A baby that was found dead in a bag carried by a teenage mother at a Victoria's Secret died from homicidal asphyxia, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced Tuesday.
The mother, 17-year-old Tiona Rodriguez, was arrested last October after a security guard stopped her on suspicion of shoplifting at the Victoria's Secret in Manhattan's Herald Square.
The baby, a boy, weighed a little over 8 pounds and was one day old when he died, the medical examiner's office said, WABC-TV reported.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office did not offer a comment as to whether or not the charges against Rodriguez would be amended to include murder, the New York Daily News reported. But the office did say last year that it would consider more charges depending on the manner of the situation, according to WABC-TV.
Rodriguez faced charges of misdemeanor shoplifting for the 2013 incident.
Rodriguez was with a friend at the 34th Street Victoria's Secret on Oct. 17 when a security guard stopped them at around 1:30 p.m. The guard thought Rodriguez was trying to steal a pair of $44.50 skinny jeans, the Daily News reported.
The guard noticed a stench emanating from the Rodriguez's bag and looked inside to find the body of a dead baby.
Rodriguez, who also has a 2-year-old son, told police at the time that she had been six months pregnant when she had a miscarriage, NBC News reported. An autopsy on the baby at the time was inconclusive.
The teenager told the Daily News she did not know the medical examiner ruled the baby's death a homicide.
"I had no idea," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also told the newspaper that she cannot comment on what happened to the baby.
"I have no idea what happened. I'm not allowed to speak," she said.
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