LONGMONT, Colo., March 20 (UPI) -- A woman accused of luring an expecting mother to her home so she could cut her baby from her womb told acquaintances prior to the attack that she was pregnant, investigators said Thursday.
The 26-year-old victim went to the suspect's home Wednesday in Longmont, which is about 35 miles north of Denver, after seeing a classified ad on the Internet for baby clothes. Police say when she arrived at the suspect's home, she was stabbed in the stomach area and her unborn baby was cut from the womb.
The baby died before the suspect took it to a hospital claiming she had miscarried.
The victim was identified Thursday as Michelle Wilkins and the suspect Dynel Catrece Lane, the Denver Post reported.
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The Post also reported details of a near seven minute 911 emergency call Wilkins made to police.
"She cut me. I'm pregnant," Wilkins can be heard saying on the 911 recording. The Post report said Wilkins seemed to be in great pain during the call and drifted in and out of coherence.
While investigators are gaining new clues about the attack, they are not yet certain what happened in the three hour gap between the time Wilkins arrived at Lane's house just before noon and the 911 call, placed at 2:42 p.m. local time Wednesday.
Wilkins was immediately hospitalized and treated for her serious wound. She is listed in critical but stable condition, the family said.
"We are thankful for the outpouring of love and support from the local community and others who have expressed their condolences. We know you are grieving too, and we truly appreciate the support," the family said in a statement.
A physician at Longmont United Hospital, where Wilkins was taken, said in an affidavit that the person who cut the fetus from the victim did it with such a level of accuracy that they must have had knowledge of cesarean section methods. Lane, 34, had been a certified nurse's assistant between 2010 and 2012.
According to the 911 call, Wilkins suggested to the dispatcher that she was attacked when she attempted to leave the suspect's home. The two women were not acquaintances, police said.
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the assault. Lane already has two biological children, police say, which perhaps makes a desire to have a child a less likely motive. Officials are also looking into the possibility of mental illness.
Nonetheless, officials said, Lane went to great lengths to persuade almost everyone she knew that she was pregnant. In fact, she arranged to meet her husband for a pre-natal appointment on the day of the attack, the Orange County Register reported.
When her husband arrived home to pick her up, police said, he found the bloodied woman in the bathtub holding the dying child.
During her initial court appearance Thursday, the judge ordered her held in the county jail on $2 million bail.
"There are no conditions that could make this defendant safe [for release]," a prosecutor said.
The Boulder County district attorney said he is awaiting results of an autopsy on the child, who was seven months along, before deciding on appropriate criminal charges. Lane will likely face charges of attempted murder and child abuse resulting in death.
