Arguing against bail, Ms Ferrari painted a more sinister portrait of Rodriguez, saying she not only plotted the killing weeks in advance, but also stopped off at Victoria’s Secret on the way to dispose of the body.
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Prosecutors revealed Rodriguez had been pregnant twice before and was “well-versed” in hiding her pregnancies and childbirth. When security searched her bag after the theft, they sadly discovered the deceased infant. According to the AP, Rodriguez’s indictment came nearly two years after she was arrested on a $45 (£28.85) shoplifting charge. She’s now facing one felony count of murder in the second degree.
A grand jury voted to indict the teen, who is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has been investigating the incident ever since – although the baby’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office past year. The prosecutor said Rodriguez send a text message where she used a vulgarity to describe her son, adding she would “dig a hole” and “put it somewhere”. Security noticed a foul odor and thought she were acting suspicious, which led to the discovery of the baby’s body.
Rodriguez’s first child, now a four-year-old boy, is being raised by her mother, Ms Marissa Rodriguez, in the family’s apartment in the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn.
But defence lawyer Earl Ward said Rodriguez hadn’t realised she was pregnant.
He said his client was a “confused young girl who had no idea what to do with the fetus that was stillborn”, the Daily News reported.
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After having her now 4-year-old son – a pregnancy unknown to her family until she went into labour – Rodriguez delivered again in 2012, Ms Ferrari said. Ward said air in the boy’s lungs could have been a byproduct of decomposing after death.
