Some people are willing to do anything for a baby. Each of the following were so desperate for an infant that they kidnapped pregnant women, cut them open, and yanked out the baby. Unfortunately, this crude surgery is often deadly—both to the pregnant women and the babies.
10 Dynel Lane
Dynel Lane never got over the accidental drowning death of her young son. She was desperate to have another child and began faking a pregnancy. Her boyfriend grew suspicious of her pregnancy as it stretched months beyond her due date. Lane hatched a plan to get a baby. Lane placed a Craigslist ad for baby clothes. Michelle Wilkins, who was pregnant, responded, and she agreed to meet at Lane’s home. They spent more than an hour chatting while they sorted through clothes. Wilkins started to leave, but Lane suggested they go downstairs to look at more clothing. When they arrived in the basement, Lane struck Wilkins from behind. She hit and scratched Wilkins before Wilkins pushed her off. Wilkins threatened to call the police, and Lane hit her over the head with a lava lamp. She stabbed Wilkins in the neck with the broken glass. Lane then cut Wilkins’s abdomen, taking the baby and leaving Wilkins for dead.[1] Lane did several loads of laundry and cleaned up. When her boyfriend arrived home, she told him she’d had a miscarriage. He brought her to the hospital, and she told them, “This was my baby. I delivered a baby. This is still birth.” She refused to be examined by doctors. Wilkins regained consciousness, and she realized she was severally injured. She managed to reach her cell phone and dial 911. Wilkins was rushed to the hospital. Despite losing more than half of her blood, she survived. Lane was arrested and sentenced to 100 years in prison.
9 Ashleigh Wade
Ashleigh Wade told her family, her friends, and her boyfriend that she was pregnant. She was not. Wade stole ultrasound photos from websites and posted them to her Facebook page. Through the social network, Wade reconnected with a childhood friend, Angelikque Sutton. Sutton was expecting a baby, and the pair bonded over their pregnancies and their impending children. On the day of Sutton’s wedding, Wade invited the bride to stop by her home to pick up a gift. When Sutton arrived, Wade attacked her. Wade stabbed Sutton around 50 times, taking great care to avoid her abdomen.[2] Once Sutton was incapacitated, Wade sliced her open. Wade cut out Sutton’s uterus, slashed it open, and removed the baby. Wade cut the umbilical cord, wrapped the infant up, and made a bottle. Then she called her boyfriend, Steven Praylow. She told him she’d just given birth, and she’d done something “very bad.” Praylow went home to a bloodbath. He wrapped the infant in his jacket, walked outside, and dialed 911. When the police arrived, Wade screamed, “It’s my baby!” She claimed Sutton had attacked her with a knife, and she had stabbed her in self-defense. Wade was taken away for a psychiatric evaluation. She was later found guilty of murder. Sutton and her daughter were brought to a hospital. Sutton was pronounced dead. However, her daughter, Jenasis Bradley, survived and was unharmed by the rough delivery.
8 Annette Morales-Rodriguez
Annette Morales-Rodriguez was desperate to give her boyfriend a son, but she could not “stay pregnant.”[3] She had twice faked a pregnancy; both times, she claimed she had miscarriages. Morales-Rodriguez faked a third pregnancy, and she panicked as her supposed due date approached. She spent two weeks looking for a pregnant woman. Morales-Rodriguez drove to a local community center and found Maritza Ramirez-Cruz, a mother of three who was in her 40th week of pregnancy. She offered the expectant mother a ride. Morales-Rodriguez brought Ramirez-Cruz to her home, and she attacked her. Morales-Rodriguez bashed her in the head with a baseball bat, choked her until she passed out, duct-taped her eyes and nose, and wrapped a plastic bag around her head. Ramirez-Cruz died. Morales-Rodriguez then pulled out an X-Acto knife and sliced Ramirez-Cruz from hip to hip. She pulled out the baby. He was not alive. Morales-Rodriguez called 911. She told them she had just given birth and that the baby was not breathing. She was brought to the hospital. A medical examiner realized the baby had been removed by force, as the mother’s uterus and parts of her ovaries were still attached to the infant. Police went to speak with Morales-Rodriguez, and they brought her to the hospital. She went into a bathroom and scratched the inside of her vaginal wall until she bled. She told doctors she was still bleeding from the birth. However, the examination proved she had not had a baby. Police found Ramirez-Cruz’s body in Morales-Rodriguez’s basement. Morales-Rodriguez was arrested and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
7 Pamela Causey-Fregia
Pamela Causey-Fregia was desperate to stop her husband from leaving. She claimed she was pregnant, and she showed him a fake pregnancy test. He didn’t believe her and moved to another state. Causey-Fregia continued with her lie, sending him fake sonogram photos. Months passed, and Causey-Fregia realized she needed a child. She traveled to a hospital with her daughter and tried to find an infant. Instead, she found Victoria Perez, who was eight months pregnant. Causey-Fregia lured Perez to her home with the promise of free baby clothes. When the pair arrived, Causey-Fregia killed Perez by blunt force. She failed to get the baby, however. Causey-Fregia took Perez’s body down the road to a wooded, family-owned property. She spent several days burning the body, and then she buried the remains. Four years later, Causey-Fregia’s own children turned her into the police.[4] Police sent cadaver dogs around the property, and they discovered Perez’s remains. Causey-Fregia was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree feticide.
6 Kathy Coy
Kathy Coy was obsessed with pregnancy. She had faked many pregnancies, and she had stalked pregnant women for years. Coy asked her 13-year-old daughter to help her kidnap a baby. The girl refused. Coy then asked her 14-year-old son if he would help her commit a murder.[5] He, too, refused to help his mother. Coy befriended a pregnant woman named Jamie Stice on Facebook. She asked Stice to shop for baby items with her. When Stice got into Coy’s car, Coy used a stun gun on her. Coy drove to a wooded area and cut Stice’s wrists and throat. She then disemboweled Stice and yanked the baby boy from her body. Coy drove to a friend’s home with the baby in her arms. She claimed she had just given birth, and she asked her friend to take a picture and send it to her estranged husband, who was out of town. Coy and the baby were brought by ambulance to the hospital. Doctors quickly realized Coy could not have given birth to the baby, who was attached to a uterus and ovaries. They called the police. Coy tried to claim that the baby was hers, but police eventually got her to confess. She led detectives to Stice’s remains. Coy was arrested and sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Stice’s baby boy survived and is healthy.
5 Julie Corey
Julie Corey did not tell anyone she miscarried her 30-week fetus. She pretended she was still pregnant. A few months later, she offered a former neighbor who was currently pregnant, Darlene Haynes, a ride. She drove Haynes home, and they went inside her house. Corey attacked Haynes. She severally beat her head, causing multiple skull fractures, and she strangled her with an electrical cord.[6] Corey sliced Haynes open and pulled out the baby. She hid Haynes’s body in the closet and left. Later that night, she called her boyfriend and told him her water had broken. Corey called him 12 times that night, detailing what was happening at the hospital. During her last call, she claimed she was leaving the hospital early because she had received poor care. Corey, her boyfriend, and the baby moved to another state. They stayed at a homeless shelter, whose workers became suspicious of the family. They called the police, who brought Corey to a hospital. Doctors concluded she had never given birth. Corey was arrested and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
4 Korena Roberts
Korena Roberts was obsessed with having a baby, and she decided to fake a pregnancy. She told her boyfriend and their families she was expecting twins. Roberts bought baby items, and then she decided to find a baby. She posted an ad on Craigslist in an attempt to meet potential mothers. She set up meetings with multiple pregnant women. However, the meetings didn’t work out according to Roberts’s plan.[7] She finally met Heather Snively, who was eight months pregnant. Roberts offered to trade Snively some baby clothes. When Snively arrived at Roberts’s home, Roberts beat the pregnant woman with a collapsible police baton—hitting her head 15 to 30 times. Snively was knocked unconscious by the blows. Roberts used a straight razor to cut open Snively’s abdomen. She pulled out a baby boy. Roberts covered Snively’s body in carpet and hid it in a crawl space beneath her home. She then called her boyfriend and told him she needed help delivering her baby. He came home to find her in the bathtub, crying uncontrollably, and holding the still baby boy. Paramedics drove Roberts and the baby to a hospital. The infant was pronounced dead. Roberts initially refused to submit to an exam, but the doctors eventually completed it and determined she had not given birth recently. Hospital staff called police, who arrested Roberts. They found Snively’s body in Roberts’s home. Roberts was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
3 Loretta Cooke
Loretta Cooke told everyone she was pregnant—she wasn’t. She took maternity leave, and her friends threw her a baby shower. Cooke received all the goods she needed to raise an infant; she just needed to find a baby. Cooke walked to Valencia Behrens’s home and told the pregnant woman that she had some baby gifts for her. Behrens went to Cooke’s house. Cooke overpowered Behrens and bound her hands and feet. She sliced the woman’s belly open and wrenched out a baby girl. Cooke sat the infant down, and she lied down in another room. A few hours passed, and Behrens’s family started to worry. They went to Cooke’s home. They discovered Behrens’s body outside dumped next to a trash can.[8] Her infant was found on the floor of the house in a pool of blood; her umbilical cord was still attached. Behrens’s daughter was brought to the hospital. She survived her traumatic birth, but she was left with a facial scar from the unorthodox C-section. Cooke pleaded not guilty to the murder and claimed she could not remember the incident. Psychologists examined her and determined there was no evidence of mental illness. Cooke was sentenced to life in prison.
2 Zandile Makulana
When Zandile Makulana was 16 years old, her poor family married her off in exchange for some gifts. She fell pregnant shortly afterward, but she miscarried. Makulana was unable to conceive again, and her in-laws abused and mistreated her.[9] She ran away and met a new man. Again, Makulana was unable to have a child. She felt that if she gave her boyfriend a child, he would love and marry her. She started obsessing about being pregnant. Makulana hatched a plan with another woman to steal the baby of her neighbor, Pretty Tsanga. Makulana gained weight, told everyone she was pregnant, and bought baby clothes. She lured Tsanga from her home to a house, where two men overpowered and strangled her. The other woman cut Tsanga’s body with a pair of scissors, removed the baby girl, and handed her to Makulana. The child soon died. Makulana brought the lifeless infant to her boyfriend. He was unware that she was holding a dead baby and took them to the hospital. Makulana planned to steal a live baby there and exchange it with the dead one. Medical staff realized Makulana was never pregnant, and she was arrested. Makulana was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
1 Veronica Deramous
Veronica Deramous met Teka Adams at a homeless shelter. She promised the expectant mother baby clothes and brought her home. Once there, Deramous threw a blanket over Adams and hit her in the head with a fireplace poker. Adams fell unconscious. Deramous tied Adams up. After several days, she shoved a rag in Adams’s mouth and put a piece of tape over it. Deramous told Adams, “You’re strong. You can handle what I’m going to do to you.” She then started to cut into Adams’s belly using a few box cutters and a razor blade. Deramous did not manage to free the baby. Deramous drank quite a bit and passed out. Adams managed to free herself from her bonds, and she ran outside with her placenta and intestines exposed.[10] Deramous’s son woke his mother up and told her that her “friend” had left. The women struggled in an outside hallway. Neighbors heard the fight and went to investigate. Deramous and her son fled. Adams was brought to the hospital, where she had an emergency C-section. Her daughter, Miracle Sky, was unharmed by Deramous’s butchery. Deramous was arrested, and she was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
