Mom-to-be kills knife-wielding attacker

FORT MITCHELL, Ky. – A nine-months pregnant woman fought off and killed a knife-wielding woman who may have been trying to steal her baby, police said Friday.

Police said 26-year-old Sarah Brady acted in self-defense in killing Katherine Smith on Thursday. No charges were filed.

Smith, 22, had been falsely telling neighbors for weeks that she was pregnant, and a search of her apartment after her death revealed a full baby nursery, investigators said.

“She had everything in place that you’d expect to have in place with a newborn coming,” said Steve Hensley, police chief in this Cincinnati suburb.

Brady, 26, suffered only minor cuts and is still due to give birth soon. The coroner’s office confirmed Friday that Smith was not pregnant, and that she died of stab wounds.

On Tuesday, Smith called Brady, whom she didn’t know, and asked her to come over and pick up a mistakenly delivered package, the police chief said. The next day, Smith called Brady again to pick up another package. The pregnant woman went to Smith’s apartment Thursday, and that was when the attack occurred.

Several pregnant women have been killed in recent years by attackers who then removed their fetuses, in some cases to pass the children off as their own.

In December, a Missouri woman was strangled and her baby was cut from her womb. The baby was later found alive, and a Kansas woman was charged with kidnapping resulting in death.

In 2003, a 21-year-old woman was shot to death in Oklahoma, allegedly by another woman who pretended the 6-month-old fetus was her child. The baby died.