Killer Who Cut Baby From Teen's Womb Gets 50 Years: Reports

ILLINOIS — The woman who strangled a young expectant mother and cut her baby from her womb was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, ABC Chicago reported.

Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, 19, was found dead in May 2019 after authorities say she was lured to Clarisa Figueroa's home after the two exchanged messages on a "Help A Mother Out" Facebook group.

Authorities said Figueroa, then 46, had posted on Facebook claiming to be pregnant and due in May, even though she had already had her tubes tied.

Police said Figueroa offered Ochoa-Lopez, a married mother of a 3-year-old son, a stroller and baby clothes, and lured the teen to her Chicago home.

The same day Ochoa-Lopez went missing, neighbors said Clarisa Figueroa came out of her West 77th Street home screaming and holding a newborn baby, saying that the baby boy was her own and that he wasn't breathing.

The baby boy, Yovanny Yadiel Lopez, died after spending several weeks on life support. Authorities said Figueroa even posted a GoFundMe campaign for funeral costs for the baby.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services later conducted an investigation of Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, where officials said staff failed to alert police or DCFS after determining Figueroa had not just given birth to the baby boy, as she claimed. Prosecutors said that when Figueroa was brought with the baby to the hospital, she had blood on her upper body and her face, which a hospital employee cleaned off. They also say Figueroa was examined at the hospital and showed no physical signs of childbirth.

Figueroa was not arrested until three weeks later, when the body of Ochoa-Lopez was found in a trash bin.

Figueroa's daughter, Desiree, then 24, confessed to police that she helped her mother kill Ochoa-Lopez and pleaded guilty this week to murder.

Figueroa's then-boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, then 40, pleaded guilty to concealing the murder and was released on parole last year, ABC reported. He was deported after he was released from prison, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Bobak told police that Ochoa-Lopez had visited Figueroa's home previously, on April 1, 2019, but that Desiree initially refused to help her mother kill the pregnant woman, and that he threatened to call the police, so Figueroa let Ochoa-Lopez leave unharmed, according to ABC.

But Ochoa-Lopez returned to the home April 23, where prosecutors said Figueroa distracted her by showing her a photo album containing photos of her deceased son. As she looked at the photos, officials say Figueroa wrapped a cable around her neck and strangled her, with daughter Desiree helping pry Ochoa-Lopez's fingers off the cable, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Prosecutors said Figueroa then cut baby Yovanny from Ochoa-Lopez's body before wrapping the body in a plastic bag and moving it to a trash can on the side of the house before calling 911 to report that the baby was not breathing.

Figueroa, now 51, is required to serve 100 percent of her sentence.

Related coverage:

• Christ Hospital Investigated After Treating Baby Stolen From Womb
• GoFundMe Launched For Family Of Slain Pregnant Teen Marlen Ochoa
• Expectant Mom, 19, Was Lured On Social Media
• Mother, Daughter Killed Pregnant Woman, Took Baby From Womb: Cops
• DCFS, Police Not Alerted To Early Clues In Fetal Abduction Case
• Mural Painted In Honor Of Marlen Ochoa