Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Womb Raider Learns Fate After Baby Ripped From Young Mom’s Body

Episode Date: May 18, 2024

Marlen Ochoa-Lopez was murdered before her baby was cut out of her body, according to police. The teen mom went missing as she tried to pick up baby clothes from someone she met online in a motherhood forum.  Now the mother/daughter duo who killed Ochoa-Lopez will spend decades behind bars.    Clarisa Figueroa, 51, told a judge she understood that she would be in jail for the rest of her life, as the judge sentenced her to 50 years behind bars. Both Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree Figueroa, were charged with first-degree murder for the brutal slaying of Ochoa-Lopez.  Prosecutors said they lured Ochoa-Lopez to their home on April 23, 2019, with the promise of baby supplies. The duo then strangled Ochoa-Lopez when she arrived and cut the baby from her womb, in an attempt to keep the infant as their own.  Two months later, the infant, Yovanny Lopez, passed away from brain damage, along with complications from a prolapsed umbilical cord and placenta. In January, Desiree Figueroa pleaded guilty to murder and took a plea deal, which allowed her to receive 30 years in prison in exchange for testimony against her mother.  Joining Nancy Grace Today  Troy Slaten - Los Angeles Defense Lawyer Steven Lampley - Former Detective Dr. Bethany Marshall -  Psychoanalyst Dr. Kris Sperry - Retired Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Georgia   Dave Mack - Crimeoneline.com Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The so-called womb raider meets a lady justice in court in the murder of a teen girl, cutting the baby out of the victim's body. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. That's right. The Chicago woman known as the so-called womb raider murders a pregnant teen girl and actually cuts her unborn baby from her stomach, just sentenced to 50 years behind bars. Why not life behind bars? I don't get it. Clarissa Figueroa, 51, got the sentence in a Cook County courtroom in the last days after she pled guilty to first-degree murder and the horrific death of 19-year-old Marlon Ochoa-Lopez.

Before she entered her guilty plea, Figueroa sat in court stoically and listened to the devastated Ochoa-Lopez family, who said in open court, punishment will never be enough for what Figueroa did. Marlon's mom spoke out, stating, quote, the loss of my daughter's life is something I will never overcome. What exactly happened? Nine months pregnant when she went missing, hours later that same day, a 46-year-old woman came running out of her home here claiming that she had just given birth to a baby boy and he wasn't breathing. The baby was rushed to Christ and he remains there in intensive care. The family has since determined Marlene came to the home on 77th place to swap items arranged through a Facebook group called Help a Sister Out. The older woman claimed to have a stroller and other items.

Neighbors say the people being questioned include the 46-year-old woman, her boyfriend, her daughter, and a man in his 20s. They were also surprised by an alleged birth since no one knew of a pregnancy. A pregnant mom, we believe, strangled dead, her baby cut from her womb after she's lured to a home by a woman she meets on Facebook. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You are hearing our friend at WGN9, Nancy Liu, reporting on the disappearance of Marlene Ochoa. Take a listen to this. The medical examiner's office tells me they are examining remains recovered from this property yesterday and an autopsy is pending.

Relatives of Marlene Ochoa are awaiting positive identification, but they fear it is likely her. Detectives were removing massive amounts of evidence, and there was an apparent focus on the backyard and possibly the basement. Wow. You are hearing from WGN9 reporter Nancy Liu. This gorgeous young mother, strangled dead, we believe, her baby cut from her womb. It's almost too much to take in. Joining me, an all-star panel.

Medical examiner, Dr. Chris Sperry. Dr. Sperry, the woman, and may I just point out that she's one of three women we're talking about. But this woman strangled, dead, and her baby cut from her womb. Have you ever seen anything like it before, Dr. Sperry? Well, yes, I have. I have seen several cases identical to this. They're rare but not vanishingly rare. And they're always in the setting of another woman who wants a baby. Sometimes she has accomplices, but the pregnant woman is kidnapped or lured in some way and then strangled, sometimes just to the point of unconsciousness,

but sometimes she's strangled dead, and then the baby's cut out of her. And one memorable case that I had was just like this, where a woman who was not pregnant but wanted a baby kidnapped a pregnant woman from the obstetric clinic where she had just visited and strangled her with a strap and then cut the baby out with a set of car keys. And the baby was fine. But the pregnant woman bled to death after having her baby cut out with car keys. Well, in the famous words of Oscar Wilde, be careful what you ask, my dear, for you will surely get it.

When I asked you, had you ever seen anything like this before? I certainly did not expect to hear that about the car keys and the bleeding and the, okay, let me get away from Dr. Chris Sperry for just one moment. And although I can't get the image out of my mind that he just described, let's just start at the beginning. I want to talk about Marlon. Nancy, Marlon went missing. She was in her ninth month of pregnancy just before her due date and her family has been desperately searching. Unfortunately, in the last couple of days, the investigation has turned into a homicide investigation after human remains were found on a property where Marlon is believed to have gone

on the day that she went missing. Hold on just a moment. The location where she went the day she went missing. Take a listen to WGN 9 reporter Dana Rebick. We now know that the vehicle, the car matching the description of this missing Pilsen pregnant teen was found on this very street six days ago. Police are now questioning the woman who lives in this home behind me. Neighbors tell us she was not pregnant, but she did call 911 two weeks ago to report that she had just had a baby. 4100 West 77th Place, please. The caller gave birth 10 minutes ago, 46 years of age.

The baby isn't breathing. Baby is pale and blue. They're doing CPR. At 6.11 p.m. on April 23rd, just three hours after missing pregnant 19-year-old Marlon Ochoa was last seen in Pilsen, a woman calls 911 claiming she just gave birth. Neighbors saw her come outside screaming. She just said that she came out, oh, I had my baby. I had my baby. And then she was just bloody from like waist up. I mean, I thought it was strange that she was so old and pregnant. She said the baby was at the hospital because she

had it at home. So they took it to the hospital and they had some type of goal found like where they raised money for the kids. Good gravy. So I'm just thinking about luring a mom to a home claiming you're selling used baby clothing. And that is exactly what Dr. Chris Sperry said happened. In previous cases, he had been working. Dr. Bethany Marshall, we need to shrink because I wanted a family. I did. But I went years and years and years thinking that would never happen. The thought of taking, stealing somebody else's baby, much less kidnapping and hurting a pregnant mom would never even cross my mind. Where do those thoughts come from?

Well, Nancy, there is a very specific profile of a woman who does this. Usually she has something called pseudostiesis. Pseudostiesis is when a woman imagines a false pregnancy, even if there's no baby bump. Usually she will become obsessed, preoccupied with the thought of having a baby of her own, so much so that she tells everybody about it. She might even throw her own baby shower. Usually these women are in their late 30s, early 40s, very rare for them to have families or even a boyfriend. Often there's all kinds of story holes. They talk about being pregnant or having had a boyfriend, and yet there's no boyfriend around. There's no signs of pregnancy. They turn homicidal. They do lure a woman. They

often, as Dr. Sperry was talking about, they will actually cut the baby out of the pregnant woman's belly. And then they imagine that society will accept the baby, even though there's so many story holes. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In court, the victim's husband, father of their older son, and of the baby killed by the mother-daughter duo, states, Your punishment will never be enough because my son will never be able to hug his mother, ever. I lost my family, and that will always stay with me, the grieving dad said in tears outside the courtroom after sentencing. With her henchperson daughter, Desiree Figueroa, 29,

the two women lured the young mom to the Figueroa family home with a promise of free baby clothes for the unborn child. It was April 23. Daughter defendant, 29-year-old Desiree Figueroa, had been showing the nine-month pregnant victim a photo album of her adult brother, who had recently passed away. While looking at this photo album, the mother, Clarissa, came up behind the victim and strangled her dead with a cable, according to prosecutors. Can you even imagine that? Strangling a mom dead with a cable? The mom defendant, Clarissa Figueroa, then ordered her daughter to get a butcher knife

and she cut the baby from the victim's stomach. After they removed the child, they wrapped the mom's body in plastic and dumped it in a garbage can outside their home. They then called 911, trying to pass off the baby as their own, telling the operator the newborn wasn't breathing. The baby boy died two months later after severe brain damage. What more do we know? Officials confirming those human remains that were found were those of Marlon Ochoa. Right now, police are conducting a search of the property behind me. Their attention seems focused on a fire pit area in the backyard. Today, a stunning twist in the mysterious disappearance of Marlin Ochoa.

Relatives say her newborn baby is in critical condition at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. The detectives went to see the baby, get the DNA testing, and confirm that that is Marlin's baby. And late today, tragic word. The medical examiner confirming Ochoa's death through human remains discovered near this home, where yesterday four people were taken away for questioning. One of them,

according to neighbors, a woman in her 40s, who on April 23rd, the day Ochoa disappeared, was seen outside holding a baby wrapped in a towel. You're hearing our friend at ABC7 Eyewitness News, Eric Horn, but that's not all. Relatives say Ochoa's car was found near the home last week. And they say social media posts suggest Ochoa and that woman, who's now being questioned, had met on a Facebook chat group for mothers. The medical examiner says Ochoa's death has been ruled a homicide by strangulation. I'm not quite sure how you would even go about taking a baby out of a woman's tummy. And of course, you heard Sperry describing it being done with a set of car keys. Joining me

right now, Stephen Lampley, detective. You can find him at StephenLampley.com. Stephen Lampley, you know, when you hear about a body near a fire pit, in any attempt to burn a body, that's very hard to do and leaves behind evidence. Stephen Lampley, what would you be looking for on this scene? I mean, we already know one woman was seen holding a baby in a towel. I believe I would start with her, Lance. Well, of course, Nancy. You're going to start with her and talk to her. And then based on, again, based on what I know, it seemed like that they would be able to get a search warrant fairly easily, which of course they did. And they found, of course, the body. and you're right, it is very, very, very difficult to burn a human body.

Even in a funeral home, the temperature has to be so incredibly hot for an extended period of time in order to do that. It's virtually impossible on layman's level to burn a body beyond recognition where it can't be discovered of who it was by DNA. You know, I'm just trying to take all of this in as it relates back to the missing mom, then discovered dead. What was the cause of death for Marlon? Nancy, the cause of death was ligature strangulation. Dr. Sperry, what's the difference between ligature and manual strangulation or asphyxiation and how can you tell the difference? Sure. Ligature strangulation is when something like a cord or strap or wire or rope is placed around the neck and pulled tight

so that there is pressure all around the entire circumference of the neck. And this almost always leaves a mark behind that sometimes is so specific you can even tell what was used to strangle the person. A manual strangulation is a strangulation where the hands are used. The fingers and the thumbs and the hands are grasped on the neck, and there are lots of bruises and scrapes, but there's not a particular pattern. Now, just asphyxia alone means lack of oxygen. So, strangulation is a type of asphyxia, but putting a plastic bag over someone's head is also a type of asphyxia as well. And generally, we can tell the difference between these types of injuries

by the trauma that's left behind on the neck itself and inside the neck tissues. She died of ligature strangulation. What more do we know about her injuries? We know that she's believed to have been lured into a basement where she was likely murdered before the baby was cut from her body and human remains were found in a garbage can on the property. The human remains were in a garbage can? Are you telling me that that would be Marlene, the mom? Had she been burned? We don't have any information at this time that her body was burned, but we do know that investigators were looking at a fire pit area at the home. You know, I to figure something out, Dr. Crisperi, the mom, Marlene, was strangled first before the baby was taken out of her stomach. Now, number one, how could a medical examiner determine that sequence of events? And number two, would that explain why the baby was blue?

Because if the mom dies and the baby is still in utero, it wouldn't be able to breathe, would it? Well, it wouldn't. But usually what happens is that, well, in this case, where the proof of ligature was used, this is common because it implies that the woman, the pregnant woman, the sochoa, was taken by surprise, that she was lured to a basement and then someone suddenly put a rope or a strap around her neck and began to strangle her.

Now, when that happens, it takes about somewhere between at least three to four minutes before the person will die. But the woman, she would be unconscious within probably about a minute or so. So there's a window of time where once she is unconscious, as long as the pressure is still continued on her neck, she'll stay unconscious. But she won't be able to resist when the baby is cut from her neck. She'll stay unconscious, but she won't be able to resist when the baby is cut from her stomach. So with this narrow window of time, it is definitely possible. It happens to be able to cut the baby out of the woman's stomach before the baby begins

to suffer from lack of oxygen. You know, we were taking a look at the disappearance and murder of a beautiful young mom, Marlyn Ochoa, pregnant. Her body is found behind a residence in a trash can. And then amazingly, a 46-year-old woman comes racing out within a few hours claiming that she has just given birth. Here is WGN9's Dana Rebick. Neighbors say the woman told them the baby had brain damage and was on life support.

Fast forward two weeks and Chicago police were on West 77th Place confirming they found a car matching Marlon Ochoa's abandoned vehicle. So what was she potentially doing here, miles from her home? A Facebook chat between her and the 46-year-old woman from this home shows the two women were communicating about baby clothes. The woman telling Marlon, my girl has all brand new boy clothes her son never wore, asking Marlon to inbox her for more info. Now neighbors are waiting for answers, wanting to know what happened to this pregnant teen. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A mother-daughter duo straight from hell. Police uncovered all the lies very quickly after they launched their investigation. They discovered the young mom

went missing after visiting Figueroa's home. police began suspecting foul play almost immediately. Two weeks later, they found the victim's car parked near the mother and daughter's Chicago home. Detectives discovered this beautiful young girl's decomposing body inside a trash container. A DNA test later confirmed the baby that Clarissa Figueroa was trying to pass off as her own was actually the victim's. Out to Troy Slayton, California defense attorney. Okay, you got your work cut out for you.

You see this 46-year-old woman walking out with a baby in a towel, surprising everybody by announcing she just gave birth. Nobody knew she was pregnant. Coincidentally, within hours after Marlene Ochoa goes missing. Certainly a 46 year old woman walking out with a baby when she hadn't been pregnant doesn't look good. So I'm certainly going to want to dive in. That into your defense. It doesn't look good. I'm going to definitely dive in to a mental illness defense. Somebody that is going to kill a pregnant

woman and rip the baby from her womb is not in her right mind. There's going to be a serious psychosis. And if she didn't wasn't able to appreciate the rightness or wrongfulness of her actions at that moment that she committed that act, if it was even her that did it, there's three other people that are being questioned, then that could provide a defense. Well, there's no honor amongst thieves or killers. The daughter, Desiree Figueroa, got a lighter sentence of 30 years because she agreed to testify against her own mother as part of the plea deal. The mother, Clarissa Figueroa's boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, helped clean up the crime scene. He was sentenced to four years in prison after he pled guilty to concealing a murder. It's unbelievable what these two devils straight from hell did to a young teen mom.

To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst joining us out of L.A., you can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Bethany, the thinking behind the murder or the kidnap of a pregnant mom, it's just something I can't really get my head around. What you have to keep in mind is the word obsessional. I once treated a woman with pseudocyesis, meaning a fake pregnancy. Her belly was actually getting bigger during the treatment. She was so obsessed with the fact that she was going to have a baby that that's all she could talk about. She talked to her mom, her siblings, everybody in her life. So unlike a bank robber who might plan to rob a bank and never

tell anybody or a pedophile who might hide it from his family or any other sort of crime, the woman who's going to commit a crime like this is going to try to co-opt everybody around them. They're energetic. They're obsessed. They throw baby showers and say they're going to have a baby even though there is no baby on the way, even though they have no boyfriend or husband. So, if I were a detective on this case, I would start to look at who in the community has become preoccupied with baby stores. Who's going in and out of, I don't know, Toys R Us? Who's online trying to share clothing back and forth with women?

You know, just like pedophiles hang out at a school. These types of women hang out on these Facebook groups trying to trade clothing and strollers with other people. So I wouldn't think it's so difficult to find the perpetrator if you keep inside, you keep in your mind the word obsessed, obsessed with motherhood, but it's obsessed in a very pathological way. In the last hours, a so-called womb raider, Clarissa Figueroa, gets 50 years behind bars for brutally murdering a teen mom, nine months pregnant, and cutting the baby out of her stomach. The baby boy then died after suffering severe brain damage. The daughter of the defendant, also charged, takes a 30-year sentence in exchange for testifying against her own mother. Well, they're both going to rot in hell

with a pit stop at the penitentiary, 50 years behind bars, 30 years behind bars. That's nothing compared to the life sentence, this little boy will suffer without his mother. Justice, in a way. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.