Julie Corey Stole Her Friend's Baby To Replace her Own

The 27th of July, 2009, was a troubling day for the residents of an apartment complex on Southgate Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Complaints about a horrible, foul odor prompted the landlord to check on the resident of one flat, only to make a shocking discovery.

Darlene Hayes, 23, was found severely battered and decomposing inside a closet. Darlene had clearly been dead for four days and was frying in the strong July sun. The most frightening aspect of the scene was that Darlene was 8 months pregnant... and her fetus was missing.

Darlene had a 9-inch wound on her lower belly, according to the medical examiner. She had a cracked skull, most likely from a heavy item, as well as ligature signs from being strangled with an electrical cable. Darlene had clearly been murdered, but the question of what happened to the baby she was carrying remained unanswered. 

After hearing that there might be an abducted fetus that needed to be rescued, a few people called in tips to the police department, pointing their fingers at one person in particular who had been acting strangely in recent months.

Julie Corey

Julie Corey, 35, had been telling her family and friends she was pregnant, but her story, as well as her due date and how far along she was, kept shifting. She just showed up one day with a baby—a young girl—and made contradictory and strange stories about her delivery. People close to her seemed to believe this was strange enough that they reported it to police, and they were correct.

Prosecutors claimed that Corey was driven by the death of her own baby, who died when she was about 30 weeks pregnant.  Corey needed a baby girl to keep her fiance from leaving and to be eligible for state welfare benefits.

Julie needed to get her hands on a newborn girl in order to keep her lie going, so she attacked and murdered her friend, Darlene, in order to take her baby and claim it as her own.

In Court

Corey's defense did not contest the fact that she was discovered carrying the victim's baby. They claimed Haynes' ex-boyfriend, Roberto "Tito" Rodriguez, committed the murder. Authorities originally targeted Rodriguez, who had a history of domestic violence and against whom Haynes had a restraining order at the time of her death.

Before reaching its decision, the jury heard testimony for ten days. They discovered that Corey perpetrated the murder herself; it was premeditated, carried out with unusual severity, and carried out while she was also committing another crime, kidnapping the fetus.

She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Corey's Boyfriend

He was confident he was the father of the child and was taken aback when cops descended on the pair.

Alex Dion, 27, of Worcester, was detained in New Hampshire with Julie Corey and the infant. Dion was freed after being questioned.

"I am so confused. I don't know what to think. I thought I had a brand-new daughter," Dion said in an interview.

Dion stated that Corey informed him of her pregnancy shortly after a breakup in October. For approximately two years, the pair had been dating on and off.

On July 23, Corey told him she was accompanying her friend to a store. Later that night, she called him numerous times, stating she had gone into labor. He said Corey contacted early on July 24 to say she had given birth to a baby girl at a Framingham hospital. Dion then called both of their families to inform them of the news.

She Seeks Retrial

Corey appeared in Worcester Superior Court in 2022 with her attorney, Janet Hetherwick Pumphrey, who argued for a new trial in which she could use expert testimony from a psychiatrist to show Corey was suffering from post-partum depression, rendering her incapable of understanding the consequences of her actions.

Pumphrey says in the application, filed in Worcester Superior Court on February 11, 2019, that Corey's former defense counsel neglected offering expert testimony from a psychiatrist.

“Her defense would have been significantly stronger and would have likely led the jury to acquit,” Pumphrey writes in the motion.

References and Further Reading :

Massachusetts woman on trial for murder, stealing victim’s unborn child

Boyfriend of Julie Corey, charged with kidnapping baby girl from Darlene Haynes, believed he was baby's father