If you are religious or spiritual, then you are completely familiar with demons. You may even have seen or heard of demonic possession and the practice of basically evicting a demon from a human body. 

Though… Who’s actually trained to determine a true demonic possession versus some other type of condition? 

 Depending on your beliefs or the beliefs of someone performing an exorcism it is mostly performed the same. A ritual forcing the entity to leave the body of the possessed in the name of a higher power. This ritual is ancient and varies based on culture. 

Nevertheless, how a demon is cast out of a human differs based on the church, belief system, and culture. 

On September 24th, 2021, the San Jose, California Police Department received a phone call regarding 3-year-old Arely Naomi Proctor. She was unresponsive and possibly dead. The phone call came in from her mother, 25-year-old Claudia Elisa Hernandez. 

Arely was taken to the hospital by emergency services and pronounced dead one hour after the call had been placed to authorities. Law enforcement arrived shortly after to the address that the call came from to investigate and found that the residents of the home were also operating a church out of the back of the home. 

The day before Arely’s death, September 23rd, 2021, Claudia stated her daughter woke up and began screaming and she had no idea what was wrong with her. Claudia called her brother, Rene Hernandez Jr., so he could assist in praying over Arely. 

Claudia believed her daughter was possessed. 

The brother and sister prayed over the child at Claudia’s Mountain View, California home, but the praying didn’t seem to help. Arely continued to cry throughout the night. 

Around 6 am on September 24th, Claudia and her brother Rene, drive her daughter Arely to the church in hopes of performing an exorcism on the child. They truly believed she was possessed by a demon. 

Once at the church, 3 year old Arely was laid on an altar. Her mother Claudia would begin sticking her fingers down the child’s throat in an attempt to make her vomit. While she placed her fingers in her child’s throat, she squeezed her neck. 

Claudia believed this would assist in expelling the demon. 

Throughout the time Arely’s neck was being squeezed and she was being gagged by her mothers fingers, the child would fall asleep. 

During this time, Claudia’s father Rene Hernandez Sr. arrived to assist with the exorcism of his 3 year old granddaughter. 

The three then worked together to hold down the child and force her to throw up. Throwing up was the only way they believed she could expel the demon. Arely was held at her abdomen, her neck and her legs. Arely attempted to fight back, scratching her grandfather in the process. 

Hours had gone by… And finally Arely threw up. Claudia would later describe it as a clear, purple, liquid. Arely had not been given food since 9 pm the day before. 

Though, this vomiting wasn’t enough. They wanted to continue this vile ritual.

The three continued to force the child to vomit some more. Around 7:30 pm on September 24th, Arely’s uncle Rene Hernandez Jr., knelt down on the floor where Arely was. He placed his hand on her chest and the other under her back and began squeezing the tiny 3 year old, while praying over her for an estimated 10 minutes. 

Rene Hernandez Jr., he later told authorities his eyes were closed during those 10 minutes and after he opened them, it appeared Arely was dead. Her body limp and lifeless.  

None of the adults in this room made any attempts to revive the 3 year old child. Nor did they call 911. They did, however, continue to pray for over an hour. Then called 911 to state that the child had passed. 

The child’s official cause of death would be smothering and asphyxia. The child’s body had visible bruises and injuries at the time of death. As well as internal bleeding from multiple organs, including the heart and the pancreas. 

Since the death of Arely, her grandfather Rene Sr. has stated that he does not believe the injuries caused Arely’s death, but the evil spirit that resided inside of her. 

He also told the media :

If you read the Bible, you’ll see that Jesus casts away demons and made sick people healthy again,” 

“It’s not when I want to do it, it’s when God, in his will, wants to heal the person. The preacher is like an instrument of God; what we do is what God says.”

Authorities waited months for a comprehensive medical report. They did not make arrests right away. During this time, Arely’s mother Claudia created a video on her YouTube channel. 

Some time after she posted that video to You tube, she was arrested. And eventually, her father and brother were also arrested. 

Though her brother is now changing his story, stating he did not put pressure on the child which resulted in her death. 

All involved face 25 years to life if convicted…