Conviction Spiritual healing, divination, and mediumship Plant-medicine and ceremonial retreat practice Near Pucallpa, Peru · 2012

Kyle Nolan: American teen dies at ayahuasca retreat; shaman convicted of homicide and concealment

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Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

ayahuasca-ceremony shaman, Shimbre Shamanic Center

Organization

Shimbre Shamanic Center

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The shaman held ceremonial authority over the ayahuasca ritual in which Nolan died, and used that position of trust to conceal the death rather than seek help.

Spiritual healing or treatment
Ritual, oath, or initiation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

Date in cited record · criminal conviction and sentence

Peru (criminal courts, Ucayali region). Kyle Josef Nolan, 18, of Sebastopol, California, died in late August 2012 during an ayahuasca ceremony at the Shimbre Shamanic Center in Peru. The retreat's shaman, Jose Manuel Pineda, concealed the death from Nolan's mother and buried the body before eventually confessing to police. Peruvian authorities convicted Pineda of homicide and of lying to authorities, sentencing him to five years in prison.

Documented coercion mechanisms

claimed shamanic authority over dosage and ceremonial safety
concealment of the death from the victim's family and authorities

Cited record

Sources

international press investigative report CNN, 'Teen's quest for Amazon "medicine" ends in tragedy' (Oct. 24, 2014).: Reports the death, the shaman's concealment and burial of the body, arrest, and eventual conviction and five-year sentence for homicide and lying to authorities.
regional press follow up report CBS San Francisco, 'Sebastopol Dad Says Son's Hallucinogen Death In Peru Was Murder'.: Additional coverage of the family's response and case background.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/24/justice/ayahuasca-death-kyle-nolan-mother/index.html Corpus classification: international-press; evidentiary role: investigative-report. SHA-256 df01bc3b1b64d3abd8904d3460d085ac211a7a068562f66c430dd1d0c6cd9ec3
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/sebastopol-dad-says-sons-hallucinogen-death-in-peru-was-murder/ Corpus classification: regional-press; evidentiary role: follow-up-report. SHA-256 3fa8cb815cb82e549f73630bdfe9f6062890c15f7bb7e6fa965b2b0c05192dfe
Retrieval: 2026-07-27 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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