Baby Cut From Slain Mom's Womb Found Alive

Darlene Haynes' body was found in her Worcester, Mass., apartment Monday.

ByABC News
July 29, 2009, 11:06 PM

July 29, 2009 -- The baby of a murdered pregnant Worcester, Mass., woman was found alive in a New Hampshire hospital tonight, ABC News affiliate WCVB in Boston reported.

The baby, a girl, was being evaluated at the Plymouth, N.H., hospital where she was found and appeared to be in fair condition, police said.

The mutilated body of her mother, Darlene Haynes, had been found wrapped in bedding in a closet in her Southgate Street apartment Monday. The 23-year-old was eight months pregnant at the time of her death, and police said the fetus had been cut from her body.

Julie Corey, 35, of Worcester, was arrested tonight in Plymouth, N.H., on a charge of kidnapping, but she could face a murder charge when she is returned to Massachusetts, police said.

A man was also arrested, police said, but they did not release his name.

Police said they were led to Corey because she told friends she had just had a baby, WCVB reported.

"Friends became concerned about how she got home so early after giving birth," Worcester police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said.

Worcester police had been frantically searching for the fetus since Haynes' body was discovered.

Haynes's great-aunt, Sandra Grandmaison, told ABCNews.com that the baby had been due to be born late next month.

"The name was going to be a surprise to us," she said.

The baby would have been Haynes' fourth daughter. Haynes had three other children: Jasmine, 5, and Lilli, 3, who were being raised by Haynes' grandmother; and Christina, 1, of whom Haynes had custody.

Grandmaison described Haynes as a loving mother who was friendly to strangers and was severely developmentally disabled as a result of abuse as a young child.

Haynes functioned as a 12- or 13-year-old would, Grandmaison said, adding that the estimated that the young woman had a hard time holding down a job.

Grandmaison initially told police that Haynes had problems with two men: her ex-boyfriend Roberto Rodriquez and her landlord William Thompson, who discovered her body.

Haynes had taken out a restraining order against Rodriguez, the father of the unborn child and her daughter Christina, more than three weeks ago.

Grandmaison said Rodriguez had been abusive to Haynes and to her grandmother, threatening to kill the older woman if she tried to take custody of Christina.

Christina, she said, was not found in the home with her mother's body and Worcester police have refused to tell her where they found the little girl.

"It was planned," she said. "It was worked out very carefully. They knew enough to take the baby out of the house."

Christina, she said, is now in the custody of Haynes' mother.