Darlene Haynes was murdered in her own apartment by her neighbor, Julie Corey, who then cut Haynes’ body open in order to steal her baby.   Corey stuffed Haynes’ corpse in a closet before leaving with the baby.  

Corey made repeated calls to her boyfriend from the victim’s phone after the murder. She told him that she had gone into labor, complained about poor medical care and then claimed to have left the hospital due to poor treatment.   At some point, she showed the newborn off to relatives, who noted that she was pretending to breast feed under a blanket despite the presence of a formula bottle nearby.   Corey and her boyfriend went across state lines and entered a homeless shelter.

The shelter staff noted the national news about Haynes’ missing infant, and became suspicious of Corey, in part because of the poorly severed umbilical cord. When staff took photos of the infant, Corey became upset and attempted to leave but the police had already arrived.