Clarisa Figueroa, a Chicago woman who killed a pregnant teenager, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, and attempted to pass the baby off as her own, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. In April 2019, Figueroa strangled Ochoa-Lopez, who was eight months pregnant, and cut the baby from her body in hopes of raising him as her own. The baby eventually died, leaving Ochoa-Lopez’s husband, Yovanny Lopez, widowed and without his son.
Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree Figueroa, were arrested after investigators found Ochoa-Lopez’s remains in a garbage bag in Figueroa’s garage. Ochoa-Lopez had gone missing, and her family had reported her disappearance. The two women had met on a Facebook group page for expecting mothers, where Figueroa had falsely claimed to be pregnant and had planned to name her baby Xander. This deception had begun in late 2018 after the death of Figueroa’s son and came as a surprise to her daughter, as Figueroa had previously undergone a tubal ligation.
To carry out the murder and theft of the baby, Figueroa enlisted the help of her daughter. They initially planned to kill Ochoa-Lopez on April 1, 2019, but the plan was thwarted by Desiree’s boyfriend. However, they succeeded in murdering Ochoa-Lopez on April 23, when Figueroa strangled her in the living room with a cable, while her daughter subdued her. They then removed the fetus, a boy, from her abdomen and called 911, claiming Figueroa had given birth to a baby who was not breathing.
Paramedics took Figueroa and the baby to the hospital, where suspicions arose about the legitimacy of the birth. Figueroa continued to claim the baby as her own and set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to support him. However, a DNA test confirmed that Figueroa was not the mother, and the baby’s parents were Ochoa-Lopez and Lopez. The trio was taken into custody, with Figueroa’s boyfriend also facing charges for his involvement in cleaning the murder scene.
In court, Lopez spoke of the agony of holding his infant son during his last moments, while Figueroa’s daughter, Desiree, pleaded guilty to murder and received a sentence of 30 years in prison. Figueroa’s boyfriend pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to four years in prison. The case shocked the community and left a family devastated by the loss of both Ochoa-Lopez and her baby. Figueroa’s sentencing marks the end of a tragic and horrifying five-year ordeal that continues to haunt those involved.
