The infant, who has been in critical condition and on life support, initially was thought to have no brain function.The newborn baby who was cut from his murdered mother’s womb in Chicago last month has opened his eyes, according to a report from ABC News.
The infant has been in critical condition and on life support and not expected to survive since his 19-year old mother, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, was killed on April 23.
ABC News reported that the baby, named Yovany Yadiel Lopez, opened his eyes on Sunday while his father, Yovany Lopez, was cradling him.
“He has opened his eyes,” Julie Contreras, speaking for Ochoa-Lopez’s family said. “He seems to be a fighter.”
“He opened his eyes when his daddy held him and his daddy was cooing him. He was telling him, ‘My precious, beautiful, handsome little boy. My handsome little prince. I love you. Your dad loves you,'” said Contreras.
Doctors at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn are not ready to say whether the baby will survive, according to the Contreras. Initial reports said family members were told that the baby had no brain function.
Ocho-Lopez, who was nine-months pregnant, was lured in the home of Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter and strangled to death. Figueroa then cut open Ocho-Lopez’s womb, and removed the baby and placenta. She then called 911 to report that she had just delivered a baby who was not breathing. A doctor at the hospital where she was later treated found “no signs consistent with a woman who had just delivered a baby.”
Police have arrested Figueroa and her daughter and charged them with murder and aggravated battery of a child. Figueroa’s boyfriend, Piotr Bobak has been charged witih concealing the death of a person and concealing evidence of a murder.
