Pregnant Woman Who Was Kidnapped, Set on Fire and Shot Gives Birth

Infant in Womb Shown Holding Doctor’s Hand

Jan 032013

A Classic Pin-Up Photography(NEW YORK) — Nevaeh Atkins was going to be born soon enough. She just wanted a helping hand, evidently.

And she got one from her doctor, as seen in a photo snapped on Oct. 9 by her father just before her birth via C-section.

In the photo, Nevaeh grips Dr. Allan Sawyer’s hand even before emerging from her mother’s womb.

“I just thought right away that it was a beautiful, amazing photo that I had never seen before,” Nevaeh’s mother, Alicia Atkins, told ABC News. “I knew it was special right away.”

“When my doctor broke my water, the doctor told my husband, ‘Hey, she’s holding my finger,’” Alicia said. ”He had my camera, and so they were able to capture the moment of her holding his hand.”

The Phoenix-area mom of three first saw the photo on Oct. 10, but she had her assessment of its specialness affirmed after she posted it Dec. 26 on the Facebook page of her Glendale, Ariz., photography company, A Classic Pin-Up, and drew the attention of ABC News affiliate KNXV-TV and other local media.

The picture is only emerging now because Alicia kept it under wraps for weeks after the birth as she enlarged it to give as a gift to Dr. Sawyer. She wanted him to see it first, and wanted him to see it big.

“I’ve never captured that picture before,” Sawyer told KNXV. “It’s really rare.”

“We actually weren’t going to put a copy of the photo in our house because we didn’t know the reaction of people, whether it was too graphic or not,” Alicia told ABC News.

But after all the coverage the picture attracted, she said, she and her husband changed their minds. Now, Nevaeh (or “heaven” spelled backward) will grow up with it.

“We decided to put the photo in her room,” Alicia said, “so that she’ll always know how special it was.”

NYC Couple Arrested for Explosives; Woman Gives Birth in Custody

Jan 022013

ABC News(NEW YORK) — A man and his girlfriend, who gave birth under arrest, are facing weapons charges after police say they found a powerful substance used to make bombs and an arsenal of weapons in their New York City apartment.

Morgan Gliedman, 27, and Aaron Greene, 31, were arrested on Saturday in their Manhattan apartment after officers with a search warrant found 7 grams of HMTD, a highly explosive white powder used in bomb making. Police also seized a flare launcher, a sawed-off shotgun, nine rifle magazines and various how-to manuals on building bombs and booby traps.

“They had a terrorist encyclopedia, they had improvised and modified firearms, deadly homemade weapons, a do it yourself machine gun…” New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said on Monday.

Kelly was unsure how much damage 7 grams of HMTD would cause.

Potential targets or a motive for having these items has not been determined. Police say the couple has no known links to any terrorist organization.

Greene’s lawyer, Lisa Pelosi, told ABC News her client has entered a plea of not guilty and is being held without bail. Greene, a Harvard graduate, is expected back in court on Jan. 4.

Gliedman has not been arraigned because she is still in a hospital after giving birth to her daughter, Melanie, while in police custody, according to authorities.

Calls to Gliedman and Greene’s family were not returned and police are not granting interviews regarding the case.

Police went to the apartment in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village on Saturday morning after they received a tip from a couple Gliedman and Greene invited to their home. Police said they had been investigating Gliedman for credit card fraud when the tip came in.

Police blocked off the street where the couple lived and the entire building had to be evacuated.

Gliedman and Greene are self-admitted heroine users, according to police.

Panda Mei Xiang Gives Birth to Cub

Sep 172012

Alex Wong/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Mei Xiang, 14, the giant female panda at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., has given birth to a panda cub, according to the zoo.

Chief veterinarian Suzan Murray said the unnamed cub was born at about 10:46 p.m. Sunday night.

“Mother and cub are doing great,” Murray said on Monday on Good Morning America from the zoo. “We are so excited here at the Smithsonian National Zoo to have this cub.”

This is Mei Xiang’s second birth as the result of artificial insemination. She gave birth to her first cub, Tai Shan, in 2005. Tian Tian, 15, is the father of both of Mei Xiang’s cubs.

Pregnant Inmate Sues After Being Forced to Wear Shackles During Labor

Jun 292012

Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center(LAS VEGAS) — Valerie Nabors gave birth to her fourth child, a healthy baby girl, last October, but within 10 minutes of delivery, she charges, her ankles were shackled to her hospital bed and she was not allowed to walk.

Nabors, a prison inmate at the time, complains her legs were shackled during labor, much to doctors’ dismay, and against Nevada state law.

Nabors filed a lawsuit on June 20 against the Nevada Department of Corrections claiming cruel and unusual punishment.

Nabors, from Clark County, Nev., was an inmate at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center (FMWCC) on Oct. 19, 2011 when she went into labor, according to the lawsuit. Nabors served a 12- to 30-month sentence from January 2011 to January 2012 for attempting to steal about $300 worth of casino chips.

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union. Nabors is suing the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC), its director and several top officers, as well as officials of the FMWCC.

“Ms. Nabors suffered severe and extreme emotional distress as a result of being shackled during the delivery of her child,” the lawsuit says.

The Nevada Department of Corrections has no comment regarding the lawsuit at this time, a spokesman told ABC News.

“I think we have the right to expect more as women and the right to expect more from society,” Staci Pratt of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada told ABC News.

Nabors, 30, was taken to the University Medical Center at 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 19. As the ambulance was pulling out of the main gates of the prison, Sgt. Daniel Tracey “came running out of the facility” with shackles which were closed around Nabors’ ankles, the lawsuit says.

According to Nevada state law, no restraints of any kind may be used on an inmate who is in labor, delivering her baby or recovering from delivery unless she presents a serious harm to herself or others or presents a substantial flight risk.

“She was not considered a flight risk,” Pratt, who described her client as a “non-violent offender,” told ABC News. “She was not considered a danger.”

Nabors is seeking damages for the punishment. She was released from Jean Conservation Camp on May 11, 2012. She has returned to the community and is taking care of her daughter, Pratt said.

Pregnant Woman Who Was Kidnapped, Set on Fire and Shot Gives Birth

May 292012

Joseph Devenney/Getty Images(DETROIT) — A pregnant woman who was kidnapped, set on fire and shot in the back, in what police say was a horrific attempt to kill her unborn baby, gave birth to a boy Tuesday, hours before her ex-boyfriend and another man were charged in the attack.

Latonya Bowman, 22, was only eight months pregnant, but doctors performed an emergency Caesarean section Tuesday morning.

Jamal Rogers, the child’s father, and his roommate Antonio Mathis, both 22, were arraigned Tuesday on kidnapping, attempted murder and conspiracy charges and could face life in prison. Both requested court-appointed lawyers. They were denied bail.

Rogers allegedly began planning the attack in March, when he found out Bowman was pregnant with his third child. He enlisted Mathis, who did not even want money to participate, according to police.

The attack occurred early Saturday morning when Bowman was dropping her ex-boyfriend at his new girlfriend’s Warren, Mich., home after seeing a drive-in movie, the woman told police. After they pulled into the garage and got out of the car, the garage door closed unexpectedly, she said.

“She was grabbed by the throat and a gun was put to her head. She was ordered to the ground, duct taped, her feet, her hands and her mouth, ordered into the backseat of the car,” Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green said.

She was blindfolded before being put back into her car and driven to an alley in Detroit, Green said.

The man who kidnapped her indicated that it was because of her pregnancy.

“[The suspect] said, ‘You know why this is happening,’ and then he asked her about how far along she was,” Green said.

The woman told police she felt liquid being poured on her, heard a match strike and then was set on fire.

“She was able to get out of the car and start rolling on the ground, trying to put the fire out,” Green said. “And when that happened, two shots were fired and she was struck once in the back.”

After being shot, the woman played dead, and the man left, police said. She was able to free herself and drove to her mother’s house in Detroit. Her mother took her to the hospital.

Police took Rogers into custody on Saturday and named him a person of interest in the case. He had not called 911 when she was kidnapped, police said.

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