Victim Identifies the Friend Who Attempted to Cut Out Her Fetus

Peggy Jo Conner, 38, was arraigned last week on charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, after beating and slashing the stomach of a pregnant neighbor who was her friend, leaving her hospitalized in critical condition. The Pittsburgh woman lived in a trailer right next door to Valerie Oskin, 30, who was eight months pregnant, and according to Prosecutor Scott Andreassi, Conner had the "ultimate goal" of claiming Oskin’s baby. She made that attempt by beating Oskin senseless with a baseball bat, driving her to a secluded area, and then trying unsuccessfully to cut her fetus out of her belly. Now Oskin has regained enough strength and clarity to identify her attacker as Conner.

Oskin definitely remembers Conner clubbing her with a baseball bat and then being driven around by her. According to Andreassi, Conner drove Oskin to a secluded, wooded area about 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, where she cut her abdomen with a razor blade along a scar from a previous Caesarean section. While Oskin was doing this, 17-year old Adam Silvis suddenly appeared, riding his all-terrain vehicle, and he immediately left and alerted his father. Prosecutors say Oskin would have bled to death if Silvis hadn’t come upon the horrific crime being committed. Silvis told reporters that he "acted nonchalant" when he discovered the women, with Oskin bleeding on the ground and Conner behaving "extremely weird." He went on to way, "I told (Conner) I was just going back to check on my tree stand. And she looks up and smiles and waves at me." When Silvis returned with his father, Conner seemed dazed and Oskin mumbled that she wanted a shower.
When he and his father returned, Silvis said, Conner seemed out of it and Oskin was only able to mumble that she wanted a shower. Silvis’s father immediately called the police, who arrested her at the scene. Upon her arrival at the hospital, Oskin’s baby boy was delivered in healthy condition.

Neighbors had seen Conner take the bleeding pregnant woman from her home Wednesday morning, but did not call authorities. Silvis spotted them in the woods around 5:00 p.m., so authorities have no idea what happened to Oskin in the interim and she has no recollection of events other than being beaten by Conner. After arresting her and charging her with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and aggravated assault of a young child, police found a bassinet, baby swing, and other baby items in Conner’s home. Andreassi says it was clear that Conner was expecting a baby to come home shortly, but there was nothing to indicate that she was pregnant.

Conner’s husband of 18 months said that she is a loving mother of three who wouldn’t have committed such a heinous crime. Thomas Wilks also said that she wouldn’t have planned to steal someone else’s baby because she told him she was expecting one of her own. He told police that she and Oskin had become close friends because they were pregnant together. He added that he had a sonogram saying Conner was pregnant and that he had felt the baby kick in her stomach. Now that undeniable proof has emerged with the victim identifying her, Wilks has retracted his claims and wept as he told reporters that he couldn’t believe it. "My poor baby. If only I knew something was wrong, I would have fixed it."