When a 26-year-old pregnant woman went to Dynel Lane’s house in Longmont, Colo., on Wednesday to inquire about a Craiglist post advertising baby clothes, the pregnant woman, identified by the Longmont Times-Call as Michelle Wilkins, was stabbed and cut open, allegedly by Lane, and her unborn baby was removed from her uterus.
When Lane’s husband, David Ridley, returned home, he found Lane and the baby in the upstairs bathroom, the Times-Call reports. Lane reportedly told her husband that she had suffered a miscarriage. Lane’s husband rushed her and the baby to the hospital, where the baby died.
Wilkins was found by police in the home downstairs. She was rushed to the hospital, underwent surgery and was alert on Thursday, answering questions from police, the Associated Press reports.
Lane was arrested for attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and child abuse, but a Colorado district attorney explained that there are complications with regard to charging someone suspected of harming an unborn child.
“The issues involving an unborn child are complicated under Colorado law,” Stan Garnett, Boulder County’s district attorney, told the Times-Call. “In most circumstances, if a child was not actually born alive, then homicide charges are not possible.”
Read more at the Longmont Times-Call and 7 Online.