It was a case of fetal abduction, cruelty, and murder that made international news with gory headlines like "Fetus Snatcher" and "Womb Raider" in the Summer of 2009 involving two former neighbors of a Worcester, Massachusetts apartment building. One woman in her early twenties, the other in her mid-thirties, both pregnant, both struggling. Each seemed to lean on the promise of a new baby to offer a glimmer of hope in their relatively ordinary existence. Darlene Haynes was a 23-year-old mother of three, with a new baby on the way, whose innocence, trusting nature, and desire for friendship killed her. Her murderer was a another mother with a sick need so strong that she would commit a gruesome murder and steal her baby from her. When Darlene was found dead in her apartment, it didn't take very long to figure out that the woman who'd been parading around with a premature infant and an absolutely implausible story was responsible.
(This story includes fetal abduction, fetal death, domestic violenc, child abuse, miscarriage)
Photos of Darlene Haynes, her apartment building in Worcester, the tiny baby with the ribbon tied on her umbilical cord, and a memorial after she was found
Crime of the Truest Kind
New England crime stories
Hosted by Anngelle Wood
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Thank you, Gary Murray, of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Godspeed.
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Sources
To include Boston Globe, Boston 25, CBS News, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, MassLive, Boston Herald, ABC News, Boston Herald, WBUR Boston, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Ana Walshe investigation, Cohasset, Mass Boston Globe - https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/06/metro/what-we-know-about-case-missing-cohasset-woman/?event=event12
Gary Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/darlene-haynes-obituary?pid=178697355 Darlene Haynes murder
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Site of murder was in foreclosure
Darlene could not sense danger
Search for the baby
Darlene's complaints
Darlene’s problems with two men
Memorial for Darlene Haynes
Mass Live - Home Darlene Haynes was murdered in to become a park
What we know about Julie Corey https://www.masslive.com/news/worcester/2014/02/julie_corey_trial_10_things_we.html
Fetal abduction
Julie Corey indicted for murder in Dec 2009
Trial begins 5 years later
Haynes family has never met the baby
Police called NH shelter to hold Corey
House Darlene died in to be turned into park
Request for a new trial
Boston Globe archives
Fingerprint and DNA evidence