She had committed a brutal and shocking crime—cutting a nearly eight-month-old fetus from a stranger’s womb.
The crime, which took place on March 18, 2015, left the victim, Michelle Wilkins, severly injured —but her unborn baby did not survive.
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| Michelle Wilkins |
It all started when Dynel Lane lied to her partner, David Ridley, that she was pregnant.
According to CNN, she tricked him for months and even downloaded ultrasound images from the internet to further deceive him.
However, just few weeks before the attack, Lane’s boyfriend told her he would leave unless she provided clear proof of her pregnancy.
At that time, she was still claiming to be expecting a child for 14 months, as per Daily Mail.
To keep her lie from being exposed, she decided to steal an unborn baby from another pregnant woman.
To carry out her plan, she posted a fake ad for maternity clothes on Craigslist, hoping to lure in unsuspecting expectant mothers.
Michelle Wilkins, who was 26 years old and seven months pregnant at the time, responded to the ad—unaware she was stepping into a nightmare.
When Wilkins arrived at Lane’s home in Longmont, Colorado, she was brutally attacked.
Lane beat, stabbed, and cut into her stomach to remove the fetus, then left her for dead.
Despite her severe injuries, Wilkins managed to call 911 and lock herself in a room, ultimately saving her own life.
According to BBC, Lane called her partner and claimed she had suffered a miscarriage.
He then rushed her and the baby to the hospital, not knowing that Wilkins was still bleeding in the basement.
When they arrived at the hospital, doctors confirmed the baby could not have been hers, as she showed no signs of giving birth.
Meanwhile, police were already investigating the attack on Wilkins, so they questioned Dynel Lane.
At first, she insisted the baby was hers, but she later claimed that she had attacked Wilkins in self-defense.
Despite Lane’s claims that she acted in self-defense, the chilling evidence painted a different picture.
Doctors also observed that the incision was done with precision, suggesting that Dynel Lane had researched C-sections before carrying out the brutal attack
“You knowingly left me to die multiple times,” Wilkins told Lane in court.
“The only tears you shed during the trial were those of self-pity… You embrace your narcissistic fantasy to fulfill the lie you created.”
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| Michelle Wilkins in Court |
At her sentencing on February 26, 2016, Judge Maria Berkenkotter handed down the maximum penalty, calling the crime “brutal and calculated.”
Lane showed no remorse and did not speak in her own defense.
However, there was a twist in the case.
Prosecutors could not charge Lane with murder because, under Colorado law, a fetus is not considered a person unless it can survive outside the womb.
This legal gap led to public outrage, with Republicans pushing for fetal homicide laws, but the proposal was rejected by Democrats, as per BBC.
Wilkins, who has since become an advocate for violence prevention, said she believed justice was served with Lane’s sentence.
While Wilkins survived, some other pregnant women who found themselves in similar situations didn't.
We put together an exclusive compilation of seven other women who committed these horrific acts, and you can read it for free right here.
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