Police entered the second-floor apartment at 245 Preston St. after receiving a tip. Medina was “cooperative and forthcoming,” according to a press release issued by Hartford police.

Amador Medina was arrested after he allowed police officers to enter his second floor apartment and showed them the remains, which dated from 1900 to the 1970s, Deputy Chief Brian Foley said.

Hartford police arrested a 32-year-old man Friday who was found to have five different human skeletal remains, believed to have been taken from a Worcester cemetery, in his apartment, police said.

Medina was taken into custody and charged as a fugitive from justice from Massachusetts, Foley said.


In Massachusetts, a warrant was issued for Medina’s arrest on charges of speeding and possessing a revoked license, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police said Saturday night.

The department’s major crimes division assisted with the search and the processing and recovery of the skeletal remains, the release stated.

Worcester police were not available to comment Saturday.

Hartford police investigators believe the remains were taken from five separate graves at Hope Cemetery, a city-owned facility on Webster Street in Worcester.

Foley said he believes Medina was practicing Santeria, a syncretic religion that merges Yoruba, a West African religion, with Roman Catholicism. The religion is common among Spanish-speaking regions in both North and South America.

Some rituals involve animal sacrifice to bring good luck or to ask for forgiveness. The bones are believed to be used for medicinal purposes, Foley said.

“We see it occasionally in Hartford in the Latino community,” Foley said, “but generally with animal remains.”

Hartford police’s major crimes division and the office of the Connecticut state attorney are continuing to investigate, along with Massachusetts law enforcement officials, Foley said.

Rebecca Fiore can be reached at rebecca.fiore@globe.com.