Virtual Vigil Held One Year After Marlen Ochoa Was Strangled, Had Baby Cut From Womb

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A virtual vigil was held for Thursday evening for Marlen Ochoa, a pregnant woman who was strangled and then had her baby cut from her womb a year ago.

The baby, Yovanny, died two months later on June 14 of last year, after two months on life support at the hospital.

Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and her daughter Desiree, 25, pleaded not guilty in June of last year to charges of murder, kidnapping, dismembering a body, and concealing a homicide in Ochoa's death.

Police and prosecutors said they killed Ochoa at their home in the Scottsdale neighborhood on April 23 of last year, and then the elder Figueroa cut Yovanny from Ochoa's womb, and passed him off as her own when she went to Advocate Christ Medical Center.

death was ruled a homicide. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office determined Yovanny later died from lack of oxygen to the brain.

Clarisa Figueroa's boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, is charged with helping the Figueroas cover up Ochoa's murder.

The defendants' next court date is May 11. But on Thursday night, the family said they're concerned their fight for justice is hitting a wall, because of possible delays in the court proceedings due to COVID-19.