A 24-year-old pregnant woman in Brazil was found dead with her womb carved out last week. Police suspect it has been done as part of a sacrificial ritual.

The 7-month pregnant woman, identified as Ohana Karolin of Mogi Guaco, a city in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, was found dead in Portal dos Lagos, around 60 miles away from her hometown on Sept. 21. Karolin, the mother of three children, was pregnant with her fourth child when the cops discovered her mutilated body, NY Post reported.

The officials responded to the scene after passersby alerted them about a mutilated corpse. The victim was wearing only a T-shirt, while her shorts, a pair of flip-flops and several coins were found next to her body, news outlet Salemgists reported.

Karolin's ex-husband, the father of her children, identified the body after the investigators contacted him. The victim's genitals were maimed and her womb was cut open.

It is unclear what has happened to the woman's unborn baby.

The area where Karolin's body was found has several evangelical churches of various denominations that conducted open-air prayer services and vigils. Officials are now probing the possibility of a "macabre ritual," police said.

The victim's body was sent for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death and how it was mutilated.

Karolin's friends claimed she was involved with "a tough gang."

"She met a kind of tough gang. I even moved away from her a little bit because of that. But I don't know what happened. She was really nice, she didn't have a bad time. Everyone liked her," one of Karolin's friends told local news outlet UOL.

Another friend claimed that she found Karolin inside a black car around midnight the day she was killed. Officials are also investigating if the victim's new boyfriend has any involvement in the brutal murder.

In a similar case of a horrific murder, a 21-year-old pregnant mother in Brazil died last year after her unborn baby was cut off from her womb. The victim, Pamela Ferreira Andrade Martins, was found dead at her home while her unborn baby was missing. The suspect, an unidentified 22-year-old woman, was later arrested after she turned up at a hospital with a dead baby boy claiming it was her child.

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Representation. A police line. VisionPics/Pixabay