BALCH SPRINGS – A two-year-old boy who died last month had been starved for more than 20 days by his parents and church members they lived with before his death because they believed he was possessed by demons, according to the arrest warrant for the boy's parents and a church leader.

The church's pastor later held a "raising ceremony" to bring the victim back from the dead before the boy's family fled to Mexico with his body.

According to the warrant, officers responded to 12300 block of Duke Dr. at 9:26 a.m. on Thursday, March 26, for a welfare check after an anonymous caller told Balch Springs police a two-and-a-half-year-old child had died and was taken out of the country.

When police arrived, witnesses at the home told police the boy had died on March 22 after he had been fasting and only given water for 25 days. One witness claimed she tried to feed the boy on several occasions but "was scolded by the pastors of the church," which operated out of the home against city code. The pastors were later identified as husband and wife Daniel Zapata Meza, 42, and Araceli Meza, 49.

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According to the document, Araceli Meza stressed that while she did encourage the others not to feed the boy, the final decision was made by the boy's parents, Liliana and Zenon Aparicio. Mrs. Meza said she told the parents the boy needed a 20-day fasting, but it "just kept going without any actual stop day." She said no one knew the fasting was going to stop, and said it was his parents' responsibility to get the child medical attention.