Self-described Santeria priest charged with stealing bodies from cemetery

MILFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut man charged with stealing five bodies, including one interred 71 years ago, from a Massachusetts cemetery to use in Santeria rituals was extradited to Massachusetts on Monday to face trial.

The man, 32-year-old Amador Medina, in a court appearance in Hartford agreed to waive extradition proceedings and was later handed into the custody of police from Worcester, Massachusetts, who have been investigating the disappearance of bodies from a mausoleum since October.

Medina was arrested on Friday after Hartford police searched his apartment on a tip about stored skeletal remains. He showed them the bodies of three adults and two children, including one still clad in the clothes it had been buried in. He told police he needed the bodies for use in rituals linked to his Afro-Cuban religion, police said.

Santeria combines elements of Roman Catholicism with the Yoruba religion first imported to the Caribbean from West Africa by slaves. It is practiced by some 3 million Cubans, but is less common in the United States.

Santeria rituals involve decapitated animals and other sacrificial offerings.

Medina, who police said identified himself as a Santeria priest, faces charges including five counts of disinterment of bodies and conspiracy. It could not immediately learned if he had retained an attorney.

While Hartford police commonly find animal bodies used in Santeria rituals, it is “rare” to discover human remains, Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said.

Police in Worcester discovered the bodies had disappeared from Hope Cemetery in October, after a woman walking on the property noticed that a chain securing the gate to a mausoleum had been cut.

A buildup of rust on the cut chain suggested that the bodies had been stolen some time ago, Worcester police said.

Worcester police have been unsuccessful in locating living relatives of the people whose bodies were recovered.