A woman who reportedly cut out a baby from her friend’s womb has been arrested after months of hiding.
Mariluz Mosquera was arrested on Tuesday following a raid of a home after police tied her to the crime by locating jewellery that had belonged to Yulexis Valecillos.
Valecillos, a young mum, was expecting her third child and planned to meet Mosquera and another man a week before her due date.
Mosquera lured Valecillos, 28, to her death on September 8, 2020, with the promise she would gift the married mum-of-two with free clothes for her new baby, according to Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office.
The pair had known each other, police said, and Mosquera faked her own pregnancy and wanted the newborn to receive financial support, it’s claimed.
It’s said she wanted to dupe her late husband’s family into continue paying her money by pretending to be pregnant.
Valecillos’ remains were discovered on February 15, three days before Mosquera’s alleged accomplice Luis Victoria, 21, was arrested.
The mum-of-two was scheduled to go into labour on September 17 or 18, a week before Mosquera and her accomplice allegedly cut her open and extracted the baby.
She was 35 weeks pregnant at the time when Luis reportedly attacked her with a knife.
Victoria told authorities that he hid Valecillos’ dismembered body inside plastic bags before dumping it at a lake.
Valecillos’ husband had reported her missing, but her body was not found until months later.
He also claimed Mosquera faked her own pregnancy as a method to continue to receive financial support from her late husband’s family.
On September 8, 2020, Mosquera showed up at a local hospital seeking medical attention, telling staff she had given birth to the girl at home.
However, doctors found she was lying after examinations showed she was never pregnant and didn’t show signs of having gone into labour.
Mosquera was placed under arrest and was later released as authorities discovered the origins of the child.
Valecillos’ widower, Lizander Marquez, was reunited with his daughter, Charlotte, on October 22, following a DNA test confirming he was the father.
Victoria and Mosquera have both been charged with kidnapping and murder.