Twisted Sadith Martinez, 27, lured Luz Neida Betin Valdovino, 22, to a remote mountainous area in Colombia where killed her before using a scalpel to cut the baby out
A woman who confessed to the brutal murder of her heavily pregnant cousin so she could steal her baby after months of scheming has been jailed for 35 years.
Sadith Martinez, 27, pleaded guilty to the killing after she stabbed Luz Neida Betin Valdovino, 22, to death and then butchered so she could carry out a gruesome C-section. Judges in Cordoba, Colombia heard how she had lured her former school friend and victim to a remote area in Sahagun where she fed her drugs to induce the baby’s birth.
In the months leading up to the murder, scheming Martinez had pretended to family and friends that she was expecting a baby of her own. After slaughtering Luz, she then took the baby and claimed to have given birth prematurely, prosecutors told the court on March 13.
Before the killing, Martinez kept up a stream of social media posts to keep on with the lie that she was pregnant. In one particularly sick post, her unsuspecting husband is seen bending down to kiss her fake baby bump through a pink T-shirt along with the caption: “Thank you, God, for your blessings…It won’t be long, daughter, until you’re in mum’s arms.”
But judges heard how in May 2023 Martinez had persuaded Luz to make her way to a mountainous area where she planned to kill her. After inducing Luz’s birth she killed her with a surgical scalpel and in a further act of barbarity she then cut open her womb to remove her 32-week-term baby, prosecutors said.
Following the murder, Martinez carried the newborn to a nearby home and said she had given birth while she was out alone. However, suspicious locals doubted her story and after calling paramedics they videoed Martinez and the baby, later passing the recording to police, the court heard.
Martinez was transferred to nearby Camus San Rafael Hospital where doctors confirmed that she had not given birth. Meanwhile, farmworkers discovered Luz’s gutted corpse in woodlands with two deep wounds in her abdomen and a slit throat.
The court heard that after she was confronted, Martinez admitted charges of aggravated femicide and kidnapping. She was jailed for a total of 34 years and 11 months. They also ordered that the killer will not be eligible for parole until at least 2045. Luz’s baby has since been placed under the care of social workers and was given the name Milagro – Spanish for ‘Miracle’.
It comes after a chillingly similar case in which a pregnant teen was allegedly murdered by a woman who lured her to her home, sliced open her abdomen and stole her unborn baby. 16-year-old Emilly Azevedo Sena was nine months pregnant when she was killed, with her body found buried in a back garden in Cuiabá, Brazil, with her abdomen cut open and baby removed.
Nataly Helen Martins Pereira, 25, and her husband, chef Christian Albino Cebalho de Arruda, 28, were arrested a few hours later at a local hospital, after trying to obtain documents to register the birth of the newborn, Emilly’s daughter, in their name. Pereira allegedly lured the teen to the scene the night before with messages on WhatsApp claiming she had baby clothes to donate to her.
Tests carried out on Pereira after her arrest determined that she was not pregnant. Emilly’s child remained in hospital on Friday. Emilly’s body was found buried in the back garden of the suspects’ home on Thursday, hours after they were arrested at the hospital. Police believe she was strangled to death with cables, and Detective Caio Alexandre told local media that the couple had “used a bladed weapon to remove the baby”.
The incident is investigated by Brazil’s Homicide and Personal Protection Division (DHPP), who are also said to be questioning two other suspects. Detectives say they may be charged with aggravated murder, concealment of a body and procedural fraud.
