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Mum reveals how she forgave womb-raiding attacker who killed her unborn daughter when she sliced her from her belly

ELLIE Wilkins remembers singing to her baby girl for the first time - her little body still cold from the morgue with stitches running down her tiny chest from an autopsy.

It's a heartbreaking scenario for any parent - but for Ellie the brutality of the past 48 hours was almost too much to bear.

 Ellie was seven months pregnant with baby Aurora when she was viciously attacked
Ellie was seven months pregnant with baby Aurora when she was viciously attackedCredit: Capturing WNC Photography

At seven-months pregnant, Ellie had been attacked by a crazed knife woman who had ripped her unborn child from her belly and left her for dead.

Mum-of-two Dynel Lane put an ad on Craig's List for free maternity clothes and when Ellie answered, Lane came round to her house and beat her unconscious.

After stabbing Ellie and slicing her abdomen with two knives she cut the baby from the mother-to-be's womb and took the fetus - leaving Ellie for dead in a pool of blood.

While Ellie miraculously survived the fetal abduction attack - where someone kidnaps a baby from the womb of its mother -  little Aurora did not.

The chilling crime stunned the small community of Longmont, Colorado, and sent shockwaves across the world.

Her unremorseful attacker, then aged 35, was jailed for 100 years.

 Dynel Lane is serving over 100 years for the shocking crime
Dynel Lane is serving over 100 years for the shocking crimeCredit: Reuters

'The grief was so intense'

Now four years on, Ellie reveals how she has forgiven her attacker - although still lives with the scars from the shocking attack.

"I think there were times where it was too much not only for me but the people around me, I had to forgive to help find peace and healing" she told Sun Online.

"The grief was so intense it permeated the lives of everyone around me, everyone I touched, the entire community.

"I just felt so vulnerable when Danielle was attacking me. I remember this moment where I thought 'It’s time to stop'.

 Marlen Ochoa-Lopez pictured when pregnant with Yovani
Marlen Ochoa-Lopez pictured when pregnant with YovaniCredit: Hand out

There have been roughly 25 reported cases of fetal abduction since 1974 - and the majority of mums who are attacked die. Of these 25 attacks, only four of the mothers and 13 of the babies survived.

While rare, there has been a rise, with at least 14 cases recorded since 2003, as well as four foiled attempts.

Ripped from the womb

Back in April, a Chicago mum Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, 19, was strangled to death and her baby was cut from her womb when she was nine months pregnant. The baby boy named Yovani survived only to die in hospital from brain damage earlier this month.

 Yovani being cradled by his dad in hospital
Yovani being cradled by his dad in hospitalCredit: GoFundMe/help for joshua

Explaining the motive behind such barbaruic attacks, clinical psychologist Dr Abigael San says: "To commit such a horrific crime would tend to indicate a person could be experiencing an episode of psychosis, or may have a personality disorder.

"Additionally, a previous traumatic event could also act as a trigger but the issue would also be the result of something deeper.  The fact they don't care and aren't thinking about the other person or the baby suggests they could also have psychopathic tendencies."

Ellie, now 31, says she wants to share her story so other victims of trauma will realise that it is possible to heal and find happiness - even after horrific events.

"She kept ignoring my attempts to leave"

Her nightmare began in March 2015 when she answered an ad on Craigslist for some free maternity clothes.

The then 27-year-old, who did not plan to get pregnant but was looking forward to becoming a mum for the first time, went to look at the maternity clothes at Lane's home and the pair chatted for about an hour.

 Ellie enjoying her baby shower before the savage attack
Ellie enjoying her baby shower before the savage attackCredit: Ellie Wilkins

"She seemed lonely but also totally nothing unusual," Ellie recalls.

"She kept ignoring my attempts to leave – I kept saying ‘I think I should really go soon’ but wanted to be polite.

"When she led me to the basement, which is where the attack happened, I felt there was a voice inside myself I wasn’t listening to and I followed her.'

'I started to lose so much blood'

Once they were in the basement, Dynel - who pretended that she had some baby girls clothes to show her - whacked her across the back repeatedly.

She pushed her into a nearby bathroom, then the bedroom and began hitting her in the face.

"The attack was totally brutal. It almost cost me my life and it did cost me Aurora’s life," Ellie said.

"Then she broke a lava lamp over my head and I remember I had started to lose so much blood.

"I remember feeling so much liquid pouring over me and seeing it and not knowing what was lava lamp and what was blood. I started to panic.

 Ellie was paralysed with grief following the attack
Ellie was paralysed with grief following the attackCredit: Dr Phil

"It just continued escalating - she would stab and choke me. It felt like a nightmare.

"It felt like any moment I was going to wake up but I didn’t."

"I thought, 'How is this how I die?'"

Ellie bravely fought back but after losing so much blood she began to lose consciousness.

"I remember beginning to feel really tired, but then knowing that Aurora was in my stomach - I had to survive for Aurora.

"As she climbed on top of me I started checking into unconsciousness and I just felt this utter defeat.

"Defeat for failing Aurora and as my vision started to go, I thought, 'How is this how I die?' I was totally shocked and confused how this had happened."

After stabbing her and slicing her abdomen with two knives, callous Lane cut the baby from her womb and took her - and left Ellie for dead in a pool of blood.

'I had to hold my organs in with my hands'

Miraculously Ellie managed to reach a phone and call for help.

 Ellie had already prepared the room for her baby girl Aurora
Ellie had already prepared the room for her baby girl AuroraCredit: Capturing WNC Photography

"I was able to get up, and holding in my organs with one hand, and I walked to the phone and dialled 911," she said.

"Somehow I remembered the location where I was picking up these clothes.

"The police came and I blacked out a few times.

"When I got to the hospital and I could feel them touching my organs - that’s when I started to experience pain, when the adrenaline started to wear off.

"I remember them saying, ‘We’re going to take care of you’ and then the gas mask going over my face.

"The next morning in the hospital is when I realised I had lost Aurora."

Meanwhile, Dynel had rushed the baby to the same hospital, and was begging doctors to save her, telling them she had given birth at home.

Police quickly put two and two together and arrested Dynel. Aurora died.

"The only thing left to do was surrender to the pain"

Crippled with grief Ellie and her then-partner Dan, who had already prepared a room for their baby, were given an hour to spend with little Aurora after she had undergone an autopsy.

They dressed her, read to her and Ellie sang "You are my sunshine" to the lifeless little girl.

Ellie and Dan helped each other through the devastating first few months, which she described as "immensely painful both physically and mentally".

"Any person who has lost a child can probably speak to every emotion," she said.

"I wouldn’t say I cut myself off from people but I did feel isolated at times."

 Ellie remembering baby Aurora
Ellie remembering baby AuroraCredit: Evie Photography

Now four years on, Ellie says she’s made “incredible strides” in her healing although she still suffers from PTSD.

“I would say there are flashbacks, moments of dissociation, suicidal thoughts," she said.

"But I've grown to realise somehow how normal this is in the midst of really challenging feelings."

'I find it hard to be in this world'

She added: "I feel I embody intense love and forgiveness but there’s also a sensitivity in me that often finds it hard to be in this world."

 Ellie says she made huge strides in her recovery since the attack
Ellie says she made huge strides in her recovery since the attackCredit: Evie Photography

Meanwhile Lane - who has two daughters - has still showed no remorse for the attack.

Describing her motive, her mother Carol DeHerrera said Lane never recovered from the accidental drowning death of her young son, Michael, and her desperation to have another child “caused her to make this choice.”

Faking a pregnancy

Ellie says although she has forgiven Lane she feels no reason to reach out to her - and has no contact with her since the 2015 trial, in which she bravely testified.

Lane was sentenced to 100 years in prison after being found guilty by jury of one count of first degree murder, four counts of assault and one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

“The defense attorney came up with a theory that she had been faking a pregnancy for 12 months and her partner had said, ‘I need an answer as to what the heck is going on or I’ll have to move out’," Ellie said.

"So he was kind of giving her this ultimatum because there was no baby."

Peace and happiness

Resilient Ellie says that despite the trauma she has lived through - she has found happiness, undertaking therapy, kickboxing classes and meditation to help her heal from the trauma.

 She says she would one day like to have another child
She says she would one day like to have another childCredit: Capturing WNC Photography

Ellie launched a Gofundme page  initially to help her with medical bills and living costs as she recovered but now she is asking for donations to help get her through her degree in counselling - so she can help other people overcome hardships.

And she also looks forward to one day having a baby.



"Fortunately if I want to have another child my uterus is full functional," she said.

"A part of me feels really tender about Aurora when I think about having another child. But it does feel like a part of my future - it's bittersweet."