This week on Impact of Murder, the team is in the small community of Longmont, Colorado, to investigate a particularly harrowing case when Dynel Lane slashed the belly of pregnant Ellie Wilkins and violently removed her unborn baby.
In a crime known as fetal abduction, when an unborn baby is removed/kidnapped, this brutal and senseless attack led to the death of baby Aurora Sage but, thankfully and somewhat miraculously, Ellie survived the horrific ordeal.
Ellie had moved from North Carolina to Colorado to be with her partner Mark Wilkins so that the pair could start a family together with their daughter, Aurora.
However, Mark and Ellie’s world fell apart in 2015 when Ellie was seven months pregnant. On March 15, she answered an advert offering to sell maternity clothes on Craigslist, which had been posted by mum-of-two Dynel Lane.
Dynel Lane slashed Ellie Wilkins’s fetus from her abdomen
Lane directed Ellie to the basement, where she attacked her and began beating and choking the mom-to-be to the point of unconsciousness. Lane then slashed Ellie “from hip to hip” and removed her unborn fetus. Lane then took the already dead baby to the hospital, claiming it was hers.
Prior to the attack, Lane had invented a fake pregnancy telling her husband, friends, and family that she was expecting.
Ellie was left for dead, but she managed to telephone the police and was taken to a hospital where her appalling injuries were treated.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelIn February 2016, Lane was convicted of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
Lane, who was 35-years-old at the time of the crime, was given lengthy jail sentences for each charge, which amounted to 100 years in total. At the time of sentencing, she showed zero remorse for her actions.
Ellie has shown determination to get on with her life and has vowed to help others by becoming a counselor. She has set up a GoFund.me page to help finance her education and recovery. At the time of writing, the family had raised over $12,000 of a target of $20,000.
More from Impact of Murder.
Follow the links to read about more horrific crimes profiled on Impact of Murder.
Botham Jean was in the prime of his life and was relaxing in his Dallas, Texas, apartment when off-duty police officer, Amber Guyger, burst in the door and shot him dead. Guyger, who was Jean’s neighbor, claimed she confused his apartment for hers and thought he had broken into her apartment.
Phillip Cabrera burst into the home of his ex-wife and her two children, where he found her friend, Andrew Shepard. Thinking the pair were having an affair, Cabrera shot Shepard in the stomach as the victim held an infant child in his arms.
Impact of Murder airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.