Couple charged in possible exorcism death
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Police were led to the scene by a seven-year-old girl who was roaming the streets naked with the suspects.
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Police suspect the death of a 6-year-old girl in a motel room may be some kind of a ritual killing.
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ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A husband and wife have been charged with murdering a 6-year-old girl whose back was broken in what police said may have been an exorcism gone wrong.
The couple was arrested Monday after being spotted on the street naked in the freezing cold along with two other children.
Police said the dead girl, whose body was discovered in a motel room, had been strangled and stabbed, and her back was broken. An autopsy was planned.
Based on what the adults told authorities, investigators believe "they were involved possibly in a ritual of some sort," police spokesman John Quigley said. "It may have had something to do with undemonizing the child in some manner."
Christopher Carey, 29, and Valerie Carey, 27, were charged with murder late Monday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its Web site. They initially were charged with cruelty to children, public indecency and obstruction of police and were taken to a psychiatric ward. They were later moved to a jail.
Police learned of the death around 12:30 a.m. when the unidentified man and woman were seen walking naked down a city street with two children, a 2-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, Quigley said.
The 7-year-old provided investigators with information that led them to the motel, where they found the girl's body.
The two adults had apparently been living there for some time, possibly through assistance from a church, Quigley said.
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