CHICAGO _ Marlen Ochoa-Lopez dreamed of one day meeting her grandparents.
She was brought as a toddler to Chicago from San Luis de la Loma, a coastal town in the Mexican state of Guerrero, and never got a chance to meet them.
Now, as the family prepares to bury the 19-year-old _ whose baby was cut from her after she was strangled _ her parents want to fulfill her wish.
"Even if she won't see them physically, I know she's looking at us," said her mother, Raquel Uriostegui, holding back tears as she stood outside the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Ochoa-Lopez was the oldest of four siblings and took on the role of caretaker for them, her family said. She had a 3-year-old son of her own that she doted on, dressing him up and taking him to church every Sunday. At 19, she was married, finishing up at Latino Youth High School and expecting her second child.
Her family was planning a surprise baby shower for her in late April because she didn't have one for her first child. Instead, the family spent the past weeks furiously searching for Ochoa-Lopez, who went missing April 23 just weeks before her due date.
She disappeared after leaving Latino Youth High School in Little Village. Chicago police and her family believe Ochoa-Lopez drove to the 4100 block of West 77th Place, where she met a woman who had contacted her through Facebook and had offered a double stroller and baby clothes.
Police suspect the woman and others in the home killed Ochoa-Lopez and cut the baby boy from her womb. The baby suffered from lack of oxygen and remains on life support. Ochoa-Lopez's body was discovered more than three weeks later in the back of the Southwest Side home, according to police.
Marlen Ochoa-Lopez was promised a stroller and baby clothes. Instead, police say she was killed and her baby cut from her womb.
"It's so hurtful losing a wife that you spent beautiful moments with," said Yovani Lopez, the teen's husband. "It's a nostalgia that doesn't fit in my heart. I want to scream or do something to get rid of this pain. I feel at peace having found her. I didn't find her how I wanted to _ alive and next to me."
The family was critical of police and other officials and don't think the case got enough attention because their daughter was an immigrant.
"We came to this country to give a good life for my daughter, but there's bad people in this country too, who have taken her life," said Arnulfo Ochoa, the teen's father. "She had a big future. Even though she was married, she was carrying on with her studies to give a better life to her child."
His daughter's goal was to finish high school. She wanted to one day work in the fashion industry and also had aspirations of becoming a singer.
"Music is my life & writing songs is what I wish!!" Ochoa-Lopez wrote on her Facebook page. "Fashion design & beauty styler is what I love!! But modeling is my dream!!"
Tere Layra, a family friend, remembers Ochoa-Lopez spent hours doing her homework and would scoff at doing household chores instead of studying.
In her spare time, Ochoa-Lopez liked to watch make-up tutorials on YouTube, practicing on her friends and taking selfies after putting together elaborate looks. At 8 years old, she started sneaking into her mother's make-up to put on eyeliner.
"My daughter was (a) very joyful girl and had so many dreams," Uriostegui said. "Now that she's in peace wherever she's at, she isn't suffering anymore. I only ask God to give me peace."
