Crime and Craigslist are not unknown to each other, and it has happened again. This time, a Colorado woman was brutally attacked when she answered an ad that was selling baby clothes.

What police say happened then is horrific: The 34-year-old woman who lives at the home, in the 1600 block of Green Place in Longmont, stabbed the pregnant woman and “removed” her baby.

The baby did not survive.

Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said police responded to the home on a stabbing call at about 2:45 p.m.

Satur said officers arrived on the scene and could hear a woman calling for help inside the home. They entered and found the victim, who had been beaten and stabbed in the stomach with a knife.

The woman who was attacked was taken to Longmont United Hospital, where she underwent surgery and is expected to recover, he said.

“Removed” seems so sanitized and civilized a word to use. Let’s be crystal clear about what happened. The victim was beaten, and then was gutted with a knife to remove her child, by her attacker. She was then left to die, and the only reason she didn’t is because she was able to call 911.

Sadly, the baby did not survive. Police have the suspect in custody – a former nurse’s aide who had a baby registry for a child supposedly born last November all set up.

The suspect allegedly arrived at the same hospital later with her husband and a deceased baby, claiming she had a miscarriage.

Satur said that woman, identified in court records and a police report as 34-year-old Dynel Catrece Lane, was arrested on suspicion of three felonies — attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and child abuse knowingly/recklessly resulting in death. She is expected in court Thursday afternoon.

The charges against Lane may be altered, depending on the autopsy of the baby.

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said his office will consider what charges are appropriate.

“The issues involving an unborn child are complicated under Colorado law,” Garnett said. “In most circumstances, if a child was not actually born alive, then homicide charges are not possible. With a case like this, most of the time charges would not need to be filed until sometime next week.”

Since details are unknown as to how far along the victim was in her pregnancy, or if the child was dead as a result of the initial attack, we will have to wait and see what forensic evidence reveals. Police are also looking into if Lane had any contact with other women in regards to this same Craigslist ad.

While most Craigslist transactions go smoothly, there has been a criminal undercurrent to the usage of the site for a very long time. This case is eerily similar to a 2009 case in Oregon, where another pregnant mother was killed and her baby also ripped from her womb. Neither mother or child survived in that case, and the murderer, Korena Roberts, is now serving life in prison after pleading guilty. Recently, a Georgia couple were robbed and murdered when they attempted to buy a vintage car off Craigslist. There have been many cases across the country where Craigslist was the link between victim and criminal. A site like Craigslist is not an eBay (where all users are registered), or even a buy/sell group on Facebook (where personal profiles are used). Craigslist is an open forum for just about everything – including the illegal and the criminal. It is a use-at-your-own-risk website. The few times my family has used it, my husband has handled the transactions in public places. It is now to the point where police stations have offered themselves as a transaction point for Craigslist meet-ups. Caveat emptor, or buyer beware, should always be in mind when these transactions take place on a website with no registration, no names, and no faces.

And as for someone like Dynel Lane – there isn’t a hole deep enough to throw her in. Evil like that cannot be rehabilitated. If she can’t be sentenced to death, then lock her in a solitary cell and throw the key away. This kind of evil should never see light, except through iron bars, again.