A woman from Chicago, Clarisa Figueroa, has been handed a 50-year prison sentence for a chilling crime committed in 2019.
She pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, a 19-year-old who was nine months pregnant at the time.
The crime took place on April 23, 2019, when Figueroa, with the help of her daughter Desiree, lured Ochoa-Lopez into their home with the promise of free baby clothes. Then, they strangled the young woman and cut her baby from her womb.
Clarisa Figueroa hatched the murder plot after her adult son died of natural causes, leading her to desperately seek a newborn. She even posted an ultrasound and pictures of a baby room on her Facebook page, pretending to be pregnant.
"She was giving clothes away, supposedly under the pretense that her daughters had been given clothes, and they had all these extra boy clothes," Cicilia Garcia, a spokeswoman for the family, said.
Desiree Figueroa confessed to her role in the crime and agreed to testify against her mother, resulting in a 30-year prison sentence for herself.
After the crime, Clarisa Figueroa called 911, falsely claiming she had given birth and the baby wasn't breathing. The baby, named Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, was taken to a hospital where suspicions arose, leading to DNA testing.
The tests confirmed that the baby was Ochoa-Lopez's child. The baby passed away in June 2019.
Clarisa Figueroa's boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, was also involved in the crime as he cleaned up the scene. He was sentenced to four years in prison for obstruction of justice and has since been released on parole.