Daughter Helped Mother Cut Baby From Murdered Pregnant Woman’s Body: Prosecutors
A mother and daughter worked together to strangle a Chicago woman who was 9 months pregnant and cut the baby from her body, prosecutors alleged in court documents Friday.
Three people are charged after 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez’s body was found Wednesday at the residence of Clarisa Figueroa, 46, according to the documents. Ochoa-Lopez went missing April 23 after going to Figueroa’s residence thinking she was going to be given free baby clothes, her family said.
Figueroa and her 24-year-old daughter Desiree Figueroa are charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child. Desiree Figueroa made “a full video-recorded confession,” prosecutors said.
Clarisa Figueroa’s boyfriend Peter Bobak, whose first name is spelled “Piotr” by some outlets, is charged with concealment of a homicidal death.
Clarisa Figueroa, Desiree Figueroa and Piotr Bobak were charged Thursday afternoon in the death of pregnant teenager Marlen Ochoa, whose body was discovered in a garbage can and her baby cut out of her womb.https://t.co/BgHMELZTMT pic.twitter.com/BuWH6mf4hg
— CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) May 16, 2019
Prosecutors allege that Clarisa Figueroa planned out how she would kill a pregnant woman and take her baby at least weeks before carrying out her scheme. Clarisa Figueroa had claimed she was pregnant since December 2018, even though her tubes had been tied. She made a Facebook post on March 5, 2019, saying she had decided to name the baby Xander — the same name as her 20-year-old son who died in 2018 of natural causes, prosecutors said.
Clarisa Figueroa convinced Desiree Figueroa to help her with her plan to murder Ochoa-Lopez, whom she had met through a Facebook group, according to prosecutors’ claims. Clarisa Figueroa lured Ochoa-Lopez to her residence and attempted to strangle her while Desiree Figueroa distracted the victim with a photo album of Xander, prosecutors said.
When Ochoa-Lopez was able to fight back and use her fingers to keep the cable from cutting off her ability to breathe, Desiree Figueroa “began to peel the [victim’s] fingers from the cable one by one,” prosecutors alleged.
Then the mother and daughter hid Ochoa-Lopez’s body in a trash can on the side of their garage after using a butcher knife to slice the unborn baby from Ochoa-Lopez’s stomach, prosecutors said.
Clarisa Figueroa then called 911 and claimed she had just given birth to the baby, who was rushed to the hospital by first responders. Clarisa Figueroa was examined but found to exhibit no signs of a woman who had just given birth. Blood from Ochoa-Lopez was on her face, arms and hands but was cleaned off by an obstetric technician who attended to her, prosecutors said.
While Ochoa-Lopez’s family searched for her, Clarisa Figueroa created a GoFundMe page for herself and the hospitalized baby that Bobak also posted on his Facebook, prosecutors said.
Authorities went to search Figueroa’s residence on May 14 and found Bobak “cleaning a rug outside with bleach and a hose,” prosecutors said. They found Ochoa-Lopez’s body still in the trash can on the property.
The baby “is currently in grave condition and has zero brain activity,” according to prosecutors’ documents.
Ochoa-Lopez is also named as Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui in some court documents.
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