Pregnant woman slain, baby cut from her womb

Associated Press

CHICAGO

A Chicago woman who sold baby clothes to a pregnant woman and lured her back to her house with an offer of more clothing has been charged with murder after allegedly strangling the woman with a cord and cutting the infant from her womb, police said Thursday.

Clarisa Figueroa, 46, apparently wanted to raise another child two years after her adult son died of natural causes, investigators said.

“Words cannot express how disgusting and thoroughly disturbing these allegations are,” Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters at a news conference to announce the murder charges against Figueroa and her 24-year-old daughter, Desiree Figueroa. The mother’s boyfriend, 40-year-old Piotr Bobak, was charged with concealment of a homicide.

The charges come three weeks after 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez disappeared and a day after her body was discovered in a garbage can in the backyard of Figueroa’s home on the city’s Southwest Side, about 4 miles from her own home.

According to police, the young woman drove from her high school to Figueroa’s home in response to an offer of free clothes that Figueroa had posted on Facebook. When she arrived, police said, she was strangled and the baby cut from her body.

A few hours later, Figueroa frantically called 911, claiming that her newborn baby was not breathing. When first responders arrived, the child was blue. They tried to resuscitate the infant and transported the boy to a nearby hospital, where police said he remained in grave condition and was not expected to survive.

Ochoa-Lopez’s family had been looking for her since her disappearance April 23, organizing search parties and holding news conferences as they pushed police for updates in the investigation.

Her father, Arnulfo Ochoa, said relatives were grateful to have found her. Now they want justice.

The family was also bracing for the baby’s death, while still hoping for a miracle.