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MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican man and his female companion were ordered held in prison Tuesday pending trial in the killing of a woman, though the man has confessed to murdering at least nine more and even claimed to have sold their bones.
The couple was caught Oct. 4 carrying dismembered human remains in a baby carriage. The man told authorities that he had killed 20 women, but prosecutors say he could give specific information on only 10 victims.
The prosecutors' office in Mexico State, which borders Mexico City on three sides, said the couple will stand trial for the death of a 28-year-old woman who disappeared Sept. 6, the first of what is likely to be many charges against them.
The couple apparently targeted single mothers in the low-income city of Ecatepec by offering cheap baby clothes.
The man strangled the women and cut them up, authorities said. His female companion may have played a passive role, or helped lure the victims in.
Authorities say the couple may have sold the women's bones to a religious cult and the 2-month-old daughter of one of the victims to another couple. The baby was recovered.
Local media reported that the man fed some of his victims' flesh to his dogs and may have offered their hearts to the "Santa Muerte," a female skeletal figure worshipped by petty criminals, drug traffickers and the poor.
Authorities say the couple also faces charges of desecrating a corpse and illegal burial, as well as human trafficking for the sold baby.
The man appeared in a leaked video of his post-arrest questioning openly discussing his crimes and saying he did them because he hated women. Authorities later confirmed the authenticity of the leaked video, which first appeared on social media.
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