Silvia Meraz

Background

Silvia Meraz Moreno (born 1968) was a Mexican serial killer who was active from 2009 to 2012 in Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico. She was motivated by delirious ideas and carried out human sacrifices to the Santa Muerte.

She orchestrated the murders with the complicity of her family to buy Santa Muerte’s favor.

The offence

Three people were murdered in human sacrifices to the Santa Muerte. The first victim was Cleotilde Romero Pacheco, a 55-year-old woman who was found dead in December 2009. Silvia Meraz attacked Cleotilde Romero Pacheco with an ax.

In June 2010, the cult murdered Martín Ríos Chaparro, a 10-year-old boy. He was described as the son-in-law of a sect member.

The last murder involved the sacrifice of Silvia Meraz’s grandson, 10-year-old Jesús Octavio Martínez Yánez. The children were beheaded in rituals.

The victims’ throats and wrists were slit, and their blood was smeared across an altar dedicated to Santa Muerte. Investigators said that Silvia Meraz and her family believed that blood sacrifices would bring them riches.

Investigation

The cult buried the bodies in the city periphery. The state police discovered the bodies during an unrelated investigation.

The investigation followed reports that led prosecutors to the household of Silvia Meraz and her family. Authorities later searched for missing boys: 10-year-old Jesús Martínez was reported missing in March 2011, and 10-year-old Martin Ríos disappeared in July 2010. When the missing Martin Ríos was reported, state police were told by his mother and her boyfriend that friends had said that they had seen him begging on the streets of nearby Agua Prieta, and she promised to fetch him; authorities did not follow up.

When the parents of another 10-year-old, Jesús Martínez, reported him missing in March 2011, things started to look suspicious. Both boys were frequent visitors at the home of Jesús’s step-grandmother, 44-year-old Silvia Meraz, described as a local Santa Muerte leader. Neighbors said they felt sorry for Meraz and her family, living in apparent poverty at the edge of town. Authorities had long been suspicious of the household, including an unusual number of apparent strangers passing through her home. Prosecutors considered the household might be used for prostitution, although they said they did not have real evidence.

In March 2012, investigators found the body of Jesús Martínez beneath the dirt floor in one of Meraz’s daughters’ bedrooms.

Later investigations led to the detention of Silvia Meraz Moreno and seven other people, all described as Meraz relatives, including the husband of Silvia Meraz, her son, father of the last victim and a minor.

Arrest

In March 2012, police arrested Meraz and seven other members of the cult: her father, her son and daughter-in-law, three daughters, and her boyfriend, Eduardo Sánchez. It was stated that one of Sánchez’s ex-girlfriends was the mother of Martin Ríos.

The family reportedly contradicted each other’s stories, and some of them confessed. Their confessions led police to another young boy’s body on the family property, presumably that of Martin Ríos, and to the grave of Cleotilde Romero, a 55-year-old woman who was a friend of Meraz before disappearing from Nacozari in 2009.

Trial

The eight suspects were charged with first-degree homicide, robbery, corrupting minors, illegal burial and conspiracy.

One of the defendants was a 15-year-old girl. She was to be held in custody until she was 18, and face trial only then.

Sentencing

Silvia Meraz Moreno was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Other details

Silvia Meraz was described as one of the suspects in accusations of ritual sacrifice.

Jose Larrinaga, spokesman for Sonora state prosecutors, said: “They sliced open the victims' veins and, while they were still alive, they waited for them to bleed to death and collected