A 34-year-old woman has been accused of stabbing a pregnant woman, and removing her unborn child, while the expectant mother visited her home to buy baby clothes in the US state of Colorado,  authorities said.

Officers found the 26-year-old victim, who was seven months pregnant, stabbed and beaten, Longmont police Cmdr. Jeff Satur told the Daily Times-Call newspaper.

She underwent surgery and is expected to recover, but her baby did not survive.

“This is a tragic case for a mother right now,” Satur said. “She came by this house. She was attacked, and her baby was removed from her.”

The pregnant woman was at the home to buy baby clothes that were advertised on Craigslist, a classified advertisements website.

Bizarrely , the suspect, Catrece Dynel Lane, arrived at the hospital with the baby and told staff she had suffered a miscarriage, Satur said.

Dynel Lane’s husband told investigators that when he came home from work early to meet her for a pre-natal appointment, he found her covered in blood and a baby gasping for breath in a bathtub. Lane told her husband she had suffered a miscarriage, and he took her and the baby to the hospital.

Lane was arrested at the hospital on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and child abuse knowingly and recklessly resulting in death.

Investigators have not released the name of the pregnant woman but said she and Lane did not know each other.

Attorney Stan Garnett said his office will consider what formal charges to file.

Oddly, It is probable that no homicide charges will be filed.

The issues involving an unborn child are complicated under Colorado law, In most circumstances, if a child was not actually born alive, then homicide charges are not possible.
– Stan Garnett, Colorado Attorney

Colorado is one of only 12 US states without a law allowing homicide charges in the violent deaths of foetuses and the fate of Dynel Lane is , at the moment uncertain.