Teen killed and baby cut from her womb

C HICAGO •A pregnant Chicago teen was strangled by a mother and daughter before her baby was cut from her womb, a court heard Friday.

Marlen Ochoa- Lopez, 19, whose body was discovered this week, was lured to the home of her alleged killers by the offer of free baby clothes.

As she was being shown a photo album of the late son and brother of her attackers, a cord was wrapped round her neck.

Ochoa- Lopez managed to get her fingers under the cord when the woman strangling her, Clarisa Figueroa, yelled at her daughter, “You’re not doing your f---ing job!” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.

The daughter, Desiree Figueroa, 24, then pried Ochoa- Lopez’s fingers from the cord “one by one” while her mother continued to strangle the teen for another five minutes, Murphy said. With Ochoa- Lopez showing no signs of life, Clarisa Figueroa, 46, cut her open with a butcher’s knife and removed the placenta and baby, which she put in a bucket.

The two then put the teen’s body in a garbage can and Clarisa Figueroa 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 Clarisa Figueroa and the boy to a nearby hospital, where police said he remained in grave condition and was not expected to survive.

Figueroa, meanwhile, had blood on her upper body but no physical sign that she’d given birth, according to investigators.

Police did not connect the Ochoa- Lopez’s disappearance and the 911 call about the baby until May 7, when friends of the teen directed detectives to her social media account, which showed she had communicated with Clarisa Figueroa in a Facebook group for expectant mothers.

Ochoa- Lopez’s decaying body was discovered this week in a garbage can in the backyard of Figueroa’s home on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

The location was about six kilometres from OchoaLopez’s own home. The cord used to strangle her was still around her neck.

Clarisa Figueroa apparently wanted to raise another child after her adult son died of natural causes, authorities said.

The woman told her family last October that she was pregnant and later posted on Facebook ultrasound results and photos of a room decorated for a baby, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

On Friday, a judge denied bond to the Figueroas, who are charged with murder, saying she felt “the presumption is great” that they committed a “heinous and brutal murder.”

The mother’s l awyer asked the judge to place the Figueroas in protective custody for their safety, given “the nature of the case.”