A baby belonging to a missing pregnant teenager was discovered at a hospital with brain damage.
Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui, 19, vanished on April 23. She was nine months pregnant at the time.
The girl’s baby was discovered and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, a family spokeswoman said.
“It’s a blessing that we found Yadiel, the baby, that’s the name of the baby that Marlen had chosen,” Cecilia Varga, the spokeswoman, said at a news conference Wednesday, according to NBC 5.
She added that the family was “very hopeful but also preparing for the worst. We still are missing a mom who we know gave birth on the 23rd of April, the day that she went missing.”
.@Chicago_Police say they have persons of interest in questioning for the disappearance of pregnant 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui. @DGutierreztv reports. pic.twitter.com/xaM9zLQ5gw
— The Jam (@TheJamTVShow) May 15, 2019
The Chicago Police Department said that the baby was the subject of a distress call on April 23 and was rushed to the hospital.
Varga said that the baby was confirmed to be Ochoa-Uriostegui’s through a DNA test.
A family member told Fox 32 that the day the teen vanished she was going to trade baby strollers with a woman she met in a Facebook group. She was slated to get her son from daycare later in the day but never showed up.
The baby’s family later said that it was being removed from life support.
Here’s the back of the home where the 46yo woman called 911 saying she’d given birth the same day Marlen went missing. The family of #MarlenOchoa says that boy’s DNA matches hers. There’s a burn spot and a shovel behind this home here in the 4100 block of W. 77th Pl. @fox32news pic.twitter.com/2UoCrjM7En
— Tia A. Ewing (@TIA_EWING) May 15, 2019
Family of #MarlenOchoa says a @gofundme was set up by the woman who claims Marlen’s baby boy is hers. The woman said in the post she gave birth the same day Marlen went missing. Marlen’s family says DNA proves the baby is the missing teen’s. @gofundme pulled the page. @fox32news pic.twitter.com/CzfNyiNK0E
— Tia A. Ewing (@TIA_EWING) May 15, 2019
“The baby has been determined to be without any brain function and will be taken off of life support,” the family said.
The family also claimed that the woman who the teen mother was slated to meet started a GoFundMe fundraising page, saying it was to help pay for the baby’s hospital stay. They said it was later deleted.
Multiple people were questioned by the police on Wednesday.
Neighbors told WGN that the people included the 46-year-old woman who Ochoa-Uriostegui’s family is accusing of luring the teen to her house, the woman’s boyfriend, the woman’s daughter, and a man in his 20s.
Messages reveal a conversation between the missing 19-year-old and a woman she met online via a pregnant moms Facebook group. Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui was reported missing the same day she went to swap baby items with the acquaintance, per family. STORY: https://t.co/VjBvCPKXuX pic.twitter.com/MEfNCLQUFW
— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) May 15, 2019
The neighbors said that the same day Ochoa-Uriostegui vanished, the woman ran out of her house and said she’d just had a baby boy and he was not breathing. Someone called 911 and the baby was rushed to the hospital.
Neighbors said the woman, who has not been identified, was not pregnant as far as they knew.
The Facebook group has been shut down and one member said there was always risk involved.
“Don’t go in strangers’ houses. Always bring somebody with you,” said Facebook group member Samantha Holubik. “I think it’s making people more aware, because you would never think that.”