HILLSBORO, Oregon (AP) – Korena Roberts sifted through her neighbour’s rummage sale until she pulled out an item that caught her eye: a blue stroller decorated with teddy bears.

Her neighbour, Wendy Pursinger, asked why she needed it. Roberts’ two children had long outgrown being pushed in a baby carriage.

“I’m pregnant, of course,” Roberts told Pursinger.

Police now say Roberts’ pregnancy story was likely false, a cover story, and that the 27-year-old cut open her pregnant friend’s abdomen to take her baby and pass it off as her own. The body of Heather Snively, 21, was found Friday in a crawl space of Roberts’ suburban Hillsboro home. The infant also died.

Roberts was charged with murder in Snively’s death, and was under a suicide watch yesterday at the Washington County jail in Hillsboro. She has not yet entered a plea. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.

The grand jury has a Monday deadline to indict Roberts.

Authorities had not determined whether the infant was alive when he was removed – a distinction that could mean the difference between holding Roberts responsible for his death or not.

Robert’s story was inconsistent: Sometimes she told people she was pregnant with one baby. Other times it was twins. She even put a crib together on her front lawn and placed an ad on Craigslist looking for baby clothes.

It was on the online classified site where Roberts and the young mother-to-be met a few weeks ago, Snively’s family says. Police were trying to confirm that.

Investigators said they believe that Roberts may have contacted “numerous” pregnant women in the Portland metro area and have asked the public for help.

Craiglist was old hat for Snively.

“Heather’s Number 1 thing to do was be on the computer,” said Sandy Carson, a neighbour back when Snively was living in Maryland. “She sold so many things off Craigslist.”

She also always had her hand on her belly as she waited for the birth of her first son, who she planned to name John Stephen.

Few details about Roberts have emerged. Documents filed with the state Division of Child Support show she worked briefly over the past few years, including stints with a temporary employment agency, Macy’s, Michaels Stores and FedEx.

By most accounts, Snively was a naive young woman.

“But you couldn’t hold that against her,” Carson says. “She could make friends with anybody. She was a very trusting person.”

Neighbours say they saw the two women at Roberts’ house more than a couple times during the past few weeks.

When police arrived at that home Friday, they found a floor slick with blood and a man – Roberts’ boyfriend – trying to revive a lifeless baby boy.

Emergency workers took Roberts and the child to the hospital. Doctors weren’t able to save the baby, and they could tell that Roberts hadn’t given birth.

Although police aren’t saying whether she really is pregnant, Washington County District Attorney Bob Hermann said investigators are working under the presumption that she is not.

Police went back to Roberts’ home and found Snively’s body.