BOULDER, Colo. — The trial will continue Thursday for a Longmont woman accused of cutting an unborn baby out another woman’s uterus.
Late Wednesday during the first day of the trial of Dynel Lane, the defendant’s former boyfriend, David Ridley, took the stand.
He shared details of an elaborate ruse he said was acted out over months, fooling dozens of people.
Ridley said Lane initially told him she was unable to have children because her tubes had been tied. However, he said she later surprised him by telling him she was pregnant.
Before long, Ridley said Lane was gaining weight. Several photographs were introduced in court Tuesday showing Lane’s growing belly.
“We even started going over names,” Ridley said.
The couple named their unborn child James. Their friends threw them a baby shower. But as Lane’s November due date approached, Ridley said he grew suspicious.
“She would say she had doctor appointments and we would take off work and sit in waiting rooms for hours, and something would always go wrong and she’d get agitated and we’d wind up leaving,” he said.
Ridley never attended an appointment, and he said Lane told him the due date had changed from November to late December. In March 2015, Ridley said he arrived home to find Lane inside, spattered with blood and a baby’s body in his bathtub.
That baby belonged to Michelle Wilkins, who had visited Lane’s home after responding to a Craigslist ad for maternity clothes.
Sometime after arriving, Lane attacked Wilkins and cut the baby from her uterus once she was unconscious. Lane’s attorneys aren’t disputing that, admitting their client is guilty.
But they claim the attack wasn’t planned, meaning it’s not first-degree attempted murder.
“This is not a who-done-it case,” said Chris Decker, a Denver criminal defense attorney closely following the case. “The defense is arguing this was a woman who was overcome by this desire, decision, behavior, not someone thinking clearly, who had planned.”