SAN JOSE, Calif. - Three people have now been arrested and charged following the death of a 3-year-old girl at a church exorcism in San Jose.San Jose police on Friday identified the girl's uncle Rene Aaron Hernandez-Santos, 19, and her grandfather, Rene Trigueros Hernandez, 59, as the newest suspects to be arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse.
They were arrested on Wednesday. The girl's mother, Claudia Hernandez-Santos, 25, had already been charged with felony child abuse following her daughter's death in the 1000 block of South 2nd Street, which is a makeshift Pentecostal church called Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas.
The elder Hernandez is also pastor of the church. The girl – Arely Naomi Proctor – died on Sept. 24, 2021, as the family was trying to rid her of evil spirits, according to court documents filed against the mother.
As for why it took so long to charge the uncle and the grandfather? San Jose police spokesman Steven Aponte said the coroner's report, determining the girl died by asphyxiation, was released only recently and "implicated the two individuals that were arrested just two days ago." A spotlight has recently been focused on this basement church, as a parishioner there has been charged in a separate kidnapping case of a baby boy.