Photo: Facebook
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speculated the suspects wanted to “raise the child as their own” after Clarisa Figueroa allegedly faked a pregnancy, then called 911 on April 23 — the day the victim was last seen — to claim she’d just given birth to a boy who was struggling to breathe.
Due to that lack of oxygen, the child has continued to struggle and remains on life support in grave condition at a hospital, according to Lozano, a pastor with Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago.
“There has been another family that has basically been pretending that they were his parents and grandparents,” she says. With the revelation of the murder and the charges against the accused, Ochoa-Lopez’s husband rushed in to oversee his child’s care belatedly while also dealing with the tragedy of his wife’s killing.
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“Right now he can’t breathe on his own and can’t swallow, and those functions are extremely important and there hasn’t been any change since he came in,” Lozano tells PEOPLE
Cook County State’s Attorney James Murphy alleged in court Friday that Clarisa and Desiree Figueroa had planned the murder for weeks and carried it out in a “cold, calculated and premeditated manner,” reportsWTTW. A third person, Desiree’s boyfriend Piotr Bobak, 40, also is charged with one felony count of concealment of a homicide.
From left: Clarisa Figueroa, Desiree Figueroa and Piotr Bobak.Chicago Police
As Ochoa-Lopez looked through a photo album of Clarisa Figueroa’s children on April 23, prosecutors say Clarisa Figueroa snuck up behind her and strangled her with a coaxial cable.
None of the accused, who are due back in court June 3, have entered a plea, and attorneys who might speak on their behalf were not immediately identified. All three remain jailed without bond, according to WTTW.
The child’s family has created aGoFundMe pageseeking donations to help for care of the boy his parents had named Yadiel. The couple has a second son, Joshua, age 3. Ochoa-Lopez was due to give birth on May 5.
“With all my heart I keep asking for your help,” his father wrote. “Pray as my son Yovanny Jardiel recovers.
“It’s been extremely difficult for him to cope,” says Lozano. “Once he was able to meet his child and hear the prognosis, which none of that shows that his child has a future with any type of quality of life, I think all of these things have been overwhelming to him.”
“People have joined them in their pain, but also just being there for them, and prayers have been very helpful,” she says.
source: people.com
