Andrea Curry-Demus, 38, of Wilkinsburg, the main suspect in the case of the woman found dead in a Pittsburg apartment with the uterus cut open and her unborn baby missing, was charged with homicide, unlawful restraint and kidnapping, police said Sunday.
Curry-Demus is accused of killing the 18-year-old Kia Johnson of McKeesport, eviscerating the teenage mother, stealing the baby boy and taking it to a Pittsburgh hospital while claiming it was her own.
Police officers found the teen mother’s corpse on Friday in Curry-Demus’ apartment in a state of moderate decomposition." Investigators later identified the body as belonging to Kia Johnson after checking her dental records, Allegheny County Medical Examiner Karl Williams said Sunday. The victim had been dead for about two days when police officers found her, Medical Examiner Karl Williams said. The 18-year-old woman was 36 weeks pregnant and due to deliver July 30, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
According to court documents, Curry-Demus and Johnson were caught on a surveillance camera at the Allegheny County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. The two were at the jail to visit different inmates, but spoke to each other for a couple of minutes. Investigators said the clothes worn by Johnson that day were the same with the garments found on her body. Curry-Demus reportedly told police investigators that she paid a woman named Tina $1,000 for the baby.
Police investigators are still making efforts to establish whether the victim was the mother of a baby boy brought by Andrea Curry-Demus to West Penn Hospital on Thursday night. According to the police report, Johnson’s hands were bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape and her face was covered with a plastic material when investigators found her.
She "had a wound to the abdomen consistent with the removal of a baby," Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said.
Experts haven’t determined yet what caused the woman’s death. They also are awaiting toxicology tests to find out whether she was drugged. This could take a couple of weeks.
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