Teen testifies about boy’s death and firearms training at New Mexico compound

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Prosecutors have presented detailed testimony about the final moments of a toddler who was taken by relatives to a remote desert encampment in northern New Mexico where he died. One of the other children who was found at the compound when it was raided by authorities in 2018 took the witness stand Wednesday. He talked about a healing ritual that was done repeatedly on the boy as a means to cast out evil spirits that family members believed had been causing the child’s ailments. Prosecutors are pursuing kidnapping and terrorism charges against four members of the boy’s family, including his father and two aunts.