The two suspects in the death of a pregnant North Dakota woman admitted to taking the baby of the woman, though how they came to have the infant remains unclear.

Brooke Lynn Crews, 38, and her boyfriend William Henry Hoehn, 32, were both charged in the death of 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, who was 8 months pregnant. The couple gave conflicting accounts of what happened to the mother and child, according to court records released Monday.

On Sunday, kayakers on the Red River found Greywind’s body wrapped in plastic and duct tape after a week-long search. What appeared to be Greywind’s baby was found in the Fargo home of Crews and Hoehn, who lived in the upstairs apartment that Greywind shared with her parents.

Crews and Hoehn gave conflicting accounts of how the baby girl came into their possession. Crews told police she arranged to have Greywind come to her apartment so she could teach her how to induce labor, according to the Duluth News Tribune. She did so, Crews said, and Greywind later returned with the newborn to give it to her.

Hoehn said he returned home Aug. 19 to find Crews cleaning up blood. Crews then showed him the newborn baby and said, “This is our baby, this is our family,” according to his account.

Hoehn said he helped to throw out bloody towels and items in the apartment. Crews admitted she had numerous chances to give the baby to Greywind’s family or authorities after Greywind became a missing person, but did not.

“Crews admitted she had taken advantage of Savanna Greywind in an attempt to obtain her child and possibly keep the child as her own,” the complaint stated.

While both suspects admitted the baby belonged to Greywind, police said they were waiting on the results of DNA testing to say so with certainty.

Crews and Hoehn were both charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and giving false information to police. The couple was being held on $2 million bail and did not enter a plea in court Monday.

“We will continue to pursue justice for Savanna,” Fargo Police Chief David Todd said in a press conference Monday. “Savanna was a victim of a cruel and vicious act of depravity.”

Greywind’s mother, Norberta LaFontaine-Greywind, said her daughter had texted her to say she was heading to the neighbor’s apartment to help model a dress for a fitting before she went missing. When her mother knocked on the door, she was told her daughter had already left.

“I immediately knew something was wrong because her care is here,” her mother told the Duluth News Tribune after she disappeared. “She’s eight months pregnant. Her feet were swollen, so she wouldn’t have taken up walking like that. There was pizza here and she hadn’t eaten. She would not just leave that lady’s apartment and go somewhere.”

Police have yet to reveal Greywind’s cause of death and an autopsy is underway to determine the details. The baby remained in protective custody with social services and was not being released into the custody of the family until DNA testing confirmed it belonged to Greywind, the father, Greywind’s boyfriend Ashton Matheny, told WDAY-TV, an ABC affiliate in Fargo.

“It breaks my heart,” said Matheny. “They’re admitting it’s [our] baby.”

RELATED STORIES