Man accused of raping woman, mutilating dog in ‘sacrifice’ in Holts Summit

HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. (KMIZ)

 A man has been charged with 12 felonies after he was accused of mutilating a dog in a “sacrifice” and raping a woman in Holts Summit.

Elijah Paul Juarez, 23, is being held without bond at the Callaway County Jail. He was charged with:

• Two counts of first-degree sodomy
• First-degree kidnapping
• Four counts of third-degree assault
• First-degree rape
• First-degree property damage
• Animal abuse
• First-degree stalking
• Tampering with a witness
• Two counts fourth-degree assault (misdemeanors)

A court date has not been set. The probable cause statement says that Juarez is from the state of California and was a student at Lincoln University.

Court documents say the property management company of Juarez’s residence -- in the 100 block of Rylee Circle in Holts Summit -- called law enforcement on Feb. 5 when they found a bloody hatchet, dismembered parts of a dog and a large amount of blood in the garage. The company was doing a check of the property, the probable cause statement says.

Holts Summit police obtained a search warrant and found the hatchet, two pairs of bloody scissors, various parts of a dog (which were identified by a veterinarian), a large pool of blood that was starting to dry, a trash can and freezer containing more dog body parts, and bloody clothes and shoes, the statement says. The veterinarian stated the dog had been dismembered, shot and gutted, the statement says.

Police also allegedly found a whiteboard that contained plans and financial information about selling drugs, forged documents (such as passports and identification cards) and guns. Police also found an AR-15 rifle at the residence.

On Feb. 6, police spoke with a woman who was previously in a relationship with Juarez, the statement says. The victim allegedly told police that they were assaulted by Juarez on Feb. 1 and he prevented her from leaving the residence. She told police that she went back on Feb. 4 to gather her belongings and Juarez was wearing a red and black “Purge-style” mask -- in reference to the movie series – while holding a Bible.

The two allegedly got into an argument and Juarez threw a bowling ball at the back window of the victim’s vehicle, and then threw it into his own windshield, the statement says. The damage to the victim’s vehicle exceeded $750, court documents say.

The victim then told police that she started receiving messages on her phone from Juarez indicating that she “failed the test” and “she would have been the sacrifice, but had to sacrifice something else,” court documents say. Juarez then sent a text message of a photo of a dead dog, court documents say.  The victim allegedly told police that Juarez made statements about her “dying before her birthday.”

Police interviewed the victim again on Feb. 9, when she revealed she had been sexually assaulted by Juarez on Jan. 22 and Feb. 3, the statement says. Juarez had allegedly recorded the Jan. 22 assault, the statement says.

Police saw messages Juarez sent to the victim indicating that “death was hovering over them” and that he sacrificed the dog to “Malek,” which was described in the probable cause statement as a “Biblical God-like entity that a human sacrifice was often made to.”

The statement says Juarez’s family flew in from California to clean out his residence while he was at the Missouri Psychiatric Center.

According to a second probable cause statement filed, Juarez had allegedly tried calling the victim from the Callaway County Jail on Monday to convince her to not cooperate with the prosecution.

Juarez had four outstanding warrants related to cases filed in the Holts Summit Municipal Court.