Marlen Ochoa's Baby, Yovanny Lopez, Has Died Two Months After Being Cut From Slain Mother's Womb
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After nearly two months on life support, Marlen Ochoa's baby, Yovanny Lopez, has died. Yovanny was cut from his mother's womb, after two women strangled her to steal her baby.
Family spokeswoman Julie Contreras said Yovanny died in his father's arms Friday morning.
"He is an angel, and he's in his mom's arms now," Contreras said. "His father was able to hold him in his last minutes."
Staff at Christ gave the family a painting of angels as a gift to Yovanny.
Yovanny had been on life support since the woman who allegedly killed his mother cut him from 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa's womb, and brought the baby to Christ, claiming he was hers. According to a family attorney, the child died around 5:00 a.m. Friday morning. The baby was not pulled off life support but rather died of natural causes.
"He is the victim of a heinous crime. He was ripped from the womb of his mother," Contreras said. "If the Cook County State's Attorney is listening to this, these criminals must be held – to the full extent of the law – accountable for his death," she said.
Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and her daughter, 24-year-old Desiree, were formally indicted earlier this week for first-degree murder in Ochoa's slaying. The elder Figueroa's boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, is charged with concealing a homicide.
The Cook County State's Attorney's office said it will make a final determination on any additional charges after the Cook County Medical Examiner's office and Chicago Police Department complete their investigations.
Prosecutors have said the Figueroas plotted 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.
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 had been on life support at Advocate Christ Medical Center since the Figueroa's brought him there. Contreras said the family will have a private funeral for Yovanny.
At a news conference in front of the hospital, the attorney for the father, Frank Avila, said that he wanted Bobak to also face murder charges in connection to the child's death.
Avila added that he wants GoFundMe.org to release money raised for the Ochoa family to help pay for outstanding funeral and burial expenses for the child's mother.
The Figueroas and Bobak are due back in court June 26.
