Women accused in cut-from-womb case charged in baby's death

Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A mother and daughter accused of cutting the baby from a Chicago woman's womb are now also charged with murder in the baby's death.

Cook County prosecutors announced the latest charge against 46-year-old Clarisa Figueroa and 26-year-old Desiree Figueroa on Thursday, shortly before a hearing in which the judge ruled that the would continue to be held without bond. They have been in jail since May, when they were charged with first-degree murder , dismembering a human body and other charges in the April killing of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez.

The defendants are accused of luring Ochoa-Lopez to Clarisa Figueroa's home by offering to give her baby clothes, and then strangling her and cutting the baby from her womb. Clarisa Figueroa then went to a hospital with the brain-damaged newborn, claiming it was hers.

Police say officers found the slain teenager's decaying body in a garbage can behind the home.

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This story corrects the spelling of Desiree Figueroa's first name. It had been misspelled in an earlier version as "Desire."