State not alerted for weeks that woman may not be baby’s mom

CHICAGO — Illinois’ child welfare agency says more than two weeks passed before it was alerted that a woman taken to a Chicago-area hospital with a gravely ill newborn may not be his mother, even though she arrived bloodied and showed no signs of giving birth.

Clarisa Figueroa is charged with killing 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez. Chicago police say she cut Ochoa-Lopez’s baby out of her womb on April 23, then called 911 to report she had given birth to a baby who wasn’t breathing. Paramedics took Figueroa and the baby to Advocate Christ Medical Center in suburban Oak Lawn.

Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Jassen (JAY-son) Strokosch said Saturday the agency was alerted May 9 that there were questions about who had custody of the child in order to make medical decisions.

The hospital declined to say whether or when it contacted authorities.

The Associated Press

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