Authorities in New York have identified the teenager who gave birth inside the bathroom of an American Airlines plane on a connecting flight from Jamaica on Monday night, and abandoned the fetus inside the bathroom.
She was identified from seating information provided by the airline.
Media reports indicate that the teenager, her sister and other relatives were returning from a trip to Jamaica and had flown to Charlotte, North Carolina to take a connecting flight home to New York.
The reports said the young woman told authorities who are reportedly exploring whether she had visited Jamaica for an abortion that was ‘botched’, that she did not know she was pregnant. She reportedly said she had been feeling unwell for a few days before the incident.
American Airlines Flight 1942 landed at New York’s Laguardia Airport at 10:44 p.m. on Monday, and the teenager described rushing into one of the airplane’s bathrooms and proceeding to give birth to what appeared to be a three-month-old premature baby. She covered the fetus with paper towel then checked herself into Kings County Hospital.
The dead fetus was discovered early on Tuesday morning by a cleaning crew while the out-of-service jet was parked inside an airport hangar.
A law enforcement source was quoted as saying that investigators are looking into the possibility that the incident could have been caused by a “botched abortion” the teenager may have had in Jamaica.
No charges have yet been filed against the teen, as investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy which should reveal if the baby was born alive or dead.
