It‘s been almost a year since Maritza Ramirez-Cruz bled to death when her full-term fetus was cut from her womb, and her three surviving children don’t go a day without asking about her.

The children and their father, Christian Mercado, are getting psychiatric help to deal with the horrors, which will be rehashed at the trial that starts Monday of the woman charged in the killing.






Carlos Mercado, and his fiancee, Darla Gutierrez, moved into the apartment below his son‘s shortly after the October 2011 attack to help care for his son and the children _ daughters ages 5 and 7 and a 3-year-old son _ who still don’t understand what happened.

```Where‘s mom? When is she coming home?’ They are too young to comprehend that,‘’ Gutierrez said.

Morales-Rodriguez, 34, is accused of faking a pregnancy, panicking as her supposed due date approached and then luring the 23-year-old Ramirez-Cruz to her house. There she attacked her with a baseball bat, choked her and then used an X-Acto knife to cut the fetus out, according to the criminal complaint.

According to court documents, Morales-Rodriguez had a couple of miscarriages and her boyfriend wanted a son. Prosecutors say she planned for two weeks to look for a pregnant woman and take her baby. She found Ramirez-Cruz, who was due any day, around a nonprofit organization that provides Hispanics with social services and offered her a ride.

Ramirez-Cruz died of blood loss and asphyxiation, and her fetus, a boy, died as a result of her death, authorities say.

Morales-Rodriguez is charged with two counts of intentional homicide, including homicide of an unborn child. A conviction on either count carries a mandatory life sentence, although a judge could allow for the possibility of parole. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.

Her original lawyers had planned to use an insanity defense, but her new lawyers changed her plea Thursday to not guilty. A court-ordered doctor didn‘t find evidence to support the insanity plea.

A judge also ruled last week that an incriminating statement she made to a detective in an emergency room would be admissible at trial, even though the detective failed to explain her right to remain silent. He ruled it admissible under a public welfare or emergency rescue exception because police didn’t know yet that Ramirez-Cruz was dead.

Gutierrez and Carlos Mercado said they hope the trial brings peace of mind to the family.

``They are just dragging it on and dragging it on and the family needs closure,‘’ Gutierrez said.

Mercado said he will be at his son‘s side during the trial.

``I have to go with him,’‘ he said, as he wiped away tears. ``It’s going to be hard for me and hard for him. I have to help him.‘’

The trial is expected to last a week, with the state calling 25 to 30 witnesses. Prosecutor Mark Williams said he plans to play Morales-Rodriguez‘s videotaped confession to police. Morales-Rodriguez’s lawyers have declined to discuss the case, and it wasn‘t known whether she plans to testify.

Mercado and Gutierrez said they don’t think they could ever forgive her.

``They always teach you to forgive but something like this, no,‘’ Gutierrez said. ``You see everything Maritza had in her in her daughters.‘’

They hope she is convicted and gets life without parole.

``I want the judge to recognize what she did and give her what she deserves,‘’ Mercado said.

Similar cases of women taking an unborn child from a mother‘s womb were reported in Massachusetts and Oregon in 2009, in Pennsylvania in 2007, in Illinois in 2006 and Missouri in 2004. (AP)





<한글 기사>

태아얻으려 만삭여성 살해한 美엽기녀

미국에서 태아를 훔치려고 만삭의 임신 여성 배에서 태아를 꺼낸 ‘엽기녀’에 대한 재판이 17일(현지시간) 시작된다.

아넷 모랄레스 로드리게스(34)는 약 1년 전 위스콘신주(州) 밀워키에서 만삭의 마리타 라미레스 크루스(24)를 살해한 혐의로 법정에 선다.

로드리게스는 지난해 11월 비영리 의료시설에서 만난 크루스를 자신의 집으로 유인해 야구 방망이를 휘두르고 목을 졸라 기절시킨 뒤 흉기로 배를 갈라 태아를 꺼 내는 엽기적 행각을 벌였다.

그러나 태아는 숨을 쉬지 않았고 크루스 역시 과다출혈로 사망했다.

로드리게스는 남자친구에게 임신했다고 거짓말을 했다가 출산 예정일이 다가오자 조급한 마음에 이 같은 범행을 저지른 것으로 드러났다.

또 이미 두세 차례 유산을 경험했고 공격할 만삭 여성을 2주간 물색한 것으로 알려졌다.

로드리게스는 태아 살인을 포함해 고의 살인 혐의 두건으로 기소됐으며, 둘 중 하나라도 유죄 판결을 받으면 종신형이 확정된다. 위스콘신주는 사형제도를 시행하지 않고 있다.

이번 재판은 일주일간 계속된다.

크루스의 남편인 크리스티안 메르카도와 어머니를 잃은 세 아이는 끔찍한 경험을 이겨내기 위해 정신과 치료를 받고 있다.

메르카도는 이번 재판으로 가정에 평화가 돌아오길 바란다고 말하며 눈물을 훔쳤다.

그는 로드리게스를 절대로 용서할 수 없을 것 같다면서 “그녀가 저지른 일을 판 사가 정확히 알고 합당한 판결을 내려주길 바란다”고 말했다.