Marlen Ochoa

Nine days passed and nobody knew what happened to Marlen. The family had received information from people who thought they saw her the day after she went missing at a WalMart and Raquel even received a call from someone stating that they were part of a cartel and wanted money. But none of the leads, tips or hoax calls led anywhere. So on the 2nd of May, Marlen's family held a news conference. Raquel begged for her daughter to be returned home safely. She believed she was being held against her will somewhere. After the news conference, the family received more tips. They were sent some screenshots from the Facebook group they had previously heard about that Marlen was a member of called Help A Sister Out. 

The person who sent the screenshots told them that a woman named Clarisa Figueroa had responded to several posts from Marlen.

Clarisa Figueroa

While they awaited DNA results, police were made aware of a GoFundMe page that had allegedly been set up by Desiree. The page was looking for money for a newborn baby. On the 8th of May, Clarisa's boyfriend Piotr, shared the GoFundMe campaign, writing:

“My son is a fighter made it this far, but not much time left, life support, brain dead, very little function in the brain.”

The DNA tests confirmed that the newborn baby was not Clarisa's baby. It was Marlen's baby. So police had to find out where Marlen was.

Piotr

Police went to Clarisa's home with a search warrant . Her boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, was hosing a rug outside the house. He had a bottle of bleach in his hand. Police searched inside the house and outside. They discovered bleach and cleaning products inside the house and there was evidence of burned clothing and blood on the floors of the living room, bathroom and the hallway. In a garbage can in the backyard, police discovered Marlen's body. A cable was wrapped around her neck and her stomach had been cut open. A baby had been removed from her womb. The cause of death was determined as ligature strangulation and it was ruled a homicide. 

Clarisa's backyard

A few weeks later, on the 14th of June, the baby died. Marlen's family named him Yovany Jadiel Lopez. He died from complications from lack of oxygen and blood to his brain due to maternal assault and demise. His death was ruled a homicide. 

Clarisa, Desiree and Piotr were arrested and charged with the murder of Marlen. They were later indicted on further murder charges in relation to baby Yovany's death. 

The Prosecution allege that Clarisa and Desiree planned to steal a baby for months. Clarisa pretended she was pregnant and posted fake photos online and joined group Facebook pages with other women who were expecting a baby. Clarisa Figueroa previously had a son named Xander who, in 2018, died of natural causes. He was 20 years old at the time. The Prosecution believe that Clarisa and Marlen met via the Facebook group Help A Sister Out. It is a group where women can sell, buy or donate baby items. Marlen needed a double stroller for her three year old son and the new baby. It is the Prosecution's case that Clarisa tried to kill Marlen on the 1st of April, when Marlen went to her house for the first time to collect some baby items but Desiree's boyfriend told them he would call the police.