Three 'cannibals' are on trial charged with killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their flesh to make and sell stuffed pastries.
The man, his wife and his mistress were arrested in April 2012 in the northeastern Brazilian city of Garanhuns and police say they have admitted the crimes.
The trio allegedly lured women to their house by promising them a job as a nanny.
The trio appeared in a Brazil court on Thursday
Police found the remains of the two women in the backyard of the suspects' house.
At the time of their arrest they told police they belonged to a sect that preached "the purification of the world and the reduction of its population."
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Authorities said the trio made thick "empada" pastries with the flesh of their victims, which the three and also a young child who lived with the man and wife ate. The pastries were also sold to some neighbours.
Shortly after their arrest, police found a 50-page book titled "Revelations of a Schizophrenic" written by suspect Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira.
The house where the crimes were allegedly committed, pictured in 2012
In it, he said he heard voices and was obsessed with the killing of women.
Police also arrested Silveira's wife, Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress, Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, who lived with the couple.
The G1 news portal quoted Silveira as saying during the trial's opening: "I committed a horrible monstrous mistake. It was a moment of extreme weakness and brutality that I regret."