Chicago

Family of Marlen Ochoa Set to Update on Baby's Health

Family members said last weekend that doctors indicated the infant showed some brain activity in recent days

The family of Marlen Ochoa is expected to give an update on the health of her baby, which was cut from her womb following her brutal murder in Chicago last month.

A spokesperson for the family said a press conference was expected to be held around 4:15 p.m. CT outside Advocate Christ Medical Center, where the baby has been hospitalized and on life support for weeks. Family members said last weekend that doctors indicated the infant showed some brain activity in recent days. 

Ochoa's extended family traveled from Mexico to Illinois to say goodbye to their once youngest family member last week.

“She will never be forgotten," said activist and family spokeswoman Julie Contreras. 

The slain 19-year-old mother was remembered as a good wife and loving mother, who prosecutors said was killed the day she reportedly went missing on April 23. Authorities said Ochoa was strangled to death before her baby was cut from her womb.

Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter Desiree Figueroa have been charged with the teen’s murder, and Clarisa Figueroa's boyfriend Piotr Bobak was charged with concealing the homicide. Prosecutors alleged the mother-daughter duo lured Ochoa to their home via a Facebook group, where they offered to give her clothes and other items for her unborn child. 

"Marlen is everyone’s daughter today," family spokeswoman Cecilia Garcia said at a vigil for Ochoa last week. "We have to make sure that this never ever happens to anybody else again." 

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