Episode 38 | Murdered For Her Baby: Darlene Haynes, Worcester, Massachusetts

Updated: Jun 5, 2023

It was a case of fetal abduction, cruelty, and murder that made international news with gory headlines like "Fetus Snatcher" and "Womb Raider" in the Summer of 2009 involving two former neighbors of a Worcester, Massachusetts apartment building. One woman in her early twenties, the other in her mid-thirties, both pregnant, both struggling. Each seemed to lean on the promise of a new baby to offer a glimmer of hope in their relatively ordinary existence. Darlene Haynes was a 23-year-old mother of three, with a new baby on the way, whose innocence, trusting nature, and desire for friendship killed her. Her murderer was a another mother with a sick need so strong that she would commit a gruesome murder and steal her baby from her. When Darlene was found dead in her apartment, it didn't take very long to figure out that the woman who'd been parading around with a premature infant and an absolutely implausible story was responsible.

(This story includes fetal abduction, fetal death, domestic violenc, child abuse, miscarriage)

Photos of Darlene Haynes, her apartment building in Worcester, the tiny baby with the ribbon tied on her umbilical cord, and a memorial after she was found

Crime of the Truest Kind

New England crime stories

Hosted by Anngelle Wood

Online: crimeofthetruestkind.com

Follow @crimeofthetruestkind

Follow the IG feed for updates on unsolved and missing persons cases from around New England. This week I will post some cold Worcester cases.

Thank you, Gary Murray, of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Godspeed.

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Sources

To include Boston Globe, Boston 25, CBS News, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, MassLive, Boston Herald, ABC News, Boston Herald, WBUR Boston, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Ana Walshe investigation, Cohasset, Mass
Boston Globe - https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/06/metro/what-we-know-about-case-missing-cohasset-woman/?event=event12

CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/alexandra-eckersley-leaving-newborn-baby-in-woods-manchester-new-hampshire/

Gary Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/politics/courts/2020/06/03/gary-murray-tampg-reporter-since-69-dies-he-was-made-for-that-job/42439369/

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/telegram/name/gary-murray-obituary?id=8289917

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2014/02/04/detective-says-suspicion-in-haynes/39449730007/

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/darlene-haynes-obituary?pid=178697355

Darlene Haynes murder

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/darlene-haynes-death--julie-3159213

https://www.masslive.com/police-fire/2022/04/julie-corey-who-was-found-guilty-of-killing-her-former-neighbor-and-removing-her-unborn-baby-motions-for-a-new-trial-claiming-mental-impairment.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559730/Father-girl-ripped-mothers-womb-reveals-tell-girl-happened-hits-claims-involved-horror-killing.html

Worcester Telegram & Gazette

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/worcester/2019/07/27/family-of-darlene-haynes-killed-10-years-ago-for-her-unborn-child-creates-memorial-at-site/4586821007