Yovani Lopez wears a T-shirt bearing the image of his wife, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, as he leaves a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in 2019. Ochoa-Lopez’s body was found in 2019 in a trash can outside the home of Clarisa Figueroa weeks after the pregnant 19-year-old Ochoa Lopez went missing. Figueroa is set to go to trial for allegedly killing Ochoa-Lopez and cutting her unborn son from her abdomen. Jury selection is set to begin next week, and Figueroa’s daughter, Desiree, is expected to be a star witness for the prosecution.
Andy Grimm/Sun-Times
The trial has been postponed for the woman charged with strangling Marlen Ochoa-Lopez and cutting out her unborn child.
Lawyers for Clarisa Figueroa told a judge Friday that hospitals and mental health providers have not turned over records on Figueroa’s daughter, who last week reached a plea deal with prosecutors that will land her a 30-year sentence in exchange for cooperation against her mother.
Jury selection had been set to begin next Friday.
Judge Peggy Chiampas agreed to put off the trial until Figueroa’s lawyers get the files, a process that could take weeks. The next hearing in the case is set for Feb. 29.
Marlen Ochoa-Lopez went to a home in the 4100 block of 77th Place for free baby clothes advertised on Facebook the day she went missing in April 2019.
Provided; Mitch Dudek/Sun-Times
Shortly after her arrest four years ago, Desiree Figueroa told police her mother had hatched a plan to kill a pregnant woman and claim the child as her own.
Desiree Figueroa said she helped her mother strangle Ochoa-Lopez in the living room of their Southwest Side home, and watched as Clarisa Figueroa used a kitchen knife to cut open the teen’s abdomen.
Clarisa Figueroa then called 911 and said she had given birth to a child who was not breathing. The child suffered serious brain damage and died after seven weeks on life support.
Police found Ochoa-Lopez’s body in a trash can behind Clarisa Figueroa’s home in the 4100 block of West 77th Place, a few blocks from where the teen’s car was discovered.
Piotr Bobak, Clarisa Figueroa’s boyfriend, was using bleach to clean off a blood-stained rug at the house in the Scottsdale neighborhood when police arrived to conduct a search. Bobak was charged with concealing a homicidal death and is serving a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty and agreeing to also testify against Clarisa Figueroa.
Desiree Figueroa also told officers she had mental health issues that required medication, and had stopped taking her pills because they “gave me the shakes.”
Desiree Figueroa, 25, was transported from Cook County Jail to Stroger Hospital and gave birth to an infant on Nov. 1, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said.
Defense lawyers had asked Judge Peggy Chiampas for a gag order after teen murder victim’s supporters’ frequent public comments about three defendants charged in the triple-murder.
Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree Figueroa, were charged with murder and denied bail. They already faced similar charges in the death of the baby’s mother.
Cook County prosecutors added two dozen new counts to the indictment against two of the suspects, but there are no charges yet connected to the death of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez’snewborn, who died after weeks on life support.
Relatives of murdered mom Marlen Ochoa-Lopez criticized a report that found Christ Medical Center in compliance with federal regulations despite “deficiencies” in how the hospital handled the situation.
Illinois Department of Public Health officials are investigating Christ Medical Center in connection with its handling of the baby of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez.
The sheriff’s office said if the agency finds that Christ Medical Center violated the Abuse and Neglected Children Reporting Act, it would investigate.
Activists trying to raise awareness about missing black women have complained detectives are too slow to follow up on leads. The decision by the father of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez to turn to a private investigator in the search for his daughter boosts that perception.
Clarisa Figueroa — charged with murdering a pregnant woman and cutting the woman’s baby out of her womb — drank and smoked while telling people she was expecting her own baby, neighbors said.
Police say thieves early Saturday made off with lighting equipment, laptops, iPhones and some booze from the Berwyn nightclub. But staff and friends pulled together to make sure that night’s shows went on. The robbery is under investigation.
