Cult Leader Who 'Burned Baby' Commits Suicide

A Chilean man accused of organising the ritual killing of a three-day-old boy has apparently committed suicide in an abandoned house in Peru, according to authorities.

Ramon Castillo, 36, was found hanged in the highlands city of Cuzco, General Javier Avalos, the regional police chief, told reporters.

The body was identified through fingerprints that Chile sent via Interpol. Astete said officials found two bus tickets for the Urubamba Valley in his pockets and were investigating whether he might have been travelling with someone else.

Police in neighbouring Chile had been seeking Castillo and other members of the sect that he led for their alleged participation in the baby's killing on a hill in the town of Colliguay near the Chilean port of Valparaiso on November 23.

Castillo was understood to be the leader of a sect which reportedly believed that the end of the world was near and that the three-day-old child was the antichrist.

The baby was taken to a hill in the town of Colliguay near the port of Valparaiso on November 21, 2012, and was thrown into a bonfire.

The boy's mother, 25-year-old Natalia Guerra, had allegedly approved the sacrifice and is among four people to have been arrested.

Authorities said the 12-member sect was formed in 2005 and counted professionals with university degrees among its members.

Police said the group's rituals included using ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic plant that grows in Amazon forests.