Cops: Gang members suspected in slaying, kidnapping had Satanic shrine
HOUSTON -- Authorities say two MS-13 gang members from El Salvador who had a Satanic shrine in their Houston apartment are suspects in the killing of one teenager and the kidnapping of another.
Twenty-two-year-old Miguel Alvarez-Flores and 18-year-old Diego Hernandez-Rivera appeared in court Wednesday on charges of aggravated kidnapping and murder.
Prosecutors say a 14-year-old girl was kidnapped after leaving school early last month and taken to the apartment the men shared with others.
Authorities say she was held against her will for two weeks, given drugs and sexually assaulted by some of the men. The gang members also allegedly forcibly gave the teen a tattoo of a Satanic figure, prosecutors said, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.
It’s not clear what led investigators to the kidnapped teen, the station reports. Alvarez-Flores and Hernandez-Rivera were reportedly arrested Monday at the aparment after a four-hour SWAT standoff.
The teen told investigators that a second girl also was held at the apartment who lashed out by destroying the makeshift shrine to a Satanic saint. A gang member who went by the name “Diabolical” took offense and made a peace offering of a cigarette to appease the saint.
But he then told the group, “the beast did not want a material offering, it wanted a soul,” a prosecutor said in court.
On Feb. 16, prosecutors say “Diabolical” and another gang member drove the second girl to a southwest Houston neighborhood where she was shot once my each man, in the head and chest and close range. The girl’s body was found dumped on the side of a Houston road two weeks ago by a man driving his children to school, reports KHOU.
The slaying victim remains unidentified. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has developed a composite image of how she would have appeared and Houston police released a photograph of three rings found with her body. They’re asking anyone who may be able to help identify her come forward.
KHOU reports Alvarez-Flores and Hernandez-Rivera are undocumented immigrants from El Salvador. Bond was set at $300,000 for each, but federal immigration officials have reportedly placed a detainer on them.
