Fetus attack victim says her unborn child is a ‘light being’

DENVER — A Colorado woman whose fetus was cut out of her womb in a knife attack by a stranger called her unborn child “a light being” and thanked all her well-wishers for their support.

Michelle Wilkins, 26, was lured with an online ad for baby clothes by an attacker who then beat and strangled her before “removing” her baby, police said. The fetus did not survive.

“I can already feel it’s going to be a long journey to physical and emotional recovery, but I am grateful for every person that has reached out to help in their own way,” Wilkins said in a statement late Sunday on the gofundme.com crowdfunding website.

“You have my eternal gratitude. Aurora is a light being now, nothing but ethereal joy and love. Forever in my heart.”

The woman accused of attacking her, 34-year-old Dynel Catrece Lane, is being held on $2 million bond and appeared briefly in court on Friday. She was charged with first-degree attempted murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

Police say officers responding to a 911 emergency call from Wilkins on March 18 found her bleeding and slipping in and out of consciousness at the home Lane shared with her husband in Longmont, about 30 miles north of Denver.

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett has said the coroner’s conclusion that the fetus did not survive and that therefore it was not considered a live birth, had precluded murder charges against Lane.