Halloween may have been last week, but a strange and macabre story out of San Antonio will surely send shivers down your spine. As was reported last week, San Antonio resident Mercedes Salazar and three other people kidnapped and tortured a local woman, and the things one might expect to happen when a person is held captive, well, happened: the woman was beaten, drugged, and tied up. But here’s where it gets bizarre. Salazar and her cohorts allegedly subjected the victim to some type of witchcraft where they drew her blood. It’s been described as a “blood ritual.” She and all of the members of her crew have since been arrested. But this is just the latest installment in a three-month-long series of unfortunate events in Alamo City.

It began in August when neighbors of an abandoned apartment complex on the south side of the city phoned up the police to notify them of a strong putrid odor coming from the building. When police arrived, they found a body decomposing on the second floor. Police would later learn that the man was 28-year-old Angel Salazar.

Salazar was reportedly kidnapped and brought to the location, where he was killed. Since his body was found, several San Antonians have been arrested in connection to the murder and abduction, including George Quintanilla, who is facing a kidnapping charge for his alleged involvement in orchestrating the kidnapping. Salazar was abducted from the home of Quintanilla who, according to police, notified kidnappers that he left the door open. Rene Guerrero has been arrested and is facing an aggravated kidnapping charge. Guerrero allegedly drove Salazar to the abandoned home. When he was arrested police found a knife and a gun on him.

Per the San Antonio Express-News‘s report, police obtained the information that led them to these arrests by way of a confession:

On Sept. 7, a man arrested for possessing a firearm provided detailed information about Salazar’s killing, according to the affidavit. The source, who confessed to participating in the kidnapping, provided details of what happened in the apartment before Salazar died, detectives said, noting he also provided details of the abduction.

Rudy Duque, 32, has also been arrested and charged with kidnapping. Roberto “Tiny” Aguilar, the fourth suspect in the case, has been arrested and charged with murder.

In response to the murder of her brother, Mercedes Salazar, along with Tristan Smith, Teanna San Nicolas, and James Cerda, reportedly kidnapped the ex, who is unnamed as of now, and allegedly tortured and drugged her for four days. James Keith, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office told the AP that the victim was drugged with what is thought to be heroin. Keith also described the blood ritual as “a form of witchcraft where they cut her hair and drew blood from her.”

Each of the suspects in the case have been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping. And this isn’t Salazar’s first brush with the law; she has reportedly gone to jail 11 times since she was 17. Currently she is 32.

Who knows how long this would have went on if it weren’t for sloppy work by the Salazar crew. According to an arrest affidavit, the victim’s zip ties became a bit loose, which allowed her to grab her cell phone that was sitting on a table. She called her mom, who then called police. 

Following Angel Salazar’s death, a GoFundMe page found its way to the Internet. The page, created by his step-sister, had the goal of raising funds for his funeral, but it fell short, only raising $570 of the desired $5,000. The crowdfunding page listing ends with a Bible verse, Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”