A 17-year-old mother has been arrested and charged with the murder of her newborn son.
Leticia Rodriguez of Marietta, Georgia was arrested after police were called to her family home on November 25th to investigate the possible death of a newborn after her uncle witnessed her digging a hole in the backyard in which to bury her son. When police arrived, they also witnessed her digging the hole.
The girl had apparently given birth to the full-term baby boy at home and alone, according to a Marietta Police Department press conference. She told police that she had used a “sharp knife” to cut the umbilical cord from her son’s neck, causing a “large laceration.” After giving birth and harming the infant, Rodriguez wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in a grocery bag for six hours, after which she was seen in the backyard digging the hole. Horrifically, according to the arrest warrant, she also admitted to cutting out the deceased baby’s heart.
Although it was not clear at first whether the infant was born alive and whether the first laceration was intentional and fatal, she has now been charged with aggravated assault with a weapon and felony murder, in addition to the initial charges of concealing a death, abuse of a dead body, and abandonment of a dead body.
READ: Staff rush to the aid of mother as she gives birth just outside hospital doors
Rodriguez received medical attention at a local hospital and was later booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where she is being held without bail.
“The family has been cooperative with us through this entire investigation, and certainly our hearts go out to them,” Public Information Officer Chuck McPhilamy of the Marietta Police said in the press conference. “I can’t imagine the trauma, we can’t imagine the trauma that they are going through facing now the reality of what has occurred, facing now the loss of a loved one as well as now all of the charges that one of their loved ones is facing.
“We have no idea what the motive is behind any of this. Certainly, this is a situation that defies logic. Asking me to explain a situation that defies logic is just impossible for me to even second guess.”
Although this case has its own horrific details, it is among several other cases in which teenage mothers furtively gave birth to and then killed their newborns. Last year a teen in Nebraska gave birth to a baby whom she fatally stabbed. As Live Action News reported, a 15-year-old panicked after she gave birth to a premature baby in a Houston apartment complex parking lot and put her baby outside, who later died.
Every single state in the US has Safe Haven or Baby Moses laws where a parent in a crisis situation can safely surrender their infants at a hospital, police, or fire station without penalties. These laws have saved thousands of lives, and continue to do so to this day. Most locations offer the ability to remain anonymous while safely surrendering a baby through a Safe Haven Baby Box. All of these are designed to prevent needless infant deaths and provide support to mothers – especially vulnerable teens – in crisis situations.
During the press conference, Officer McPhilamy was asked about community resources for teenagers in crisis pregnancy situations.
“There are a tremendous amount of faith-based organizations throughout our community, each of which would have anyone willing to help them,” McPhilamy said. “Also counseling services readily available throughout the area. Worst case scenario, contact our department, we will connect you with someone who can help you. We want you to have all the resources possible to protect you and your unborn child.”
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