Woman guilty of stealing baby from womb

A Worcester (Mass.) Superior Court jury found a woman guilty of killing her pregnant neighbor to steal her baby. Julie Corey, 39, was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2009 slaying of Darlene Haynes, 23, MassLive.com reported. Prosecutors said Corey repeatedly struck Haynes on the head, strangled her with the electrical cord from a lamp and cut open her abdomen to steal her fetus. Haynes was eight months pregnant at the time, and Corey and the healthy baby girl were found in a New Hampshire homeless shelter. Prosecutors said Corey was motivated by the loss of her own baby, stillborn when Corey was about 30 weeks pregnant. Corey's defense had said Haynes' ex-boyfriend, Roberto "Tito" Rodriguez, was the killer. Co-defense attorney Louis P. Aloise said he initially believed Corey would be found not guilty based on some of the jurors' questions. "And now she's facing the prospect, at 39 years old, of spending the rest of her natural life in prison, without any possibility of parole," he said. "That -- no matter what you think of the person, of any person -- is a sobering fact."