Father cries as woman who sliced open his pregnant girlfriend and stole baby is convicted

Ashton Matheny cried during the victim impact statements while clutching his daughter, Haisley Jo.

Brooke Crews, 38, pleaded guilty to the savage murder of Savanna Greywind, 22, along with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and lying to law officers.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of life in prison with no parole, saying Crews admitted to cutting out the baby while Greywind went in and out of consciousness.

According to Assistant Cass County State's Attorney Leah Jo Viste, Greywind bled to death.

Crews, from North Dakota, showed no emotion as the judge passed sentence. 

She said: "There is no excuse. There is no rationalisation. There is nothing.” 

The killer did not have a plea deal with prosecutors but hoped that admitting responsibility at a December hearing would help her at Friday’s sentencing.

Defence attorney Steven Mottinger asked for a sentence of life with parole.

Mottinger said: “Acceptance of responsibility is important, it has to mean something.”

Greywind from Fargo was eight months pregnant when she disappeared in August.

Her body was found wrapped in plastic in a river by Kayaker.

The baby was found alive in Crews's apartment which she shared with her 32-year-old boyfriend, William Hoehn.

Hoehn has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in March.

Greywind’s mother Norberta LaFontaine-Greywind said what Crews did was “beyond evil” and that “I don’t feel there is any court sentence that would ever be strong enough”.

Fargo Police Chief Dave Todd said the murder was a “cruel and vicious act of depravity”.

Crew initially claimed Greywind gave up her newborn daughter, but she later admitted taking advantage of the woman to get the child, according to court documents.

Hoehn told police he came home on August 19 to find Crews cleaning up blood in their bathroom.

He said Crews showed the infant and said: “This is our baby. This is our family.”

Hoehn told police he disposed of garbage bags containing bloody shoes and bloody towels away from the apartment complex.

A bill in Congress aimed at protecting Native American women and girls from violence, abduction and human trafficking is named for Greywind.

The Savanna’s Act would improve tribal access to certain federal crime information databases and create standardised protocols for responding to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans.

The Act, introduced by Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp, would require an annual report which includes statistics on missing and murdered Native American women.

Gloria Allred, attorney for the Greywind family, said: "You would never wish this suffering on anybody, on anybody's family, on anybody's sister or daughter or mother.

"But the only good that will come out of it ... is more attention to change on this issue for other Native American women in the future."