A Cook County judge on Thursday sentenced a woman to 30 years in prison for helping her mother kill a pregnant teen and cut the baby out of her womb, putting an end to the case more than five years after the brutal killing.
Desiree Figueroa, 29, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in January with an agreement to testify against her mother, Clarisa Figueroa. Her testimony, though, was ultimately not needed because the elder Figueroa also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The murder of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez in April of 2019 drew international attention after the teen was lured to the Figueroa household with the promise of free baby clothes, prosecutors said, but was then attacked by Clarisa Figueroa. With her daughter’s help, she strangled the teen with a cable, sliced open her abdomen from side to side, removed the baby from the womb and placed him in a bucket, according to prosecutors.
The baby, Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, died months later.
Desiree Figueroa spoke briefly during the court appearance at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, expressing regret while softly crying.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I could never apologize for what I did.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Jessie McGuire read into the record a statement from Ochoa-Lopez’s husband, Yovanny Lopez, which referenced the fact that Figueroa gave birth to her own child after the murder.
“I pray that this child will never know (you),” according to Lopez’s statement, which added that he hoped the child would be protected from the mother.
Vernon Schleyer, Figueroa’s public defender, said she has tried to better herself in prison with parenting classes and therapy. He noted that she accepted responsibility, and said she had a lot of “horrifying challenges” growing up.
While ordering the sentence, Judge Peggy Chiampas, referencing mitigation materials, said Figueroa had a “very difficult childhood.”
“A lot of that has to do with your mom,” Chiampas said.
Marlen Ochoa-Lopez (Family photo)
Though acknowledging the role her mother played, Chiampas also placed responsibility on Desiree Figueroa, saying her mother put her in this position “and so did you.”
“You’re right you can never apologize,” Chiampas said, adding that Figueroa’s own child is alive. “I want you to live the rest of your life with that.”
A third co-defendant, Piotr Bobak, the boyfriend of Clarisa Figueroa, last year pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstruction of justice and was sentenced to four years in prison.
According to prosecutors, Clarisa Figueroa had planned to raise the baby herself, and tricked Bobak into believing the baby was his child, according to police and prosecutors.
After cutting out the baby, Clarisa Figueroa called 911 and announced that she had delivered a baby who was not breathing, prosecutors have said. As paramedics arrived, she was holding the baby with its placenta and umbilical cord attached.
Both were rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The newborn had problems breathing and appeared blue.
Ochoa-Lopez was last seen leaving her high school in the Little Village neighborhood, and about two weeks after that, detectives investigating her disappearance learned the teen had gone to the Figueroa home the day she disappeared.
They went to the home and were told by Desiree Figueroa that her mother had recently had a baby, and found Ochoa-Lopez’s car parked nearby.
Detectives visited Clarisa Figueroa at the hospital, but she denied that the teen came to her home the day she disappeared. Police eventually used DNA to determine Clarisa Figueroa was not the baby’s mother.
When detectives arrived to search the Figueroa home, Bobak was outside cleaning a rug with bleach and a hose, prosecutors said during a bond hearing in 2019. When Bobak saw the officers, he dropped the bleach and hose, and walked away, they said.
Ochoa-Lopez’s decaying body was found in a garbage can outside the Figueroa home with the coaxial cables used to strangle her still around her neck, prosecutors have said.
