A Wisconsin man was convicted of attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child Wednesday, more than 10 years after he allegedly spiked his pregnant girlfriend’s drink with abortion drugs.
Manishkumar Patel, 45, of Fox Cities, Wisconsin, hid from police for 10 years after the 2007 incident, the Post Crescent reports. Last year, authorities found Patel in New York and returned him to Wisconsin to face charges.
On Wednesday, he pleaded no contest to the homicide charge as part of a plea agreement, Fox 11 News reports. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9 and could face up to 60 years in prison.
According to reports, the girlfriend did not ingest the drink that Patel allegedly spiked with abortion drugs in 2007; however, she did later miscarry their unborn baby or babies. Some reports say she was carrying twins.
According to a 2007 Fox 11 report, an investigation in the case began in November 2007 when the unnamed girlfriend reported the suspected forced abortion attempt to authorities.
She said she thought Patel had given her the mifepristone, or RU 486, abortion drug. The station reported that Patel admitted as much to authorities, but later skipped town.
As LifeNews previously reported, the former girlfriend said Patel hurt her to the extent that she jumped from a moving vehicle once to escape him. She obtained a restraining order against Patel about a month before he was charged with trying to force her to abort her baby or babies.
According to court records the Associated Press obtained, the girlfriend said Manishkumar abused her physically and emotionally on repeated occasions but she stayed with him even though his divorce with another woman was not finalized.
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She said she became suspicious after she had two miscarriages in one year and noticed white powder on the cup of a drink he had prepared for her.
Police labs later confirmed the powder was the dangerous abortion drug; they suspected Patel purchased it in India.
In 2017, authorities said they arrested Patel near the Canadian border in New York when he showed a fraudulent passport that expired in December 2016, the Post Crescent previously reported.
