Woman charged with murdering niece, baby

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A Sacramento woman accused of killing her pregnant teen-age niece, then surgically removing the girl's nearly full-term baby, was charged Wednesday with two counts of murder.

If convicted, Erin Rae Kuhn-Brown, 31, would face life in prison or the death penalty.

Investigators said Kuhn-Brown killed Kathaleena Draper, 17, after the teen changed her mind about letting Kuhn-Brown adopt her baby. The pair argued and Kuhn-Brown asphyxiated Draper, who was close to her delivery date, police said.

Kuhn-Brown, an emergency room technician, then tried to deliver the baby alive but the infant boy died a short time later, investigators said.

Police found Draper's body wrapped in plastic near a Sacramento dump site Saturday, and discovered the baby's body Tuesday near Fallon, Nev.

Sacramento County Superior Judge Patrick Marlette ordered Kuhn-Brown jailed without bail. She is to enter pleas July 12.

Draper moved from Las Vegas three months ago to live with her aunt in Sacramento. Detectives believe the pair argued Thursday on the way back to Draper's mother's home in Las Vegas and Kuhn-Brown killed Draper and surgically removed the baby.