North Dakota mom Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind was eight months pregnant in August 2017 when she was lured to her neighbor’s apartment.
As Dearly previously reported, Brooke Lynn Crews, 38, asked the expectant mom to help her fit a dress with the promise of $20 payment.
But when LaFontaine-Greywind entered the apartment, which was located in the same complex as her family’s, Crews attacked her.
Police issued a search when the mom-to-be never returned home.
On August 25, the case took a disturbing turn.
Police found LaFontaine-Greywind’s child inside Crews’ apartment, where she lived with her boyfriend, William Hoehn, 33.
Police later determined that Crews had cut the child out of LaFontaine-Greywind’s womb. A DNA test confirmed she was, in fact, the missing woman’s baby.
Weeks later, the mom’s body was discovered wrapped in plastic wrap and duct tape near the Red River.
Both Crews and Hoehn have since been sentenced to life in prison.
And now, the child’s father is doing the best he can to give her a normal life, according to People.
Ashton Matheny, 23, was devastated by the loss of his longtime girlfriend but has found light in their “love bug” daughter, 16-month-old Haisley Jo. He told People:
“Life is steady. Things could always get better. But I’m content.”
The young father said Haisley Jo is learning her vocabulary quickly and loves to play:
“She says ‘Daddy and Mommy.’ She just learned to say puppy.”
Matheny is attending college and doing what he can to improve life for his daughter. He recently remodeled their home using money raised for them through GoFundMe.
But he’s still struggling to find work as a single father, he said:
“I’m looking for a job for the weekends but can’t find anything right now. There aren’t many jobs around here. At least jobs that pay well.”
Matheny said he often thinks about his late girlfriend now that he has to raise their daughter without her. He told People:
“I think about her every day. That will never change.”