Three charged after pregnant woman strangled, baby cut from her womb
CHICAGO — Three people have been charged after a missing pregnant woman was found dead on Chicago’s Southwest Side, according to police.
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and police officials announced the charges Thursday afternoon while updating the investigation into the death of 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui, whose mutilated body was found just after midnight Tuesday in a trash bin behind a home on the 4100 block of West 77th Place.
Clarisa Figueroa, 46, and her daughter, Desiree Figueroa, 24, were charged with first-degree murder and felony aggravated battery to a child less than 13 years old causing permanent disability.
Figueroa’s boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, 40, was charged with concealing a homicide.
Police said Figueroa’s daughter confessed to helping her mother strangle the 19-year-old, who was nine months pregnant when she went missing. Police said a cable was used to strangle the teen.
On Wednesday, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the body found at the home on West 77th Place as that of the missing teen. The medical examiner, which identified her as Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, ruled her death a homicide.
Police said Ochoa-Lopez was strangled and that her baby boy was cut from her womb after the murder. Sources said the home had a hidden room in the basement.
Fire officials confirm responding to the home on West 77th Place on April 23, the day Ochoa-Lopez went missing. She went missing less than two weeks before her due date. The 19-year-old was likely dead when an emergency call was made by someone in the home.
Police said that on May 7 one of Ochoa-Lopez’s friends told detectives that she was on a “chat site” on Facebook. The teen’s family said it was a Facebook group called “Help a Sister Out.”
Ochoa-Lopez’s family said she went to the home on West 77th Place to swap items arranged through the group. The group has since been archived.
A 46-year-old woman, now identified as Figueroa, claimed to have a stroller and other baby items.
“She was giving clothes away, supposedly under the pretenses that her daughters had been given clothes and they had all these extra boy clothes. That’s the false pretenses that we believe led her to that house,” Cecelia Garcia, a spokeswoman for Ochoa-Uriostegui’s family, said.
Hours later that same day, neighbors said the 46-year-old woman came running out of the home claiming that she had just given birth to a baby boy and that he wasn’t breathing.
The baby was transported to Christ Hospital, Chicago fire officials confirmed. He remains hospitalized in intensive care.
Ochoa-Lopez’s family named the baby boy Yovani Yadiel Lopez. Police confirmed that DNA testing proved Yadiel belongs to Ochoa-Lopez, but they don’t expect him to survive.
Just before 11 a.m. Thursday, the 19-year-old’s family was spotted by WGN cameras, visibly emotional, entering the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Photo Credit: pix11.com/Chicago Police Department
Mom caught on video in classroom threatening students she says bullied her daughter
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. – A mother is seen in a shocking video inside a California classroom threatening middle school students she accused of bullying her daughter on social media.
The entire situation is now under investigation.
“Don’t post nothing about her. None of that,” the mom is heard saying in the video. “Y’all think y’all bullies? I’m a big bully, ok?”
The video was taken inside an eighth grade classroom at Niguel Hills Middle School in Laguna Niguel on Tuesday. A mother who believed her daughter was being bullied barged into a second period class, and confronted students.
“She’s a girl. Y’all are boys, ok? If y’all bully my daughter, if you look at her the wrong way, if you breathe the wrong way, send your mom to me. Sisters, aunts, anybody over 18, I’ll f–k them all up. Do you understand me?” the mother is heard saying in the video.
“Leave my daughter alone and I’m not gonna say it again.”
While there, she also handed out “Free A– Kicking” tickets.
“A– whoopings. A– whoopings. For free. For free!” she says in the video.
“It was actually kind of scary, but then she was like, all talk. So I thought it was like kind of funny towards the end, but at first it was scary because some random person comes in the class, and starts yelling, like I don’t know what your initial thought would be,” one student said.
The incident remains under investigation.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Cafeteria worker says she was fired for letting student who couldn’t afford lunch take food
WEST CANAAN, N.H. – When a student at a New Hampshire high school put items on his tray that he didn’t have the money for, lunchroom employee Bonnie Kimball didn’t think it was a big deal.
She told the student to make sure to pay the next day. She wasn’t worried as she had known the boy’s parents since they were children, and had no doubt that the $8 lunch tab would soon be taken care of. And the next morning, she told CNN, that’s exactly what happened.
About a week later though, she was fired by the district manager of Café Services, the food services company that employed her.
“‘Do you understand what you did was wrong? That was theft,’” Kimball says she was told.
A photo of her termination letter provided to CNN shows that the company accused her of violating its procedures as well as federal and school policies. The letter was dated April 9 and said Kimball was fired on April 4.
“On March 28, a District Manager was on-site and witnessed a student coming through the line with multiple food items that you did not charge him for. This in strict violation of our Cash Handling Procedures, the Schools Charge Policy and Federal Regulation governing free meals,” the letter reads. “Your final has been processed and disbursed to you.”
Jaime Matheson, human resources director for Café Services, said in a statement that the student wouldn’t have gone without a meal.
“The student in question did receive a lunch. Students who come up to the lunch line without money receive a lunch of an entrée or sandwich plus side dishes or fresh fruit and milk. An employee of the company would not be let go because they provide this lunch to a student,” Matheson said.
“We can’t get into specifics because personnel decisions are confidential to honor privacy, however employees receive and sign their acknowledgment to company policies. When these aren’t followed, corrective action is put in place, up to and including termination. We’re all proud of our ability to provide meals to those in need,” the statement continued.
Kimball had worked at Mascoma Valley Regional High School for 4½ years, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. She also said that two other employees in the lunchroom quit in protest of her firing.
“We miss them very much and wish we could still feed them every day,” she said.
CNN has reached out to the school but it has not yet returned a request for comment.
Photo Credit: pix11.com/twitter/UnionLeader.com
Mother runs inside burning home to rescue her children; all 3 die
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida woman ran back into her burning apartment after realizing her two children hadn’t made it out. All three died in the fire.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said during a Wednesday morning news conference that the woman and another adult living in the apartment made it safely outside when she noticed the children, ages 5 and 10, didn’t make it out.
The sheriff said running back to save the children was a great “action of love” displayed by the mother.
When firefighters arrived, flames were already penetrating the roof, which later collapsed.
The names of the victims weren’t immediately released.
Officials say at least 12 residents were displaced by the fire, which damaged eight apartments.
An investigation continues.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Woman tried to snatch 4-year-old boy from McDonald’s, police said the same woman may have tried to snatch another 4-year-old boy in the same area
(Meredith) – Police have arrested a woman who tried to kidnap a 4-year-old boy from a McDonald’s in Los Angeles.
Maralyn Ramos was arrested and booked for PC-Kidnapping. Her bail is set at $100,000.
She entered the fast-food restaurant at about 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Moments later, she picked up a little boy and carried him outside, police said.
Surveillance video showed the woman holding the child in her arms before leaving the establishment.
A young girl who witnessed the attempted kidnapping alerted adults, KABC-TV reported. They stopped the woman in the parking lot and rescued the child, but the woman ran away from the area.
The arrest came after police solicited the community’s help in identifying the suspect in the footage. Ramos was arrested on Thursday.
Police said the same woman may have tried to snatch another 4-year-old boy in the same area on Wednesday. The child was walking with a family member when a woman came up, pulled his hand and tried to walk away with him.
Someone stopped the woman and she ran away.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Florida Woman Allegedly Threw Coconut at Man Filming Her Outside Strip Club
A Florida woman was arrested Saturday after allegedly hurling a coconut at a man who was recording her outside a Key West strip club, arrest records show.
Shonta Latasha Bolds, age 36, was left facing a single felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill after the incident. The altercation took place at about 2 a.m on May 11 outside the VIP Gentlemen’s Club, an adult establishment on Duval Street.
Arrest records posted this week by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office listed the suspect’s occupation as a dancer and her home address as being in North Miami Beach. Bolds was held without bond and has since been released. Arraignment is currently set for May 23.
The suspect reportedly admitted to deputies from the Key West Police Department that she had thrown the coconut but denied it collided with the man, who had been filming her as she sat on the porch. The man was named as George Exposito by the Miami Herald newspaper.
“I will be honest with you. I threw it, but it did not hit him,” Bolds said, according to a police report detailing the incident. Exposito had allegedly uttered the word “ladies” as he walked past the club, sparking several angry comments from the suspect, the Miami Herald reported.
Exposito’s footage did not contain evidence of the attack but did show the improvised weapon “as if it had just been thrown,” police noted. According to the Florida newspaper, police officers did not respond when Exposito asked them if he deserved to have the coconut thrown at him.
Local reporting suggests it was not the first violent outburst at the Duval Street business.
Last September, a 26-year-old dancer identified as Ashley Barrett allegedly threatened two of her co-workers by swinging an electric hair-straightener close to their faces.
“I’m going to get you when you least expect it,” she reportedly told one of the targets. Barrett was later arrested on two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
It was the second time in 24 hours that she had been arrested. Police said the woman was taken into custody earlier the same day after waving a knife at co-workers while intoxicated.
According to Hussein & Webber, a Florida law firm, aggravated assault is a third-degree felony that has penalties of up to five years in prison or five years probation and a $5,000 fine.
“A person found guilty of aggravated assault in Florida may be required to pay restitution to a victim for any expenses resulting from the crime, such as the cost of medical treatment or counseling,” West Palm Beach legal firm Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein explained online.
Photo Credit: start.att.net
Florida Man Arrested After Allegedly Stealing Truck Full of Coffins
Highway patrol arrested a man who was suspected of stealing a box truck full of caskets in Jacksonville, Florida on Monday.
Having been alerted to be on the lookout for a Ryder truck by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which had been reported stolen from a Jacksonville casket company, Florida Highway Patrol located the vehicle shortly before noon on Monday. However, once a trooper ran tags on the truck, the driver failed to pull over and pressed ahead instead.
A 25-mile chase on Interstate 295 ensued, with police chasing the truck and eventually managing to halt it after it came off the interstate and stopped at a red light at the intersection between Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Moncrief Road.
Once they stopped the truck, troopers found out it was carrying a rather unusual load, which included three caskets.
“At first I was shocked to see the caskets because obviously when you think caskets, you think of someone’s loved one,” Sergeant Dylan Bryan with the Florida Highway Patrol told Fox News.
Once the truck was stopped, Florida Highway Patrol arrested the driver, who was later identified as David Ayers.
Despite being chased for over 20 miles, the 39-year-old never drove above the speed limit.
“He was not driving in an erratic manner,” Bryan added, explaining Ayers had been driving at around 55-60 miles per hour throughout.
Officers subsequently managed to unlock the caskets after using a tool they borrowed from a funeral home located a few blocks away from where the truck was stopped.
“Where the scene was, was actually two blocks from a funeral home so I walked down to the funeral home to obtain a funeral key, a tool to unlock and open funeral caskets,” Bryan continued.
He added that his colleagues “didn’t know what to expect” when they opened the caskets and “wanted to be respectful with those items” as they were unsure whether the caskets contained bodies.
However, the caskets were empty. They were not the only unusual item officers found in the truck, which was also carrying a payment collection machine belonging to a car wash.
“There could be anywhere from 20 bucks to several hundred bucks in quarters in those machines, depending on how often the owner will empty out those coins,” Bryan explained.
Florida Highway Patrol added Ayers probably “ripped out car wash vacuum machines out of the car wash to get the money out.”
Following the arrest, the suspect, who had two outstanding warrants, was charged with auto theft, fleeing and eluding an officer, and driving while license suspended or revoked
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Florida Man Arrested For Playing Basketball Completely Naked At Park
A Florida man was arrested over the weekend for playing basketball naked because he thought it would improve his skills, police say.
Around 7:36 p.m. local time on Sunday, a Longwood Police Department officer responded to a “white male who was not wearing clothing” at Candy Land Park on 299 Longdale Avenue, according to an arrest report. When police arrived at the scene, Jordan Glen Anderson, 29, could be seen walking around on the basketball court of the park playing with a ball without any clothing on his body.
When authorities approached Anderson and asked what he was doing, he “stated he was working on his basketball skills and he feels playing naked enhances his skill level,” the officer stated in the report. The officer then told Anderson to get dress and he complied.
The officer made contact with the park employee at the scene, who said that he contacted police when he saw Anderson in the nude playing basketball around the premise.
Anderson was then charged with indecent exposure of sexual organs and subsequently transported to the John E. Polk Correctional Facility for processing on a $500 bond. It is unclear whether Anderson has been released.
Longwood, a city in Seminole County, has a crime rate — 31 crimes per one thousand residents — that’s considerably higher than the national average across all communities in the U.S., according to Neighborhood Scout. Around 71 percent of Florida’s cities and towns of all sizes has a crime rate lower than Longwood’s, whose roughly 15,000 residents have a one in 32 chance of becoming victim to either a violent or property crime in the area.
Earlier this month, retired WWE wrestler Matt Morgan was voted as mayor of Longwood by his fellow commissioners after being elected to the municipality’s commission last November, reported Orlando Sentinel.
“I can’t believe it,” he told the newspaper. “I wonder if this makes me the world’s largest mayor? Seriously, we have a very special commission here. Whereas in other cities, you have a lot of backstabbing and cutthroat politics, where the other commissioners try to put their own personal politics in front of their team of commissioners. I can honestly say that separates our commission right off the bat.”
Longwood Police Department
Photo Credit: start.att.net
Home Health Aide Accused of Being Serial Killer Who Smothered at Least 12 Elderly Women
Police believe that a 47-year-old Dallas man is a serial killer who has smothered at least twelve elderly women.
Billy Chemirmir was arrested last year and charged with murder in the death of an 81-year-old woman. Police were surveilling Chemirmir when they allegedly saw him toss a jewelry box into the trash outside his apartment complex. The box belonged to Lu Thi Harris, who was later found dead inside her apartment. She had been smothered with a pillow.
At the time, officials said that there might be similar cases in the area.
During a press conference in March 2018, Plano police said they would reinvestigate more than 750 unattended senior deaths dating back to at least 2010. Authorities exhumed at least one body of a suspected victim, WFAA reported.
Police now allege Chemirmir is responsible for at least a dozen deaths, and they also accuse him of attempting to kill two other women — but they’re still searching for additional potential victims.
In addition to Harris’ death, Chemirmir has been indicted in the deaths of six elderly women in Dallas County, and 5 others in nearby Collin County.
According to court documents first obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Chemirmir would pose as a caregiver before killing and robbing the women. WFAA reports that scrubs were found in Chemirmir’s possession.
Although police documents claim that Chemirmir would sometimes pose as a nurse, the Star-Telegram reports that Chemirmir isn’t a licensed nurse anywhere in the United States. ABC News reports he has worked as a home health care aide.
“Chemirmir uses health care experience to his advantage targeting and exploiting seniors, some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” Plano Police Chief Gregory W. Rushin told reporters in 2018. “This is terribly disturbing.”
Chemirmir, a citizen of Kenya, has lived in the Dallas area for more than a decade. PEOPLE confirms that immigration authorities have placed a jail hold on him.
The news has left many family members of the deceased reeling. Ellen House, the daughter of alleged victim Norma French, described Chemirmir to the Star-Telegram as “a very bad, very evil man.”
Chemirmir’s bond has been set at $9.1 million.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in Harris’ death, and his case hasn’t yet gone to trial.
He has not entered a plea in the new cases. His public defender did not immediately return PEOPLE’s call for comment.
Anyone with information is urged to call 972-941-5785
Photo Credit: start.att.net
A Teen In Malaysia Reportedly Killed Herself After Posting A Poll That Asked Her Instagram Followers To Help Her Choose Life Or Death with 69% responded with death
A 16-year-old girl in Malaysia died by suicide after sharing an Instagram poll asking her followers to help her choose life or death, The Guardian reported on Wednesday, citing local authorities.
According to The Guardian and Malay Mail, the police said that the teen posted the poll at about 3 p.m. on Monday with the message “Really Important, Help Me Choose D/L” and that 69% of the respondents voted for “D,” meaning death. About five hours later, she was found dead, Malay Mail reported.
Local officials have questioned whether the people who voted in the poll could be culpable in her death. Abetting the suicide of a minor is a crime in Malaysia, and those found guilty can face the death penalty or up to 20 years in prison, Reuters reported.
Ramkarpal Singh, a lawyer and member of Malaysia’s Parliament, requested that authorities investigate the circumstances leading to the teen’s death.
“Would the girl still be alive today if the majority of netizens on her Instagram account discouraged her from taking her own life?” he said in a statement to Reuters. “Would she have heeded the advice of netizens to seek professional help had they done so?”
Ching Yee Wong, the head of communications for Instagram Asia-Pacific, provided the following statement to Business Insider in response to the 16-year-old’s death:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with this young woman’s family. We have a deep responsibility to make sure people using Instagram feel safe and supported. As part of our own efforts, we urge everyone to use our reporting tools and to contact emergency services if they see any behavior that puts people’s safety at risk.”
Instagram adopted new safety measures in February to better protect young users on the platform. Graphic images of self-harm are systematically removed, and non-graphic self-harm content is subject to a sensitivity screen that blurs the post before it is shown.
Instagram users found to be posting self-harm or suicide-related content are referred to a local support group or a suicide helpline; in Malaysia, the social-media platform refers users to Befrienders Kuala Lumpur. Instagram provides a full list of its global suicide-prevention partners on its website.
Many of Instagram’s policy changes were made in response to the suicide of Molly Russell, a British 14-year-old, in 2017. In the months following Russell’s death, her family found that she had been following multiple Instagram accounts depicting images of suicide and self-harm. Her father, Ian, has said Instagram “helped kill my daughter.”
While social media can offer teens a sense of community and voice, it can also affect their mental well-being. Parents are encouraged to monitor their children’s use of social media, and all social-media users should feel motivated to report potentially harmful and violent posts they find, regardless of what platform they use.