Grandfather Arrested After Attempted Exorcism Led To Death Of 3-Year-Old Granddaughter

The grandfather who participated in an attempted exorcism that led to the death of his 3-year-old granddaughter last September was arrested Wednesday, the San Jose Police Department announced in a press release.

Rene Trigueros Hernandez, who is also the pastor of Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas, admitted last week to his part in a ritual, where 3-year-old Arely Naomi Proctor was reportedly held at her waist and neck in an attempt to get her to vomit an evil spirit out of her body. Proctor’s uncle was also arrested Wednesday for his role in the attempted exorcism, and her mother was previously arrested and charged on January 31.

“During the course of the investigation San Jose Police Department Homicide Detectives identified three suspects responsible for the death of the victim: the victim’s mother, Claudia Hernandez-Santos, the victim’s uncle Rene Aaron Hernandez-Santos, and the victim’s grandfather Rene Trigueros Hernandez,” the San Jose Police Department said.

Court documents say Proctor’s mother told police she believed her daughter was possessed by an evil spirit “because the victim would wake up and scream or cry periodically.”

The ceremony that led to Proctor’s death allegedly went on for hours, resulting in severe injuries to the girl’s eyes, face, neck, and chest, as The Daily Wire previously reported. Proctor died at the church where her family reportedly attempted an exorcism on her. The medical examiner ruled that she died of “asphyxia due to suffocation.”

During the ceremony, Trigueros Hernandez along with Hernandez-Santos were allegedly holding Proctor down. Trigueros Hernandez later confessed that Proctor’s death caused him a lot of pain, but he trusted what happened was “the will of God.”

According to court documents, Hernandez-Santos did not call 911 until up to two hours after her daughter’s death, The Mercury News reported.

Last week, Oscar Ayala, a preacher at the church who did not take part in the attempted exorcism, said the church members have a “clean conscience.”

“We know we haven’t done anything dark, and we know that we have a clean conscience, that we haven’t done any harm, that we haven’t provoked the death of the girl,” Ayala said. “As I say, precautions and actions weren’t taken to deal with that case. That was something natural that happened.”

“Maybe, I don’t know, we didn’t take the most logical approach,” Ayala continued. “[A]nd we should’ve taken precautions that should’ve been taken to, like, take her to a hospital to make sure she’s okay.”