Hospital did not alert authorities about woman charged in Marlen Ochoa-Lopez's brutal murder: child welfare agency

A child welfare agency claims the hospital where a woman suspected in Marlen Ochoa-Lopez's murder brought the pregnant teen's baby after allegedly cutting him from her womb did not report the suspicious incident until two weeks later.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Jassen Strokosch said Saturday that Christ Medical Center did not alert them about Clarisa Figueroa after the 46-year-old arrived at the hospital with a critically injured newborn despite showing no signs of having just given birth during a physical exam.

Strokosch claimed the agency was not alerted about the case until May 9, amid questions about who had custody of the child and could make medical decisions on his behalf, the Associated Press reports.

DNA testing later revealed that Figueroa was not the baby's mother and that Ochoa-Lopez and her husband, Yovany Lopez, were actually his parents. The infant, who the victim's family named Yadiel, is not expected to survive.

"We don't know what was happening at the hospital," Strokosch said, adding he couldn't speculate as to why the agency wasn't contacted sooner.

Photos from the case:

Figueroa was charged with killing Ochoa-Lopez on May 16 after police found the 19-year-old's body in a trash can outside the suspect's Scottsdale home.

Chicago police say Figueroa cut the victim's baby out of her womb on April 23 after luring Ochoa-Lopez to her home with the promise of free baby items and strangling her to death with the help of her daughter 24-year-old Desiree Figueroa, who was also charged with murder.

Figueroa then called 911 to report she had given birth to a baby who wasn't breathing and was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with the newborn, who remains on life support in "grave" condition.

Prosecutors say that when Figueroa was brought to the hospital, she had blood on her upper body and her face, which a hospital employee cleaned off, but showed no signs of childbirth.

Ochoa-Lopez’s family members reported her missing on April 23, the same day she is believed to have been killed, and spent the following weeks searching for her and holding press conferences, pleading for the public's help in finding her. Her father, Arnulfo Ochoa, voiced frustrations with the speed of the investigation into her disappearance.

Julie Contreras, a spokeswoman for the teen's family, told reporters that what her loved ones are going through is “a nightmare, a horror film.”

During a Friday court hearing, a judge denied bail for Figueroa, her daughter and the elder Figueroa's boyfriend, 40-year-old Piotr Bobak, who was charged with concealment of a homicide.