The Longmont Times-Call and select media sat down with Michelle Wilkins after the verdict in the People V. Dynel Lane.
By Jesse Wood
The 35-year-old Colorado woman who cut an unborn baby from the womb of a former Appalachian State University student was convicted of attempted first-degree murder, among other charges, on Tuesday.
In March of last year, Michelle Wilkins, who was 26 years old at the time of the attack, responded to a Craigslist ad to buy baby clothes at Dynel Lane’s home in Longmont, Colo.
Her visit turned into a horror story as Lane attacked Wilkins and cut out Wilkins’ unborn child, a girl who didn’t survive. After the attacking Wilkins, Lane told her boyfriend, David Ridley, who had already been tricked into believing that Lane was pregnant and didn’t know of the attack, that she had a miscarriage,” according to a police report of the incident.
The couple drove to the hospital with the 7-month-old fetus, where hospital staff noticed that Lane didn’t show signs of recently giving birth. She admitted to detectives that she cut Wilkins’ abdomen and removed the fetus.
After the attack, Wilkins was able to lock herself in a room of Lane’s home and call 911. She told authorities where she was and they picked her up, bringing her to the same hospital that Lane was at, the Longmont United Hospital.
According to the Longmont Times-Call, Lane could be sentenced to as much as 120 years in prison. She will be sentenced on April 29 by District Court Chief Judge Maria Berkenkotter.
Following the verdict, Wilkins spoke to a small group of reporters in the Boulder County Justice Center. She had named her daughter Aurora.
“As the days and weeks and months have gone by, it’s effortless for her to come into my thoughts. I know she will be with me forever in spirit,” Wilkins said.
The Longmont Times-Call reported that Wilkins had “obtained a balance between the anger she felt toward Lane and her compassion, saying that it is healthy to have both” in light of this senseless tragedy.
“The compassion and forgiveness is incomplete without feeling disbelief at such horrific acts,” Wilkins told the reporters. “Without it, you are not able to address forgiveness and compassion in a whole and complete way.”
Read more Longmont Times-Call coverage of this tragedy here.
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