Woman Cuts Up Pregnant Neighbor for Unborn Baby

(Ford City, Pennsylvania) This is not a typical criminal case. The perpetrator, described as calm and amiable, is a stay-at-home mother with children aged 11, 14, and 16.

From Post-Gazette.com:

An Armstrong County woman who told friends and family she was expecting a child was charged yesterday with beating her pregnant neighbor over the head with a baseball bat, driving her to a remote rural road and attempting to cut the woman's baby out of her abdomen. The attack was thwarted by a boy on an all-terrain vehicle and police took the suspect into custody.

The victim, identified as Valerie Oskin, 30, of Ford City, was flown by helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital and was in critical condition yesterday. Doctors delivered her baby by emergency Caesarean section and the baby was healthy, officials said.

Confronted with evidence by investigators, the suspect, Peggy Jo Conner, 38, made a statement to state police that confirmed their suspicions.

Conner is in the Armstrong County Jail and faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated assault on an unborn child. According to police, Conner abducted and took Oskin to a remote area where she waited several hours for her to die so she could take the baby. At some point, Conner slit open Oskin's belly with a razor knife and, not long after, a local teenager tooling around on his ATV saw what was happening and reported it to his father who alerted the police. Armstrong County District Attorney Scott Andreassi remarked,

"I don't think there was any question that her goal was to get that child out of there. If this kid had not come on the scene, she would have finished the job."

This case is strange and unusual, but not unheard of. Just a few months ago, something similar happened in the midwest. Why women would want to slice and dice pregnant neighbors and strangers is beyond me. Only one thing seems certain, though, somewhere there is a political psychologist conjuring up an alphabetized syndrome or disorder that lays the blame squarely on President Bush.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.