17-year old Tiona Rodriguez, who was recently found carrying a dead baby in her bag as she was shoplifting in Victoria's Secret has appeared in court.
Rodriguez, along with friend and accomplice Francis Estevez, appeared in the Manhattan Criminal Court. However, autopsy of the dead baby is inconclusive and does not reveal why the child died.
We previously reported, that a dead fetus was found inside the bag of Victoria's Secret shoplifter Tiona Rodriguez, who along with Estevez, was charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Rodriguez reportedly sat poker faced throughout the hearing pertaining to shoplifting in the courtroom on Saturday, October 19, and her face betrayed no trace of emotion or the angst of the ordeal of the past 48 hours.
Rodriguez allegedly shoplifted a $44.50 pair of skinny jeans from Victoria's Secret. The hearing did not mention the dead fetus of Rodriguez' newborn son which was discovered in the bag by baffled store security guards when they were searching it for stolen merchandize.
"I don't want to ignore the elephant in the room, but we are only arraigning the shoplifts," said Assistant District Attorney Robert Hettleman.
A contrast to Rodriguez' stoic stance was that of her co-defendant Estevez who is also 17. The girl embraced her inconsolable mother who was sobbing in the courtroom. After Judge Debra James released Estevez without bail, she jumped onto her parents' lap.
Rodriguez has not been charged with killing the 8 and 1/2 lb baby. Her lawyer said the district attorney had to bring more serious charges.
"Right now, there's no proof that she facilitated the death of the baby," said attorney Genay Ann Leitman. "She's a 17-year-old who just had a child die. It's pretty traumatic for anybody, kid or adult."
Rodriguez initially told cops she was 6 months pregnant when she had the miscarriage; however, autopsy results reveal that the baby boy was born alive and nearly full term at 8 months. However, the autopsy was inconclusive as to how the death of the baby occurred.
Police officers, however, are of the opinion that asphyxiation could be a possible cause for the baby's death and that Rodriguez gave birth in Estevez' home. The autopsy showed that oxygen had circulated through the fetus' lungs, stomach, small intestine and colon, according to a police source. Further investigations are on.
