LONGMONT — In the months before police say Dynel Lane lured a pregnant woman to her Longmont home, cut her open with precision and removed the fetus, one of Lane’s friends and even her husband began to notice that something appeared to be wrong.

Lane last year told those around her that she was pregnant. But as time passed, it became clear the stages of her purported child’s growth didn’t add up. Even one of her daughters — to whom she showed an ultrasound photo — was confused.

In August, she told a friend she was seven months along. On Wednesday morning, after Lane, 34, allegedly attacked a stranger — 26-year-old Michelle Wilkins — she told her husband she had a miscarriage in what would have been about the 14th month of her pregnancy, court records show.

As Elizabeth Petrucelli, a Denver-area bereavement expert and doula who helps women during and after pregnancy, scanned a private Facebook breast-feeding group in January, she stumbled across a post that caught her attention.

“I have a friend whose wife is pregnant and he confided (in) my fiancé that she refuses to go to the doctor,” the user wrote, adding that the husband was “concerned.” “She supposedly had a hysterectomy … but then got pregnant and wouldn’t let him go to the doctor’s with her. She was supposedly due in mid-November then mid-December. Here it is mid-January and still no baby. I’m confused.”

LISTEN to the 911 call in the Longmont stabbing case

For Petrucelli, trained to profile infant abductors for a job in hospital security, alarm bells started sounding.

“This is a RED FLAG for me,” Petrucelli posted back. “She may be attempting to find someone whom she can ‘get’ a baby from in order to present this to her husband. I know this is all ‘conspiracy theory-like’ but this should be taken seriously.”

She finished her Jan. 14 response with a warning that the woman was probably “desperate, she may do the unmentionable and harm the mother and take the baby.”

The woman in question, Petrucelli learned Thursday, was Lane.

“I don’t want to be right,” Petrucelli told The Denver Post on Friday as she reflected. “I was shocked, and going back and reading my statement is really just bewildering. It’s overwhelming. I can’t even believe that it really happened.”

Wilkins’ baby girl died. Police say Wilkins, who was seven months pregnant, met Lane on Craigslist in the hopes of buying baby clothes.

Mental illness

The crime has traumatized the Boulder County community where it happened, becoming the talk in coffee shops and on sidewalks, bewildering neighbors and instilling a sense of utter disbelief in those who live in the typically quiet Front Range city.

Longmont’s public safety chief, Mike Butler, on Friday pledged to examine mental health issues in his community, urging others across the state and country to do the same.

While he couldn’t definitively say mental illness played a role in the attack on Wilkins — and in an unrelated stabbing the night before that that left two men dead and a woman wounded — Butler said something in both seems “remiss or out of sorts.”

“It’s something we need to deal with on a more consistent, sustainable basis,” he said at a news conference, declining to comment on the cases specifically.

Chelsea McKnight befriended Lane in 2012 at a senior day care center in Lakewood, where they worked. When she learned Thursday of Lane’s arrest, McKnight says she was shocked.

“I would have never in a million years (thought) she would be associated with something so terrible,” McKnight said. “She’s so sweet and kindhearted. It’s just not the Dynel I knew.”

McKnight said Lane told her she was pregnant. In late August they met, McKnight said, and Lane said she was seven months into her term and “looked it.” At Christmas, Lane told McKnight she had her baby Dec. 11 and sent a photo.

“She wasn’t holding him,” McKnight said, adding that she thought something was wrong with Lane in recent months but hadn’t been able to learn what. “No one else was in the photo. I congratulated her but thought it was really strange she never posted anything on Facebook.”

Wilkins improving

Wilkins on Friday remained at Longmont United Hospital in critical but stable condition and is improving, officials said.

“She’s a strong girl,” Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said Friday after he and others from the department, including the dispatcher who talked the injured woman through her rescue, visited Wilkins. “She’s got good support from her family.”

POLICE REPORT: Arrest report for Dynel Lane

Satur said Wilkins’ family expressed concern for the officers involved in her rescue from the basement of Lane’s home, 1620 Green Place. He called the family’s concern “really touching.”

“We’re making great progress in the investigation,” Satur said. “There’s going to be volumes (of information gathered) when we’re done.”

Chris Wilkins, Michelle’s uncle, told 7News that his niece is “a little surprised and taken aback at the outpouring of love happening all over the world.”

A vigil in Longmont is being discussed, but nothing has been confirmed.

Wilkins’ parents released a statement Friday evening thanking the community for its outpouring of love and support, also asking for privacy as their daughter heals.

“We cannot begin to fathom the depths of depravity and evil which drove her attacker and trust that, between law enforcement and our legal system, they will make sure justice is carried out,” the statement said.

“One life was ended and another scarred beyond imagination in this senseless act, with scores of others negatively affected.”

The autopsy of the fetus cut from Wilkins was completed Friday, and a judge denied the request to have a defense expert in the room.

“The court appreciates the defense interest in having a forensic pathologist present at the autopsy, as the coroner’s report will inform the decision as to whether to bring first-degree murder charges,” Boulder County Judge Norma Sierra wrote in her ruling. “However, there are pressing timing considerations concerning the autopsy, as there may be tissue degradation occurring, as well as emotional considerations as to the family involved.”

Formal charges against Lane are expected to be filed next week. She is being held at the Boulder County jail in lieu of $2 million bail on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and child abuse knowingly and recklessly resulting in death.

Longmont mom Alisha Bunker said she has been collecting letters for Wilkins’ family from near and far — including Spain and Australia — to pass along in a show of solidarity.

“I’m just being a mother,” she said, balancing a stroller in place on Friday outside the Longmont police station. “I have a mother’s heart.”

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul

Official Statement from the Family of Michelle Wilkins

March 20, 2015 5:45pm

Two days ago, our daughter Michelle was brutally attacked while responding to a Craigslist ad for maternity clothes. Her attacker beat, cut, and strangled her, and according to initial reports, then removed her unborn daughter with an ordinary kitchen knife, leaving Michelle for dead. We cannot begin to fathom the depths of depravity and evil which drove her attacker, and trust that between law enforcement and our legal system; they will make sure justice is carried out. One life was ended and another scarred beyond imagination in this senseless act, with scores of others negatively affected.

The focus of Michelle’s family and friends, who are numerous and spread around the world, is her physical recuperation from the attack and then a focus on her long-term recovery. Her medical condition is guardedly optimistic, and we hope for a full physical recovery. We are so are thankful for the many expressions of sympathy we’ve received from around the world, but particularly from those who don’t know Michelle personally. We are touched that so many have felt compelled to reach out to her with expressions of kindness, sympathy, and spiritual unity. She is aware of your generosity of spirit and expresses her gratitude.

For the many people who have generously reached out to assist Michelle with her recovery and expenses, they can mail their donations to:

The Michelle Wilkins Trust Fund

C/o The Kapsak Law Firm, LLC

1610 Hover St, Suite 203

Longmont, CO 80501

For those who are spontaneously and generously collecting donations on Michelle’s behalf on social media, we request they be forwarded to the above address to ensure they reach Michelle.

Finally, we are eternally grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel of Longmont. They are heroes in every sense of the word. Together with an extraordinarily professional staff at Longmont United Hospital, they saved our daughter’s life and continue to care for her with heartfelt compassion and understanding. Words cannot begin to express what we are going through right now, but being surrounded by these professionals who have cared for her so wonderfully gives us some comfort.

Please continue to respect our wishes for privacy as our family continues to grieve, recover and heal.