Tragedy followed by one small blessing.

A young mother, 8 months pregnant – brutally killed in her Worcester, Massachusetts apartment, her unborn daughter carved from her womb, her mutilated body discovered by the landlord days later.

The victim, Darlene Haynes, was just 23-years-old.
Miraculously, the infant she carried is alive and well, found by investigators in New Hampshire.

Following a frantic search, police arrested an acquaintance of Haynes in Plymouth, New Hampshire. 35-year-old Julie Corey is charged as a fugitive from justice on suspicion of kidnapping. Arraigned today, Corey is being held on $2 million dollars bail. She appeared in Concord District Court via video from jail and did not waive extradition to be brought back to Massachusetts. Another hearing has been scheduled for late August.

Further charges could be forthcoming as the investigation develops.

Investigators say it was Corey’s own friends that tipped authorities off. They didn’t believe her when she showed up with an infant, claiming she had just given birth. Suspicions were further aroused when word of the vicious killing and missing baby hit the news.

The alarmed friends alerted police and detectives hunted Corey down at a homeless shelter, rushing the baby girl to a hospital were officials say she is in good condition.

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Worcester Police put out the following release:
Thursday, July 30, 2009

In the continuing investigation into the murder of Ms. Haynes, Worcester Detectives developed information today that a woman connected with Ms. Haynes had announced to her acquaintances that she has just delivered a baby sometime during the night of Thursday July 23, 2009 into the morning hours of Friday July 24, 2009 at an undisclosed Massachusetts hospital.

When the woman appeared with the newborn baby girl in Worcester on Friday July 24, the suspicions of a number of this woman’s acquaintances were piqued. In the aftermath of the discovery of Ms. Haynes’s body and the information that her fetus was missing was reported in the media, several of these acquaintances advised detectives of their suspicions.

Worcester Detectives then sought out the woman and determined that she and a male acquaintance had gone to New Hampshire reportedly to relocate.

Late this afternoon, Worcester Detectives and Detectives of the New Hampshire State police located Julie A. Corey 35 year of Worcester, a male acquaintance, and a newborn female child in Plymouth, New Hampshire. The child appeared to be in fairly good health and is currently in the care of a New Hampshire hospital. The infant is being evaluated at this time.

Julie Corey and her male companion were brought to a NH State Police facility were they underwent questioning.

In the aftermath of this questioning, Julie Corey was placed under arrest for the charge of Fugitive from Justice. This charged is supported by probable cause developed by the Worcester Police Department alleging the kidnapping of the infant child found in the custody of Julie Corey.

This investigation is ongoing.
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Grieving family members are now planning a funeral and waiting on word from child protective services as to who will get custody of Haynes’s infant daughter. Haynes’s uncle, Karl Whitney of Palmer, Massachusetts says Haynes had planned to name the baby Sheila Marie.

“This has been one of the most horrific ordeals that a family has ever had to deal with,” Whitney told reporters at an afternoon press conference, thanking the public for their prayers.

Family members say Haynes is also survived by three other children- Jasmine, 5, Lilliana, 3 and Christina, 18- months.