Miracle Baby: Woman Who Was Set On Fire And Shot Gives Birth

newborn babyEarlier this week I read with horror about a 22-year-old pregnant woman in Michigan who was abducted, set on fire and then shot in the back. Miraculously, she survived the attack, which took place just three weeks before her due date. She went into early labor, however, and on Tuesday gave birth via c-section to a baby boy. CNN reports that the baby is in ICU, while the unnamed woman is in stable at an undisclosed location.

The details of the attack itself are just brutal. According to reports, the woman was returning home from the movies with the father of the child and had just dropped him at home when the attack took place. She was grabbed from behind; had her hands, mouth and feet duct-taped; and was then forced into a car. Then, in an empty Detroit parking lot, she was doused with lighter fluid and set on fire before being shot in the back.

Unbelievably, the woman played dead until her attacker drove off, which is presumably what saved her life. She then managed to free herself from restraints and contact her mother. “She has to be one of the most courageous women I have ever encountered,” said Warren Police Deputy Commissioner Louis Galasso.

Police have detained two suspects, one of them the woman’s former boyfriend, 22-year-old Jamal Rashard Rogers, with whom she had gone to see a movie that fateful night (he’s the baby’s father but reportedly did not want to take responsibility for the child). The second suspect is Rogers’ roommate, Antonio Valentine Mathis.

It’s an absolute miracle not only that this woman survived but that her baby survived, too. “She has demonstrated her courage, and I suspect she will fully recover,” Galasso said. We can only hope and pray that he’s right and that her baby boy is okay, too. It’s such a terrible story just so unfathomable. Our thoughts go out to this brave mother and child.

(Photo: Kristina Stasiuliene/Shutterstock)

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