A missing pregnant woman was found murdered and had her baby cut from her womb after she went to the home of a woman who offered to give her baby things.
Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, 19, was nine months pregnant and already the mother of a 3-year-old. She went missing after she went to a home in Chicago in response to a Facebook post about free baby clothes.
It all began after Marlen took to a Facebook page called Help A Sister Out to ask for help because she couldn’t afford things for her baby.
She wrote at the time: “Hello ladies, I’m due May 10 and I still need a ton of things for my son,”she wrote on March 5. Due to the fact that I’m in school and can’t work at the moment, I can’t afford to buy the rest of the things since I’m short on cash right now.”
A woman reached out, offering baby things and she went to the woman’s home to collect the things. She never returned.
“We believe that she was murdered and we believe that the baby [was] forcibly removed following that murder,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
The crime was discovered after a woman claimed that she had just given birth on the same day that Marlen went missing. Paramedics went to the home where the woman claimed she had given birth and they found the boy. However, DNA tests showed that the baby belonged to Marlen. The baby boy is currently in critical condition at the hospital.
Marlen’s body was recovered on Tuesday in a dustbin in the backyard where the woman who offered her free baby things lives. She had been strangled with a cable and her child had been cut out from her body.
Investigators also found bleach and cleaning agents in the house, along with burned clothes and blood on the floors of the living room, bathroom and hallway.
So far, three people have been charged in relation to the crime. Mother and daughter, Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and Desiree Figueroa, 24, have been charged. Piotr Bobak, 40, the mother’s boyfriend has also been charged with the concealment of a murder.
It all began after Marlen took to a Facebook page called Help A Sister Out to ask for help because she couldn’t afford things for her baby.
She wrote at the time: “Hello ladies, I’m due May 10 and I still need a ton of things for my son,”she wrote on March 5. Due to the fact that I’m in school and can’t work at the moment, I can’t afford to buy the rest of the things since I’m short on cash right now.”
A woman reached out, offering baby things and she went to the woman’s home to collect the things. She never returned.
“We believe that she was murdered and we believe that the baby [was] forcibly removed following that murder,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
The crime was discovered after a woman claimed that she had just given birth on the same day that Marlen went missing. Paramedics went to the home where the woman claimed she had given birth and they found the boy. However, DNA tests showed that the baby belonged to Marlen. The baby boy is currently in critical condition at the hospital.
Marlen’s body was recovered on Tuesday in a dustbin in the backyard where the woman who offered her free baby things lives. She had been strangled with a cable and her child had been cut out from her body.
Investigators also found bleach and cleaning agents in the house, along with burned clothes and blood on the floors of the living room, bathroom and hallway.
So far, three people have been charged in relation to the crime. Mother and daughter, Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and Desiree Figueroa, 24, have been charged. Piotr Bobak, 40, the mother’s boyfriend has also been charged with the concealment of a murder.
