Dynel Lane, 36, was sentenced to 100 years in prison after attempting to rob a woman of her unborn 8-month baby.
Lane was charged with assault, attempted murder and unlawful termination of pregnancy. The prosecution tried to charge her for the murder of the fetus but there was no evidence that the unborn baby girl was able to live as she was removed from its mother.
The shocking events
Dynel Lane lured the 26-year old Michelle Wilkins with an ad that offered maternity clothes. She performed the cesarean with a kitchen knife. Lane did not pronounce a word during her trial although the family of the victim stated that there was a need for the assailant to express remorse. “It is clear that you need healing and my sincere belief that you get it” said Wilkins on the trial.
According to Lane’s relatives, she had ongoing psychological issues due to the loss of her 19-month son, who had drowned in 2002. Lane went far into trying to fake her own pregnancy by posting online photos of her distended belly. She also posted photos of a man, arguing that he was the father of her baby while also displaying ultrasound images that she had found online. Friends even celebrated by organizing a baby shower for Lane.
Former nurse’s aide Dynel Lane did not live alone. David Ridley lived along with Lane and her two daughters. Lane connected with Wilkins through an online ad and brought her to the basement to see pregnancy attire; Wilkins said that she really wanted to leave, so Lane hit her in the back to which Wilkins believed she was just swatting a bug.
Lane fought and pinned Wilkins to the floor, first trying to suffocate her with a pillow, then using her own hands. She took a bottle and hit Wilkins’ head with it, leaving her unconscious. Lane proceeded to cut her open with two kitchen knives. “I just felt the blood seeping through my pants, and I could feel my intestines outside of my body,” Wilkins stated on the events.
Ridley came home and found the dying fetus in the bathtub; subsequently, he drove both Lane and the unborn baby to emergencies. She argued that she had suffered a miscarriage. Michelle Wilkins was lying unconscious on Lane’s home basement, and after she managed to regain consciousness she went and called the police. The attack occurred on March 18th of 2015, as her trial lasted until February.
Source: Washington Post