An empty jury box.
Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki/Metro file photo
A former Worcester woman was found guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday for murdering her friend and then cutting the fetus from her womb.
Julie Corey, 39, was convicted for the 2009 death of 23-year-old Darlene Haynes, according to the Telegram & Gazette. Haynes’ body was discovered in a closet in her apartment. She was eight months pregnant and died from multiple skull fractures, asphyxiation from a cord wrapped around her neck and a 9-inch incision to her abdomen.
Authorities had said that Corey had given Haynes a ride to a liquor store just days before her body was discovered.
Corey then fled the state with the baby and tried to pass it off as hers, authorities said. She was found at a New Hampshire homeless shelter days after Haynes’ body was found.
DNA testing proved the child to belong to Haynes and her boyfriend. The 4-year-old now lives with the former boyfriend.
Corey will be sentenced to life in prison without parole later this month.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
