- My last odd news was happy, this one, devastatingly sad.
Three family members were accused of performing a church exorcism on the girl, and prosecutors want to put all three on trial together. Court documents filed Monday June 13th by Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen asked a judge to merge the three cases into one.
Each defendant played a role in torturing the girl for 14 hours.
Arely, 3, died on September 24th, 2021 inside the small Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas Pentecostal church.
Her mother, uncle and grandfather “attempted to cast a demon out, according to the prosecutors.
The mother claimed that Arely was “possessed” by a demon because she would randomly wake up at night crying or screaming in their home. One the night of September 23rd, 2021, Arely woke up crying.
The mom and uncle state they prayed for her in her bedroom before deciding to driver her to the church, where the pastor was her grandfather, Rene Trigueros Hernandez.
Claudia Hernandez-Santos, 25, was the first one arrested. The grandfather and uncle were not arrested until just last month, according to the investigators, it took several month to determine the uncle and grandfathers roles in the little girls death.
And they both are accused of having played equal roles.
“Each defendant committed acts of physical abuse against Arely Doe during a fourteen-hour time frame prior to her death. At times, all three defendants were holding Arely at different parts of her body. It is alleged that one defendant held Arely at the neck, one at the abdomen, and one was holding her legs, as they tried to induce her to vomit,” Rosen wrote in court documents.
The coroner stated that Arely’s death was a homicide by suffocation and smothering. She had injuries to her face and neck, blunt force injuries across her chest and back. Prosecutors wrote that Arely also had internal bleeding.
“The defendants committed this act of violence toward Arely Doe together, and as a result, their cases should be consolidated,” Rosen wrote. “It is not possible to determine what defendant caused what specific injury.”
Continued in Girl Killed by Family Performing San Jose Exorcism Together: Part Two.