Suspects related to 19-year-old pregnant woman murder case were arrested on Thursday, 16th May from Chicago. A mother and daughter were arrested on suspicion of strangling the mother-to-be to death.
Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and daughter Desiree, 24, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery who allegedly called Marlen Ochoa-Lopez to their home and strangled her to death before forcibly removed the baby out of her womb.
Chicago Police announced the suspect intended to raise the child as her own. Piotr Bobak, Figueroa's 40-year-old boyfriend, was also arrested for concealing a death and charged with one count of concealing a death and one count of concealing a homicide.
Ochoa-Lopez was reported missing on April 23 after she didn't reach pick up her 3-year-old son from daycare. On that day, Ochoa-Lopez went to Clarisa's home to pick up some clothes for her upcoming child. According to police, Lopez met Clarisa in a Facebook group.
Police suspected the mother-daughter duo called Ochoa-Lopez to their home and choked her with a coaxial cable. Later, they ripped the baby off her womb.
On the day Ochoa-Lopez went missing, Clarisa made an emergency call to paramedics and reported she gave birth to a baby at home who was at complications. Authorities confirmed later that the baby was Ochoa-Lopez's child after a DNA test. The child is in grave condition at a hospital. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said,
This is not TV, this is real life. We still have to gather the evidence that we need to properly charge the individuals responsible.
Johnson, however, refused to comment on how Clarisa and her daughter removed the baby out of Ochoa-Lopez's body out of respect for the family. He said,
We have to be mindful that there's a family out there grieving, hoping for a miracle for this baby.
Police got a break in the case after one of Ochoa-Lopez's Facebook friends gave them the messages between Ochoa-Lopez and Clarisa. It was later known that Lopez received the baby items from Clarisa before she was killed.
Police obtained Ochoa-Lopez's body in a trash can in a "hidden area" at Figueroa's home. Moreover, they also found remains of burnt clothes and bleach and cleaning solutions. Clarisa's boyfriend, Bobak allegedly helped dispose of the remains.
