Woman in Pa. Baby Mystery Partially Eviscerated

In this Thursday, July 17, 2008 image made from video and provided Friday, July 18 by KDKA-TV,...

In this Thursday, July 17, 2008 image made from video and provided Friday, July 18 by KDKA-TV, Andrea Curry-Demus, center, is seen after being arrested at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. Investigators found the body of a woman with her hands bound on Friday at the apartment of Curry-Demus, who showed up at the hospital with a newborn she falsely claimed was her's but later said she had obtained for $1,000, authorities said. (AP Photo/KDKA-TV)

(AP)

Investigators hoped to confirm Sunday the identity of a woman whose body was found bound with duct tape with her uterus cut open in the apartment of another woman who falsely claimed a newborn baby was her own.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office has tentatively identified the victim as Kia Johnson, an investigator at the office who declined to give her name said Saturday night. Officials hoped to confirm the identity Sunday using dental records.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported earlier Saturday that Johnson's family had spoken to police. The paper said she was 18 years old and due to deliver July 30.

Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent James Morton said investigators were also trying to verify that the dead woman was the mother of a baby brought by Andrea Curry-Demus to West Penn Hospital on Thursday night.

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"Circumstances would dictate that it has to be. There can't be too many cases similar to this at the same time," Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams said.

The body was found Friday after reporters called authorities about a foul odor coming from inside Curry-Demus' Wilkinsburg apartment. Police had been at the building Thursday night, but did not go into that apartment, Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman said. Instead, a relative of Curry-Demus led them to another apartment, she said.

The woman appeared to have been dead for about two days, Williams said. Her hands and feet were bound with duct tape, and her face was covered with a plastic material that had also been secured with duct tape.

"We found a lot of evidence of a struggle having occurred," Williams said. He said there was evidence of drugs at the scene and investigators will look for their presence in the victim's system.

The woman had been pregnant and her body showed "evidence that there had been a partial evisceration — meaning her abdomen had been opened with a sharp weapon, the uterus had been opened," Williams said. Detectives found placenta at the scene.