Fargo man gets life in prison for kidnapping baby cut from womb

A North Dakota man was sentenced Monday to life in prison for conspiring to kidnap a baby that his girlfriend had cut from their neighbor's body and lying to police about it.

William Hoehn, 33, was found not guilty last month of conspiracy to commit murder in the August 2017 death of 22-year-old Savanna Greywind of Fargo. Brooke Crews admitted that she sliced Greywind's baby from her womb and is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole in that killing.

Hoehn denied knowing anything about Crews' plan to kill Greywind and take her baby. But he admitted to hiding the newborn and giving false information to law enforcement to cover up the crime.

Hoehn had faced a maximum 21 years behind bars on the conspiracy and lying counts, but Judge Tom Olson on Monday granted prosecutors' request to label Hoehn a dangerous offender, enhancing his maximum sentence to life with the possibility of parole.

Crews testified during Hoehn's trial that she concocted a phony pregnancy because she was afraid of losing him, and that when he figured out she was lying, he told her she needed to produce a baby. Crews said she took that as an ultimatum.

Crews said she never explicitly told Hoehn what she planned to do, but she also said that when he arrived home to find a newborn and a bleeding Greywind, he twisted a rope around Greywind's neck to make sure she was dead. A coroner was unable to determine if the cause of death was strangulation or blood loss.

Greywind's body was found several days after she was killed, shrouded in plastic and dumped in the Red River.