Police in Colombia are hunting for kidnappers who murdered a young expectant mother and cut her unborn baby girl from her womb.
Twenty-one-year-old María Camila Potosí was eight months pregnant when she vanished after getting on the back of a motorbike in Colombia.
Her body was discovered stabbed to death on the banks of the River Meléndez in Cali after a days-long search by her family and authorities.
The baby girl, who had been named Alahia by her family, was nowhere to be found.
She was due to be born in August, and her family had hosted a baby shower just days before her disappearance.
María had been seen leaving a routine appointment at a local health centre at around 9am before climbing onto a motorbike with an unidentified woman.
Her family say she had gone with the woman after receiving a phone call promising free gifts for her unborn child.
The two women had recently met at a local centre for expectant mothers.
María’s grieving mother, Ana Rubi Gomez, has pleaded for the safe return of her granddaughter.
She said: “The first thing I asked was whether the baby was still in her womb, and they told me no, that the baby wasn’t there.”
She added: “That filled me with hope that the baby might still be alive. So I’m asking the public and the community to help me find my little girl.”
A man whose ex-girlfriend is suspected of driving the motorbike released a video confirming the woman had falsely claimed to be pregnant earlier in the year, whilst denying any personal involvement in the crime.
Police say more than four people may have been involved in the kidnapping and murder. ⚠️
A $62,000 reward has been offered for information that helps locate the infant and leads to the arrest of those responsible.
The Mirror