- Arely Naomi Proctor, 3, died from suffocation during an exorcism in September.
- Her grandfather, uncle, and mother have been charged over her death.
- Court documents said her family held her down and tried to force her to vomit in a 12-hour ordeal.
A three-year-old girl in California was killed while her family performed an exorcism to cast out an evil spirit, reports say.
Arely Naomi Proctor died last September from suffocation at a pentecostal church in San Jose, according to court documents seen by Kron4 News.
The girl's grandfather, uncle, and mother held her down and tried to force her to vomit by sticking their fingers and hands down her throat in an ordeal that lasted 12 hours, prosecutors alleged in the court documents.
The child lost consciousness and suffered "multiple injuries around her eyes, face, neck, and chest," the court documents said, according to Kron4.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's office ruled her death a homicide from asphyxiation, according to Mercury News.
The girl's grandfather, Rene Trigueros-Hernandez, and uncle, Rene Hernandez-Santos, were arrested this week on charges of child abuse, the San Jose police department said in a statement.
Her mother, Claudia Elisa Hernandez, 25, was charged with child abuse that resulted in her daughter's death in February.
When interviewed by police, Hernandez said that she believed that the girl was "possessed" because the toddler kept waking up in the middle of the night screaming or crying.
The family gathered at the San Jose church, of which the victim's grandfather was a pastor, on September 24 to perform the exorcism, according to Kron4.
The child died at around 6:30pm but the family waited until 8:12pm to call the police, the outlet reported. Hernandez told police that no one performed medical assistance to help the girl before or after she died.
Prosecutors noted the mother's active role in inflicting harm upon her child in the court documents.
"She strangled her multiple times to the point where the victim went unconscious, she stuck her hands down her throat, and continued this course of conduct for almost a full day," deputy district attorney Rebekah Wise.
Months after her daughter's death, Hernandez uploaded a YouTube video in which she appeared to discuss the incident.
"A lot of people turned on me after my daughter passed away; a lot of people thought a lot of things because of how that situation looked. If you weren't there, you don't know what happened. I know what happened," she said.
"I could sit here and be negative. But there's no point in me doing that. I cannot change what is. It is what it is," she said.
Hernandez faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.