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Dynel Catrece Lane, 34, is charged with attempted
first-degree murder, felony assault and unlawful termination of
a pregnancy stemming from the attack in March on Michelle
Wilkins in the town of Longmont, 30 miles north of Denver.
The 26-year-old Wilkins, who was seven months pregnant, survived
the assault, but her unborn baby girl died.
In a brief filed ahead of a preliminary hearing set for next
week, prosecutors said Lane lured the victim to her home under
the pretext of selling her maternity and baby clothing through
an online ad.
After the two women talked for about an hour, Lane asked Wilkins
to come into the basement of the home, where she attacked the
younger woman, smashing a lava lamp over Wilkins' head,
prosecutors said.
"Then she used the lamp to stab Ms. Wilkins in the neck, and
proceeded to choke her with her hands, and smother her with a
pillow," the document said.
After she rendered Wilkins unconscious, Lane used a knife to
slice open the victim's abdomen and remove the fetus,
prosecutors said.
Lane then placed the fetus in a bathtub and left Wilkins
bleeding on a bed in the basement for "a lengthy period of
time," according to the brief.
In a previously released arrest warrant affidavit, Longmont
police said Wilkins placed a 911 call, and that despite drifting
in and out of consciousness she was able to direct rescuers to
her location.
Police said Lane had duped her husband, David Ridley, into
believing that she was pregnant.
When her husband arrived home on the day of the attack, Lane
told him she had suffered a miscarriage, and Ridley took his
wife and the fetus to the hospital, the affidavit said.
Lane's story unraveled after staff there became suspicious when
she refused an examination, and she ultimately admitted to a
detective that she had attacked Wilkins, police said.
Lane, who is being held on a $2 million bond, also faces two
counts of criminal violence, so-called "sentence enhancing"
charges that mean that if she is convicted on all counts and
given the maximum sentence, she could get life in prison.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra
Maler)
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