A judge has a denied a request to dismiss murder and kidnapping charges against Julie Corey, and ruled that there was “substantial” evidence linking the central Massachusetts resident to the killing of Darlene Haynes, 23, and the kidnapping of her unborn baby, last week.

Judge Janet Kenton-Walker presided over the motion hearing and denied the request from Corey’s lawyers who argued that the evidence put before the jury was insufficient to support the charges, according to The Telegram & Gazette.

Core’s attorneys said that there was no evidence directly linking Corey to the homicide or establishing that she did not have permission to take the child.

Prosecutors said the 37-year-old Corey beat and strangled Haynes, who was at the time eight months pregnant, before cutting her open and taking the fetus.

Haynes was 8 months pregnant when she was killed, and her body was found with her fetus missing. The body of Haynes was found in a closet wrapped in blankets, cloths and shower curtains. An autopsy revealed that Haynes had died from multiple skull fractures from blunt force trauma, and asphyxiation by strangulation.

Corey was identified by police as the last person to be seen with Haynes. Corey had reportedly given Haynes a ride to a store July 23, 2009.

Corey and her boyfriend were found in a shelter in New Hampshire with a newborn baby girl that was later determined through DNA testing to be Haynes baby.

Investigators also discovered Corey’s fingerprint on a wine cooler bottle in the victim’s bedroom after she was killed.

“A couple of hours after Corey was last seen with Haynes, Corey told others that she had just given birth to a baby girl. Her stories were riddled with contradictions that cast significant doubt not only on the circumstances of her supposed delivery, but also on whether she had been pregnant at all. DNA evidence established that Haynes was the mother of the baby that Corey claimed was her own,” the judge said.at grand juries may decide on circumstantial evidence.

The judge said that the evidence supporting the kidnapping charge was more direct than linking her to the murder.

“Given the gruesome circumstances of Haynes’ death, which occurred before she had a chance to carry her baby to full term, it was eminently reasonable for the grand jury to infer that Corey did not take the child with permission. Corey’s argument to the contrary is patently absurd,” the judge wrote.