Woman charged in murder of pregnant friend

Charges filed in bizarre, sad case of woman who killed pregnant friend and cut out her fetus

Published December 17, 2009 11:15PM (EST)

Just an update to a bizarre and tragic story you may remember having read about earlier this year, and which left an impression on me I'd rather it didn't. Julie Corey, the woman who in July allegedly killed her eight-months pregnant friend and then cut the live fetus from her womb and kidnapped it, has been formally charged with murder.

After allegedly killing Darlene Haynes by some combination of blunt head trauma and strangulation, Corey showed up at a homeless shelter in New Hampshire claiming to be the excised baby's mother. Corey had apparently been telling friends she was pregnant, but wasn't. It took a few days before authorities finally found Haynes' body in her apartment.

Haynes already had three other children, the eldest two of whom already were living with her mother. Her then-18-month-old and the abducted baby are in custody of Massachusetts childrens services.

It's just such a sad case all the way around--a woman dead, two kids orphaned, and an alleged killer who most likely suffers from some form of mental illness.


By Thomas Schaller

Thomas F. Schaller is professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the author of "Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South." Follow him @schaller67.

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