Corriann CervantesHollywood depictions of the occult never include the grisly truth about what can happen to people who willingly consort with dark powers.
The Daily Mail is reporting on the case of Jose Reyes, 18, of Houston, Texas, who is on trial for the murder of a 15 year-old childhood friend name Corriann Cervantes. Reyes, along with a 16 year-old accomplice, is said to have lured Corriann to an empty apartment on February 5, 2014, where they reportedly engaged in consensual sex until the boys suddenly turned on her.
Prosecutors say the two boys were intent upon making a deal with the devil - which involved murdering someone in the most brutal and torturous way possible - which is why they not only raped Cervantes, but began to beat her so viciously with the porcelain lid of a toilet tank that bits of porcelain were imbedded in her face. After stabbing her repeatedly with a screwdriver, they used a window blind rod to gauge out her eyes before finally strangling her to death.
Three days after the murder, a neighbor noticed the apartment door was ajar and discovered Cervantes mutilated body, half naked and with an upside-down crucifix carved into her stomach. An assortment of religious objects were arrayed around her.
Reyes' family is responsible for turning him in after he made "some admissions" about the murder.
Jose Reyes" . . . Some signs of devil worship and things of that nature" were found in Reyes possession, according to Assistant Harris County District Attorney John Jordan.
Reyes eventually confessed to the horrific crime, saying that he had killed Corriann so that his younger friend could "sell his soul to the devil."
"Whether or not the devil was involved, what happened in that apartment was sadistic and inhumane," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney John Jordan told jurors last week when the trial began.
Even more appalling was the fact that Reyes "said he had no regrets," Jordan told the jury last week.
In fact, during a court appearance in February, Reyes looked into the camera and smiled just before a judge ordered him held without bail.
If convicted, Reyes faces life in prison and would not be eligible for parole for 40 years. Even though he was only 17 at the time of the crime, he is being tried as an adult.
His accomplice is expected to stand trial later.
Young people who become involved in Satanism usually begin as "dabblers" whose practice is largely centered around recreation such as in fantasy role-playing games, heavy metal music with satanic lyrics, and drug use.
However, because the United States has the largest concentration of satanic sects in the world, it's very easy for a "dabbler" to become a more serious follower of Satan. Contrary to popular belief, Satanists are not wild-eyed criminals who exist on the fringes of society but are mostly teens and young adults who tend to be white, middle to upper-middle class, and who are bright and do well in school. Experts say many of them get involved during the middle-school years because this is the age when they are searching for an identity.
Sadly, much of the occult fiction and occult-oriented video games are aimed at this population, making these young people even more vulnerable to the misconception that Satanism is just a game or a good story book. Unlike the fairy-tale version of the occult portrayed by Hollywood films and writers such as J. K. Rowling, experts know that dabbling in the dark arts is never done with impunity. There is always a price to pay.
In the case of Reyes and his accomplice, they paid this price with their own lives which will be spent behind bars, and with the life of an innocent young woman whose family will live forever with the memory of her horrifying death.
If this isn't the work of Satan, what is?
