Nine people are set to face trial for the 2016 murder of an 11-year-old boy, who was raped and tortured before being dismembered alive in an alleged Satanic ritual.
Mario “Marito” Agustin Salto left his home in the Argentine town of Quimili to go fishing at a reservoir, as he often did, on the afternoon of 31st May 2016.
However, he failed to return home and relatives searching for him were only able to find his bicycle.
His body parts surfaced two days later inside 11 rubbish bags located around six kilometres (3.7 mi) from the reservoir.
A post-mortem on the child’s body revealed he had been raped, tortured and had his legs cut off while he was still alive, causing him to bleed to death. His genitals and fifth vertebra were missing.
During the lengthy investigation into the boy’s gruesome death, the authorities took DNA samples from 3,400 residents of Quimili and neighbouring towns.
However, none of the samples matched the DNA belonging to two suspects found on the young victim’s body.
The investigators have so far been unable to identify these two suspects they say are from the same family and who raped the boy.
Investigators believe Marito was “sacrificed” in a Satanic ritual “in offering to San La Muerte”, a skeletal folk saint venerated in Paraguay, north-eastern Argentina and southern Brazil.
The victim’s aunt, Marta Salto, has pointed the finger at Rodolfo Sequeira, one of the nine defendants who will face trial in August.
Marta, who teaches at the school her nephew attended, believes Sequeira was the one who abducted the youngster and handed him over to his killers.
Sequeira is currently in preventive custody along with Ramon Rodriguez, Daniel Sosa, Pablo Ramirez and the suspected mastermind of the crime, Miguel “El Brujo” (“The Warlock”) Jimenez.
Six other defendants are accused of acting as secondary participants and await trial in freedom.
They have been named as Ramon Enrique Ocaranza, Daniel Gaston Ocaranza, Miguel Angel Maria Jimenez (who is Jimenez’ son), Maria Eugenia Montes, Gustavo Hernandez and Arminda Diaz (who was Jimenez’ partner at the time and the headteacher of a local school).
Nine of the defendants, four of whom are currently in preventive custody, will go on trial in August.
Diaz, who spent three years in custody before being released, has denied participation in the crime, even though written notes were found in her drawer reading “I already have his virility, his youth, his strength. Give me what I ask for” and “Give me your strength, 666”.
It not been divulged how the other defendants came to be charged.
