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Woman's fetus is cut from her womb in ESL; one arrested

By AP/KWMU

East St. Louis, Ill. – East St. Louis Police have found and brought in a woman they want to question in the case of a woman who was killed when the fetus she was carrying was cut from her womb.

Illinois State Police and East St. Louis investigators captured the 26-year-old woman late Thursday night and announced it this (Friday) morning. She's described only as a person of interest, and it wasn't immediately clear if the woman has been arrested or charged.

The victim's body was found Thursday in a vacant lot.

Police say the suspect held a funeral for the baby, which she had claimed to have delivered stillborn. She then reportedly confessed to her boyfriend that the baby wasn't hers and that she'd killed a woman to get it.

The boyfriend then went to police.

Authorities aren't identifying the dead woman.

The East St. Louis case is the second case in the St. Louis area this week involving babies. Shannon Torrez, of Lonedell, Mo. is accused of slashing a young mother's throat and kidnapping her baby on September 15th. On Thursday, she pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Also in Missouri, Lisa Montgomery stands trial April 30th in the abduction of an unborn girl taken from the womb of Bobbie Jo Stinnett at her Skidmore, home in 2004. That baby survived.

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