Jose Reyes convicted in Corriann Cervantes ‘satanic ritual’ killing
He says he was murdering the woman to “sell her soul to the devil” and now a Texas jury found Jose Reyes guilty for the capital murder of fellow student Corriann Cervantes. Reyes was automatically sentenced to life in prison after the jury took only a little more than an hour to reach a decision.
Reyes, 18, and Cervantes, 15, were students at the same high school. Allegedly, Reyes and a 16-year-old accomplice, Victor Alas, committed the brutal crimes as part of a satanic ritual. Reyes admitted his actions to authorities.
Corriann Cervantes photo/Facebook
The three went to a vacant apartment southeast of Houston to have sex and while the sex was initially consensual, it escalated to a brutal rape and beating. Cervantes was struck with an ashtray, a window blind rod, and porcelain toilet tank lid repeatedly.
“There were pieces of porcelain embedded in her face,” Assistant Harris County District Attorney John Jordan told jurors.
The teen was also stabbed dozens of times in the face and torso with a screwdriver, and one of her eyes was gouged out. An upside-down cross was carved into her skin. Cervantes allegedly begged for her life while she was being tortured.
“What happened in that vacant apartment was sadistic. What will eventually happen in the… courtroom will be justice,” Jordan said.
Cervantes’ body was found in the apartment three days later by neighbors. She was half dressed with torn clothes, and religious items were placed around her.
“There are so many horrible, heinous and inhumane things this defendant did,” said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Martina Longoria. “This is beyond imagination and in his words: it’s all good.”
The last piece of evidence in the trial that began Monday were letters from jail in which Reyes said the Devil was watching him and directing him to act during the slaying.
“He was standing there, watching me and Victor,” the teen wrote in a letter read to jurors Thursday.
“It’s all good. It’s what the Devil asked for.”
