A Chicago woman has plead guilty to first-degree murder after authorities said she helped her mother kill a pregnant woman whose baby was cut from her womb.
Desiree Figueroa entered a plea that requires she testify against her mother, Clarisa Figueroa, whose trial is scheduled to start later this month. The plea deal calls for Desiree Figueroa to receive 30 years in prison.
Prosecutors have said Clarisa Figueroa strangled 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez with a cable on April 23, 2019 after she was lured to the Figueroas’ home with the promise of free clothing for her unborn child. Ochoa-Lopez was nine months pregnant. Clarisa Figueroa then called 911, saying she given birth and the child was not breathing.
Marlen Ochoa-Lopez was killed in April 2019 and her baby was cut from her womb.
Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter Desiree Figueroa are accused of strangling the pregnant 19-year-old woman and cutting out her unborn child. The baby, Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, died months later, in June 2019.
Prosecutors said Clarisa Figueroa’s alleged murder plot began in late 2018 when she claimed to be pregnant. She posted pictures of ultrasounds online, even though she wasn’t actually expecting a baby.
Follow LifeNews on the MeWe social media network for the latest pro-life news free from Facebook’s censorship!
The charade reached its horrific conclusion in April of 2019 when — with the help of her 24-year-old daughter — she lured Ochoa-Lopez to her Scottsdale neighborhood home, strangled her and cut her baby from the womb.
Ochoa-Lopez had been responding to a Facebook ad for free baby clothes, prosecutors said.
Authorities said not long after Clarisa Figueroa’s adult son died of natural causes, she told her family she was pregnant. They say she plotted for months to acquire a newborn, and that she posted an ultrasound and photos of a room decorated for a baby on her Facebook page. In March 2019, she and Ochoa-Lopez connected on a Facebook page for pregnant women
Detectives investigating Ochoa-Lopez’ disappearance learned that she had gone to the Figueroas’ home. Two weeks after her disappearance, police found her car parked nearby and were told by Desiree Figueroa that Clarisa Figueroa recently had given birth.
DNA tests later determined the child was not Clarisa Figueroa’s.
Ochoa-Lopez’s body was found in a garbage can outside the home.
Clarisa Figueroa tricked her boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, into believing he was the father, according to police and prosecutors.
Bobak cleaned up the crime scene and was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty last year to obstruction of justice.
