Mum killed six-year-old son in satanic ritual in bid to ‘find secret gold’
Maximiliano's mother originally claimed that he had gone to the shops and never returned home.
A mother who tortured and killed her six-year-old son in a satanic sacrifice in Colombia is facing life in prison.
Maximiliano Tabares’s mother Sandra Patricia Caro Perez and her partner Fabian Andres Carmona Ramirez beat the child to death during a two-day ritual to ‘rid him of evil spirits’.
A court in Antioquia, Colombia, heard that the couple believed his death would lead them to a tomb of hidden gold.
Maximiliano’s abused body was discovered in a hidden grave in the village of Segovia in October 2022.
His mother and stepfather ruled a Satanic cult called ‘Los Carneros’, or ‘The Rams’, by using voodoo dolls and spell books.
Four other people connected to the sect, including Maximiliano’s grandmother and her partner, were arrested in the police investigation.
Both Perez and Ramirez were found guilty of Maximiliano’s aggravated torture, murder and kidnapping at a hearing on March 4.
They were remanded in custody and are due to be sentenced at a later hearing, but both face life in prison.
Maximilano’s maternal grandmother Damaris Estela Perez Escalante, and her partner Fabian Alberto Monsalve were acquitted by the judge.
When Maximilano first disappeared in September 2022, his mother claimed that he had gone to the shops to buy breakfast but never returned home.
Then she told school heads that her young boy was sick that day and could not come in.
She later took to social media to say: ‘My king, may the lord take care of you wherever you are and may those bad-hearted people, who tore you from my side, repent and bring you back. Lord Jesus, take care of me Holy Father.’
Police carrying out searches of the child’s home found items linked to occult worship.
One officer told local media: ‘The people who lived there told us which was the stepfather’s room. Upon entering there were pictures of saints. Inside a backpack, this person had a rag doll, one of those used for occult practices.
‘It was a human figure. It even had the face and the point where the heart goes highlighted with pen ink.
‘Apparently that person carried out these activities with books on magic. There was one called the ‘Superbook of Dark Magic’ (‘Superlibro de Magia Oscura’ in Spanish). There were three magic books, from different publishers.’
The stepfather also had two bottles where he kept dead animals including scorpions and centipedes, which he filled with alcohol and other liquids, police said.
Investigators also found information showing that the family believed the young boy had ‘demons’ that had to be expelled if they wanted to find success in the mining business.
The Antioquia government had said in a statement in October 2022: ‘During the investigation, it was found that several members of the family nucleus, including the child’s own mother, the grandmother along with her partner and the child’s stepfather, were part of a sect known as ‘Los Carneros’, which in addition to esoteric practices were engaged in the mining business.
‘The stepfather is thought to be the leader of the sect, and apparently gave orders and exercised control over others.’
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