A Chicago woman accused of luring a pregnant teenager to her home and cutting her baby from her womb with a butcher knife nearly five years ago, pleaded guilty to murder on Tuesday and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Clarisa Figueroa, 51, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit, did not provide a statement but answered "Yes" when Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas asked her if she understood she would need to serve the entire sentence and would not receive early release on parole, news outlets reported.
Figueroa Faked Her Pregnancy, Lured Pregnant Victim to Her Home with the Promise of Free Clothing for Her Unborn Child
According to prosecutors, Figueroa plotted for months to acquire a newborn after her adult son died of natural causes. Investigators said she told her family she was pregnant and posted an ultrasound and photos of a room decorated for a baby on her Facebook page.
She later met 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez on a Facebook page for pregnant women in March 2019 and lured her to her home with the promise of free clothing for her unborn child. Ochoa-Lopez was nine months pregnant.
When Ochoa-Lopez arrived, police believe Clarisa Figueroa and her then-24-year-old daughter Desiree strangled the young woman to death with a cord and cut the baby from her womb with a butcher knife, according to prosecutors, before the Figueroas wrapped the teen's body in a blanket, put it in a plastic bag and dragged it outside to a garbage can.
Figueroa Told First Responders She Had Just Given Birth
Hours after, first responders received a call from Clarisa Figueroa, who claimed she had just given birth and her newborn child was not breathing. When first responders arrived, the child was blue. The baby was then taken to hospital where he died two months later.
Detectives investigating Ochoa-Lopez' disappearance learned that she had gone to the defendant's home. Two weeks after her disappearance, police found her car parked nearby and were told by Desiree, Clarisa's daughter, that her mother had recently given birth.
DNA Tests Confirmed Figueroa Was Not the Child's Mother
DNA tests later determined the child was not Clarisa Figueroa's. Ochoa-Lopez's body was found in a garbage can outside the Figueroa home. Clarisa Figueroa had 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, as previously reported. She had agreed to testify against her mother.
