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Marlen Ochoa's Family Seek Second Opinion On Condition Of Baby Yovanny, Still On Life Support

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The family of Marlen Ochoa is asking for a second opinion on the condition of her baby boy, six weeks after she was brutally murdered and he was cut from her womb.

Ochoa's relatives are holding out hope baby Yovanny Jadiel Lopez will be able to breathe without a respirator. Doctors at Advocate Christ Medical Center have said he can't breathe on his own because of severe brain damage.

Marlen Ochoa Baby Yovanny Jadiel Lopez
Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, the newborn baby of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa, was in critical condition and on life support at Advocate Christ Medical Center, after her mother was strangled and Yavani was cut from her womb. (Photo supplied to CBS)

On Thursday, the family will meet with other medical professionals to get a second opinion on the baby's progress.

Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and her daughter, 24-year-old Desiree, have been accused of plotting for weeks to kill Ochoa and steal her baby.

According to police and prosecutors, the pair strangled Ochoa at their home in the Scottsdale neighborhood on April 23, and then the elder Figueroa cut Yovanny from Ochoa's womb, and passed him off as her own when she went to Christ Medical Center.

Marlen Ochoa
Marlen Ochoa, 19, was missing for three weeks before she was found dead. Sources said her unborn child had been cut from her womb. (Photos supplied to CBS)

The baby's real identity was not revealed for three weeks, after police investigating Ochoa's disappearance conducted a DNA test on the baby and confirmed he is Ochoa's. Detectives later found Ochoa's body stuffed in a trash can at the Figueroas' home.

Yovanny has been on life support for weeks and doctors have said he has no brain activity.

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