Missing pregnant 19-year-old found strangled near Chicago home, baby cut from womb: Officials

CHICAGO -- Human remains found near a home on Chicago's Southwest Side have been identified as a 19-year-old woman who has been missing for three weeks and was nine months pregnant when she disappeared, officials said Wednesday afternoon.

RAW VIDEO: Missing pregnant teen's remains found near Chicago home

Police were seen investigating outside a home on Chicago's Southwest Side where a missing pregnant teen's remains were found.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified remains found at a home in the 4100 block of West 77th Place as Marlen Ochoa-Lopez. They said her cause of death was ligature strangulation. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

Chicago police said the baby was cut from her womb after she was killed.

The backyard of the Southwest Side home was teeming with detectives, who inspected a fire pit there.

Ochoa-Lopez's loved ones are heartbroken and horrified.

WATCH: Husband speaks about Marlen Ochoa-Lopez's death

"It's so hurtful, so hurtful to see the person, your wife, who you lived with for four years and now you see her with her eyes closed," he said.

"Why did these people, why did these bad people do this? She did nothing to them," said Yovani Lopez, her husband. "She was a good person."

A spokesperson for Ochoa-Lopez's family said tips from the public led them to direct police to the home. Police said four persons of interest, two men and two women, were taken from the home for questioning Tuesday.

Three persons of interest remain in custody Wednesday, Chicago police said.

RELATED: Persons of interest questioned about pregnant teen missing 3 weeks

Ochoa-Lopez had previously been identified as Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui. Uriostegui is her mother's name. Both police and the Cook County Medical Examiner identified her as Marlen Ochoa-Lopez.

Starting around 5 p.m., police widened the perimeter around the home, pushing it back a block and setting up crime tape. It's possible they may soon be executing a search warrant.

Ochoa-Lopez's family said her car was found near the home last week, and that their daughter exchanged messages on a Facebook group with one of the women who lived in the home over 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, and that's where the false pretenses that I believe led her to that house," said family spokesperson Cecilia Garcia.

VIDEO: Family pleads for help finding missing pregnant teen

Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui, 19, was last seen last Tuesday after leaving Latino Youth High School in Pilsen.

A woman who asked to remain anonymous said the woman from the house used to babysit her infant until she began acting strangely.

"She told me how she was getting really attached to the baby, how she couldn't wait to be a mom again," the woman said. "She said that she needed money because she was having a new baby. She told me she was due in May."

Multiple neighbors who wished to remain anonymous told ABC7 Eyewitness News that on April 23, an older female resident of the home on West 77th Place was seen bloodied and holding a baby wrapped in a towel, screaming that her baby was not breathing. That was the same day Ochoa-Lopez was last seen alive in Pilsen.

One of the women living in the home allegedly called 911 after the baby was born, claiming it was hers.

"The caller gave birth 10 minutes ago," a 911 dispatcher tells the Chicago Fire Department. "Forty-six years of age. The baby isn't breathing. The baby is pale and blue. They are doing CPR."

RELATED: Pregnant teen last seen in Pilsen

Chicago fire officials confirmed that shortly after 6 p.m. firefighters responded to the address for a baby in distress. CPR was performed and the baby was taken to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, officials said.

Garcia said the baby has been found alive, was named Yadiel and is currently in grave condition at Christ Hospital.

"Our faith moves us. We are hopeful, but we are prepared for the worst," Garcia said. "We just ask the public to please keep us in their prayers, especially the family."

On Wednesday, a family spokesperson said after detectives were able to do a DNA test, they were able to confirm the baby taken to the hospital in April is Ochoa-Lopez's child.

Ochoa-Lopez's aunt said they are hoping to set up a GoFundMe campaign to help with expenses soon, but warned that the campaigns currently listed on GoFundMe for the family are not by or associated with them and warned the public not to donate.