The daughter of a woman accused of killing a pregnant teen and cutting her unborn child out of the womb has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against her mother.
Desiree Figueroa agreed to a plea deal that will send her to prison for 30 years in the murder of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez in 2019, the Chicago Sun-Times. The baby, Jovanny Jadiel Lopez, died two months later from brain damage he suffered when he was ripped from his mother’s womb.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Figuero and her mother, Clarisa Figueroa, were accused of luring Ochoa-Lopez to their home under the guise of giving her baby clothes. The reportedly met on a Facebook group for new and expecting mothers.
Clarisa’s boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, was charged with helping to conceal Ochoa-Lopez’s murder. Ochoa-Lopez’s body was reportedly discovered in a trash can in Clarisa’s backyard.
Denisa Figueroa, 29, has told detetives that she pried Ochoa-Lopez’s fingers off the coaxial cable her mother used to strangle her and then brought her a kitchen knife to cut open the teen’s abdomen.
Prosecutors say the two women plotted the murder for weeks. Denise Figueroa told her boyfriend that her mother asked for her help “killing a pregnant woman and taking her baby” before April 2019. On April 1, they invited Ochoa-Lopez over to give her free baby clothes. Denise Figueroa’s boyfriend was present, and he said the Figueroas were “acting weird,” prompting him to tell his girlfriend he would call police if anything happened to her.
Ochoa-Lopez went home safely, and the Figueroas told the boyfriend it was an April Fool’s joke. But three weeks later, Ochoa-Lopez was back, and Clarisa Figueroa killed her.
The mother put the teen’s body in a plastic bag and then into a trash can outside and called 911 to say she had just given birth but the baby wasn’t breathing. The baby was taken to a hospital and put on life support, while a GoFundMe page began raising money for the baby boy’s expected funeral.
Police visited Clarisa Figueroa’s home and found her boyfriend, Pietr Bobak, hosing off a bleach-soaked rug. He pleaded guilty to concealing a murder and was sentenced to four years in prison.
DNA eventually identified the baby boy.
Clarisa Figueroa has pleaded not guilty, and her trial is set to begin January 26.
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[Featured image: Clarisa Figueroa; Marlen Ochoa-Lopez/Facebook; Jovanny Jadiel Lopez/Facebook]
