'Witch' killed after she tried to sacrifice toddler to cartel saint
A Mexican woman believed to be a witch with cartel ties, was killed after she tried to snatch an 18-month-old out his parents' arms with the stated intent of killing the child as sacrifice to the patron saint of cartels.
Before Maria Guadalupe R.M., 33, tried to kidnap the child, she had made it known to her nephew, also the father of the child, that she believed a dead family member had been reincarnated as his son, reported local newspaper Norte Digital.
Sunday, she broke into her relatives' Ciudad Juarez home as her nephew slept with his wife and son and tried to take the child by force.
The nephew, identified as Carlos Gabriel C.R., 23, fought back with a baseball bat and killed her.
Two unidentified men, who are still on the run, were also in the home to aid in his son's kidnapping, but they were scared off by neighbors who alerted the cops about what was going on.
Maria Guadalupe had previously asked her nephew to give his son to her and stated she intended to offer the child as a sacrifice to Santa Muerte, the patron saint of the Mexican cartels.
Guadalupe was known to be a witch and practice satanic worship in her home in Juarez, Mexico-- just across the border from El Paso, Texas, according to Mexican media.
She also had ties to the notorious street gang Los Mexicles, the armed goons for the Sinaloa drug cartel, formerly run by drug kingpin El Chapo Guzman, who is imprisoned in the US, Mexican authorities confirm.
They add Maria Guadalupe sold drugs and took part of rituals and sacrifices Santa Muerte on the gangs behalf.
Cartel members in both Mexico and in the US are known to worship statues of cloaked skeleton woman holding a globe and sickle in her hands.
The criminal organizations believe their saint, which has been denounced by the Catholic Church, will offer them protection from their violent rivals and keep them safe as they smuggle drugs and humans across the border.
Increasing in the US, stash houses where people and drugs are warehouses as they are transported into the country, cops are finding alters to Santa Muerte, like a recent discovery Fort Worth, Texas.
In Juarez, a roadside shrine to Santa Muerte- Spanish for holy death- mysteriously popped up near the border in March-- on a road where 21 bodies have been dumped this year alone.
It's uncleared if the boy who was nearly kidnapped was hurt, however, his father turned himself authorities this week.
He was released after 48 hours without charges, as authorities found he acted in self-defense.
His 'witch' aunt was also a suspect in another death, after a skeleton was found in her home in May.
The remains of a 22-year-old man were found on her property near a cement slab with a image of Santa Muerte on top of it was found.