The Colorado woman accused of cutting open a stranger's womb and ripping out her fetus Wednesday was apparently faking her own pregnancy, according to a police affidavit.
Dynel Catrece Lane, 34, allegedly went to great lengths to keep up the ruse — even producing an ultrasound photo of a baby boy in December, Longmont police said. She also allegedly kept a smartphone containing photos of her purported pregnancy.
One of Lane's two teenage daughters told police that she "could not tell Dynel was pregnant and was very petite," the affidavit said.
Lane is accused of luring the unidentified 26-year-old victim to her home with a Craigslist ad for baby clothes before cutting open her womb with a knife.
The woman, who was seven months pregnant, managed to call 911 as she lay bleeding and barely conscious in the home's basement.
"I'm pregnant. She cut me in my stomach — I'm afraid," the unidentified victim said in the call.
Just after the attack, Lane's husband, David Ridley, came home because he was supposed to take his wife to a prenatal checkup, police said. As Ridley was headed for the basement, he later told police, his wife intercepted him and claimed she had had a miscarriage.
"David ran upstairs to the bathroom and found a small baby lying in the bathtub," the affidavit said. "He rubbed the baby slightly then rolled it over to hear and see it take a gasping breath."
The couple then rushed to the hospital with the fetus, which did not survive. Lane told doctors that she had suffered a miscarriage, but she would not let them examine her, police said.
She later confessed to cutting her victim's womb open and taking the fetus, according to the affidavit.
Lane was arrested and is facing charges of first-degree attempted murder, assault and child abuse, and remains booked in Boulder County Jail. The victim, meanwhile, is "recovering" from her wounds, police said Thursday.
IN-DEPTH
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