October 16, 2024 • 25 mins
When a 46-year-old woman calls 9-11 for help after a sudden home birth, suspicions are raised when she shows no signs of labor. Police would soon discover the grisly truth behind the baby’s unexpected birth.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
It was April twenty third, twenty nineteen, and forty six
year old Clarissa Figueroa found herself dialing nine one one.
The heavy set woman sat in her living room clutching
a baby boy in her arms as she pinched her
cellphone between her ear and shoulder. Her hands and shirt
(00:36):
were covered in blood. The baby's umbilical cord was still
hanging from its stomach. The newborn was turning blue. Clarissa
told the dispatcher that she had just given birth to
her son at home. Something happened, she wasn't sure, but
now the baby wasn't breathing. Clarissa stood on her front porch,
(01:01):
rocking the baby's delicate body back and forth as she
waited for the sounds of sirens to flood down the street.
When the ambulance arrived, they scooped up the baby, loaded
Clarissa into the ambulance, and rushed them to the Advocate
Christ Medical Center in Oaklawn. At the hospital, the baby
(01:22):
boy was swiftly admitted to labor and delivery, with Clarissa
close behind, but it was soon determined that the boy
had no brain activity. Doctors and nurses got to work
doing everything they could to save the fragile newborn. Clarissa
nestled to the tiny infant watched closely as his tender
(01:45):
body was plucked with needles and tubes. He had dark,
olive skin and a head of wispy black hair. I
want to call him Xavier Xander, Clarissa told the aff
They put his name on the baby's cradle. Welcome to
(02:27):
Sword and Scale Nightmares, True Crime for bedtime or Nightmare
Beginnings Now. Clarissa Figueroa spent weeks at the ad Get
(03:00):
Christ's Medical Center next to Xavier, praying he would survive. Soon,
the father of the baby, Clarissa's forty year old boyfriend,
Pete Boback, came to the hospital. Things were not looking
good for the baby. He had no brain activity and
the doctors were concerned that he wouldn't make it through.
(03:22):
Pete and Clarissa posted photos and hopeful messages on their
Facebook pages, asking for love and support during this trying time.
Pete wrote, my son is a fighter, made it this far,
but not much time left, life support, brain dead, not
much function in the brain. Born for twenty three, twenty nineteen,
(03:47):
at six thirty nine pm, Clarissa and Pete even made
a GoFundMe page asking for nine thousand dollars in donations
to help with medical costs and the potential funeral costs
for little Xavier. On the go fundme page, Clarissa outlined
the story of Xavier's traumatic home birth, saying that at
(04:07):
thirty six weeks, she had experienced weird abdominal pains and
then she gave birth to her son within moments. The
story also claimed that Clarissa had preclampsia, which is a
rare condition that some pregnant women get starting at twenty weeks,
which results in high blood pressure, swelling of the extremities
(04:32):
and can cause serious trauma for both a mother and
her baby. Kim Kardashian had it just in case that
helps ring a bell. While Xavier clung to life, Clarissa
and Pete continued to push their go fundme page and
take snapshots for their social media pages, but one of
(04:53):
the other moms caught Clarissa in what appears to be
a strange lie. You see in prior threads. Clarissa had
told the group that she had her Phillipian tubes tied,
which meant it was impossible for her to get pregnant?
How'd you get prego? Then they just fall apart on
(05:13):
their own. Another mom wrote, I'd be suing the hospital
where they tied them. Girl, we are too old to
start over. Sorry. I did the best impression of that
person I could with my terrible acting. I apologize anyway,
Let's continue. Clarissa responded, claiming that she didn't have her
(05:36):
fillopian tubes untied, but that after emergency appendix surgery, the
doctors discovered a cyst on her ovary. Once they removed it,
something happened which resulted in her magically getting pregnant again.
Any first year medical student can probably tell you that's
not how that works. But whatever, it was a suspicious
(05:59):
story at best, and Clarissa's lack of punctuation and horrible
spelling didn't really make it more believable. In case you
haven't noticed, the people on Twitter that misspell the most
are the dumbest, no exceptions, but still. Other moms on
the page sent over their virtual congratulations to Clarissa and
(06:21):
continued to like her posts wherever she mentioned her miracle pregnancy.
Doesn't sound at all like a tension seeking behavior. I digress.
Plus too many personal opinions in this episode Apologies. Then,
in late April of twenty nineteen, a few days before
she gave birth to Xavier, Clarissa posted on the page
(06:43):
who is due in May where the May Mama is at.
A bunch of women all jumped in, including a nineteen
year old pregnant high schooler named Marlon Ochoa Lopez. Despite
being a full time student at the Latino Youth High
School in Chicago, Illinois, Marlon was ecstatic to be having
her second baby with her husband, Yovanni Lopez. The couple
(07:08):
had already had a son, Joshua, who was three years old,
and though they were a young family on a tight budget,
they were happy. Hello ladies, I'm due May tenth and
I still need lots of things, Marlon wrote on Clarissa's thread,
due to the fact that I'm in school and can't
(07:28):
work at the moment, I can't afford to buy the
rest of the things because I'm short on cash right now.
Marlon went on to explain that she was looking for
a double stroller and a few other necessities. That's when
Clarissa jumped in. She had all those things and was
happy to give them to Marlon. She explained that her
(07:48):
daughter had been blessed with too many baby showers and
she was just happy to share the wealth. She gave
Marlon her address and they agreed on a time to
meet up. On April twenty third, Marlin drove her car
to Clarissa's South Side neighborhood. She parked a few blocks
away and waddled up to the front door. Clarissa met
(08:12):
her with a smile and led her downstairs to the basement.
(08:40):
On April twenty fourth, twenty twenty three, Yovanni Lopez called
the Chicago Police Department and asked to be connected with
a Spanish speaking officer. Marlin's husband didn't have strong English,
and he was already extra nervous his pregnant wife, Marlin
hadn't come home from school the previous day. Yovanni explained
(09:03):
to the police that Marlin was nine months pregnant and
this wasn't like her. She was a responsible mother who
would never disappear. The police told Giovanni to wait another
seventy two hours and then call back Marlin was an adult.
In the meantime, they would check the local hospitals and
(09:23):
keep lookout for her. Caryvanni contacted Marlin's family in Iowa,
and they came to Chicago to support their son in
law and help find their daughter. As the police continued
to investigate Marlin's mysterious disappearance, more of her friends at
school came forward. One mentioned that Marlin had lost her
(09:45):
mucus plug at school on the day that she vanished.
When a woman is in labor, one of the earliest
signs of labor, before contractions or her water breaks, is
that she will lose something called her mucus plug. This
signals the baby is ready to start descending the birth canal,
and forty eight is the age at which I've learned this,
(10:08):
by the way, so don't feel bad, guys. Another friend
told the family that she had spoken to Marlon on
April twenty third, and that she had told her she
was having contractions. It was clear that on the day
Marlin disappeared, she was in early labor. Still, no one
could find her at any of the local hospitals. No Marlin,
(10:33):
no Jane does matching her description. Nothing. It wasn't until
the police were given a screenshot from the Help ass
Sister Out Facebook page that they found the messages between
her and Clarissa Figueroa, discussing what time and day Marlon
could come over and pick up the free baby clothes.
(10:55):
Police drove to Clarissa's house and soon discovered that the
forty six year old woman actually lived in her mother's basement.
A neighbor from across the street came outside and told
police that Clarissa was not home. She had given birth
a few days prior and had been whisked away in
(11:16):
an ambulance. Police made their way around the property and
were confronted by a twenty four year old pregnant woman
who claimed to be Clarissa's daughter. The black haired lady
with an awkward facial tattoo above her eyebrow reluctantly introduced
herself as Desiree and told them that her mother was
(11:39):
at the Advocate Christ Medical Center with her new baby.
When detectives showed up at the hospital, they found Clarissa
and Pete sitting next to Xavier, staring at the mess
of tubes and wires strung in and around the infant.
The couple looked stunned. The team of detectives waltzed into
(12:02):
the hospital room and started asking about Marlin. Clarissa sat
up straight and cleared her throat. She knew Marlin, yes,
but they hadn't met up. On April twenty third, Clarissa
had canceled at the last minute. She casually mentioned that
Marlin was unhappy with her husband, Giovanni. She wants to
(12:24):
go back to Iowa with her family. Clarissa gossiped as
the officer swabbed her mouth for DNA. She told me
the last time we met up and traded baby clothes.
When they asked Clarissa where she had done all her
prenatal visits, she flippantly threw out the name of another
nonprofit hospital, but when the officers double checked, they had
(12:49):
zero records of any patient named Clarissa Figueroa. Meanwhile, a
search warrant for Clarissa's mother's house had been granted and
police officers were on the property. The small brick house
had a large cement patio area between the back of
the house and the garage that was barren except for
(13:11):
a line of trash bins, a fire pit, and some
small wet door mats strewn around that stunk like bleach.
Besides the bleach, there was another distinct smell in air
that the police officers could not ignore. It came in
waves through the spring breeze, traveling back to its source,
(13:34):
a garbage can with a big bag of mulch on top.
One officer bravely removed the lid and started digging through
the bin. He lifted up a bag of beer cans
and the smell got stronger. Then he found a duvet.
(13:58):
It took multiple offices to tip over the heavy trash can,
but when they did, the crumbled and bloody body of
Marlin rolled out. She was purple and decomposing except for
the sequence on her shirt. There was a large jagget
(14:21):
slice across her abdomen, and her rotting brown intestines were
spilling out in chunks like ground meat. Rolled up next
to her. Inside the bloody gray duvet was an x
acto knife and three bloodstained surgical clamps. It took only
(15:12):
a matter of days to determine that Clarissa and Pete
were not the biological parents of Xavier Xander. The baby's
DNA matched Marlon and Giovanni. Pete, Clarissa, and her daughter
Desiree were all arrested. Chubby and dim witted, Clarissa continued
(15:33):
to protest and stick to her story Xavier was her baby.
Pete denied his involvement, then fumbled through his interrogation. After all,
the petty criminal had a record ten miles long and
was terrified to be sitting in police custody again, especially
for something he claimed he knew nothing about. But Pete
(15:57):
had posted ultrasound images on his face book page for
the last few months, boasting with pride about the sun
he was about to have. It turned out that these
images were taken from Google and doctored to include Clarissa's information.
Had Pete created these images and he knew what was
(16:18):
happening all along, or had Clarissa lied, made them herself
and given them the Pete to keep up her pregnancy scam.
It wasn't until the police talked to Desiree that they
got the truth. Desiree was cold and emotionless as she
(16:39):
explained what happened on April twenty third. She said that
Marlin showed up at the house and Clarissa invited her
in with a smile. Following her mother's instructions, Desiree invited
the pregnant teenager to relax on the couch with her.
Desiree snuggled up beside Marlon making small talk about her
(17:01):
own pregnancy while Clarissa prepared in the other room, Desiree
showed Marlin a photo album that Clarissa had strategically placed
on the coffee table. Marlin smiled and nodded along as
Desiree showed her pictures of her brother Xavier. Yes, Xavier,
Clarissa had a son named Xavier, who had suddenly died
(17:25):
in twenty seventeen. He was Clarissa's only son, the boy
of the family. Clarissa had never healed from his death.
As desire pointed at pictures of her deceased brother, Clarissa
slowly crept up behind Marlon and in one swift motion,
(17:47):
wrapped a coaxial chord around the teenager's neck. Marlon gasped
and flung her hands upward, trying to pry her fingers
under the cord, but Clarissa was too strong, too determined.
She snarled and cinched it tighter and tighter. Marlon was
(18:12):
pressed back into the faded fabric of the couch, kicking
her legs and choking. She fought with every fiber of
her being as color and light escaped or whorled. The
cord was too tight, and Clarissa was too big and
(18:33):
too strong. She easily had one hundred and sixty pounds
on Marlon. You're not doing your fucking job, Clarissa screamed
at her daughter. Desiree snapped into action and straddled Marlon,
holding her arms at her side so that the victim
(18:53):
couldn't move at all. She squished down on Marlin's protruding
belly and watched Marlin's struggle under the weight of Desiree's
own pregnant body and the noose around her neck. Silence
hung in the room as Marlin's flaying subsided and her
(19:14):
body fell limp. It took five minutes to kill the
young mother. When Clarissa was sure that she was dead,
she breathlessly hoisted herself up and dropped the cord. Get
the knife. She instructed her daughter. Desiree used a butcher's
knife to cut open Marlin's abdomen. She pressed down, carefully,
(19:40):
slicing the tender side of Marlin's baby bump so as
not to harm the living child inside her victim. Desiree
channeled the precision of a surgeon, and the two women
soon lifted the baby out of Marlin's bloody womb. This
makeshift cesarean section had worked. As Marlin bled out on
(20:06):
the couch, Desiree grabbed a towel and they quickly wrapped
the baby. The placenta and umbilical cord were still attached.
The baby was taking short, labored breaths. Clarissa rocked him
and panicked. She knew she had no choice but to
(20:27):
call nine one one. Desiree and Clarissa rolled Marlin's body
up in a duvet and hid it in the bedroom.
Desiree would dispose of it later. The baby was turning
blue and they had to get help. They had to
get help now. Clarissa wanted nothing more than to replace
(20:50):
the sun she had lost with a new baby, but
her fallopian tubes were tied and she was forty six
years old. Some of us can't seem to accept the
fact that we all get older, become infertile, and die.
(21:10):
Clarissa was closer to menopause than childbearing and already had
four children, Desiree, her deceased adult son Xavier, as well
as twin daughters who she was estranged from for some reason.
They were disgusted and shocked by what their mother and
(21:32):
half sister had done. They couldn't even fathom such pure evil.
Giovanni was taken to the hospital to be reunited with
his son. They renamed the baby Giovanni Junior, and his
father held him for days while he struggled to survive,
(21:54):
but in mid June, the baby succumbed to his injuries
passed away. Marlon's family was enraged that the hospital hadn't
called authorities. It turned out that many members of the
staff at Advocate christ Medical Center were concerned about the
legitimacy of Clarissa's birth, but they didn't say anything. They
(22:21):
just kept their mouths shut and went about their day.
The ob who examined her even admitted that she cleaned
what was now determined to be Marlin's blood off Clarissa's
hands and face. Marlon's family got an advocate and began
to talk about suing the hospital. Rightfully so, Desiree and
(22:45):
Clarissa pleaded not guilty to their twenty seven count indictment.
As of the writing of this episode, they have not
yet gone the trial. Pete Bowback took a plea deal,
admitting that he helped cover up the murder and that
he accepted false charitable donations. With his time served, he
(23:07):
was only given six months on parole. Marlin's poor family
continues to fight for her legacy. On the anniversary of
her death this past April, the whole family gathered at
their church to celebrate Marlin's life and pray for justice
to be served. A large, colorful mural of Marlon was
(23:29):
painted outside their church, a memory of her frozen in time.
Marlin's living son is still confused as to why he
can't see her anymore. He asks me where his mother is,
and I'm his mother now. Marlin's mother in law told reporters,
we can't explain it to him, he's still a child.
(23:53):
We just tell him she's looking over him from heaven.
Clarissa and Desiree, we'll soon face a courtroom, and I
hope that these wretched women are shown no mercy, the
same amount that they showed innocent, beautiful Marlin Ochoa Lopez
(24:16):
on the day that they stole her life and her child.
If you enjoyed the show, please consider joining plus at
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(24:39):
Sweet Dreams and good night, assass
It was April twenty third, twenty nineteen, and forty six
year old Clarissa Figueroa found herself dialing nine one one.
The heavy set woman sat in her living room clutching
a baby boy in her arms as she pinched her
cellphone between her ear and shoulder. Her hands and shirt
(00:36):
were covered in blood. The baby's umbilical cord was still
hanging from its stomach. The newborn was turning blue. Clarissa
told the dispatcher that she had just given birth to
her son at home. Something happened, she wasn't sure, but
now the baby wasn't breathing. Clarissa stood on her front porch,
(01:01):
rocking the baby's delicate body back and forth as she
waited for the sounds of sirens to flood down the street.
When the ambulance arrived, they scooped up the baby, loaded
Clarissa into the ambulance, and rushed them to the Advocate
Christ Medical Center in Oaklawn. At the hospital, the baby
(01:22):
boy was swiftly admitted to labor and delivery, with Clarissa
close behind, but it was soon determined that the boy
had no brain activity. Doctors and nurses got to work
doing everything they could to save the fragile newborn. Clarissa
nestled to the tiny infant watched closely as his tender
(01:45):
body was plucked with needles and tubes. He had dark,
olive skin and a head of wispy black hair. I
want to call him Xavier Xander, Clarissa told the aff
They put his name on the baby's cradle. Welcome to
(02:27):
Sword and Scale Nightmares, True Crime for bedtime or Nightmare
Beginnings Now. Clarissa Figueroa spent weeks at the ad Get
(03:00):
Christ's Medical Center next to Xavier, praying he would survive. Soon,
the father of the baby, Clarissa's forty year old boyfriend,
Pete Boback, came to the hospital. Things were not looking
good for the baby. He had no brain activity and
the doctors were concerned that he wouldn't make it through.
(03:22):
Pete and Clarissa posted photos and hopeful messages on their
Facebook pages, asking for love and support during this trying time.
Pete wrote, my son is a fighter, made it this far,
but not much time left, life support, brain dead, not
much function in the brain. Born for twenty three, twenty nineteen,
(03:47):
at six thirty nine pm, Clarissa and Pete even made
a GoFundMe page asking for nine thousand dollars in donations
to help with medical costs and the potential funeral costs
for little Xavier. On the go fundme page, Clarissa outlined
the story of Xavier's traumatic home birth, saying that at
(04:07):
thirty six weeks, she had experienced weird abdominal pains and
then she gave birth to her son within moments. The
story also claimed that Clarissa had preclampsia, which is a
rare condition that some pregnant women get starting at twenty weeks,
which results in high blood pressure, swelling of the extremities
(04:32):
and can cause serious trauma for both a mother and
her baby. Kim Kardashian had it just in case that
helps ring a bell. While Xavier clung to life, Clarissa
and Pete continued to push their go fundme page and
take snapshots for their social media pages, but one of
(04:53):
the other moms caught Clarissa in what appears to be
a strange lie. You see in prior threads. Clarissa had
told the group that she had her Phillipian tubes tied,
which meant it was impossible for her to get pregnant?
How'd you get prego? Then they just fall apart on
(05:13):
their own. Another mom wrote, I'd be suing the hospital
where they tied them. Girl, we are too old to
start over. Sorry. I did the best impression of that
person I could with my terrible acting. I apologize anyway,
Let's continue. Clarissa responded, claiming that she didn't have her
(05:36):
fillopian tubes untied, but that after emergency appendix surgery, the
doctors discovered a cyst on her ovary. Once they removed it,
something happened which resulted in her magically getting pregnant again.
Any first year medical student can probably tell you that's
not how that works. But whatever, it was a suspicious
(05:59):
story at best, and Clarissa's lack of punctuation and horrible
spelling didn't really make it more believable. In case you
haven't noticed, the people on Twitter that misspell the most
are the dumbest, no exceptions, but still. Other moms on
the page sent over their virtual congratulations to Clarissa and
(06:21):
continued to like her posts wherever she mentioned her miracle pregnancy.
Doesn't sound at all like a tension seeking behavior. I digress.
Plus too many personal opinions in this episode Apologies. Then,
in late April of twenty nineteen, a few days before
she gave birth to Xavier, Clarissa posted on the page
(06:43):
who is due in May where the May Mama is at.
A bunch of women all jumped in, including a nineteen
year old pregnant high schooler named Marlon Ochoa Lopez. Despite
being a full time student at the Latino Youth High
School in Chicago, Illinois, Marlon was ecstatic to be having
her second baby with her husband, Yovanni Lopez. The couple
(07:08):
had already had a son, Joshua, who was three years old,
and though they were a young family on a tight budget,
they were happy. Hello ladies, I'm due May tenth and
I still need lots of things, Marlon wrote on Clarissa's thread,
due to the fact that I'm in school and can't
(07:28):
work at the moment, I can't afford to buy the
rest of the things because I'm short on cash right now.
Marlon went on to explain that she was looking for
a double stroller and a few other necessities. That's when
Clarissa jumped in. She had all those things and was
happy to give them to Marlon. She explained that her
(07:48):
daughter had been blessed with too many baby showers and
she was just happy to share the wealth. She gave
Marlon her address and they agreed on a time to
meet up. On April twenty third, Marlin drove her car
to Clarissa's South Side neighborhood. She parked a few blocks
away and waddled up to the front door. Clarissa met
(08:12):
her with a smile and led her downstairs to the basement.
(08:40):
On April twenty fourth, twenty twenty three, Yovanni Lopez called
the Chicago Police Department and asked to be connected with
a Spanish speaking officer. Marlin's husband didn't have strong English,
and he was already extra nervous his pregnant wife, Marlin
hadn't come home from school the previous day. Yovanni explained
(09:03):
to the police that Marlin was nine months pregnant and
this wasn't like her. She was a responsible mother who
would never disappear. The police told Giovanni to wait another
seventy two hours and then call back Marlin was an adult.
In the meantime, they would check the local hospitals and
(09:23):
keep lookout for her. Caryvanni contacted Marlin's family in Iowa,
and they came to Chicago to support their son in
law and help find their daughter. As the police continued
to investigate Marlin's mysterious disappearance, more of her friends at
school came forward. One mentioned that Marlin had lost her
(09:45):
mucus plug at school on the day that she vanished.
When a woman is in labor, one of the earliest
signs of labor, before contractions or her water breaks, is
that she will lose something called her mucus plug. This
signals the baby is ready to start descending the birth canal,
and forty eight is the age at which I've learned this,
(10:08):
by the way, so don't feel bad, guys. Another friend
told the family that she had spoken to Marlon on
April twenty third, and that she had told her she
was having contractions. It was clear that on the day
Marlin disappeared, she was in early labor. Still, no one
could find her at any of the local hospitals. No Marlin,
(10:33):
no Jane does matching her description. Nothing. It wasn't until
the police were given a screenshot from the Help ass
Sister Out Facebook page that they found the messages between
her and Clarissa Figueroa, discussing what time and day Marlon
could come over and pick up the free baby clothes.
(10:55):
Police drove to Clarissa's house and soon discovered that the
forty six year old woman actually lived in her mother's basement.
A neighbor from across the street came outside and told
police that Clarissa was not home. She had given birth
a few days prior and had been whisked away in
(11:16):
an ambulance. Police made their way around the property and
were confronted by a twenty four year old pregnant woman
who claimed to be Clarissa's daughter. The black haired lady
with an awkward facial tattoo above her eyebrow reluctantly introduced
herself as Desiree and told them that her mother was
(11:39):
at the Advocate Christ Medical Center with her new baby.
When detectives showed up at the hospital, they found Clarissa
and Pete sitting next to Xavier, staring at the mess
of tubes and wires strung in and around the infant.
The couple looked stunned. The team of detectives waltzed into
(12:02):
the hospital room and started asking about Marlin. Clarissa sat
up straight and cleared her throat. She knew Marlin, yes,
but they hadn't met up. On April twenty third, Clarissa
had canceled at the last minute. She casually mentioned that
Marlin was unhappy with her husband, Giovanni. She wants to
(12:24):
go back to Iowa with her family. Clarissa gossiped as
the officer swabbed her mouth for DNA. She told me
the last time we met up and traded baby clothes.
When they asked Clarissa where she had done all her
prenatal visits, she flippantly threw out the name of another
nonprofit hospital, but when the officers double checked, they had
(12:49):
zero records of any patient named Clarissa Figueroa. Meanwhile, a
search warrant for Clarissa's mother's house had been granted and
police officers were on the property. The small brick house
had a large cement patio area between the back of
the house and the garage that was barren except for
(13:11):
a line of trash bins, a fire pit, and some
small wet door mats strewn around that stunk like bleach.
Besides the bleach, there was another distinct smell in air
that the police officers could not ignore. It came in
waves through the spring breeze, traveling back to its source,
(13:34):
a garbage can with a big bag of mulch on top.
One officer bravely removed the lid and started digging through
the bin. He lifted up a bag of beer cans
and the smell got stronger. Then he found a duvet.
(13:58):
It took multiple offices to tip over the heavy trash can,
but when they did, the crumbled and bloody body of
Marlin rolled out. She was purple and decomposing except for
the sequence on her shirt. There was a large jagget
(14:21):
slice across her abdomen, and her rotting brown intestines were
spilling out in chunks like ground meat. Rolled up next
to her. Inside the bloody gray duvet was an x
acto knife and three bloodstained surgical clamps. It took only
(15:12):
a matter of days to determine that Clarissa and Pete
were not the biological parents of Xavier Xander. The baby's
DNA matched Marlon and Giovanni. Pete, Clarissa, and her daughter
Desiree were all arrested. Chubby and dim witted, Clarissa continued
(15:33):
to protest and stick to her story Xavier was her baby.
Pete denied his involvement, then fumbled through his interrogation. After all,
the petty criminal had a record ten miles long and
was terrified to be sitting in police custody again, especially
for something he claimed he knew nothing about. But Pete
(15:57):
had posted ultrasound images on his face book page for
the last few months, boasting with pride about the sun
he was about to have. It turned out that these
images were taken from Google and doctored to include Clarissa's information.
Had Pete created these images and he knew what was
(16:18):
happening all along, or had Clarissa lied, made them herself
and given them the Pete to keep up her pregnancy scam.
It wasn't until the police talked to Desiree that they
got the truth. Desiree was cold and emotionless as she
(16:39):
explained what happened on April twenty third. She said that
Marlin showed up at the house and Clarissa invited her
in with a smile. Following her mother's instructions, Desiree invited
the pregnant teenager to relax on the couch with her.
Desiree snuggled up beside Marlon making small talk about her
(17:01):
own pregnancy while Clarissa prepared in the other room, Desiree
showed Marlin a photo album that Clarissa had strategically placed
on the coffee table. Marlin smiled and nodded along as
Desiree showed her pictures of her brother Xavier. Yes, Xavier,
Clarissa had a son named Xavier, who had suddenly died
(17:25):
in twenty seventeen. He was Clarissa's only son, the boy
of the family. Clarissa had never healed from his death.
As desire pointed at pictures of her deceased brother, Clarissa
slowly crept up behind Marlon and in one swift motion,
(17:47):
wrapped a coaxial chord around the teenager's neck. Marlon gasped
and flung her hands upward, trying to pry her fingers
under the cord, but Clarissa was too strong, too determined.
She snarled and cinched it tighter and tighter. Marlon was
(18:12):
pressed back into the faded fabric of the couch, kicking
her legs and choking. She fought with every fiber of
her being as color and light escaped or whorled. The
cord was too tight, and Clarissa was too big and
(18:33):
too strong. She easily had one hundred and sixty pounds
on Marlon. You're not doing your fucking job, Clarissa screamed
at her daughter. Desiree snapped into action and straddled Marlon,
holding her arms at her side so that the victim
(18:53):
couldn't move at all. She squished down on Marlin's protruding
belly and watched Marlin's struggle under the weight of Desiree's
own pregnant body and the noose around her neck. Silence
hung in the room as Marlin's flaying subsided and her
(19:14):
body fell limp. It took five minutes to kill the
young mother. When Clarissa was sure that she was dead,
she breathlessly hoisted herself up and dropped the cord. Get
the knife. She instructed her daughter. Desiree used a butcher's
knife to cut open Marlin's abdomen. She pressed down, carefully,
(19:40):
slicing the tender side of Marlin's baby bump so as
not to harm the living child inside her victim. Desiree
channeled the precision of a surgeon, and the two women
soon lifted the baby out of Marlin's bloody womb. This
makeshift cesarean section had worked. As Marlin bled out on
(20:06):
the couch, Desiree grabbed a towel and they quickly wrapped
the baby. The placenta and umbilical cord were still attached.
The baby was taking short, labored breaths. Clarissa rocked him
and panicked. She knew she had no choice but to
(20:27):
call nine one one. Desiree and Clarissa rolled Marlin's body
up in a duvet and hid it in the bedroom.
Desiree would dispose of it later. The baby was turning
blue and they had to get help. They had to
get help now. Clarissa wanted nothing more than to replace
(20:50):
the sun she had lost with a new baby, but
her fallopian tubes were tied and she was forty six
years old. Some of us can't seem to accept the
fact that we all get older, become infertile, and die.
(21:10):
Clarissa was closer to menopause than childbearing and already had
four children, Desiree, her deceased adult son Xavier, as well
as twin daughters who she was estranged from for some reason.
They were disgusted and shocked by what their mother and
(21:32):
half sister had done. They couldn't even fathom such pure evil.
Giovanni was taken to the hospital to be reunited with
his son. They renamed the baby Giovanni Junior, and his
father held him for days while he struggled to survive,
(21:54):
but in mid June, the baby succumbed to his injuries
passed away. Marlon's family was enraged that the hospital hadn't
called authorities. It turned out that many members of the
staff at Advocate christ Medical Center were concerned about the
legitimacy of Clarissa's birth, but they didn't say anything. They
(22:21):
just kept their mouths shut and went about their day.
The ob who examined her even admitted that she cleaned
what was now determined to be Marlin's blood off Clarissa's
hands and face. Marlon's family got an advocate and began
to talk about suing the hospital. Rightfully so, Desiree and
(22:45):
Clarissa pleaded not guilty to their twenty seven count indictment.
As of the writing of this episode, they have not
yet gone the trial. Pete Bowback took a plea deal,
admitting that he helped cover up the murder and that
he accepted false charitable donations. With his time served, he
(23:07):
was only given six months on parole. Marlin's poor family
continues to fight for her legacy. On the anniversary of
her death this past April, the whole family gathered at
their church to celebrate Marlin's life and pray for justice
to be served. A large, colorful mural of Marlon was
(23:29):
painted outside their church, a memory of her frozen in time.
Marlin's living son is still confused as to why he
can't see her anymore. He asks me where his mother is,
and I'm his mother now. Marlin's mother in law told reporters,
we can't explain it to him, he's still a child.
(23:53):
We just tell him she's looking over him from heaven.
Clarissa and Desiree, we'll soon face a courtroom, and I
hope that these wretched women are shown no mercy, the
same amount that they showed innocent, beautiful Marlin Ochoa Lopez
(24:16):
on the day that they stole her life and her child.
If you enjoyed the show, please consider joining plus at
Sword and Scale dot com slash plus, But if you can't,
consider leaving us a positive review on your preferred listening platform.
(24:39):
Sweet Dreams and good night, assass
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