Mom Pleads Guilty To Killing Baby, Taking Body To Midtown Store

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A young mother pleaded guilty to killing her newborn child and taking the body into a Midtown Manhattan store, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced.

Tiona Rodriguez, 21, pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter, prosecutors said. She was arrested in October of 2013 after the body of a dead baby was found in her bag as she was stopped by security at the Herald Square location of Victoria's Secret, prosecutors said.

Rodriguez had given birth to the baby boy one day prior to her arrest in her friend's Queens apartment, prosecutors said. The New York City chief medical examiner ruled that the infant’s death was caused by homicidal asphyxiation, prosecutors said.

"Tiona Rodriguez deliberately and intentionally killed her defenseless newborn child," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement. "While today’s plea cannot bring back the life that was so abruptly ended, it is a just end to this tragedy."

Rodriguez is set to be sentenced on Feb. 6, prosecutors said.

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