Cannibal sect accused of making human-filled empanadas goes to trial in Brazil

Three people charged with killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their flesh to make and sell stuffed pastries went on trial Thursday in northeastern Brazil.

The man, his wife and his mistress were arrested in April 2012 in the city of Garanhuns and police say they have confessed to the crimes.

The three allegedly lured women to their house by promising them a job as a nanny.

Police found the remains of the two women in the backyard of the suspects' house.

At the time of their arrest they told police they belonged to a sect that preached "the purification of the world and the reduction of its population."

Authorities said the trio made thick "empada" pastries with the flesh of their victims, which the three and also a young child who lived with the man and wife ate. The pastries were also sold to some neighbors.

Shortly after their arrest, police found a 50-page book titled "Revelations of a Schizophrenic" written by suspect Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira. In it, he said he heard voices and was obsessed with the killing of women.

Police also arrested Silveira's wife, Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress, Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, who lived with the couple.

The G1 news portal quoted Silveira as saying during the trial's opening: "I committed a horrible monstrous mistake. It was a moment of extreme weakness and brutality that I regret."