A former Texas police officer will spend the rest of his life in jail for arranging the murder of his pregnant girlfriend after she refused to abort their unborn child.
NBC DFW 5 News reports VonTrey Clark, 36, a former Austin police officer, pleaded guilty Monday to killing 29-year-old Samantha Dean in 2015.
According to reports, Clark, who had a family with another woman, pressured Dean to have an abortion and then arranged for her to be murdered after she refused. She was seven-months pregnant at the time of her murder, and she was carrying a baby girl who also died, according to KVUE News. It is not clear if Clark also faced charges in the unborn baby’s death.
Dean died after being shot three times in February 2015; her body was dumped behind an office building in Bastrop County, according to the reports.
Clark admitted to paying Kevin Leo Watson and Freddie Lee Smith $5,000 to murder Dean and then stage the crime to look like violence resulting from a bad drug deal, the report states. Watson and Smith also face charges.
Police said Clark ran away to Indonesia, but authorities detained him and sent him back to the United States.
The Daily Mail reports Clark avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to the crime. Instead, he will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
Abortions and abuse are closely linked. Women and girls frequently feel coerced or forced into aborting their unborn babies. And sometimes when they refuse, they are abused or killed, as Dean was.
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Last week, police arrested a California man for allegedly forcing his girlfriend at gunpoint to take abortion drugs to kill their unborn child. Earlier this fall, an Indiana teen was accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn baby after she waited too long to get an abortion.
In 2018, a Utah man faced similar charges for allegedly killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her young son, supposedly because she refused to abort their unborn baby.
In 2017, a Hawaii jury convicted a man of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend after prosecutors said he stabbed her to death for refusing to abort their unborn child.
Also in 2017, a California jury found a man guilty of first- and second-degree murder after he allegedly hired a hitman to kill his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn son after she refused to have an abortion.
Others have used sneakier methods. In 2018, a Virginia doctor was convicted of spiking his pregnant girlfriend’s drink with an abortion drug, killing their unborn baby. Dr. Sikander Imran was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to fetal homicide.
Sometimes abusers use abortions to cover up their crimes. According to another recent crime report, an Ellis County, Texas man sexually abused a young girl and then took her to a Planned Parenthood for an abortion when she became pregnant.
Studies of victims of sex trafficking indicate they often are pressured or forced to abort their unborn babies so they can continue working.
Several studies also have linked domestic violence to abortion. In these cases, some women were forced or pressured by partners into having abortions, while others believed having an abortion would help them escape abuse. A 2011 study in “Obstetrician and Gynaecologist” found that almost 40 percent of the women seeking abortions had a history of physical abuse and relationship issues.
As LifeNews previously reported, another study found that as many as 64 percent of post-abortive women say they felt pressured to have an abortion.
Here are other reports LifeNews has covered in recent years:
Tennessee – Man Kills Girlfriend and 4-Month Old Baby, She Refused to Abort So He Could Escape Child Support
Pennsylvania – Abortion Doc Tried to Force His Girlfriend to Abort Their Baby, Then He Beat Her When She Refused
Colorado – Man Uses a Skewer to Force His Girlfriend to Abort After She Refuses Demand to Have an Abortion
Indiana – Man Tries to Force Pregnant Girlfriend to Have Abortion By Poisoning Her Drink
England – Man Jailed for Tying Up His Girlfriend, Forcing Abortion Drugs Into Her Vagina
