Stealing Baby From Womb

 

Clarisa Figueroa, 51

Here we go again and, although it's not an everyday-crime, it happens too often, almost as by a set script: Some woman who isn't pregnant decides to kill a pregnant woman, to snatch her unborn child, and to pretend that the infant - dead or alive - is her son or daughter whom she gave birth to at home without any witnesses. The reason for this gruesome crime is that she wants a firm hold on her lover or husband whom she tricks into believing that she is pregnant by him. 

In this specific case the killer, Clarisa Figueroa, lured the 19 year old, expectant-mother-to-be, Marlen Ochoa-Lipez, to visit her by promises of certain baby stuff for free. Then she and her 24 years old daughter, Desiree, killed Marlen and cut her baby out of her womb. The reason for this crime was that Clarisa wanted a hold on her then boyfriend, Piotr, whom she had told that she was pregnant by him. It was her intention to pretend that the child she had stolen from the pregnant Marlen was that child which she had given birth to without assistance. I suppose everything might have worked out had the murder been as she had planned it to be. However, when she went to the hospital with the baby and covered in Marlen's blood, it was found out that Clarisa wasn't the mother of the child. The many threads of the plot was unraveled, and Clarisa was sentenced to 50 years of prison while her daughter received a sentence of 20 years. As to the baby, he sadly died some weeks later. 

It's important to understand that many of these sad cases of murder and baby-snatchings in reality isn't about the child. The woman may have some maternal feelings, but the main cause for what they are doing most often is to get a hold on that much coveted prize, a man. A lover or a husband still counts for much in the world of the women. His worth as such is not only as a genuine love object or support, but as a social asset. The "Miss"/"Mrs"-distinction may not be of such an importance now when it's possible to use the title "Ms", but to me it's obvious that the former strict rules about female status in the world of the women haven't been eradicated, only loosened. I suppose that someone like Clarisa was brought up to believe that "without a man I'm nothing, i.e. nobody". The stolen child was to ferment her emotional and social relationship with Piotr and it's obvious that her machinations were detailed plans, not only a "whim" ....

Both Clarisa and Desiree were sentenced to jail, but e.g. Taylor Rene Parker from another recent case (i.e. 2022) was sentenced to death.

Taylor Rene Parker

She worked out an elaborate plan, pretending to be pregnant for 9-10 months, in order to "keep her boyfriend from leaving her", but her many schemes didn't get her what she wanted: The young mother, 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, and her daughter died, and she, the murderer, ended up on death row. 

Amber Waterman 

In another case from 2022 a married couple, Amber and Jamie Waterman, kidnapped the 33-year-old, pregnant Ashley Bush. They lured her to their home by offers of free baby clothes, but shot her and cut out her unborn baby, Valkyrie Grace Willis. Sadly enough the little girl died after being cut out of her mother's womb. The case will be brought for the court later this year: October, 2024. 

It seems that the husband assisted his wife in the kidnapping and murder of Ashley and her daughter so both of them will end up in jail. I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that this case will prove to be different in many ways, but time will show ....

 

https://apnews.com/article/baby-cut-womb-chicago-guilty-plea-9e393b97beb92e5e8a7fd0f272b9a7aa 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/02/fetal-abduction-attacks-expectant-mothers 

 

https://people.com/crime/woman-sentenced-death-stabbing-pregnant-woman-100-times-stealing-baby/ 

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/pineville-woman-indicted-killing-unborn-child-kidnapping-victim 

 

Wikipedia