A month after I gave birth, I sat watching the season finale of Private Practice while holding my brand new baby boy in my arms. As the closing sequence played out, I cringed in horror as a psychotic woman named Katie prepared to do a cesarean section on Violet, her pregnant psychiatrist. Just as she was about to make the first incision, the show ended. The season premiere can not come soon enough as far as I am concerned, but if Violet dies, I’m not recording the show anymore.
This sounds like a pretty far fetched plot, until you come across stories like the nightmare straight from Massachusetts, where a woman prepares to go on trial for kidnapping an unborn infant from her neighbor, Darlene Haynes, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Authorities are still investigating the death and possible murder of Darlene, who also suffered head trauma. The baby girl is in good health.
A similar story happened earlier this summer in Oregon, only in this case, the child did not survive. Korena Elaine Roberts stabbed Heather M. Snively and tried to pass the baby boy as her own. He did not make it and authorities were called when it was discovered that Korena had not given birth recently. Snively was found in Robert’s attic.
Last summer, another woman was murdered in Washington state. She was attacked in a park by Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong. Araceli Camacho Gomez’s baby was left in critical condition.
Why are all these babies being stolen from their mothers’ wombs? Homicide is one of the leading causes of death for pregnant women in the United States, right behind birth complications and traffic accidents. In fact, about 20 percent of women who die during pregnancy are murder victims.
Pregnant woman can protect themselves by doing the same things all women should be doing: be careful who you talk to online, don’t go out by yourself at night, keep a cell phone on hand, and make sure someone always knows where you are.
Why do you think these women go as far as to murder another woman for her baby?