A three-year-old child who was killed last September in California died of asphyxiation caused by an exorcism at a fundamentalist church, the Associated Press reports. The girl’s death has been ruled a homicide, and her mother has been charged in the case.
Arely Naomi Proctor died during a service to “liberate her of her evil spirits,” the church, Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas, told the San Jose Mercury News, which uncovered the information about the child death while researching a story about a kidnapped three-month-old infant who is connected to the church.
Police searched the church looking for the kidnapped infant, who was found at a San Jose apartment unharmed; one of the three people arrested for the kidnapping is connected to the church.
The pastor of the church was Arely’s grandfather. Her mother allegedly held the girl down across her neck while the grandfather performed his version of an exorcism to rid the girl of the demon who would make her “wake up and scream or cry periodically.”