 29 times, La. cops say

Drivers called 911 when they noticed the woman’s body along the street in Gretna, Louisiana, according to police.

Authorities said the woman’s crying toddler was right next to her as she died “in a pool of her own blood” on the ground at 5 a.m. Thursday, WGNO reports. The 1-year-old child was uninjured.

According to police, the woman — 35-year-old Traniel Gray — had been walking the child in a stroller moments earlier alongside her boyfriend, Damone J. Ussin, 41, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. But then Ussin stabbed Gray 29 times in her back, face, chest and neck, police said.

“It was very gruesome,” Gretna Police Operations Commander Russell Lloyd said, according to WWL.

Ussin was arrested and booked on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with Gray’s death, according to records from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center, where Ussin is being held without bond as of Friday.

A police report said Ussin faced charges in July following a domestic violence incident with Gray, WVUE reports.

Ussin had , officers said, while Gray was discovered in the street with a “disfigured” and swelling face, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

Police said that cameras in the area caught the pair walking around before the stabbing — pushing the 1-year-old’s stroller — at about 4 a.m., according to the newspaper.

The sheriff said authorities recovered evidence linking Gray’s murder to Ussin following his arrest later on Thursday, the Times-Picayune reports.

The child is in the custody of the Department of Family Services, according to the TV station.

Jefferson Parish court records indicate that in 1999, Gray pleaded guilty to slashing a different woman using a knife, the New Orleans Advocate reports.

That landed Ussin with a sentence of three years in prison — and he spent even more time behind bars in 2006 after he admitted to beating the same woman again, according to the newspaper.

This story was originally published August 10, 2018 at 4:35 PM.