When three-year-old Luz Maida was woken up by her mother in the middle of the night and pushed into the arms of a strange man, she could not understand what was happening.
The little girl had allegedly just been sold by her mother Aurelia Salinas to her drug dealer boyfriend.
Salinas, 42, reportedly made the exchange for 30 pieces of crack cocaine, worth about $12.
What police state happened next is truly unimaginable.
The unthinkable act, which happened in Pedro Juan Caballero, the capital city of Paraguay, was captured on CCTV, and heartbreakingly shows little Luz trying to tear herself away from her captor.
Luz, can be seen wearing a blue dress emblazoned with Disneyâs Frozen characters, as the man treks down a dirty path with her slung over his shoulder.
He can be seen slapping her with his free hand to stop her fidgeting, The Sun reports.
Just over 24 hours later, the girlâs body was found by horrified neighbors inside an abandoned house.
Her corpse was found covered in a shirt and placed on top of a bed after the dealer, who has not been named, reportedly raped and murdered the three-year-old, a report by the Daily Mail states.
Initial reports suggest the three-year-old was suffocated.
Enraged locals attempted to lynch Salinas as she was being arrested after allegedly confessing her involvement in her daughterâs murder to police, local media said.
Her boyfriend later confessed to the murder, the report added.
Salinas initially told police Luz had disappeared in her sleep but after cops discovered the CCTV footage, she admitted to selling her for crack cocaine.
The 42-year-old has been arrested along with her boyfriend and another 17-year-old who is also believed to be involved.
Cops have allegedly said Salinas was under the influence of drugs and seemed unbothered about her daughterâs whereabouts while they searched for her.
It has also been reported that more than 300 locals attended Luzâs funeral and a group of local neighbors later burned down the house where her corpse was discovered.
Investigators have claimed the family had a âhistory of tragediesâ, after the mum-of-eight allegedly allowed her 12-year-old daughter to be sexually abused by a 30-year-old man.
Both cases are currently undergoing investigation.
