A woman from Chicago pleaded guilty to murder on Tuesday and was given a 50-year jail sentence. She is accused of inviting a pregnant teen to her house and using a butcher knife to cut the baby out of her belly almost five years ago.
News outlets said that 51-year-old Clarisa Figueroa, who was in a wheelchair and wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit, did not say anything but said "Yes" when Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas asked her if she understood she would have to serve her whole sentence and would not be released early on parole.
Prosecutors say Figueroa planned for months to get a baby after her adult son died of natural causes. According to the police, she told her family she was pregnant and put up pictures of an ultrasound and a baby-themed room on her Facebook page.
She met 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez on a Facebook page for pregnant women in March 2019 and told her she could get free clothes for her future child if she came over. With nine months to go, Ochoa-Lopez was pregnant.
According to prosecutors, Clarisa Figueroa and her 24-year-old daughter Desiree strangled the young woman to death with a cord and cut the baby out of her womb with a butcher knife before dragging the body outside to a garbage can. When Ochoa-Lopez arrived, the police believe that the Figueroas wrapped the body in a blanket and put it in a plastic bag.
A few hours later, Clarisa Figueroa called 911 to say she had just given birth and her baby was not breathing. People who came to help saw that the child was blue. Later, two months later, the baby died in the hospital.
The police who were looking for Ochoa-Lopez found out that she had gone to the defendant's house. Police found her car parked nearby two weeks after she went missing. Clarisa's daughter Desiree told them that her mother had just given birth.
Later, DNA tests showed that the child was not Clarisa Figueroa's. Someone dumped Ochoa-Lopez's body in a trash can outside of Figueroa's house. Police and officials say Clarisa Figueroa lied to her boyfriend Piotr Bobak to make him think he was the father.
For four years, Bobak will be in jail after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice last year. He cleaned up the crime scene. As was already said, Desiree Figueroa, 29, pleaded guilty to murder in January because she was helping her mother. She was given a 30-year jail term. She agreed to say bad things about her mother in court.
News outlets said that 51-year-old Clarisa Figueroa, who was in a wheelchair and wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit, did not say anything but said "Yes" when Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas asked her if she understood she would have to serve her whole sentence and would not be released early on parole.
Prosecutors say Figueroa planned for months to get a baby after her adult son died of natural causes. According to the police, she told her family she was pregnant and put up pictures of an ultrasound and a baby-themed room on her Facebook page.
She met 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez on a Facebook page for pregnant women in March 2019 and told her she could get free clothes for her future child if she came over. With nine months to go, Ochoa-Lopez was pregnant.
According to prosecutors, Clarisa Figueroa and her 24-year-old daughter Desiree strangled the young woman to death with a cord and cut the baby out of her womb with a butcher knife before dragging the body outside to a garbage can. When Ochoa-Lopez arrived, the police believe that the Figueroas wrapped the body in a blanket and put it in a plastic bag.
A few hours later, Clarisa Figueroa called 911 to say she had just given birth and her baby was not breathing. People who came to help saw that the child was blue. Later, two months later, the baby died in the hospital.
The police who were looking for Ochoa-Lopez found out that she had gone to the defendant's house. Police found her car parked nearby two weeks after she went missing. Clarisa's daughter Desiree told them that her mother had just given birth.
Later, DNA tests showed that the child was not Clarisa Figueroa's. Someone dumped Ochoa-Lopez's body in a trash can outside of Figueroa's house. Police and officials say Clarisa Figueroa lied to her boyfriend Piotr Bobak to make him think he was the father.
For four years, Bobak will be in jail after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice last year. He cleaned up the crime scene. As was already said, Desiree Figueroa, 29, pleaded guilty to murder in January because she was helping her mother. She was given a 30-year jail term. She agreed to say bad things about her mother in court.
