Trial after fetus cut from mother's womb
Source: Agencies |
October 12, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A WOMAN who faked a pregnancy and panicked as her supposed due date approached attacked a pregnant mother with a baseball bat and cut her full-term fetus from her womb, killing the mother and the baby, according to US court documents.
Annette Morales-Rodriguez, 33, in Wisconsin of United States, is accused of first-degree intentional homicide while armed, and first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child while armed, following the death of Maritza Ramirez-Cruz and the boy she was set to deliver the following week. Morales-Rodriguez faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.
She made a brief court appearance on Monday, standing silent as her bail was set at US$1 million.
Morales-Rodriguez is alleged to have told detectives her boyfriend wanted a son but she could not get pregnant. Nonetheless, she said she was pregnant and started to grow desperate as her due date approached.
She is said to have told investigators she spotted 23-year-old Ramirez-Cruz and offered her a lift. She took the woman to her home and bludgeoned her with a baseball bat before strangling her.
Morales-Rodriguez is alleged to have taped Ramirez-Cruz's feet and hands and taped over her mouth and nose before cutting her open with a knife.
But the baby was not breathing, and Morales-Rodriguez dragged Ramirez-Cruz's body to the basement and smeared her blood around her own thighs to fake bleeding from a stillbirth.
She and the baby were taken to hospital, but an autopsy the next day revealed the child was not the product of a natural birth.
Annette Morales-Rodriguez, 33, in Wisconsin of United States, is accused of first-degree intentional homicide while armed, and first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child while armed, following the death of Maritza Ramirez-Cruz and the boy she was set to deliver the following week. Morales-Rodriguez faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.
She made a brief court appearance on Monday, standing silent as her bail was set at US$1 million.
Morales-Rodriguez is alleged to have told detectives her boyfriend wanted a son but she could not get pregnant. Nonetheless, she said she was pregnant and started to grow desperate as her due date approached.
She is said to have told investigators she spotted 23-year-old Ramirez-Cruz and offered her a lift. She took the woman to her home and bludgeoned her with a baseball bat before strangling her.
Morales-Rodriguez is alleged to have taped Ramirez-Cruz's feet and hands and taped over her mouth and nose before cutting her open with a knife.
But the baby was not breathing, and Morales-Rodriguez dragged Ramirez-Cruz's body to the basement and smeared her blood around her own thighs to fake bleeding from a stillbirth.
She and the baby were taken to hospital, but an autopsy the next day revealed the child was not the product of a natural birth.
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