Credit - Chicago Police Department
- When Marlen found out she was having another baby she reached out to an online community fir help
- There she met another expecant mother and the two met up
- Her friendship would cost her her life after the young mum’s body was discovered in a bin
When Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, 19, found out she was expecting, she was elated.
As she and her husband Yovanny prepared to welcome their son, they took stock of what items they still needed ahead of their bub’s arrival.
As a student, Marlen was stretched for cash, so in March 2019 she reached out to a local Facebook group, Help a Mother Out, which connected mums in need with baby items.
It was there that she met Clarisa Figueroa, then 46, who was expecting a baby boy of her own.
She’d decided to name him Xander, in tribute to her son who’d tragically died of natural causes the year prior. He was only 20.
The baby news came as a shock for Clarisa’s daughter, Desiree, 24, as her mum had previously had her tubes tied.
But the procedures aren’t always successful, and it was happy news after her brother’s death.
As her pregnancy progressed, Clarisa posted updates in the Facebook group, sharing photos of her boy’s ultrasound image.
She also kindly offered Marlen free baby clothes.
At eight months along, Marlen jumped at the chance. Driving to Clarisa’s home, Marlen chatted with her and Desiree, before heading home with the items for her bub.
She returned a few weeks later to get some more clothes.
But when Marlen didn’t pick up her three-year-old son from day care and failed to come home, her family reported her missing the next day, on April 24.
Police jumped into action to search for the missing teen.
Logging into her Facebook account, they found a chat history between Marlen and Clarisa. Going to Clarisa’s home, they discovered she was in hospital, having just given birth.
Marlen was nowhere to be found, but her car was discovered near Clarisa’s home. What would cause her to go missing?
She’d vanished without a trace
At the same time, Clarisa and her partner Piotr Bobak, 40, faced troubles of their own.
Their son wasn’t breathing when he’d been born at home, and had been raced to hospital by paramedics.
Sadly, it resulted in a life-threatening brain injury.
Devastated, Clarisa set up a fundraiser, asking people to donate to help their baby as he clung to life.
The medical team did what they could to help him, but something seemed amiss.
Staff noticed that Clarisa showed no signs of having given birth, aside from being covered in blood.
After suspicions were raised, DNA testing was carried out.
Shockingly, these confirmed the baby wasn’t related to the couple at all, but did belong to Marlen and her husband Yovanny.
So how did Clarisa end up with her baby and where was Marlen?
It was as if she’d vanished without a trace.
On May 14, police returned to Clarisa’s home where they found Piotr cleaning a rug with bleach.
But it was what they found in the garage that left them horrified. Marlen’s body had been wrapped in a blanket and put in the bin.
She had a cable wrapped around her neck. Her stomach had been sliced open.
Clarisa and Desiree Figueroa and Piotr Bobak were taken into custody.
Making a full confession, Desiree outlined her mother’s twisted scheme to lure Marlen to their home, kill her, and steal her child.
Reeling from the loss of her son, Clarisa had begun posting in the Facebook group sharing updates about her ‘pregnancy’. She’d even convinced Piotr of the ‘miracle’ conception, when in truth, she’d faked everything.
READ MORE TRUE CRIME: Twisted mum murdered her babysitter then BBQ’d her
Next, Clarisa had arranged the clothes swap with Marlen, but ahead of her visit, spilled her wicked plot to her daughter.
Clarisa was going to kill the teen and take her child, but she needed help. Horrified, Desiree refused and told her boyfriend. When he threatened to call the police, the women made out it was a joke.
But when Marlen did return to the home, Desiree was on board with her mother’s twisted plan.
While Desiree distracted their guest, Clarisa pounced, strangling Marlen with a cable from behind.
The teen fought hard, looping her fingers inside the cord to stop it cutting off her airway.
But when Desiree peeled her fingers off one by one, Marlen’s fate was sealed.
The struggle lasted around four to five minutes before the expectant mum took her final breath.
Clarisa then ordered her daughter to get a butcher’s knife which she used to slice open Marlen’s belly, cutting out her son, placenta and umbilical cord.
She put the baby in a bucket before discarding the young mother’s body.
READ MORE TRUE CRIME: Teenage boy murders four-year-old sister to get back at his mum – but she forgives him
When she noticed the boy wasn’t breathing, Clarisa called emergency.
Paramedics then rushed them both to hospital.
Meanwhile Desiree got to work hiding Marlen’s car and was caught by traffic cameras.
Tragically, Marlen’s baby boy, named Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, lived just two months.
Clarisa and Desiree Figueroa were charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery to a child, while Bobak was charged with concealment of a homicide and obstructing justice.
In January 2023, Piotr Bobak, 44, was sentenced to four years in prison, after he accepted a plea deal on a reduced charge of obstructing justice.
Testifying against her mother, Desiree Figueroa, 29, pleaded guilty to murder in January 2024 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
That April, Clarisa Figueroa, 51, was handed a 50-year sentence after pleading guilty.
But no amount of time could heal the pain suffered by Marlen and Yadiel’s family.
Yovanny, who got to hold his son before he died, said in a statement, ‘The memory of my infant son’s last breath in my arms is complete agony.
‘Your punishment will never be enough because my son will never be able to hug his mother.’
