List Series: Murdered While Pregnant

The murder of Laci Peterson captured headlines during the early 2000s. Laci was eight months pregnant when she vanished on December 24th, 2002--and it was almost immediately suspected that her husband, Scott Peterson, had something to do with her disappearance. It was later revealed that Scott was having an affair with another woman. Laci's body and the body of her unborn child were both found in the San Francisco Bay during the spring of 2003. Scott was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with their murders. He was later convicted and currently sits on death row.

It is believed that Laci's murder was motivated not only by the fact that Scott was having an affair, but also due to the fact that Scott did not want to be a father. Unfortunately, there are several similar cases in which a woman is murdered by a boyfriend/husband while pregnant with the boyfriend/husband's child. Many of these murders are believed to be motivated by the man's lack of desire to be a father. Below is a list of seven such cases.

7. Jennifer Rothwell

Jennifer Rothwell (28) was approximately six weeks pregnant when she was reported missing by her husband Beau Rothwell on November 12th, 2019. Beau told authorities that his wife never returned to their St. Louis, Missouri home after she had reportedly gone to work that day. However, once authorities arrived at their home, they noticed that the bed of Beau's truck smelled strongly of bleach. Additionally. authorities found traces of hair and blood in the basement of the home. 

It was almost immediately believed that Beau had murdered Jennifer and then attempted to stage her disappearance. This belief was further solidified once authorities found Jennifer's car abandoned with her cell phone inside. The phone contained evidence that indicated that Beau was unhappy about Jennifer pregnancy. In fact, shortly before she vanished, Jennifer searched on her phone's browser, "what to do if your husband is upset you are pregnant." 

A few days after Jennifer was reported missing, the blood found in the basement of their home was confirmed to belong to her. Once police had that confirmation, they arrested and charged Beau with Jennifer's murder. A few days later, he led the authorities to her remains. It is believed Beau murdered Jennifer because he did not want to be a father. He currently remains behind bars as his case is pending. [read more]

6. Erin Corwin

Erin Corwin (19) had recently learned she was pregnant when she vanished on June 28th, 2014. At the time of her disappearance, Erin was married to Jonathan Corwin, her high school sweetheart and a member of the US Marines. The couple lived on a military base Twentynine Palms, California. Shortly after moving there, Erin and Jonathan grew close to another military couple, Christopher (pictured above on the right) and Nichole Lee. Erin would frequently babysit Christopher and Nichole's daughter. Over time, Erin grew especially close with Christopher...and eventually the two began having a romantic affair. In June 2014, Erin learned she was pregnant, and she was positive Christopher was the father. Erin was excited about being a mother, and she had hopes for a future with Christopher as well. 

However, Christopher had other plans. On the morning of her disappearance, Erin told her husband Jonathan that she was going to Joshua Tree to scope out hiking areas in preparation for an upcoming visit from her mother. This was only a half-truth--she was going to Joshua Tree that day, however she had been invited there by Christopher--and he said he had a surprise for her. At some point during Christopher and Erin's trip, Christopher strangled Erin to death with a garrote before throwing her body down a nearby mineshaft. When Erin did not return home as planned that evening, she was reported missing by her husband.

Police learned about Erin's pregnancy and affair with Christopher early into the investigation. Christopher was inevitably questioned, but he denied involvement in Erin's disappearance. A few days later, Christopher left the Marines and moved to Alaska with his wife and daughter. Over the following weeks, investigators continued to gather evidence...all of which had a link to Christopher Lee. Investigators searched the Joshua Tree National Park on August 16th, 2014 and eventually stumbled upon a mineshaft. Once they had the tools to search the 100 ft. deep mine, investigators found Erin's body. Shortly thereafter, Christopher was arrested and extradited back to California to face first-degree murder charges in Erin's case.

In 2016, Christopher was convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors believe Christopher killed Erin after learning she was pregnant in attempt to hide their affair from his wife. He was sentenced to life in prison. [read more]

5. Ally Kostial

Ally Kostial was a 21 year-old rising senior at Ole Miss when she was brutally murdered on July 20th, 2019. A fellow student and Ally's on-again, off-again boyfriend Brandon Theesfeld (22) has been arrested and charged with Ally's murder. Ally's body was found just hours after she was killed, at Buford's Ridge in Harmontown, Mississippi. She had been shot 8 times in the stomach.

It did not take investigators long to identify Brandon as a suspect. He was known to frequent Buford's Ridge with friends, as it was approximately 30 miles away from the Ole Miss campus in Oxford. Ally's friends were quick to implicate Brandon as well. Ally was reportedly pregnant with Brandon's child at the time she was murdered, and according to Ally's friends, Brandon was furious that she did not want to have an abortion. It is believed that Ally told Brandon about the pregnancy on the day of her murder. Ally's friends have stated that they witnessed Brandon "in a fit of rage" just hours before Ally met up with him on the night of her murder. 

Brandon was arrested on July 22nd, 2019. His murder charges are currently pending. [read more]

4. Morgan Martin

(patch.com)

Morgan Martin (17) was four months pregnant when she vanished from her family's St. Petersburg, Florida home on July 25th, 2012. Jacobee Flowers is believed to be the father of Morgan's unborn child. Jacobee was 24 years old at the time the two were reportedly engaged in a sexual relationship. Jacobee was immediately seen as a person of interest in Morgan's disappearance--especially due to the fact that he was the last person known to have seen her before she vanished. However, Jacobee denied being involved in Morgan's disappearance. He also denied fathering her child and sleeping with her at all. At the time, police were unable to find enough evidence to charge him with anything related to Morgan's case.

This changed in 2015, when a cold case unit took over Morgan's case. These investigators were able to subpoena Jacobee's Facebook and text messages which revealed that Jacobee had lied to authorities about his relationship with Morgan. In fact, Jacobee sent several text messages acknowledging his sexual relationship with her. He allegedly begged Morgan not to go through the pregnancy, as he was already supporting three children and did not want to support another one. Facebook messages between between the two reveal that Morgan told Jacobee that if he did not pay child support, she would report him for having sex with a minor. This evidence provided investigators with a motive for Jacobee to kill Morgan: not only did he not want to support another child, he also did not want to get charged with statutory rape.

On June 23rd, 2016, Jacobee was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Morgan Martin. He is currently awaiting trial. Morgan's body has never been found. [read more]

3. Charli Scott

Carly 'Charli' Scott (27) was five months pregnant when she disappeared in Haiku, Hawaii on February 9th, 2014. She was last seen by her ex-boyfriend/father of her unborn child, Steven Capobianco (24). Steven claimed that he called Charli on the evening of the 9th and asked her for assistance after his car went into a ditch on Hana Hwy. Charli, who was still deeply in love with Steven despite their breakup, dutifully went to help him. She unfortunately never returned home.

Suspicions fell on Steven early on into the investigation. Those closest to Charli stated that there were numerous red flags in their relationship. While they were living together, Steven would reportedly deny being Charli's boyfriend--opting instead to tell people they were just roommates. After the couple broke up, he would repeatedly pursue Charli for sexual encounters, even though he had no intentions of reconciling the relationship. When Steven learned that Charli was pregnant, he was not happy. He did not want children and he begged Charli to get an abortion, but she wanted to keep the child and was excited about being a mother.

Just days after she vanished, Charli's car was found abandoned and burned out. Additionally, while her family members searched for her, Charli's sister found her blood stained clothes in a wooded area near Nua'ailua Bay. This prompted a massive search by detectives, during which Charli's jawbone was found. It had been broken in half. Steven was arrested and charged with Charli's murder in July 2014. At his trial, prosecutors stated that Charli's pregnancy was the main motive for her murder. Not only did Steven not want to be a father at 24, he also did not want to be forever tied to Charli as the father of her child.

In December 2016, a jury found Steven guilty of Charli's murder. He is currently serving a life sentence. [read more]

2. Kelsie Schelling

(kktv.com)

21 year-old Kelsie Schelling had just recently learned she was pregnant when she disappeared from Pueblo, Colorado on February 5th, 2013. On the previous day, Kelsie went to a doctor’s appointment near her home in Denver where she got her first ultrasound. After the appointment, she sent a picture of the ultrasound to her boyfriend/father of her child, Donthe Lucas. Donthe urged Kelsie to go visit him in Pueblo, which is two hours from where Kelsie was living. Kelsie left around 8:30pm that night to make the drive to see Donthe and arrived at a Wal-Mart that they agreed to meet at around 11pm. Kelsie never returned home and has never been seen or heard from again.

Surveillance cameras from various places around Pueblo captured Donthe driving Kelsie's car to several different locations between the dates of February 5th and February 7th. He was also captured using Kelsie's ATM card. Donthe would later tell investigators that he was accompanied by Kelsie and had permission to use her ATM card, however the surveillance footage does not show Kelsie in the car with him at any location. Despite this evidence, it took years for investigators to bring charges against Donthe, and he continued to deny involvement. 

In November 2017, while Donthe was already behind bars on robbery charges, he was charged with Kelsie's murder in the first degree. Prosecutors have theorized that Donthe planned to kill Kelsie after learning about her pregnancy. He was found guilty of murder in 2021. Kelsie's body has never been found. [read more]

1. Breana Rouhselang

17 year-old Breana Rouhselang was murdered by 16 year-old Aaron Trejo on December 9th, 2018. The two teens are from Mishawaka, Indiana–where Aaron played football at the local high school, and Breana competed as a cheerleader. Breana and Aaron first met when they were in elementary school, but they reportedly only began to have a romantic relationship during 2018.

At some point during their relationship, Breana learned that she was pregnant. She reportedly waited until she was about 20 weeks along to tell Aaron that he had fathered her child. By then, it was too late to get an abortion. This infuriated Aaron, and he spent a week formulating a plan to solve his problem. On the evening of December 8th, Aaron asked Breana to meet up and discuss the pregnancy. Around 11pm, they met up in an alley behind her family’s home. Unbeknownst to Breana, Aaron had a knife and a garbage bag in his possession when they met. He allegedly confronted Breana over the fact that she told him about her pregnancy after it was too late to get an abortion. An argument ensued, and Aaron ended up strangling Breana with her scarf before stabbing her to death. He then placed the garbage bag over her head and then placed her body in a restaurant dumpster located a block away.

Aaron pleaded guilty to homicide and feticide charges in October 2019. In January 2020, he was sentenced to 65 years in prison. [read more]