A young convict who had a miscarriage paid hitmen to stab a homeless pregnant woman to death and cut the unborn baby out of her womb.
The shocking crime took place in the village of Chacua, in Soacha municipality, in the Cundinamarca Department of Colombia.
The lifeless woman was found in a roadside field on 9th April with cuts to her throat, face and abdomen after she was partially eaten by carrion birds.
She was half-naked, her hands and feet had been bound, and her intestines were hanging out. Her blood-soaked clothes were found nearby.
She is believed to have been killed the night before.
She was later identified as 37-year-old Sandra Johanna Alvarez Solano, born in Garagoa municipality in the Boyaca Department.
According to Soacha mayor Juan Carlos Saldarriaga, a woman who had previously lost her own baby had paid COP 15 million (GBP 3,080) for the pregnant woman to be murdered and her unborn child stolen.
Mayor Saldarriaga was quoted in reports as saying: “The murder victim was a homeless woman whom they tried to win over and earn her friendship so they could later carry out the acts.
“It’s a grim subject, the perpetrator of the acts under investigation was paid 15 million pesos.”
The suspected intellectual author of the crime – identified as Yadira Alexandra Yepes Sotelo, 23 – was arrested by the authorities and is said to have admitted her guilt.
She had reportedly lost her own baby two months prior and failed to inform her partner or relatives of the miscarriage, faking the continuation of her pregnancy.
She then tried to pass the stolen baby off as her own.
The crime was reportedly discovered when her family took her and the newborn to hospital after she apparently gave birth suddenly.
There, doctors found she lacked the physical characteristics and hormonal load of a recently pregnant woman.
She was questioned by the police, who noticed she was nervous and found serious inconsistencies in her statements.
CCTV footage was later found showing her with a baby in her arms as she walked alongside two men in a rural area close to where the body was found.
She reportedly has a criminal record for aggravated theft and was under house arrest for another murder at the time of the latest crime.
The baby is reportedly under the care of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) and is said to be in good health.
It was reportedly in the 37th week of pregnancy when it was removed from its mother’s womb.
The police are now attempting to find the two suspected material authors of the crime.
The three are believed to have lured the victim – a homeless woman – by inviting her to consume hallucinogens in the area where her body was found.
It was there that the men allegedly used a knife to commit the crime, leaving the victim to bleed to death.
Yepes Sotelo has reportedly been charged with aggravated homicide, torture and trafficking of children and adolescents.
