Crime

Woman Guilty of Killing Pregnant Friend And Taking Baby

Warning: distressing content

Pregnant New York bride-to-be Angelikque Sutton was just weeks away from giving birth when she was invited to the home of her friend, Ashleigh Wade.

According to PEOPLE, Ashleigh had told her friend that she had a wedding present for her. But when Angelikque arrived at the house, her friend slashed her in the face and neck and cut her larynx so she couldn’t scream, a court heard. 

After fatally stabbing her friend, Ashleigh cut the unborn baby out of her womb.

According to The New York Post, Ashleigh reportedly told officers at the scene: “It’s my baby!” 

“Once she was out I fed her and wrapped her in some blankets to keep her warm,” Wade told police, according to court papers.

“Holding her felt right and I believed that the little girl was mine.”

While Angelikque did not survive the horrifying ordeal, her baby girl miraculously lived. The little girl, named Jenasis Bradley, is 22 months old and is and living with family members.

Nearly two years on from the gruesome attack, Ashleigh has been found guilty of second-degree murder and kidnapping. During the trial, one jury member passed out after seeing a photograph of Angelikque’s body.

Assistant District Attorney Meredith Holtzman told the jury that Ashleigh had wrapped the baby up and fed it formula, telling her boyfriend it was hers.  

“The defendant needed for Ms Sutton to die, and she needed for Jenasis to live,” Ms Holtzman said, the Mirror reports.

“She had baby clothes, baby shoes, diapers, formula, a crib, everything that an expectant mother would need, except a baby. For that she needed Angelikque Sutton.”

Ashleigh’s laywer had argued the 24-year-old did not “intentionally” mean to kill her friend.

Ashleigh will be sentenced on October 20 and faces life in prison.

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