Woman Sentenced To Life After Admitting To Cutting Baby From Pregnant Neighbor’s Womb

A woman from Fargo, North Dakota who had previously pleaded guilty and confessed to cutting the baby out of her pregnant neighbor’s womb was sentenced to life without parole on Friday.

Brooke Crews, 38, has admitted to her part in the August murder of 22-year-old Savanna Greywind. She cried in court as she read an apology statement, Fox News reports.

"There is no excuse. There is no rationalization. There is nothing," she said.

Also emotional in court was Greywind’s boyfriend Ashton Matheny as he learned about the awful way that Greywind died. He held the baby in court as he listened to details about how Crews ripped the child out of Greywind as she went in and out of consciousness.  The two neighbors had argued before Crews attacked the 8-month-pregnant Greywind, who eventually died from bleeding to death.

Crew’s defense attorney Steven Mottinger had asked for a lesser sentence, because of Crews’ remorse.

"Acceptance of responsibility is important," Mottinger said in court. "It has to mean something."

Before her sentencing, Crews authored a letter to a reporter in which she stated, “My actions devastated a family and shocked the community that I called home.”

Greywind went missing August 19 when she was eight months pregnant. Her body was later found by kayakers in the Red River -- which borders North Dakota and Minnesota -- "heavily wrapped in plastic and duct tape" and stuck to a log. Three days earlier, police found Greywind’s baby in the North Dakota apartment of Crews, 38, and her 32-year-old William Henry Hoehn.

Hoehn has pleaded not guilty and his trial is set for May.

According to the court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Hoehn told police he found Crews cleaning up blood in the bathroom upon coming home August 19. Crews was also holding a newborn girl. She allegedly told him, “This is our baby, this is our family.”

[Photo: Cass County Sheriff’s Office]