Special Report: Belief in Santa Muerte moving beyond Mexico and border

The first day of every month, the small town of Barrio Tepito, just outside of Mexico City becomes flooded with people all wanting to pay their tribute to Santa Muerte.

U.S. Marshall Robert Almonte has studied Santa Muerte for almost a decade.

“I saw the significance of Santa Muerte in her relationship with criminal activity,” Almonte said.

Almonte travels all across the country to lecture law enforcement on the “saint of death.”
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“I could teach this class two or three times a week,” Almonte said. “I get so many requests to teach it.”

Almnote is adamant that Santa Muerte is not a true saint by Catholic standards, but said people who worship Santa Muerte believe she can grant them protection and even miracles.

“They set up shrines, they give her gifts,” he said. “They believe they have to provide gifts for her in order for their prayers to be answered.”

But Almonte said the bigger the demand, the bigger the price.

“You go from one extreme of giving her candy and a slice of bread to cutting off people’s head for her,” Almonte said.

The brutal, high-risk, high-reward nature of Santa Muerte draws undeniable parallels to the drug trade. The things some of Santa Muerte’s most extreme adherents will do to win her favors seem to come straight from the gates of hell.

“I’m seeing cases where, ‘OK, we’re going to see your beheading and raise you a skinned head,'” Almonte said. “… they’re actually cutting the head off and peeling their entire face off.”

It isn’t just the beliefs from a foreign country. A house in Horizon had a full-blown altar set up with a statue, candles and incense and numerous Santa Muerte items.

El Paso Police Dept. Lt. Kyle Summers said he’s beginning to see a disturbing trend.

“We didn’t see it, like years, years ago at all,” Summers said. “But then, recently, we’ve seen more and more cases where the ‘saint’s’ been there.”

On Montana, in the middle of Central El Paso, ABC-7 found two shops selling Santa Muerte products just blocks away from each other.

“Not everybody who prays to Santa Muerte is a criminal,” Almonte said.

“We’ve actually had people pray to the saint that aren’t involved in narcotics at all,” Summers said.

Some say they have prayed to Santa Muerte to help heal their son or to get their husband a job.

Santa Muerte worshippers have brought their faith beyond the border and it has been found in Virginia, Oregon, Montana and other cities.