HARTFORD — The skeletal remains of five people taken from a Worcester mausoleum were arranged for use in religious rituals inside a 32-year-old Hartford man's apartment, according to police. 
 
 Amador Medina told Hartford detectives that he paid a man to obtain the bones, which he said he arranged in shrines for use in Santeria, an Afro-Cuban religion that originated in West Africa. 
 
 Some of the remains police found in Medina's second floor apartment at 245 Preston St. had been taken apart. Skulls were in one place and other bones were elsewhere. Some remains were relatively intact, wrapped in plastic trash bags with the tops ripped open to expose the skulls. Other religious objects, such as statues and candles, were arranged nearby. 
 
 Medina also had a credential that described him as a Santeria priest. He said he used the remains in healing rituals, police said. 
 
 Experts familiar with Santeria said the religion's rituals do not involve the use of human remains. 
 
 During his arraignment Monday at Superior Court in Hartford, Medina waived extradition proceedings to Worcester, where he faces five counts of disinterment of bodies. Worcester police took Medina into custody Monday afternoon. 
 
 Hartford police went to Medina's apartment Friday afternoon after a person called 911 to report seeing skeletons in the apartment. The caller said Medina claimed to have dug up the skeletons in New Jersey and New York, although he also said he was not sure they were real. The caller said he was "creeped out" by the remains and suggested that police check. 
 
 Hartford police said Medina was cooperative and told the police that he did have skeletal remains in his apartment and that they'd come from Hope Cemetery in Worcester, according to a police report. He told officers he used the remains in religious rituals. 
 
 Three sets of remains were found on an enclosed front porch, police said. Two were in Medina's living room. All were with other religious objects. One still had remnants of the clothing that was on it when it was placed in the mausoleum. 
 
 Worcester police said they were alerted to the theft of five sets of remains from the Houghton family mausoleum at Hope Cemetery on Oct. 9. A woman walking through the park found that the lock and chain securing the mausoleum had been cut. 
 
 Once inside the mausoleum, Worcester detectives found that several crypts had been forced open and that the skeletal remains had been removed. Police said they suspect the bones were removed months before the discovery of the thefts. 
 
 The bones are being stored at Hartford police headquarters until they are returned to the mausoleum. Worcester police said the last set of remains was placed in the mausoleum about 71 years ago, and they have not been able to find any relatives. 
 
 The mausoleum was built in 1903 for Charles Chandler Houghton (1825-1901) and his family, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Houghton was a prosperous boot manufacturer and real estate developer in Worcester. 
 
 Timothy R. Landry, an assistant professor of anthropology and religion at Trinity College, said human remains are not traditionally used in Santeria. He said it is heard of in another religion from Cuba known as Palo Mayombe. Often in Cuba, Landry said, the two religions are practiced in close proximity, and practitioners of Santeria, which to practitioners would be known as Lukumi, often also practice Palo Mayombe. 
 
 In Palo Mayombe, human remains are used for any number of reasons, including individual worship and healing rituals, Landry said. He added that the United States has the second highest concentration of practitioners of these religions worldwide and each religion manifests differently in the areas they are practiced in. 
 
 Santeria, "The Way of the Saints," developed in Cuba among slaves and spread throughout Latin America and the United States. The religion combines aspects of Catholicism and deities worshiped in West Africa. News reports from across the country about decapitated goats, chickens and other animals have been linked to rituals of Santeria. ||||| Human skeletal remains belonging to several persons were discovered Friday at a Hartford, Connecticut, apartment, police said. (Published Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015) 
 
 A Connecticut man accused of stealing five sets of human remains from a cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts, practices Santeria and took the skeletons for religious reasons, according to police. 
 
 Investigators said Amador Medina, 32, of Hartford, Connecticut, stole the remains of three adults and two young children from Hope Cemetery. Medina was arrested Friday as a fugitive from justice. 
 
 Medina is a priest who practices Santeria, an Afro-Cuban religion developed from the beliefs and customs of the Yoruba people and incorporating some elements of the Catholic religion. Investigators said Medina wanted the bones for medicinal reasons as part of his religion, and that older bones are preferred. 
 
 "He is a practicing Santeria priest, which is a religion in some Latino communities that you see. It’s rarely seen actually," said Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley. "The age of the deceased, as well as how long they have been deceased, is relevant in how they use those remains in their medicinal value." 
 
 Photo credit: Hartford Police 
 
 The missing remains were discovered Oct. 9, when a visitor to the cemetery noticed someone had broken into the mausoleum. Police responded and found several crypts forced open and five bodies missing. 
 
 Investigators searched Medina's apartment Friday based on a tip. Police said Medina showed investigators where he stashed the bones. 
 
 The bodies are believed to have been from the early 1900s. Investigators believe no one has been interred in the mausoleum in the past 71 years. 
 
 Worcester police will charge Medina with five counts of disinterment of bodies, conspiracy to disinter bodies and accessory before the fact to breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony. 
 
 It was not immediately cleared if Medina had an attorney. He is expected to be arraigned Monday in Hartford. ||||| WORCESTER - The man accused of possessing five skeletons stolen from a Hope Cemetery mausoleum told Hartford Police detectives he paid another man to get human remains for him, statements on file in a Worcester court said. 
 
 Amador Medina, 32, of 245 Preston St., Apt. 2, Hartford, was arraigned in a Connecticut court Monday on a fugitive from justice charge after he was arrested in connection to the thefts. He faces five charges of disinterment of a body in Worcester Central District Court. 
 
 Authorities told the Hartford Courant that Medina wanted to use the skeletons to practice his religion, Santeria. Medina was arrested Friday by Hartford Police after the skeletal remains stolen from Worcester were found at his apartment, authorities said. 
 
 
 
 Police executed a search warrant at the apartment and recovered the five skeletons. 
 
 "Subsequently Mr. Medina provided a statement to Hartford Police Detectives and indicated he directed an unidentified individual to secure a human body (remains) for Mr. Medina for an agreed upon payment," Worcester Police Sgt. Gary Quitadamo wrote in a police statement. "This individual subsequently broke into a locked mausoleum in Hope Cemetery and removed five skeletal remains." 
 
 Medina, the investigator wrote, then paid the man and took the five skeletons. The name of this second person is not listed in court records. 
 
 The Hartford Courant reported that Medina waived extradition hearings during his court appearance in Connecticut. Bail in the case was set at $300,000 and he was given a Dec. 31 court date in Connecticut, the newspaper reported. 
 
 Worcester Police were ready to take Medina back to Massachusetts. 
 
 The break-in at the Houghton-family mausoleum was discovered on Oct. 9, but court records show investigators believe the theft occurred months earlier. The complaint filed in court shows a May 15 date for time of offense. 
 
 In his court statement, Sgt. Quitadamo wrote that six burial crypts containing caskets were damaged inside the mausoleum. The remains of three adults and two children were taken. 
 
 Medina allegedly admitted to using the remains to practice Santeria, a religion that contains some aspects of Catholicism and West African religions. Medina's Facebook page lists that he studied at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.
– Have skeletal remains lying around at home? Yeah, that's a bit of a problem—as Amador Medina learned when police accused him of keeping five disinterred bodies at his Hartford, Conn., apartment. Medina, 32, allegedly paid someone to dig up the three adults and two children for use in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, the Hartford Courant reports. According to police, Medina is a Santeria priest who arranged the bodies into shrines with candles and statues. Some bodies were taken apart while others were mostly whole, kept in trash bags with holes ripped to show the skulls. Seems they were removed earlier this year from a mausoleum in Worcester, Mass., where they'd been for around 71 years, the Republican reports. No relatives have yet been found. "The age of the deceased, as well as how long they have been deceased, is relevant in how they use those remains in their medicinal value" in Santeria, a Hartford police deputy tells NBC Los Angeles. But Imna Arroyo, a professor at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, tells WTNH that the Medina case casts "a very negative light" on Santeria. She says the religion, which blends West African and Catholic beliefs, does use chickens during ceremonies—but only Medina can explain the use of human bodies. Medina will be charged with five counts of conspiracy to disinter bodies, disinterment of bodies, and accessory to breaking and entering with felony intent.