NEW YORK - It was supposed to be homecoming day for little Anthony Rojas. Instead, authorities say, his mother left the hospital with the newborn, suffocated him with his blue blanket and dumped his body in a trash can on the street.
Lucila Rojas, 25, of the Bronx, was charged with murder on Tuesday in the death of her 2-week-old son.
She allegedly told authorities the baby was conceived as the result of her being raped in Mexico and that now “the baby will sleep forever.”
Police were looking for Anthony's body in two Pennsylvania landfills where New York City's garbage is routinely taken.
Anthony was born on Dec. 17 at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, according to Lt. Anthony Mottola of New York Police Department.
Rojas got out of the hospital on Dec. 20. But Anthony had to stay, because he was born prematurely.
On New Year's Eve day, Rojas came back to take Anthony home.
Rojas boarded a bus with the baby to Jackson Heights, Queens. “Somewhere along the way the child passed away,” said Mottola. Authorities allege that's because the blanket was placed over his face to prevent him from breathing.
When Rojas got off the bus at 98th Street and Northern Boulevard, she placed Anthony's naked body in a plastic bag, threw it away, and went to her relatives' home nearby, authorities said. She said the baby was blue and not breathing at the time she discarded him.
Later, she reported the baby missing. She told police that she had gone back to the hospital again Monday for a checkup and was standing outside when a man dressed in black had pressed a gun into her back and abducted the baby.
Police became suspicious because the details changed as they continued to question her. She later admitted that he left the child in the trash in Queens, authorities said. Police have recovered the infant's blue blanket in a baby carrier.
She was charged with intentional murder, as well as tampering with physical evidence, endangering the welfare of a child and failing to provide a decent burial.
“The defendant's alleged suffocation of her innocent and helpless child was both heartless and heartbreaking,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “Particularly when one considers that the child, who had been born prematurely, was given the best medical care in the world in order to have the opportunity of a full and rewarding life.”
She allegedly told authorities the baby was conceived as the result of her being raped in Mexico and that now “the baby will sleep forever.”
Police were looking for Anthony's body in two Pennsylvania landfills where New York City's garbage is routinely taken.
Anthony was born on Dec. 17 at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, according to Lt. Anthony Mottola of New York Police Department.
Rojas got out of the hospital on Dec. 20. But Anthony had to stay, because he was born prematurely.
On New Year's Eve day, Rojas came back to take Anthony home.
Rojas boarded a bus with the baby to Jackson Heights, Queens. “Somewhere along the way the child passed away,” said Mottola. Authorities allege that's because the blanket was placed over his face to prevent him from breathing.
When Rojas got off the bus at 98th Street and Northern Boulevard, she placed Anthony's naked body in a plastic bag, threw it away, and went to her relatives' home nearby, authorities said. She said the baby was blue and not breathing at the time she discarded him.
Later, she reported the baby missing. She told police that she had gone back to the hospital again Monday for a checkup and was standing outside when a man dressed in black had pressed a gun into her back and abducted the baby.
Police became suspicious because the details changed as they continued to question her. She later admitted that he left the child in the trash in Queens, authorities said. Police have recovered the infant's blue blanket in a baby carrier.
She was charged with intentional murder, as well as tampering with physical evidence, endangering the welfare of a child and failing to provide a decent burial.
“The defendant's alleged suffocation of her innocent and helpless child was both heartless and heartbreaking,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “Particularly when one considers that the child, who had been born prematurely, was given the best medical care in the world in order to have the opportunity of a full and rewarding life.”
