Angelikque Sutton was only 22 years old and just weeks away from giving birth when she was brutally murdered by a disturbed friend who had allegedly been faking a pregnancy as part of a murderous delusion: She would steal her friend’s baby and pretend it was her own.
According to the New York Post, Ashleigh Wade, who was also 22 at the time of the murder, is accused of stabbing Sutton to death inside her Bronx apartment, before cutting Sutton’s baby girl from her dead body and claiming her as her own.
“It’s my baby!” Wade reportedly insisted when police arrived to the grisly murder scene.
Two years later, Wade is preparing to face a jury on the murder charges, having been declared mentally fit to stand trial.
Angelikque Sutton, 9 mos pregnant, stabbed & killed by friend from elementary school, police say. Baby lived #NBC4NY pic.twitter.com/Xd4HYenzfl
— Katherine Creag (@katcreag4NY) November 21, 2015
And despite her horrific beginnings, the baby snatched from her dying mother’s body is thriving in her father’s care. Patrick Bradley proudly posts photos and videos of his happy, healthy toddler — named Jenasis by her mother before she died — to social media since the baby’s miraculous survival.
In one Facebook post, Bradley shared a photo alongside an older photos of her mother, both making the same facial expression.
“I showed my daughter this pic of her mom and she started making this face,” he reportedly wrote on Facebook. “Moments like this be hard to handle.”
In a video posted to Instagram, Bradley can be seen teaching his daughter to box.
“Guard your face,” he says, and Jenasis responds by covering her face with her fist, laughing.
Ward’s murder trial is set to begin on Monday, when Angelikque’s family will be forced to relive the brutal murder.
Ashleigh Wade, indicted on charges she murdered her friend; ripped baby from womb https://t.co/DwDkvAlbW0 pic.twitter.com/GVy2sycSN3
— Myles Miller (@MylesMill) January 5, 2016
The suspect’s defense team is expected to argue that Wade was intensely overwhelmed at the time of the murder, utilizing a legal defense called “extreme emotional disturbance.”
Wade’s attorney Amy Attias reportedly said at a hearing Wednesday that she does not intent to pursue an insanity defense, as the circumstances of the crime do not suggest her client’s actions were premeditated. Wade had initially told police that she acted in self defense, and cut the baby out of her friend’s womb in order to “save her.”
Wade and Sutton were reportedly former childhood friends who reconnected on Facebook before Wade visited Sutton at her home.
Feature photo: Facebook
