baby handsLatonya Bowman -- the mom-to-be who was kidnapped, set on fire, shot, and miraculously survived -- gave birth to a baby boy.

She was just eight months pregnant but doctors performed an emergency C-section three days after she was abducted and nearly killed in Detroit.

Police say her ex-boyfriend Jamal Rogers was behind the attack. He had allegedly been planning it since he found out she was pregnant with his child in March. Investigators say he even convinced his roommate Antonio Mathis to help carry out the crime for free.

CNN reported that a video tape taken at a local Home Depot allegedly shows Mathis buying gloves, tape, and rope hours before the attack. “[The suspect] said, ‘You know why this is happening,’ and then he asked her about how far along she was,” said Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green.

Both men were charged with kidnapping, attempted murder, and conspiracy and are looking at life in prison if convicted. Both pleaded not guilty.

As shocked as we are by this gruesome story, I can't imagine what it is like to be at the center of it. For the new mom, her recovery will certainly mean healing a lot more than those burns, bruises, and gunshot wound. Domestic violence -- or violence of any kind -- leaves much more than physical scars. How do you come to terms with the fact that someone you once loved might have done this to you? Perhaps she can find peace in the fact that her attackers didn't succeed in snuffing out her life or that of her baby boy.

What advice to you have to help this new mom begin to heal?

 

Image via Weird Beard/Flickr