About a week after the death of a 10-month-old who was abandoned in the Ouachita Mountains, Yell County officials are investigating the death of another baby.

Harper Maylyn Ward died "a short time" after the baby was born Wednesday to a woman who said her husband shot her in the back during a domestic dispute the week before, according to a Yell County sheriff's office affidavit. Shauna Ward of Briggsville delivered the baby at UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock at 21 weeks. The baby's gender was not available Wednesday.

Efforts to reach the mother were not successful, and the hospital said it was not authorized to release information on her condition.

Harper's autopsy had not been performed yet, chief medical examiner at the Arkansas state Crime Lab, Dr. Charles Kokes, said Wednesday. In order to classify the death as a homicide, examiners must determine whether the child died in the mother's uterus, if resuscitation efforts took place and ultimately, whether the baby was alive at birth.

"In these instances, the devil is in the details," Kokes said.

On average, the lab classifies about six infant and toddler deaths as homicides each year. An infant is defined as being under the age of 1, and a toddler under 3.

The lab classified the July 29 death of Harper Alexander Floyd in the Ouachita Mountains as a homicide caused by "exposure and abandonment."

More commonly, the lab classifies about 80 infant deaths a year as sudden infant death syndrome, which may be related to a combination of reasons, such as respiratory distress and environmental factors, Kokes said.

Unlike 10-month-old Harper Floyd's case -- where prosecutors allege that methamphetamine-induced hallucinations led his mother to abandon him -- the Yell County sheriff's office did not document any illegal substances involved in the death of Harper Ward.

On July 31, Shauna Ward reported that her husband shot her in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun, according to the affidavit for Samuel Ward's arrest. The shot left markings that spread across her back, from arm to arm.

Samuel Ward said that the couple had been fighting about whether he was talking to another woman online, and that the gun just "went off," according to the affidavit. He said that he picked up the gun but that it went off accidentally.

In an interview with officers, Shauna Ward said she was terrified of her husband and the shooting was not an accident.

The Yell County prosecuting attorney's office charged Samuel Ward, 27, with first-degree murder in the death of the baby, a Class Y felony, and battery in the first degree, a Class B felony, on Wednesday. In Arkansas, murder in the first degree is defined as causing the death of another person while a person committed, attempted to commit or fled from a felony. Battery in the first degree is defined as intending to cause serious physical injury to another person using a weapon.

Shauna Ward's two other children -- whose ages were not known Thursday -- were not at home at the time of the shooting.

Yell County Circuit Judge David McCormick set Ward's bail at $500,000 on Monday. He is being held in the county jail in Dardanelle.

The Yell County sheriff's office did not return calls Thursday.

Across Arkansas, 7,467 reports of child mistreatment were confirmed in 2013, according to the state Department of Human Services. In Yell County, 44 cases were confirmed in 2013.

Washington County had the most true mistreatment complaints in 2013 with 633, followed by 568 in Pulaski County.

Metro on 08/08/2014