Woman sentenced to 50 years for stealing baby from woman’s womb, killing mother in Chicago

Clarisa Figueroa, 51, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder over the killing of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez in 2019. She was sentenced in Cook County on Tuesday, per the New York Post.

Clarisa Figueroa

Court documents state that on April 23, 2019, Figueroa lured Ochoa-Lopez to her home with the help of her daughter, Desiree Figueroa. She promised to supply the teen with free clothes for her baby. They met on a Facebook page for pregnant women. Figueroa was not pregnant, however, and had her tubes tied.

Desiree was showing Ochoa-Lopez a photo album of her late brother when Clarisa came up from behind and strangled the pregnant teen to death with a cable, according to court documents.

Clarisa then demanded Desiree bring her a butcher knife and she proceeded to cut out the unborn baby from Ochoa-Lopez's womb.

The mother-daughter duo disposed of Ochoa-Lopez's dead body by wrapping it in plastic and placing it in a garbage can outside their home, per court documents.

Desiree Figueroa

Clarisa proceeded to call 911 and told the operator that her newborn baby was not breathing. The baby was transported to the hospital and died two months later of severe brain damage.

Police suspected foul play after Ochoa-Lopez's husband reported her missing after she went to visit Figueroa's home.

The pregnant teen had previously been to Figueroa's home on April 1 and left without incident.

Marlen Ochoa-Lopez

Two weeks later, police discovered the victim's vehicle parked near the Figueroa's Chicago residence. Detectives then located Ochoa-Lopez's decomposing body in a trash can outside the home.

A DNA test verified that the baby Clarisa was attempting to claim as her own was actually Ochoa-Lopez's.

Authorities claim that Clarisa started lying to her family about being pregnant even though she had her fallopian tubes closed years prior, just after her adult son passed away from natural causes.

She planned to obtain a newborn by whatever means necessary, and for months she shared pictures of a nursery and an ultrasound on her Facebook page, according to court documents.

Desiree Figueroa took a plea deal and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for testifying against her mother as part of the plea agreement.

Piotr Bobak, Clarisa's boyfriend, was sentenced to four years in prison for helping clean up the crime scene, thus concealing the murder.