In April 2019, Clarisa Figueroa, a Chicago woman who had been pretending to be pregnant, fatally strangled Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, a 19-year-old pregnant teenager, and removed the baby from her body in hopes of passing him off as her own. Ms. Figueroa was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder. The baby later died, leaving the victim’s husband, Yovanny Lopez, widowed and without a son. Mr. Lopez expressed the agony of holding his infant son for the last time during the court proceedings.
Ms. Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree Figueroa, were arrested in May 2019 after investigators found Ms. Ochoa-Lopez’s remains in a garbage bag in Ms. Figueroa’s garage, following the teenager’s family reporting her missing. It was revealed that Ms. Figueroa had known Ms. Ochoa-Lopez and had lured her into her home by pretending to offer free baby clothes on a Facebook group page for expecting mothers. Ms. Figueroa had been pretending to be pregnant and had deceived many, even going as far as posting fake nursery photos and claiming she planned to name her baby Xander.
To carry out the gruesome act of killing Ms. Ochoa-Lopez and stealing her baby, Ms. Figueroa enlisted the help of her daughter, Desiree. They initially planned to kill her on April 1, 2019, but the plan was thwarted. However, they succeeded on April 23, when they strangled Ms. Ochoa-Lopez, removed the fetus, and called 911 pretending that Ms. Figueroa had just given birth to the baby. The deception continued in the following weeks, with Ms. Figueroa creating a GoFundMe fundraiser and lying about the baby’s origins while the child was in critical condition at the hospital. The baby later died, leading to suspicions by medical staff that prompted an investigation.
Investigators found Ms. Ochoa-Lopez’s remains in Ms. Figueroa’s home during a search on May 14, leading to the arrest of Ms. Figueroa, her daughter, and her boyfriend, Piotr Bobak. DNA tests revealed that Ms. Figueroa was not the baby’s mother, confirming the baby’s true parents as Ms. Ochoa-Lopez and Mr. Lopez. Mr. Bobak pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for his role in cleaning the murder scene and was sentenced to four years in prison. Desiree Figueroa pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years in January.
The case of Clarisa Figueroa’s murder of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez shocked the community and left a family devastated. The heinous act of killing a pregnant teenager and attempting to pass off her baby as her own has resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for Ms. Figueroa. The ripple effects of this tragedy not only affected the victim’s family but also the Figueroa family, who are now facing their own consequences for their roles in the crime. The case serves as a chilling reminder of the depths of human depravity and the devastating impact it can have on all those involved.
