A 29-year-old Chicago woman has been sentenced to 30-years in prison for her part in the 2019 murder of a pregnant teenager whose baby was cut from her womb.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
Desiree Figueroa pleaded guilty to first-degree murder earlier this year and agreed to testify against her mother, Clarisa, who’s now serving a fifty-year sentence.
Prosecutors said the mother connected with 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez on social media and offered the teen free baby clothes.
Ochoa-Lopez was strangled to death. Her baby was cut from her womb.
Desiree Figueroa admitted to helping her mother, who tried to pass off the baby as her own, calling 911 after the crime and saying her baby wasn’t breathing.
The baby lived for two months in a hospital. DNA analysis revealed the truth.
The mother and daughter, according to prosecutors, left the young woman’s body in a garbage can behind their home on the Southwest Side.
Barely speaking above a whisper and fighting tears, Desiree Figueroa told Judge Peggy Chiampas that she was sorry. “I could never apologize for what I did enough at all,” she said. “That’s all, judge, thank you.”
Handing down the sentence, Judge Peggy Chiampas told her, “You’re right, you can never apologize for what you did.”
With credit for time served, Desiree Figueroa could be out in 10 years if she serves half her sentence.
Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok