Arely Hernandez was just 3 years old when she died in September 2021. The young child was allegedly tortured by three family members who believed she was possessed and performed an exorcism that ultimately killed the child. Newly released court documents outline the alleged heinous acts that led to her death.
Arely's mother, Claudia Hernandez, along with her uncle and grandfather, Rene Aaron Hernandez Santos and Rene Trigueros Hernandez, reportedly told police what they did to attempt to rid the child of the demon, and their account is positively horrifying.
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The defendants appeared at a preliminary hearing in San Jose, California.
The three are charged with assault causing the death of a child, CBS News reported.
According to documents obtained by CBS News, Arely's mother and uncle took her to a makeshift church where Claudia's father was a pastor on September 24, 2021, because the child was crying and screaming and "her eyes were different."
There, the three adults allegedly held the child down by her neck and tried to force her to vomit.
Arely was reportedly severely abused.
Arely "fought for her life as three trusted adults forcibly grabbed her by her neck, torso, back, and legs," per documents from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. The adults allegedly choked and suffocated the child, who was reportedly in and out of consciousness during the ordeal.
The adults she trusted allegedly "held her with so much force that she had internal bleeding and injuries," according to the DA.
The child reportedly still had love for her mother.
Despite the torture, Claudia Hernandez reportedly told police her young daughter spoke to her in Spanish as they tried to hold her down and said, "I love you." Her mother told police the night Arely died, "God made her understand that Arely was not coming back and was gone."
A day after the child's death, while they were still in custody, Claudia Hernandez told her brother that "God … told her that God had taken Arely on Thursday, and it was because of demons," and that he also said "they were not going to be guilty."
Claudia Hernandez allegedly told her brother what to say to the police.
Per the San Jose Mercury News, Claudia Hernandez was recorded telling her brother "that God had taken (Arely) and everything was going to be OK" and cautioned about how "it's going to look like we intended to kill her, but we did not."
Michelle Jorden, the county's chief medical examiner, who performed Arely's autopsy, spoke at the hearing and according to the Mercury News said Arely was intentionally killed. "I can't think of a situation where smothering could be considered accidental," she said.
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Claudia Hernandez took her story to social media.
In a bizarre twist, months after her daughter's death in January 2022, the mother posted on her YouTube channel @Elisaa Santos about her love for her daughter but showed no remorse.
"Like, I could sit here and be negativeā¦ be sad about the whole situation that she passed away, but it's like, there's no point, you know, because it is what it is. It is what it is. You know, she's not here with me, it is what it is, you know?" she said in the video. "And it's like, what's the point, you know? I'm just gonna beā¦ putting myself down when there's no point for me to do that, you know? Like, I cannot change the past."
