Valencia Behrens, a 34-year-old heavily pregnant woman from Toekomsrus, near Randfontein, was lured to her death a mere 300 metres from her home.
Loretta Cook, also pregnant then, told Valencia that she had a pram for her and should come quickly to collect it.
Hours later Valencia’s lifeless body was found, and her baby had been removed in what is called a Caesarean Kidnapping.
In the book The Profiler Diaries by Gérard Labuschagne, Labuschagne mentions that: “Most people are capable of committing a violent act on the spur of the moment, in that ‘perfect storm’ of emotions and circumstances; however, this is a cold and calculating act, the complete opposite of what we think of when we speak of maternal instinct.”
Matilda Cook received a phone call from her daughter Loretta, asking her to come home.
Matilda, thinking that Loretta might have gone into labour as she was due any day, rushed home.
Racing through the house looking for her daughter, she instead found a newborn baby lying on the floor next to a razor blade.
Matilda rushed the baby to the hospital, believing this to be her grandchild.
Someone soon informed her that they had found Loretta, apparently unconscious, in a back room and that the baby was not hers.
Back home, Matilda asked Loretta what had happened, but she claimed she could not remember.
Valencia was found in the courtyard next to a municipal dustbin lying on its side, her head partly inside.
She was fully clothed, and her feet were tied together.
When police arrived on the scene, they were told that Valencia died after giving birth naturally.
Shockingly, they seemed to accept this explanation even though she had a massive cut in her abdomen.
Only after the autopsy had been done did Dr Gina Rowe alert Lieutenant Colonel Gert Kruger that this was definitely not natural childbirth but could very well be murder.
Finally, an investigation was launched, and Loretta was soon arrested, initially still claiming to be pregnant.
She later admitted through her attorney that she was not pregnant, even though she was on maternity leave.
Loretta fooled many people with her pregnancy, including her boyfriend, family and colleagues (who threw her a baby shower), as well as everyone who followed her Facebook post about her pregnancy, swollen feet and all.
In cases like these, there is a 50% survival chance for mother and baby.
Unfortunately, Valencia did not survive, but her daughter did, with a scar from the razor blade still visible on her forehead years later.
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