Brave toddler, 3, tried to escape and told mom 'I love you' while being 'exorcised' to death in church as prosecutors finally try to bring evil parents and grandfather to justice

A little girl told her mother 'I love you’ in an attempt to stop the woman torturing her to death in a day-long church ‘exorcism’, newly released court documents reveal.

Three-year-old Arely Proctor pleaded for her life and struggled to escape as she was battered and strangled by her mother Claudia Hernandez, 27, and her pastor relatives.

Two years after her body was found by police on the altar of a Pentecostal church in San Jose, California, authorities have still to decide whether her killers will stand trial.

‘Over the course of approximately twenty hours Arely Doe fought for her life as three trusted adults forcibly grabbed her by the neck,’ Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise wrote.

‘While this assault was ongoing, Arely struggled to escape from her abusers. The victim repeatedly said ‘No!'

Arely Naomi Proctor died in September 2021 after the three-year-old's family 'performed an exorcism' on her at the Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas church in San Jose

Claudia Hernandez-Santos, 27, was the mother of three-year-old Arely Naomi Proctor who died

Pastor Rene Hernandez is pictured the church's YouTube videos. He performed the exorcism and has now been charged in connection with the girl's death

It took two hours for the family to call 911 after Arely finally stopped breathing at the Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas on September 24, 2021.

Claudia explained to police that her daughter had a demon because she would ‘wake up and scream’ in the night.

‘Arely looked different,’ she said. ‘Her eyes were different. They looked empty and it wasn’t her.

‘What I believe is that she was possessed, you know, ’cause I go to church.’

Claudia decided to go to the church after her daughter bit her finger while she was trying to make her vomit.

They went with Claudia’s brother Rene “Aaron” Hernandez Santos, 21, who told police he had ‘gifts from God’.

He explained that ‘Arely was not the same. She was normally always smiling'.

The pair began trying to make Arely vomit by sticking fingers and hands down her throat, pinning her down by her neck, torso, and legs for several hours and leaving her with 'multiple injuries around her eyes, face, neck, and chest’.

At 12.20pm their father Pastor Rene Trigueros Hernandez, 60, arrived at the church to help with the exorcism.

Uncle Rene Hernandez-Santos, 19, explained to police that he had 'multiple gifts from God'

The family ran their Pentecostal church out of this home in San Jose, California

'If you read the Bible, you'll see that Jesus casts away demons and made sick people healthy again,’ he later told Mercury News.

'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.

'It's the stuff of God, and everything is in the will of God no matter how small or big.'

The exorcism continued as the afternoon wore on and Arely was sick again.

‘After Arely threw up, Claudia said they put her on the floor,’ Wise wrote.

‘Claudia said this is when Arely stopped breathing. Claudia said God made her understand that Arely was not coming back and was gone.’

By 6pm the girl appeared to be dead or dying with a cold body and blue lips.

‘This was the last time Claudia believed Arely to be alive,’ Wise wrote.

But the family made no attempt at resuscitation, and it was more than two hours before they called 911.

Claudia told police she did not take drugs and has no history of mental illness. Asked if she had caused her daughter’s death she replied ‘in a way’, but it was four months before she was arrested.

A month after Arely’s death she called police and asked to make a statement, telling them that she spoke daily with God for three weeks before her daughter’s death.

‘During this time, Claudia was praying for Arely, and God told her that he was going to take Arely,’ Wise wrote.

She said the date of Arely’s death had been set for September 24, 2021.

‘God told Claudia this was happening because she was never meant to be a mother,’ Wise wrote.

‘I’ve learned to accept what it is,’ she added.

Police arrested her brother and her father on May 11, 2022.

Aaron told officers about the ‘multiple gifts’ he has received from God including the gift of ‘reprimanding’

‘These gifts include the ability to speak in tongues, the gift to heal, the gift to interpret tongues, the gift of seeing visions, and the gifts of reprimanding,’ court documents state.

‘He said it was possible that the way he was holding her caused Arely to die. He said there were times when God would tell him to squeeze her harder.

‘Arely’s death made him question his gift to heal.’

But he said his sister probably finished off the little girl by grabbing her neck.

Grandfather Rene, 60, said his daughter told him ‘the girl was going to die’, wjhen he arrived at the church.

‘Rene Sr. shrugged his shoulders. Rene Sr. said he believed everything Claudia was saying to him,’ Wise wrote.

A coroner found that Arely died from a combination of mechanical asphyxia and smothering.

Her injuries included brain swelling, blood in the lungs, marks on the neck, and injuries inside the mouth.

After her death, the family held a pink, Disney-themed funeral for Arely.

Her mother posted about it on social media and recorded a YouTube video, saying people did not understand what she had been through.

'I am at peace, I am happy. The reason I feel what I feel is God. If you don't want to be in my life, that's OK. The only one I need is God.

'It is what it is,' she said in one section.

'If you weren't there when she passed away and whatever you want to think, is not valid. One thing I'm not going to do is lie about how she passed away,' she said in another portion of the video.

'Everyone wants to know what happened to her, you know, her cause of death. 

'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. 

The girl's mother unashamedly posted about her daughter's death on Instagram and YouTube and said the 'only person she needs is God'

The girl's mother Claudia Hernandez, who goes by Eliisa Santos on social media, and her pastor grandfather performed an exorcism, according to police

The girl with her pastor grandfather before she died. She would have turned four a month later

'If you weren't there, you don't know what happened. I know what happened. 

'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 explains.

Claudia, Aaron, and Rene have pleaded not guilty to felony assault on a child younger than eight causing death.

Wise filed her memorandum on April 3 to Santa Clara County Court where Judge Hanley Chew will make a ruling on May 10 as to whether there is enough evidence for a trial.