Police arrested five people, including a pastor, after a woman died during an exorcism, according to reports.
Vilma Trujillo Garcia died from her wounds in the hospital after witnesses say she was stripped naked, burned and thrown into a gully to “purify” her body from demons. Translations from other reports indicate Garcia may have also been tortured with a machete.
“It’s unforgiveable what they did to us. They killed my wife, the mother of my two little ones,” Garcia’s husband said. “Now what am I going to tell them?”
The pastor, Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero, is reportedly on staff at an Assemblies of God church in Nicaragua, but the church denies he held any leadership roles.
Pastor Augusto Marenco, who belonged to the Assemblies of God and is now general pastor of the Apostolic Ministry, says he tried to warn his congregation to stay away from the group arrested for the murder. He considers the group out of spiritual order and demanded an investigation, according to a translation. {eoa}
