Priest admits to killing and dismembering pregnant lover

A MEXICAN priest has confessed to strangling and dismembering his pregnant lover after Easter Mass.

Cesar Torres, 42, admitted killing Veronica Salinas, 22, at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the city of Nezahualcoyotl on Mexico City's outskirts, state attorney general Abel Villicana said.

Mr Villicana read from a statement signed by Torres in which the priest described how he had been having an affair with Ms Salinas and that she came to his parish residence to say she was pregnant and ask for money shortly after he had participated in Easter Mass.

The attorney general said the victim's mother told police that her daughter and Torres first met when Ms Salinas was 13 and they had been romantically involved for years.

The couple had a daughter together, now 18 months old, but it was not clear if the priest was responsible for Ms Salinas's latest pregnancy.

The two fought and Torres strangled his former lover. He dragged the body to a nearby bathroom and, according to the signed statement, used a kitchen knife to cut off her head and dismember her body. He packed the pieces into plastic bags.

According to the confession, Torres loaded the bags into a pick-up truck and dumped them near a municipal cemetery in Chimalhuacan in Mexico state.

In recent weeks, authorities recovered the bodies of five other women who had been killed and dumped in Chimalhuacan.

Some of those victims had been mutilated - sparking speculation a serial killer could be working in the area.

But Mr Villicana said the testimonies of Ms Salinas's mother and other family members led to his arrest on Wednesday.

He said Torres would appear before a judge to be formally charged with murder within days.