Arraignment Postponed In Kennewick Baby Case

KENNEWICK, Wash. — The arraignment of a woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and cutting out her baby has been postponed until next week in Benton County Superior Court in Kennewick.

Judge Robert Swisher approved the postponement Wednesday to probably July 9th at the request of defense lawyer Christopher Swaby. He says the case should be handled by a lawyer with death penalty experience.

Prosecutor Andy Miller says he has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty against the woman who remains jailed without bail.

The 23-year-old Kennewick woman, Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong faces an aggravated murder charge in the stabbing death Friday of a 27-year-old Pasco woman, Araceli Camacho Gomez.

Kennewick police arrested 23-year-old Sisouvanh after the body of a woman was found in Columbia Park and a newborn baby had been cut from the woman’s womb.

Kennewick police booked Sisouvanh into the Benton County Jail Saturday for investigation of first-degree murder . Investigators say they believe no one else was involved in the case.

Authorities Sisouvanh called 911 to say she had given birth and didn’t think the baby was alive.

Paramedics took the baby and the woman to the hospital and found that woman had not recently given birth.

A few hours later they found the baby’s mother in the park early Saturday.

The woman’s hands and feet were bound with yarn and her uterus showed signs her baby had been removed. The 28-year-old murder victim, identified as Araceli Camacho Gomez, was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. An autopsy revealed she had been stabbed in the chest multiple times and her unborn baby had

Gomez’s baby is still in “critical” condition at Deaconess Medical Center.  A fund has been set up for the family.

American West Bank. Donations can be made at any branch to the Gomez Benevolent Account, or mailed to 3945 W. Court St., Pasco, 99301.