Cops: Woman Died Hiding Triplet Pregnancy
Updated at 3:06 p.m. ET
A Connecticut woman managed to hide from her boyfriend and family members that she was carrying triplets, then bled to death while delivering the full-term but stillborn babies in her home, officials said Wednesday.
Shelton police detective Ben Trabka said he believes 26-year-old Victoria Hope denied being pregnant and instead gave medical reasons "why she had put on weight."
Hope did not disclose her pregnancy to anyone police spoke to, including her boyfriend - the father of her children - Trabka said. The father suspected she was pregnant but she denied it, and police do not know why she hid her condition.
It wasn't clear whether the woman knew she was carrying triplets before giving birth Tuesday. Her father, William Hope, acknowledged Wednesday that his daughter was "big" and said he doesn't know why she hid her pregnancy.
"That's going to be the question we'll never have an answer for," he said.
The cause of death was loss of blood during unattended childbirth, the chief medical examiner's office said Wednesday. The three babies were stillborn.
CBS News affiliate WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn., reports that Hope's parents said they noticed their daughter had gained weight, but Hope blamed it on a cyst on her ovary. Police told WFSB-TV there was no cyst and the medical condition was made up.
The woman's mother found her daughter and the triplets and called police, authorities said. The woman and babies were dead when police arrived; police said it appeared the triplets were carried to full term.
Frances Hope, who with her husband lived with their daughter and her family, said she suspected her daughter was pregnant but did not know for sure. She said she did not know how far along her daughter was in her pregnancy.
Foul play is not suspected, Trabka said. Victoria Hope and her boyfriend also have a 6-year-old son, as well as a 2-year-old daughter, who was at home in a crib when the woman died, he said.
"It's sad," Trabka said. It's a real tragedy."