WORCESTER, Mass., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The trial of a Worcester, Mass., woman accused of killing her pregnant neighbor for the baby began Monday with a lawyer saying no proof links her to the crime.
Julie Corey, 39, is accused of killing Darlene Haynes, 23, and cutting open her abdomen to steal the woman's fetus in 2009. Hayes was eight months pregnant at the time, and Corey and the healthy baby girl were found in a New Hampshire homeless shelter, masslive.com reported.
Prosecutors allege Corey faked her own pregnancy and represented the child as her own. Corey has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
In Worcester Superior Court Monday, her lawyer, Michael Wilcox, contended in opening statements police failed to follow leads that could have led them to the killers, and concentrated only on friends of Roberto Rodriguez, Corey's former boyfriend.
Wilcox said although there was considerable blood at the crime scene, Haynes' bedroom, none was found on Corey, in her apartment or in Rodriguez' car, masslive.com reported.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bennett, in his opening statement, said Corey was the last person seen with Haynes, and a fingerprint of Corey's was found on a wine cooler Haynes purchased that was found in the bedroom.
