A woman is on trial for smothering her baby then carrying the child's body in her purse as she went shipping in Victoria's Secret.
21-year-old Tiona Rodriguez gave birth when she was just 17. The baby was born in a friend's bathroom in New York. After the birth, Tiona stuffed the body into her purse and brought it along as she shopped for sexy lingerie at Manhattan’s Victoria’s Secret. She was caught when security guards at the shop noticed a bad smell coming from her bag after suspecting her of shoplifting. A search produced the baby's corpse.
Rodriguez was charged with murder after prosecutors found Facebook messages to a friend in which she callously talked about the child's death.
The message read: "Take this s*** and dig a hole, put it somewhere, lol, then we go eat [pancakes]."
She faced life in prison if convicted. But she pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter under extreme emotional disturbance and was jailed for 16 years.
During the trial it was revealed that this was Tiona’s third pregnancy. She gave birth to her first baby at the age of 14.
Her defense attorney, Julie Rendelmen, told the press: "People look at her and think she’s so evil, but there is so much more to this young woman than these incredibly horrible moments in her life. She was feeling incredible pressure and incredible feelings of inadequacy."
