LONGMONT, Colo. — It was a horrendous crime against one of the most vulnerable among us. A Longmont woman allegedly cut a fetus out of another woman’s womb, killing it.
And now we’re learning the suspect’s husband is making money from the tragedy.
Michelle Wilkins responded to a Craigslist ad to buy baby clothes from Dynel Lane, when police say Lane brutally attacked her.
A FOX 31 Denver News viewer tipped us off to a fundraiser to help Lane’s husband, David Ridley. It is a GoFundMe campaign trying to raise $10,000 for Ridley and his family–Lane’s two daughters.
Some say it’s a fundraiser that raises questions about who is really the victim.
GoFundMe lets people raise money for everything from graduations, to accidents and illness.
But some question if Ridley–the husband of attempted murder suspect Lane– should be allowed to profit from the violent crimes that left a mother-to-be, Michelle Wilkins, now childless.
A viewer (who did not want to be identified) sent us an email that said, in part: “The carefully worded gofundme.com page makes it sound like he is the victim of an attack, and cleverly hides who he actually is in relation to the incident. Please bring this to the publics attention before he can scam any more money from any unknowing, warmhearted people.”
The GoFundMe page said “…helping a local Colorado family who recently went through trauma and suffered great loss. They had to move from their home due to violence and a crime scene and had to start elsewhere in another home.”
The page also said they need to pay to get out of their old lease at the Longmont home where the crime happened, pay for a new lease, pay for utilities at both locations, as well as medical bills.
The fundraiser is posted on Ridley’s Facebook page, in which he wrote, “The struggles I am facing are sometimes overwhelming … We have an extremely long road ahead of us.”
“He should be able to get help,” said former neighbor Melanie Ackerman.
She said Ridley should not be judged by his wife’s actions. “I think it’s perfectly appropriate under his circumstances. He was pretty much left with her children and having to move because those kids could not go back home after that,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Wilkins’ family said: “…the family was not aware of the site, but they have no issue with money being raised to help the family in question who are also victims in this tragedy.”
GoFundMe said anyone can raise money for anything as long as it’s legal.
We reached out to Mary Pacheco who created the fundraising page for comment, but we did not hear from her.
The fundraising page has since been removed from the website because the charity, Colorado Mission of Mercy, whose name they were using to gather money, did not give them permission to use their name.