A tiny church -- run out of the backroom of a home in San Jose – is being investigated in connection with two bizarre crimes – this week’s kidnapping of a 3-month-old boy and an exorcism-type ceremony last year that authorities say ended with the death of a 3-year-old girl, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned.
The Iglesia Apostoles Y Profetas church – which is run out of the back of a home on the 1000 block of S. 2nd Street, according to the landlord – had been attended by kidnapping suspect Yesenia Guadalupe Ramirez as well as the mother of the abducted child.
Authorities have yet to determine a motive, but the church’s landlord says police searched his home the night of the kidnapping. They were familiar with it because they were already investigating at least one member of the church for the death of a 3-year-old girl from apparent asphyxiation, records show. Police say the young girl died after her mother and other family members tried for hours to rid her of evil spirits.
Authorities recounted in court documents obtained by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit, about having been summoned to the church on the night of Sept. 24, 2021, by Claudia Elisia Hernandez, whose lifeless daughter was on the floor when they arrived.
Hernandez and her father -- described by investigators as a church leader – told patrol officers they “believed the child was possessed by a demon and they were at the church praying for her,” an investigator said in the affidavit filed in the case against Hernandez. No one else has been charged in connection with the child’s death at this time.
Hernandez – who is being held without bail on child abuse charges – told authorities it was the night before when she “began to believe the victim was possessed because the victim would wake up and scream and cry periodically.”
The following morning, after praying for the child overnight, Hernandez and the young girl’s uncle drove her to the church, authorities said in the affidavit. They were later joined by the 3-year-old’s grandfather, the leader of the congregation, the affidavit said. It was then that the trio held the girl by her legs, waist and neck and induced her to vomit so as to “help her get the spirit out,” Hernandez told investigators. Hernandez admitted to having repeatedly put her hand down the child’s throat.
The child suffered facial and other bruises in the ordeal and eventually vomited clear fluid and a purple liquid, possibly blood, before succumbing about 6:00 that night, according to the mother’s account. Authorities say Hernandez acknowledged no one tried to revive the unconscious child and that she waited one to two hours to call police -- and only did so at the urging of family members.
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Hernandez declined our request for an interview, according to her attorney with the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office. San Jose police said Friday that they could not comment further on the case, as it remains under investigation.
Videos posted on YouTube feature fiery sermons delivered by a pastor – identified by the owner of the South 2nd Street home as the 3-year-old victim’s grandfather.
One of the other preachers giving sermons matches the mug shot released by authorities of Baldemeo Sandoval. Sandoval is kidnapping suspect Yesenia Ramirez’s husband, according to multiple people who know the couple. Sandoval was initially arrested with Ramirez in the kidnapping case but prosecutors declined to charge him, and he has been released
Santiago Garcia – owner of the congregation’s backroom worship space – said he was distraught when he heard about the child’s death last year.
“I told them, ‘Hey, you can’t keep a little girl inside dying if she is sick,’ you know?” Garcia said.
The two remaining suspects in the kidnapping case, Ramirez and Jose Portillo, are being held on no bail. They have yet to enter a plea in court and are slated to return May 12 to answer multiple kidnapping related counts.
