HILLSBORO, Oregon (AP) - Korena Roberts sifted through her neighbour's rummage sale until she pulled out an item that caught her eye: a blue stroller decorated with teddy bears.
Her neighbour, Wendy Pursinger, asked why she needed it. Roberts' two children had long outgrown being pushed in a baby carriage.
"I'm pregnant, of course," Roberts told Pursinger. Police now say Roberts' pregnancy story was likely false, a cover story, and that the 27-year-old cut open her pregnant friend's abdomen to take her baby and pass it off as her own. The body of Heather Snively, 21, was found Friday in a crawl space of Roberts' suburban Hillsboro home. The infant also died.
Roberts was charged with murder in Snively's death, and was under a suicide watch yesterday at the Washington County jail in Hillsboro. She has not yet entered a plea. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.
The grand jury has a Monday deadline to indict Roberts. Authorities had not determined whether the infant was alive when he was removed - a distinction that could mean the difference between holding Roberts responsible for his death or not.
Robert's story was inconsistent: Sometimes she told people she was pregnant with one baby. Other times it was twins. She even put a crib together on her front lawn and placed an ad on Craigslist looking for baby clothes.