A woman who sacrificed her six-year-old son in an attempt to find a secret gold grave is facing imprisonment after being convicted of his murder in Colombia. According to the details of the case, Maximiliano Tavares' mother, Sandra Patricia Caro Pérez, and her partner Fabian Andres Carmona Ramirez, beat him to death during a two-day ritual to rid him of evil spirits. The couple believed, according to what a court in Antioquia heard, that his death would lead them to a massive gold stash.
The young boy's abused body was found in a hidden grave in his village of Coturo Alto, Segovia, in October 2022. The mother and her partner were reportedly leaders of a satanic cult called Los Carneros, or "the Rams," and four other individuals associated with the cult, including Maximiliano's grandmother and her partner, were arrested.
In a hearing held on March 4, judges declared both Pérez and Ramirez guilty of severe torture, murder, and kidnapping of Maximiliano, and they were imprisoned, with sentences to be decided in a later hearing. Meanwhile, Judge Damaris Estela Pérez Escalante acquitted Maximiliano's maternal grandmother and her partner, Fabian Alberto Monsalvi, of the murder charge.
When Maximiliano disappeared in September 2022, his mother claimed he had gone to the store for breakfast but never returned home. She then told his teacher that her son was ill that day and could not attend school. Later, she took to social media to say: "Oh my king, may the Lord take care of you wherever you are, and may those people with evil hearts who ripped you from my side repent and return you... Lord Jesus, take care of me, O Holy Father."
Police searching the child's home found items related to occult practices. One officer told local media: "The people who lived there told us about the mother's partner's room, and upon entering, there were images of saints. Inside a backpack, there was a rag doll, one of those used in occult practices... it was a human-like doll... it even had a face and the point where the heart is shaded with pen ink."
The investigator added: "It seems that this person carried out these activities using books about magic, and there was a book called 'The Giant Book of Black Magic,' there were three magical books from different publishers, and he had two bottles containing dead animals like scorpions and millipedes, which they mixed with alcohol and other liquids to make baths for their supposed clients." Investigators also found evidence that the family believed the young boy had "demons" that needed to be expelled if they wanted to succeed in mining operations.
