Marlen Ochoa-Lopez Death:'We can still find hope': Artist creates mural of murdered Pilsen woman

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Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Artist discusses creating mural for murdered Pilsen woman
The murder of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez has affected people all over the city, including an artist who turned his shock and horror, into a thing of beauty.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The murder of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez has affected people all over Chicago, including an artist who turned his shock and horror, into a thing of beauty.

Artist Milton Coronado created the mural near 16th Street and Newberry Avenue in Pilsen. In an interview with ABC7 Wednesday morning, Coronado said he, "wanted to give the family a gift, a memorial, of their daughter as well as to the city.

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Coronado said his father was gunned down in 2001 and he created a mural after his murder.

"I painted a mural to help me cope with that loss and it served me as therapy for it and it really helped me," Coronado said. "I wanted to give back to the city something similar."

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"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.

When people see the mural, Coronado said he wants them, "to understand that even in the midst of this evil and the midst of this horror, we can still find hope. I want them to also be connected to her, to her family even though they didn't know her or know the family."

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Ochoa-Lopez was last seen in Pilsen on April 23. She was nine months pregnant and due in early May. Three weeks later, her remains were found near a home on the city's Southwest Side. Police say she was murdered on the day she disappeared, and her baby was taken from her womb after her death.

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