Good morning, Chicago.
With the five-year anniversary of the slaying of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez looming, the woman accused of killing the teen and cutting her baby out of the womb in a sensational case that drew international attention was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Clarisa Figueroa, 51, entered a guilty plea on charges of first-degree murder yesterday. She had been charged with murder, kidnapping, dismembering a human body and other felonies in the April 2019 killing of Ochoa-Lopez, who was nine months pregnant.
She appeared in court at the Leighton Criminal Court Building sitting in a wheelchair, while family members of Ochoa-Lopez lined the front row of the gallery carrying a photograph of Marlen’s young family.
“They … live every single day with the actions that you put into motion on April 23, 2019,” Judge Peggy Chiampas said after she accepted the guilty plea. “Every single day, I want you to think of those individuals. Every single day.”
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Madeline Buckley.
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