The woman who resides at the property where human bones were found at an altar by police last weekend told investigators that she used the artifacts to practice the religion Santeria, according to the Pasadena Star-News.
The bones were found by police on Saturday while they were investigating a trespassing call in the 800 block of North Oakland Avenue.
The woman living at the residence told police she practices Santeria, which the BBC defines as an "Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions" that originated during the slave trade in Cuba.
"The religion focuses on building relationships between human beings and powerful, but mortal, spirits, called Orishas," the BBC reports.
One of the rituals practiced by Santeria followers in animal sacrifice.
"The animal is sacrificed as food, rather than for any obscure mystical purpose," the BBC states. "Followers of an Orisha will offer them food and sacrifice animals to them in order to build and maintain a personal relationship with the spirit."
Police will check the bones found at the property against a DNA database to determine if they were involved in a crime, the Star-News reports.
