Everyone has a few skeletons in the closet, but police say that Amador Medina had five.
The 32-year-old man is in custody after police report he broke into a Worcester, Massachusetts, mausoleum and made off with the skeletal remains, allegedly to practice Santeria.
The remains of three adults and two young children were recovered from Medina's Hartford, Connecticut, apartment on Friday, roughly two months after they were discovered missing from Worcester's Hope Cemetery on Oct. 9.
Worcester police said the mausoleum's doors had been forced open and the crypt's panels and caskets damaged during the incident. A chain securing the doors was cut.
The alleged body snatcher, who Hartford police said identified himself as a Santeria priest, was linked to the grave robbery thanks to a tip.
"We see [Santeria] rarely in Hartford," the city's deputy police chief Brian Foley told The Associated Press. "When we do, it's generally with animals. Very even more rarely you get human remains." He added that those who practice the Afro-Caribbean religion use the bones for medicinal purposes.
According to a Santeria website, practitioners' religious sacrifices typically involve the blood of animals found on a farm, like chickens and sheep. A number of online sites also list bones for sale for Santeria rituals, including popular sites like eBay.
Investigators said they've tried to find family members of the deceased, but they've been unable to do so. The last person interned in the mausoleum was placed there about 71 years ago, they said.
According to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the mausoleum was built in 1903 for Charles Chandler Houghton and his family. Houghton was a successful boot manufacturer and real estate developer in Worcester.
Medina appeared in Hartford Superior Court on Monday and agreed to be taken back to Worcester, where he faces five counts of disinterment of bodies, as well as charges of conspiracy and breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony.
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