A District of Columbia woman working to join the Catholic church as a nun has been charged with smothering and killing her newborn son.
26-year-old Sosefina Amoa had her child Oct. 10 in her bedroom at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home, according to police who spoke with the Associated Press. Fearing that fellow nuns would hear the newborn crying and find out she'd lied about engaging in sexual intercourse, Amoa smothered the child by putting a piece of wool clothing over the newborn's mouth and nose. The next day, she and another nun stored the child's remains in a small black bag and took the body to a hospital.
When law enforcement officials interrogated Amoa when she got to the hospital, they found clothing dotted with blood, along with traces of blood in the convent room where she was staying, the Associated Press reported. Amoa was charged with first degree murder on Wednesday, following an autopsy report that deemed the death a homicide by asphyxiation.
The nuns at Little Sisters of the Poor released a statement saying that they were praying for everyone who was affected by the event.
"We all feel that this is a tragic situation," Sister Constance Veit, communications director at Little Sisters of the Poor, told the Associated Press.
Amoa first told police that she didn't know she was pregnant at first, but that she'd noticed something was wrong when she saw excessive bleeding coming from her body. Amoa then said she kept her sexual activity secret from the convent, and that after the child stopped breathing, she briefly thought about putting it in the trash, but decided not to.
Another nun at the convent said Amoa showed her the baby that she named Joseph, and said she'd found the child outside. Amoa later let her know that the child was hers, and police reported to the Associated Press that the duo brought the remains to the hospital.
