Postmortem inconclusive on foetus found in New York teenager's bag

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/19/postmortem-foetus-teenager-bag-inconclusive

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A postmortem of a foetus found in a teenage girl's shopping bag at a New York lingerie store was inconclusive, and more tests will be needed to determine how the foetus died, the city medical examiner's office said on Friday.

The tests could take a couple of weeks as police continue to look into the macabre case.

Preliminary reports from detectives suggested the foetus was born alive and possibly had been asphyxiated, but chief New York police department spokesman John McCarthy said the case was still being investigated and that police were awaiting the medical examiners' determination of the cause of death.

The case began on Thursday when a security guard stopped Tiana Rodriguez and Francis Estevez, both 17, to examine their bags at a Victoria's Secret store in midtown Manhattan. The guard found the dead foetus in a bag Rodriguez was carrying, police said.

Rodriguez told detectives she was carrying the remains because she had delivered a day earlier and didn't know what to do, authorities said. Police believe Rodriguez delivered at Estevez's house.

Both girls were arrested on petty larceny charges. It was unclear whether either has a lawyer.

Rodriguez was taken to a hospital and remained there on Friday.

The teenagers have been identified because in New York older teens are treated as adults, and their cases are handled in criminal courts.

One of Rodriguez's neighbors, Zami Ford, told the Daily News she was unaware of the pregnancy and stunned by the allegations.

"She's a good girl," Ford told the newspaper. "I can't believe she would do that."

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