Man acquitted in pregnant woman’s slaying
FARGO, N.D. >> A North Dakota man was acquitted Friday of helping to kill a pregnant neighbor by tightening a rope around the woman’s neck after his girlfriend cut the baby from her womb.
William Hoehn, 33, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the August 2017 death of 22-yearold Savanna Greywind of Fargo.
Hoehn’s former partner, Brooke Crews, admitted earlier this year to cutting Greywind’s baby from her body and is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Hoehn pleaded guilty this month to helping cover up the crime, but denied knowing anything about Crews’ plan to kill Greywind and take her baby. He faces a maximum 20-year sentence for conspiring to commit kidnapping.
The trial turned on dramatic testimony from Crews, who told the court she concocted a phony pregnancy because she was afraid of losing Hoehn. Crews said she never “explicitly” told Hoehn what she planned to do, and that he appeared surprised when he arrived home to find a newborn and a bleeding Greywind in their bathroom. But she said after discovering the bloody scene he fetched a rope and twisted it around Greywind’s neck to make sure she was dead. She said Hoehn told her: “If she wasn’t dead before, she is now.”
A coroner was unable to determine if the cause of death was strangulation or blood loss.