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Woman charged with murder, cutting baby from womb in July kidnapping

E-mail|Link December 17, 2009 04:59 PM

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A grand jury indicted a Worcester woman today on a murder charge for allegedly killing a pregnant woman last summer and cutting an 8-month-old fetus from her womb.

Julie Corey, 35, had previously been charged with kidnapping the 4-pound baby, which she allegedly showed off as own. Police found the mutilated body of the mother, Darlene Haynes, 23, decomposing in a closet in her home on Southgate St. in Worcester on July 27.

The indictment handed up today by the Worcester County grand jury includes charges of murder and kidnapping, according to a press release issued by the Worcester District Attorney. An arraignment date has not been set in Worcester Superior Court.

Defense attorney Louis P. Aloise said that his client continues to maintain her innocence, but he said he could not be more specific because prosecutors have not said what proof they have that Corey killed Haynes.

"There were a number of people in and around Ms. Haynes at and around the time of her death," Aloise said. "I know the police when investigating the case referred to suspects as plural."

The press release issued today by the district attorney did not describe any specific evidence beyond what has been known since July: Corey and her boyfriend, Alex Dion, 27, were found in possession of the dead woman's baby on July 29 in a homeless shelter in Plymouth, N.H. Dion has not been charged, the release said, but it did not explain why. District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. did not respond for an interview request, and his spokesman declined to provide answers.

The medical examiner ruled that Haynes died from "blunt force trauma, asphyxia by ligature strangulation and incision of abdomen," according to the district attorney's press release. An autopsy determined that the fetus was missing.

DNA testing determined that the baby was the biological child of Haynes and her boyfriend, Roberto "Tito" Rodriquez, who could not be reached today for comment. The child remains in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families, but Rodriquez and Haynes's relatives are seeking custody. Details of the custody case remain sealed, according to Debra Rosenthal, an attorney for Haynes's aunt and uncle.

A family friend, Denis Berard, said when he last saw Rodriguez two months ago, "he was upset that nobody had been charged with it. It was really bothering him." But Rodriguez was also quick to show off a photograph of the baby girl he had on his cell phone.

"She looks a heck of a lot like here mom. She has her eyes," Berard said. "Tito was smiling from ear to ear."