Drink Victim's Blood to Hide from Cops

(Bartow, Florida) A 42-year-old local man, Mauricio Mendez Lopez, has been accused of fatally knifing his housemate, Macario Cruz, during an ongoing dispute about Cruz's "illicit affair" with his sister-in-law, Mariella Mendez. Throughout the disagreement, there were bouts of physical violence and threats.

The conflict was resolved with Lopez allegedly killing Cruz.

Mendez told police she heard her children scream, according to the report.

Lopez exited the house with a plastic cup on his hand. It appeared to hold blood, and he took a drink from it, she told police.

He told her that in Mexico, there is a ritual that "involves the person drinking the blood from a murder victim to prevent law enforcement from being about to find and prosecute them," the report states.

Ms. Mendez found Cruz, gasping his last breaths, in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.

Tip: slwlion