Woman Charged In Killing Expectant Mom, Cutting Out Baby

Kennewick, WA (AHN) - A Washington woman of Laotian descent is facing murder charges for the gruesome killing of a pregnant Mexican woman and removal of the baby from the victim's womb.

Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong, 23, of Kennewick was arrested on Sunday as a suspect in the killing of Araceli Camacho Gomez, whose body was found in Columbia Park on Saturday. Gomez, 27, was found with her hands and feet bound by yarn and with wounds to her chest and stomach. Her womb had been cut open and the fetus removed.

Paramedics found Gomez's baby with the suspect Friday night after Synhavong called 911 to report that she had delivered a baby. The baby, who was not breathing, was revived and taken to the Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane.

A box cutter, bloody gloves, a baby bottle, and yarn in the suspect's purse linked her to the murder. She was about a mile from the park when she made the emergency call. Doctors who checked her found she had not given birth.

Synhavong is detained at the Benton County jail without bail.