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PILSEN — A mural paying tribute to a West Englewood teen who was brutally murdered last month has emerged in Pilsen.
Over the weekend, a mural dedicated to Marlen Ochoa Lopez was painted on 16th Street and Newberry Avenue in Pilsen
Artist Milton Coronado channeled the anguish many people have been feeling into a mural painted “in honor and memory of” Ochoa Lopez for her family, he wrote on a Facebook post.
“I am so sorry for the loss of this young mother. I cannot describe in words the pain and disgust I carry in my heart,” he said.
Coronado’s painting of the mural was captured in a time-lapse video.
Coronado could not be immediately reached for comment.
The 19-year old Ochoa Lopez was last seen leaving Latino Youth High School in Little Village on April 23. She then went to pick up a stroller from 46-year-old Clarisa Figueroa, whom she met on Facebook, when she was brutally murdered and her baby cut out of her womb by Figueroa and her daughter, prosecutors allege.
Last week, Figueroa, who allegedly plotted for weeks with her daughter to kill the 19-year-old and steal her baby, was charged in her murder.
As rain poured down outside the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office last week, Yovani Lopez, the husband of the slain 19-year-old, expressed frustration with the pace of the police investigation in his wife’s case, and expressed his devastation.
Lopez remembered his wife as a studious and intelligent woman who loved her family, including her 3-year-old son.
“She didn’t deserve it,” he said. “This is not the outcome we wanted, but she’s been found and she’s at peace with God.”
Lopez said his newborn son Yovani Yadiel Lopez was in “grave condition” at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
“He’s in a coma and the doctors said. …the manner in which he was taken out of her body left him with brain damage,” Lopez said.
“We need a miracle to save him. We are hoping and praying he recuperates. He’s an angel and blessing my wife left for us.”
Previous coverage:
Three Charged In Murder Of Little Village Teen Who Had Her Unborn Baby Stolen From Her Womb
Pregnant Little Village Teen Found Murdered, Her Unborn Baby Stolen From Her Womb
Persons Of Interest Questioned In Disappearance Of Pregnant Teen Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui
