19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, who was 7 months pregnant, joined a Facebook group called “Help a Mother Out.” People would post items they wanted to get rid of, like bottles or baby clothes, because their child had grown out of them.
A woman named Clarisa Figueroa made a post to the group asking, “Who’s due in May?” From there, Marlen and Clarisa struck up a conversation in the comments.
The two of them planned to meet. After school, Marlen drove her black Honda Civic over to Clarisa’s home, expecting to grab those baby clothes from her and return home to her family.
On April 23, 2019, by 6 p.m. that evening, 911 received a call from a woman reporting that she had just given birth to a child in her home and needed paramedics immediately because the baby was struggling to breathe.
Once first responders arrived at the address, they were met with Clarisa Figueroa, who was holding an infant with the umbilical cord and placenta still attached. This baby had clearly just been born and was in a state of obvious distress. Clarisa’s adult daughter, Desiree Figueroa, 24, was also present in the home.
Immediately, the medics took the baby into an ambulance and began life-saving measures before the baby arrived at the Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition. The doctor said that the baby had zero brain activity pretty much from the moment he arrived, as his brain was severely deprived of oxygen during his birth.
Meanwhile, when staff examined Clarisa, they were immediately confused. She showed no signs consistent with a woman who had just given birth. She did have blood on her arms, hands, and across her face, but she didn’t have any on her stomach or in her vaginal region, which is expected from a woman who literally gave birth just minutes prior. Also, Clarisa was 54 years old at the time, which is very uncommon for a woman to give birth at that age.
The next day, April 24, Marlen’s husband, Yovani, grew concerned because Marlen never returned home from school on April 23. So he reported her as a missing person. However, according to her family, police at first didn’t take her disappearance seriously.
On May 7, a friend of Marlen told investigators about the Facebook page Marlen was a part of. The friend had also recently joined the page, and after Marlen’s disappearance, the friend noticed the conversation between Marlen and a woman where Marlen was requesting those baby clothes.
This prompted police to start looking into Marlen’s social media to see if they could get an idea of who she last spoke to. The investigators discovered the messages between Clarisa and Marlen, where Marlen agreed to go to Clarisa’s home to pick up the baby clothes just one day before she was reported missing.
Detectives went to Clarisa’s home and met her daughter Desiree, who told them that Clarisa was in the hospital because she had just given birth. Investigators then conducted a search of the neighborhood and found Marlen’s car parked less than half a block away from Clarisa’s home. This car stood out to investigators and the residents in the area because it had accumulated several parking tickets over multiple days.
The detectives went to the hospital, where Clarisa remained as her baby continued to fight for his life in the NICU. They spoke with Clarisa about Marlen, and she denied that she ever came to her home on April 23.
Detectives started gathering DNA samples from Clarisa, Desiree, and Clarisa’s live-in boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, 44. They also subpoenaed the hospital records for that baby. They compared the baby’s DNA with Clarisa’s and confirmed that the baby was not Clarisa’s child.
Using DNA extracted from Marlen’s toothbrush and hairbrush, as well as DNA taken from Yovani, they determined that Marlen and Yovani were actually the biological parents of this baby boy.
On May 14, police were able to obtain a warrant to search inside Clarisa’s home. When the detectives arrived at Clarisa’s home, they saw Piotr, Clarisa’s boyfriend, cleaning off a rug outside with bleach and a hose. Piotr saw the police and immediately dropped the hose and walked off. Inside the home, detectives found spots of blood, bleach, and other cleaning solutions. In the backyard, detectives found a garbage bin; inside was the body of Marlen. Along with the body, detectives found coaxial cable, which police believe was used to strangle her. They also found remnants of Marlen’s clothes, which had been burned.
Marlen’s body was sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The ME confirmed that Marlen had been strangled to death with that cable. The ME also said that, after her death, her abdomen had been sliced open and her baby was removed.
On May 16, Clarisa and Desiree were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, dismembering a human body, as well as concealing a homicidal death. Meanwhile, Piotr was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of concealing a homicide.
After a month of Marlen’s death, the baby also died from his injuries. His brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long to survive.
Desiree, in jail, decided to speak to the investigators and confessed to her role in Marlen’s murder, telling them everything they needed to know. Desiree said that Clarisa had another son, a 20-year-old who had passed away in 2018 due to natural causes. After the death of her son, in October 2018, Clarisa claimed that she was pregnant. Desiree was surprised to hear that because not only was Clarisa 54 years old, but she had also previously had her tubes tied. Desiree said that just before April 2019, Clarisa asked for her help in killing a pregnant woman and taking her baby.
April 1 was the first day Marlen came to Clarisa’s home to grab some items. At that time, Clarisa, Desiree, and Desiree’s boyfriend were all at home, and Clarisa took Desiree aside and said that they needed to kill Marlen, but Desiree said no. Desiree told her boyfriend about everything. Desiree’s boyfriend saw that Desiree was stressed and shaking, and both Desiree and Clarisa were acting strangely and talking in low voices. He told them that he would call the police if they were actually planning on killing Marlen.
They let Marlen leave that day, and Clarisa told Desiree’s boyfriend that it was an April Fool’s joke. Once again, on April 23, Marlen drove to Clarisa’s home to pick up some more baby items. Marlen was sitting on the couch in the living room when Clarisa and Desiree turned on the music and went to the kitchen together, where they discussed their plan to kill Marlen and cut the baby out of her stomach. No one was there except Marlen, Clarisa, and Desiree to distract or stop them this time.
Desiree came back to the living room and started distracting Marlen by showing her photos of Clarisa’s late son. Clarisa came up behind Marlen and wrapped her hands around Marlen’s neck. As Clarisa started strangling Marlen, she managed to get her fingers between the cable and her neck in an attempt to stop Clarisa from strangling her. At that time, Clarisa yelled at Desiree, “You’re not doing your f-king job.” Desiree started to remove Marlen’s fingers, and once all her fingers were removed, Clarisa strangled her even harder. After fighting for around 4-5 minutes, Marlen was dead.
Clarisa told Desiree to grab a blanket, a large plastic bag, and a butcher knife. Desiree gave the items to Clarisa and left her alone to do her job. Clarisa cut Marlen open from side to side, horizontally; she then removed the umbilical cord, followed by the placenta, and then removed the baby from Marlen. Desiree returned and helped Clarisa wrap Marlen up in a blanket before putting her in a large plastic bag. Then her body was dumped in the garbage can in the backyard.
Throughout this plan, Clarisa Figueroa tricked her boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, into believing he was the father, police and prosecutors said.
Bobak cleaned up the crime scene and was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty last year to obstruction of justice.
Desiree Figueroa, 29, pleaded guilty to murder in January for helping her mother and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She had agreed to testify against her mother.
Clarisa Figueroa, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
