MARIETTA, Ga. (WANF/Gray News) – Police in Georgia say a 17-year-old mother is facing charges after she was allegedly spotted digging a hole in her backyard for the purpose of burying her dead newborn.
Marietta Police say officers responded to a home around 3 p.m. Sunday after receiving reports of a possible “newborn infant” death. When officers arrived, they found a baby dead at the home, WANF reports.
Investigators worked through the night conducting interviews and collecting evidence. They say the baby’s mother, 17-year-old Leticia Rodriguez, was arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Police say Rodriguez was seen digging a hole in the backyard six hours after giving birth to a little boy. Her uncle witnessed the backyard digging and called the police.
“We did discover the mother of the deceased infant digging a hole in the backyard in an attempt to create that situation. The infant was never actually buried,” said Marietta Police Public Information Officer Chuck McPhilamy.
Investigators say once Rodriguez is discharged from the hospital, she will be booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where she will be held without bond on felony charges of concealing a death, abuse of a dead body and abandonment of a dead body.
Neighbor Theresa Neill was shocked to see the scene outside her window Monday morning.
“I kept getting up and looking out the window. There was one or two people going through the house and scouring the house. So, it’s really frightening when something like that shows up,” Neill said. “It shocks me. I mean, it really shocks me. There are a lot of children that play in the neighborhood, and it just really pains me to think something like that happened.”
Neill lives directly across the street from where the baby was found and hopes more answers surface.
“I’ve been here 30 years, and nothing like that’s happened in this neighborhood, as far as I know,” she said. “It’s just sad that something like that has shown up, and my heart goes out to anyone who loses children.”
Officials say additional charges are possible once the medical examiner determines the infant’s exact cause of death.
“The medical examiner has the deceased infant, and it will be up to them to determine was this infant born alive or not, was the infant viable or not, what is the exact age and what is the cause of death,” McPhilamy said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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