The baby born in the bathroom of a sprawling Long Island mansion and then allegedly killed by her mother, the housekeeper, had three skull fractures, prosecutors said Friday.
The maid accused of killing her newborn girl pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder Friday. Her lawyer, Michael Brown, said the baby was premature and stillborn, and said she did not kill her child.
The woman's lawyer and husband said she had been raped about seven months ago when she came to the U.S. illegally from Honduras.
A prosecutor confirmed that investigators were looking into the rape claim. Authorities allege the baby was alive when it was born in the bathroom of the home on Shoal Drive in West Islip early Sunday.
The skull fractures indicate the baby was either hit with an object or its head was smashed against something, prosecutor Glenn Kurtzrock said.
Prosecutors allege she killed the child, placed it in a plastic bag and called her husband, who allegedly did not know she was pregnant.
At the hospital, she told him the bag was garbage and that he should throw it away, Kurtzrock said. That's when he looked in the bag and saw the baby.
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--Greg Cergol contributed to this story
