Baby boy, cut from Chicago mother's womb as she was killed, dies, family says
A newborn baby boy who was cut from his mother's womb when she was killed in Chicago in April has also died, his family said.
Yovanny Jadiel Lopez died Friday after being on life support for more than a month after the attack. The infant's family had been weighing whether to remove him from life support, but the child died from a severe brain injury, a family spokeswoman, Cecilia Garcia, said.
Yovanny's mother, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, died after she was attacked on April 23. Authorities say Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and her daughter, Desiree, 24, lured Ochoa-Lopez, 19, to their home with a Facebook post offering free baby clothes, strangled her, removed her child from her womb with a knife and threw her in a garbage can after wrapping her in plastic.
Figueroa had lied about being pregnant and claimed she had given birth to the baby after cutting him from Ochoa-Lopez's womb, authorities say. She allegedly called 911 after the attack, saying her newborn child couldn't breathe.
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Both Figueroa and her daughter have been charged with murder in connection with Ochoa-Lopez's killing, and Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday they expected the women also will face charges over the baby's death. Figueroa's boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, is charged with concealing a homicide.
When Figueroa arrived at the Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn covered in blood later determined to belong to Ochoa-Lopez, doctors who examined her found “no signs consistent with a woman who had just delivered a baby.”
Ochoa-Lopez was reported missing the next day, but police did not connect her disappearance to the 911 call about the baby until May 7, when friends of the teen directed detectives to her social media account that showed she had communicated with Clarisa Figueroa.
Three people in custody: Pregnant woman strangled, baby cut from womb, Chicago police say
Yovanny's family got a brief sign of hope in May when the infant opened his eyes for the first time during a visit from his father and 3-year-old brother.
Christ Medical Center said in a statement that its "hearts and prayers" are with the family, and that their "courage and grace have drawn the admiration of our entire organization."
Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY, and The Associated Press. Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Baby boy, cut from Chicago mother's womb as she was killed, dies, family says
