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Gary Reaves reports

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DALLAS - Items found near the bodies of a couple that went missing in January have sparked the investigation in a possible new direction related to the Santeria religion.

While working together, police from Dallas and Hutchins said they discovered a shrine on the other side of a bridge where they found the bodies of Luis Campos and his pregnant girlfriend Friday. Police also said five bodies have also been discovered in the same general area over the last year.

Friends and family said Campos was working hard to support his new family before the two disappeared and that neither of the two had enemies. So, they said they were shocked when police got a tip that led them to their bodies at the remote Dowdy Ferry Bridge over the Trinity River.

However, even stranger is what police found nearby.

"They found the making of a Santeria temple, some type of a worship item," said Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick, Dallas Police Department.

Santeria is a religion that mixes Catholic and African rituals, and at times, has been associated with Mexican drug dealers.

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Police said the shrine had a machete, feathers, chicken bones and a female skull inside.

The item nearby was a shrine that looked similar to a totem pole, was 3.5 feet tall and hollow with facial features on the outside. The items found within the shrine were described as shocking.

"Inside there were several items - a human skull believed to be a Latin female, a machete, chicken bones, feathers [and] different things," Sgt. Kirkpatrick said.

Police have not yet linked the shrine to the murders, however, they have linked and arrested two suspects they said work in the drug trade.

Police said the discovery did not change their belief that the young couple was innocent victims of mistaken identity.

As they try to determine the identity of the woman whose skull was found at the shrine, police said they are still searching for a third suspect believed to be in Mexico.

E-mail greaves@wfaa.com