Mercedes Salazar: ‘Blood Ritual’ Witchcraft Kidnap Revenge Plot Ends In Woman’s Arrest, Police Say

Mercedes Salazar carried out a horrifying witchcraft blood ritual on another woman who was kidnapped as part of a chilling revenge plot, police in San Antonio, Texas, say. The 32-year-old woman with a lengthy criminal record stretching back to when she was 17, was arrested early on Sunday, in connection with the bizarre kidnapping of a woman late last month who was discovered screaming in terror in a home in west San Antonio last month.

The whole frightening scenario could have been lifted entirely from a low-budget horror movie. But the ordeal was all-too-real for the 25-year-old woman, who police have not named publicly, but who they now say is the former girlfriend of Angel Salazar, a brother of Mercedes Salazar, who died last month in another horrific kidnapping that ended in his murder at the hands of his abductors.

Mercedes Salazar apparently believed that the ex-girlfriend was somehow behind the slaying of her brother, Angel, and plotted the diabolical kidnapping with three accomplices as revenge — and possibly, police say, as way to extract the truth by means of a blood ritual, which involved slicing open her palm and cutting off a large swath of her hair — for use in some sort of witchcraft, or at least what the suspects believed was witchcraft.

The victim told cops that she was zip-tied to a chair for three days and subjected to various other tortures, including being forcibly injected with heroin and made to swallow some sort of pills, one white and one yellow, that left her knocked out cold.

“This is a very rare situation. We are very fortunate that the victim in this case was not seriously injured or lost her life,” Bexar County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson James Keith told KENS-TV News. “At many points in the time period while she was there, they had zip-tied her to a chair, threatened to kill and harm her with scissors and a knife. We even have reason to believe there was a blood ritual performed on her.”

Keith said that investigators had yet to actually determine the purpose of the witchcraft blood ritual.

The victim told police that when she was left alone on September 9 with female suspect Teanna San Nicolas, she persuaded the woman to loosen her zip ties so she could move around and use the bathroom. But when freed, she was able to use a cell phone and call her mother, who notified authorities. San Nicolas, she said, had not only loosened her ties, but then dozed off.

When police showed up at the home, they heard screams from inside. So they broke down the door and found San Nicolas threatening the kidnapping victim with sharp scissors.

The deputies managed to disarm San Nicolas and take her into custody. Two days later, they arrested a third and fourth suspect, James Cerda and Tristan Smith. But it took them until October 25 to track down Mercedes Salazar, who was finally busted shortly after midnight on Sunday.

The body of Mercedes Salazar’s brother Angel was found decomposing in a bathtub in another San Antonio home on August 18. Police believe that sometime prior to that date, a man named Rene Guerrero showed up at Angel Salazar’s home, threatened him with a gun, and kidnapped him.

Guerrero was arrested in September, as were two other suspects in the kidnap-murder, Rudy Duque and George Quintanilla. Robert “Tiny” Aguilar, the man who police say eventually confessed to the shooting death of Angel Salazar, was arrested on September 22, according to a report in KSAT-TV.

While police believe the killing of Angel Salazar was gang related, they have not yet said whether they believe his ex-girlfriend was somehow involved. But they said that even if she was somehow connected to Angel Salazar’s death, the case against his sister Mercedes — who has been behind bars 11 times on 43 charges in the past 15 years — would not be affected.

[Featured Photo by Bear County Sheriff’s Office]