As she lay dying from a gunshot wound, Mandi Mangas was able to identify her attacker and tell police he had taken her baby.

Mangas, who less than 24 hours earlier had announced on her Facebook page that she was in a new relationship, was shot inside her father's home in Delta, 48kms west of Toledo in Ohio. She had her baby, 10-month-old Winston, with her.

Police arrived at the home to find Mangas, a nursing student, with a gunshot wound to her chest.

"Where's Winston?' she repeatedly asked.

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"Her first thought was of her 10-month-old child, which led us to believe the child was not there," Delta Police Department Chief Nathaniel Hartsock told CBS News.

"We did search the house, and she did give us the name of Mr Ramey."

James Ramey, the 27-year-old father of Winston and Mandi's former boyfriend, had fired several shots into the house and forced Mandi's stepmother into his car before driving off with Winston.

Authorities issued an Amber Alert for Winston and about five hours later Ramey was arrested at a traffic stop 242km away in Fulton, Indiana.

Winston and Mangas' stepmother were also in the car, a black 2006 Chrysler Town and County mini-van.

"There were several calls that came in [from] people who had contact with Mr Ramey, so we were able to track him," said Hartsock.

"We did have multiple officers working. But if it wasn't for assisting agencies, this would have been this would have been a much slower process."

Detectives used mobile phone pings, together with tips from people who had contact with Ramey, to find the vehicle, which police stated Ramey had taken from a friend.

A friend of Mangas' said in a Facebook post that Ramey put a gun in Mangas' mouth when she was pregnant last year, heavy.com reported. The friend added that Ramey laughed as he was doing so.

WTOL reported that Mangas secured a protective order against Ramey last August. He was charged at the time with aggravated menacing. Ramey reportedly said that he was planning to kill Mangas in her sleep if she left him. He violated the order last month when he made contact with Mangas.

Ramey was taken to Fulton County Jail in Indiana, where he was interviewed by an FBI agent.

He then faced a judge in Fulton County, Indiana, and waived his rights and will be taken back to Ohio to be charged with aggravated murder. That is defined in Ohio as an "intentional, pre-planned, and premeditated act."

He could face the death penalty if he is found guilty. He is also to be charged with kidnapping.

Through tears, Mandi's father Mike Mangas said he was proud that her last thoughts and worries were with her son. Through the shock and grief of his daughter's death, Mike is relieved that his wife and grandson were found unharmed.