As she left Latino Youth High School last month, 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez had one quick errand to run before picking up her 3-year-old son from day care. It would be the last time she was seen alive.
Nine months pregnant, Ochoa-Lopez drove to a home on the Southwest Side where a woman she met through Facebook was offering a double stroller and maybe some baby clothes. Once inside, police say Ochoa-Lopez was strangled and her baby boy cut from her womb.
But the newborn had problems breathing and the woman who had lured Ochoa-Lopez to the home made a frantic 911 call saying the baby was “pale and blue.” The baby was rushed to a hospital, where the teen’s family say the boy is brain-dead but still hooked up to life support.
Ochoa-Lopez’s body was dumped behind the home in the 4100 block of West 77th Place, where it was discovered early Wednesday — nearly four weeks later — after residents of the home were taken into custody, police said.
As police questioned the suspects Wednesday night, Ochoa-Lopez’s 20-year-old husband stood outside the Cook County medical examiner’s office and vowed justice for his young wife.
“Why did these people, why did these bad people do this? She did nothing to them,” said Yovany Lopez, stretching his arm in back of him, toward the morgue. “She was a good person.
“We’re going to have justice with those responsible,” he added. “We’re going to go hard after them. We won’t let it go.”
Police say they are questioning four people, including a 46-year-old woman who contacted Ochoa-Lopez through a Facebook group for mothers.
“We believe all of them played some role in this unspeakable act of violence,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Following is a timeline of the case, pieced together from police, fire officials, the medical examiner’s office, the family and neighbors from the home where Ochoa-Lopez was found.
* In the days before she disappeared, Ochoa-Lopez visited an online Facebook group for mothers, looking for a stroller and baby clothes for her son, due to be born in less than a month. She came into contact with the 46-year-old woman, who told her “my girl has all brand new boy clothes her son never wore,” according to a screenshot provided by Ochoa-Lopez’s family.
“Yes girl thats fine thank you so much,” Ochoa-Lopez responded.
“No problem girl,” the woman replied. “I know how it is she was lucky to have two baby showers so she just loves to spread the wealth I’m fine with the help inbox me for more info ok.”
* After classes on April 23, Ochoa-Lopez drove from her high school in Pilsen to a one-story brick home in the Scottsdale neighborhood, about 9 miles away. Police have released few details of what happened next, but say Ochoa-Lopez was killed and then her baby was cut from her womb.
* Around 6 p.m. that day, the Chicago Fire Department answered a 911 call from the home reporting that a child had just been born. When paramedics arrived, they saw “the baby was in obvious distress,” according to department spokesman Larry Langford. A source said the baby “was basically blue.”
The paramedics started advanced life support and radioed for another ambulance. The baby was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Some paramedics stayed on the scene with the woman they believed to be the mother. It was not known who that woman was, since according to police Ochoa-Lopez was already dead. Paramedics asked the woman if she had any cramps, bleeding or dizziness and she said no. She was taken to the same hospital as a precaution.
Paramedics do not typically conduct physical examinations after childbirth, Langford said. At the time, there was nothing suspicious that raised alarms.
* The baby was placed in the intensive care unit, where he remains. The family has said the boy has no brain function, apparently from lack of oxygen. In the following days, the residents of the home on 77th Place apparently set up a GoFundMe page for the baby, according to screenshots provided by Ochoa-Lopez’s family.
The 46-year-old woman in custody is listed as organizing the fundraising drive, which sought $9,000. The page featured the picture of a small baby hooked up to a breathing tube and monitors. It has since been taken down.
* On May 8, more than two weeks after the ambulance call, Ochoa-Lopez’s black Honda Civic was found abandoned in the 7700 block of South Keeler Avenue, not far from where her body would be discovered. Neighbors on the block said they had seen the car around the neighborhood and noticed several parking tickets on it.
* In recent days, Ochoa-Lopez’s family said it has been told by police that DNA samples from the baby were a match with DNA extracted from the teen’s toothbrush and hairbrush. The family has been visiting the baby at the hospital, and the father has named the boy Yovanny Jadiel Lopez.
* On Tuesday afternoon, police officers were seen escorting four people from the home on 77th Place, two women and two men. They remain in custody.
* About 12:10 a.m. Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office was notified of a body at the 77th Place address. Police said it was found behind the home but it was not known exactly when it was dumped there.
* 5 p.m. Wednesday. Community members gathered at Lincoln United Methodist Church to pray for Ochoa-Lopez and her family. “My heart is bleeding,” Jacobita Cortes, a pastor at the church, said in Spanish.
Cortes said the community has no other recourse but to pray and hope. “In Marlen’s case, we take it like if it was happening to our own family,” she said in Spanish. “We have looked for her and prayed for her. It is so difficult.”
* About an hour later, around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office identifies the body as Ochoa-Lopez and says she was strangled and that her death was a homicide.
* 8 a.m. Thursday. Guglielmi, the police spokesman, said there could be charges against all four suspects by Thursday afternoon.
The case is similar to the murder of another young mother more than 23 years ago.
In November 1995, 28-year-old Debra Evans was shot to death before her baby boy was crudely cut from her womb.
Evans’s 10-year-old daughter Samantha was also killed in their Addison apartment, and Evans’ 7-year-old son Joshua was found slain in a Maywood alley. Authorities said Fedell Caffey, Jacqueline Annette Williams and Lavern Ward killed Debra and Samantha, removed the fetus and abducted Joshua, leaving behind another son, 21-month-old Jordan.
The baby boy Evans had been carrying survived. He was named Elijah, and he and Jordan are being cared for by Evans’ family.
The names of some members of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez’s family have been misspelled in several Chicago Tribune stories about her death, among them an earlier version of this one. Her husband’s name is Yovany Lopez. Her child’s name was Yovanny Jadiel Lopez.
Chicago Tribune’s Elyssa Cherney contributed.
