Ohio community mourns slain pregnant woman

Jon Andrews, left, walks beside a man holding Andrews' son, Oscar, Sunday, at a memorial service for Andrews' wife Theresa

KENT, Ohio (AP) -- More than 1,000 people filled a high school auditorium in Kent, Ohio, and dozens of others waited outside in the rain at a service to remember a pregnant woman whose killer cut her baby from her womb.

Theresa Andrews, 23, was abducted September 27 and shot to death by a woman she and her husband had met a few weeks earlier while shopping for baby clothes at Wal-Mart.

"In a sinful world where people have a choice to follow their own sinful and sometimes sickening ways, tragedy will sometimes result," Dave Iannelli, a Jehovah's Witnesses religious leader from New York, told mourners at Sunday's memorial service. "Jehovah is not to blame when bad things happen to good people."

Police say Michelle Bica, 39, had lied to neighbors, relatives and even her own husband for months, telling them she was pregnant. With her fake due date quickly approaching, she lured Andrews to her house and killed her with a single shot to the back, then performed a crude Caesarean section to deliver the baby, police said.

Bica passed the baby off as her own until five days later, when she committed suicide in a locked bedroom as police arrived to question her about calls made to the Andrews' house.

Jon and Theresa Andrews

The infant, named Oscar, survived and was given to his father late last week.

The Roosevelt High School auditorium was filled Sunday with flowers and photos of a smiling Theresa Andrews, who will be cremated. Those who couldn't find seats inside, waited in the lobby or outside.

Kristina Sparks, 21, drove with her family from Elyria, about 45 miles away, to attend the service for Andrews, whom she met through a Jehovah's Witnesses group about three years ago.

"She just seemed like such a nice person even if you didn't know her that well," Sparks said.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Ravenna Police Department

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