Uncle and Grandfather Charged with Child Abuse in Death of San Jose 3-year-old

The headline on this story has been updated to show correct age of victim.

San Jose police today announced two new arrests in connection with the death of a 3-year-old child during an exorcism ritual last fall at a small San Jose church in San Jose.

The victim's uncle Rene Aaron Hernandez-Santos,19, and grandfather Rene Trigueros Hernandez, 59, were arrested Wednesday by the San José Police Department's Special Operations Division, MERGE Unit, and charged with felony child abuse in the 2021 death of Arely Naomi Proctor, police said.

The victim's mother, Claudia Hernandez-Santos, 25, had been arrested on Jan. 31 and formally charged with child abuse leading to the death of the victim.

On Sept. 24 2021, police responded to a report of a child’s death at a home with a makeshift church on South 2nd Street in San Jose called Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas located on the property.

Police said first responders arrived on the scene and found the girl unresponsive on the floor of the church, then performed life-saving measures. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Santa Clara County medical examiner's office previously ruled the death a homicide caused by asphyxiation.

Any persons with information about this case or similar incidents involving the suspects are urged to contact Det. Sergeant Vallejo #3810 or Det. Harrington #4365 of the Homicide Unit with any information about this incident at (408) 277-4166 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].

3 Comments

  1. As “CA Preps To Be Haven for Abortion Rights” (calmatters)
    can
    we be sure that this was not just some form of late term “abortion tourism” ?

    The radicals support unrestricted abortion – terminating a child’s life up until delivery and in some cases as the former VA governor mentioned after birth –
    maybe these 2 individuals were just off by a couple months – victims of the CA Public Education focus on math standards?

    Disgusting, it is very sad what this once great state is degrading to. All of these guilty parties should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law (whatever that means in CA anymore) and then set for deportation if applicable.

  2. OK – I got taken in by another SJI web-editor mistake. I heard on the news that the child was 3 years old – not 3 months as the title of this article. It seems they also list her as 3 years old in the body of the article.

    SJI – do you need to update the title?

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