The second woman charged with killing a pregnant teen and ripping her unborn child out of the womb was sentenced on Thursday after she accepted a plea deal for the crime.
Desiree Figueroa, 29, apologized to the court, WGN reported, saying she could “never apologize enough for what I did.”
Figueroa pleaded guilty to murder and agreed to testify against her mother in exchange for a 30 year sentence. Her mother, Clarisa Figueroa, pleaded guilty earlier this year and was given a 50 year sentence for the death of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, who was lured to the Figueroa home on April 23, 2019, with the promise of getting baby clothes, as CrimeOnline reported. The two strangled Ochoa-Lopez and cut the baby out of her womb,, then pretended the baby belonged to Clarisa Figueroa.
Ochoa-Lopez’s baby boy lived for about two months after the forced birth. DNA tests determined the baby’s true parentage.
in court on Thursday, Judge Peggy Chiampas slammed the defendant, WGN said.
“Your mom put you in the position you were in, and so did you,” the judge said. “You’re right, you can never apologize. I want you to live with that for the rest of your life.”
Figueroa will receive about five years credit for time served.
Ochoa-Lopez’s family declined to attend the sentencing, but Yovany Lopez — Ochoa-Lopez’s husband and the baby’s father — issued a statement saying he “cannot bear to be in the courtroom, where I will have to share the same air with the monster that strangled my wife, while her mother mother ripped my baby son out out of her body.”
“I cannot bear to look at this monster, knowing that one day she will be released back into our community, where she can harm someone again,” he said. “I cannot bear to look at this monster who choked and choked and choked my wife until her life was gone. I cannot bear this agony.”
