diff --git a/src/mutators/BlockStatementMutator.ts b/src/mutators/BlockStatementMutator.ts
index 3a159f55a0..e7847bb79e 100644
--- a/src/mutators/BlockStatementMutator.ts
+++ b/src/mutators/BlockStatementMutator.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export default class BlockStatementMutator implements Mutator {
   constructor() { }
 
   applyMutations(node: estree.Node, copy: <T>(obj: T, deep?: boolean) => T):  void | estree.Node | estree.Node[] {
-    if (node.type === Syntax.BlockStatement) {
+    if (node.type === Syntax.BlockStatement && node.body.length > 0) {
       let mutatedNode = copy(node);
       mutatedNode.body = [];
       return mutatedNode;
diff --git a/src/utils/parserUtils.ts b/src/utils/parserUtils.ts
index f85cb8c21c..dc8ca9e82b 100644
--- a/src/utils/parserUtils.ts
+++ b/src/utils/parserUtils.ts
@@ -20,13 +20,10 @@ const esprimaOptions = {
  * @param code - The code which has to be parsed.
  * @returns {Object} The generated Abstract Syntax Tree.
  */
-export function parse(code: string): any {
+export function parse(code: string): estree.Program {
   if (code === undefined) {
     throw new Error('Code parameter cannot be undefined');
   }
-  if (code === '') {
-    return {};
-  }
 
   const abstractSyntaxTree = esprima.parse(code, esprimaOptions);
 
@@ -39,7 +36,7 @@ export function parse(code: string): any {
  * @param abstractSyntaxTree - The current part of the abstract syntax tree which will be investigated.
  * @returns  All nodes with a type.
  */
-export function collectFrozenNodes(abstractSyntaxTree: any, nodes?: any[]): any[] {
+export function collectFrozenNodes(abstractSyntaxTree: estree.Node, nodes?: estree.Node[]): estree.Node[] {
   nodes = nodes || [];
 
   if (!_.isArray(abstractSyntaxTree) && _.isObject(abstractSyntaxTree) && abstractSyntaxTree.type && _.isUndefined(abstractSyntaxTree.nodeID)) {
diff --git a/test/unit/mutators/BlockStatementMutatorSpec.ts b/test/unit/mutators/BlockStatementMutatorSpec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3f4b390476
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/mutators/BlockStatementMutatorSpec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import BlockStatementMutator from '../../../src/mutators/BlockStatementMutator';
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+import * as parser from '../../../src/utils/parserUtils';
+import { copy } from '../../../src/utils/objectUtils';
+import { Syntax } from 'esprima';
+import * as estree from 'estree';
+
+describe('BlockStatementMutator', () => {
+  let sut: BlockStatementMutator;
+
+  beforeEach(() => sut = new BlockStatementMutator());
+
+  it('should mutate when supplied a block statement', () => {
+    // Arrange
+    const program = parser.parse(`function a () { 
+      'use strict';
+    }`);
+    const useStrictBlockStatement = (program.body[0] as estree.FunctionDeclaration).body;
+
+    // Act
+    const actual = <estree.BlockStatement>sut.applyMutations(useStrictBlockStatement, copy);
+
+    // Assert
+    expect(actual).to.be.ok;
+    expect(actual.nodeID).to.eq(useStrictBlockStatement.nodeID);
+    expect(actual.body).to.have.length(0);
+  });
+
+  it('should not mutate an empty expression', () => {
+    // Arrange
+    const program = parser.parse(`function a () { 
+      
+    }`);
+    const emptyBlockStatement = (program.body[0] as estree.FunctionDeclaration).body;
+
+    // Act
+    const actual = sut.applyMutations(emptyBlockStatement, copy);
+    expect(actual).to.not.be.ok;
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/unit/utils/parserUtilsSpec.ts b/test/unit/utils/parserUtilsSpec.ts
index 3d6c7085e9..41a47810e0 100644
--- a/test/unit/utils/parserUtilsSpec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/utils/parserUtilsSpec.ts
@@ -31,13 +31,6 @@ describe('parserUtils', () => {
 
     });
 
-
-    it('should return an empty object if an empty string is parsed', () => {
-      const emptyObject = {};
-
-      const result = parserUtils.parse('');
-      expect(JSON.stringify(result)).to.equal(JSON.stringify(emptyObject));
-    });
   });
 
 });