"A bunch of bull:" Mother accused of putting 4-day-old baby in fridge, killing him; not all believe she's guilty

SOUTH CAROLINA -- A South Carolina woman is accused of putting her infant son in a refrigerator, and leaving him there for hours. But some family members don't believe she did anything wrong.

Angela Blackwell is charged with homicide by child abuse.

Her father-in-law Billy Lewis was blunt about the case against her as she appeared in court.

"I think it's a bunch of bull!" Lewis said.

Blackwell is accused of putting her four-day-old son William in a refrigerator for three hours at their home on Rose Street on February 27th. Deputies say she then removed him and called EMS officials.

William died from hypothermia.

Lewis was emotional when he spoke of holding his grandson.

"I held him for two-and-a-half hours. I sang to him, talked to him," Lewis said.

Longtime family friends say when William died, there were rumors in the neighborhood.

"All I know was that the baby had died and back then nobody knowed (sic) what happened," Tim Houston said.

Deputies interviewed many people who were in the home and SLED, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division also got involved in the investigation.

Nearly six months after William's death, Blackwell was charged.

"You just wouldn't think a mother would do that to a child," Houston said.

Blackwell's husband, Jeff believes she didn't do it, and so does his father. They say another young child in the house that night, who has autism, placed the baby in the fridge -- not Blackwell.

Blackwell could face 20 years to life in prison if convicted of homicide by child abuse.