Disclaimer: The following archive is the work of Diana Napolis, M.A., who is copyright owner, and is solely responsible for its content. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Ellen Lacter, Ph.D.

Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive

by Diana Napolis, M.A., Copyright 2000 and 2007

The following cases describe legal proceedings held in Juvenile, Family, Civil and Criminal Courts around the world where there have been allegations of Satanism or the use of Ritual to abuse others.

Any religion or organization can be used as a front to hide ritual abuse activity, including Christianity, Buddhism, Shamanism, Hinduism, Masonry, Mormonism, Pagan and Satanic religions; however, not all Satanists commit crimes and not all occultism is Satanism. It is imperative that investigators and professionals familiarize themselves with cross-cultural belief systems so as not to target any particular group.

This document will have regular updates; this present version is current as of July 10, 2007. It is recommended that this archive be used as a resource only and original documents be obtained from Lexis/Nexus or Westlaw with the assistance of an attorney. If the reader does not have access to legal searches, or if there are any updates to these cases, contact the author at:

6977 Navajo Rd. PMB 114, San Diego, California 92119-1503

Warning: Some of the following cases depict graphic, violent activity.

INTRODUCTION: In the 1980’s adults and children came forward around the world disclosing that they were victims/perpetrators of satanic ritual abuse [SRA] and/or were witness to satanic ritual murders. These claims were routinely dismissed by FBI’s Special Agent Ken Lanning and an organization called the False Memory Syndrome Foundation which came into existence in 1992 stating there were no case convictions or scientific evidence to prove that satanic ritual abuse existed. Claims such as this should not go unchallenged because therapists across the country have lost their licenses due to allegations that the memories of SRA victims are too “bizarre” to be believed and are to be attributed solely to “False Memory Syndrome.” It is apparent that these beliefs have been instigated by the FMSF because they are a political and legal advocacy group acting on behalf of accused perpetrators.

It has been documented that the FBI has been responsible for not only ruining case investigations in several instances but intimidating witnesses to recant their abuse. [See, Westpoint, Bonacci v. King, Finders case]. In the Finders case it appeared that the FBI had a conflict of interest because this organization was in their counter-intelligence files.

In regard to the scientific community’s opinion about the reality of satanic ritual abuse, it appears the Appellate Court in the State of Arkansas had the last word about this subject. According to Echols vs. State (1996):

“Echols next contends that Dr. Griffis should not have been allowed to testify that the murders had the ‘trappings of occultism’ because there was no testimony that the field of satanism or occultism is generally accepted in the scientific community. The trial court did not allow the evidence to prove that satanism or occultism is generally accepted in the scientific community. Rather, the trial court admitted the evidence as proof of the motive for committing the murders.”

Entire families have been implicated in the ritual abuse of children which proves the fact that generational Satanism exists. See the following legal cases: Parker (1995), Figured/Hill (1994), and Gallup (1991). Perpetrators have been found to be professionals who work in law enforcement, the military or daycare, and Christian fronts have been used in some instances as a means of hiding the satanic motivation of the perpetrators. See Cannaday (1994), Wright (1992), Gallup (1991), and Orr (1984). In several cases the perpetrators have confessed to the satanic element of the crime or participation in prior satanic offenses. See Helms (2006), Cala (2003), Smith (2003), Delaney (2002), Morris (2001), South (2000), Page (2000), T. Kokoraleis (1999), Bonacci (1999), Brooks (1996), Hughes (1996), Penick (1995), Alvarado (1995), Ingram (1992), Rogers (1992), and Fryman (1988).

The FMSF and those affiliated with this organization have been using the Appellate courts to overturn cases convictions involving ritual abuse themes. The Appellate court cases in this archive are valuable because most Opinions have affirmed that Satanism was the motivation for the crime and the introduction of that evidence has been routinely found to be probative and not prejudicial. The author has chosen to describe the satanic element of the crime only rather than every point of law that was appealed. This level of documentation is important because, if published, the rulings of these courts can be cited as case law. The majority of the appellate cases cited in this archive are published opinions.

In addition to court documents this archive also references news articles that document the ritual elements of the crime which include perpetrator confessions, cannibalism, murder, mutilation in the context of Satanism, and there is ample evidence to prove the existence of cult groups who sacrifice their victims as an offering to Satan. This proves beyond doubt that unusual occult belief systems exist and the bizarre acts committed by these individuals are not only not unusual, they are commonplace.

In some cases involving multiple defendants the legal histories have been combined in the title of the case and are separated by semicolons, but in other instances the histories are described separately.

This archive begins with a First Amendment case, filed on behalf of a prisoner in the late 1980s, regarding his use of the Satanic Bible [written by Anton La Vey of the Church of Satan] and other accouterments of Satanism.

August 24, 1989, CHARLES MCCORKLE v. W. E. JOHNSON, WARDEN, JOSEPH KOLB, CHAPLAIN, FREDDIE V. SMITH, COMMISSIONER, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, 881 F.2d 993, Denial of Satanic Material Affirmed

Overview: Appellate court documents state that Charles McCorkle, a state prisoner confined in the Holman facility in Alabama, filed a complaint, seeking redress for the deprivation of his first amendment rights to freely exercise his chosen religion — Satanism. The prison officials denied his request to access certain Satanic books and articles, including the Satanic Bible, the Satanic Book of Rituals, and a Satanic medallion because they posed security threats and were directly contrary to the goals of the Institution.

The court wrote: “The prohibition on Satanic materials such as those requested by the plaintiff is justified by the defendant’s concern for institutional security and order. It is an informed and measured response to the violence inherent in Satan worship and to the potential disorder that it might cause within the prison.”

Testimony was given at an evidentiary hearing where the plaintiff, McCorkle, recounted two of the rituals espoused by the Satanic Book of Rituals. The fertility ritual included the sacrifice of a female virgin, preferably a Christian. The initiation ritual called for wrist slashing, blood drinking, and the consumption of human flesh — usually fingers. The candles preferred by the plaintiff and other Satanists “are not made of wax or paraffin, instead they are made from the fat of unbaptized infants.” The plaintiff had been observed drawing his own blood, by slicing his wrists, and had asked other inmates for their blood. One inmate was “highly irritated when the plaintiff requested that he donate a vial of blood for use in the worship of Satan.”

The warden testified that upon review of the Satanic Bible, he concluded that persons following its teaching would murder, rape, or rob at will without regard for moral or legal consequences. He thought the prisoner’s safety would be at risk if other inmates knew of the contents of the Satanic Bible. Anton Szandor LaVey was quoted in a chapter from the Book of Satan, stating that “right and wrong had been inverted too long,” and he challenged readers to “rebel against the laws of man and God.” He declared that hatred of one’s enemies was of utmost importance and revenge should be a top priority.

The court noted that there were several Satanic sects represented at Holman Prison who did not need these specific books to practice their religion and that plaintiff’s right to freely worship Satan could be exercised only at significant cost to guards, other prisoners, and society in general. Accordingly, he denied plaintiff’s requests.

In State v. Freeman, 559 P.2d 152 (1976) it was the opinion of the expert witness that revenge was the motivation for the murder that the defendant was being tried for, and noted that the defendant had underlined certain passages in the Satanic Bible addressing vengeance and revenge. He stated… that the language, “not only sanctioned revenge, but required it.”

In Childs v. Duckworth, 705 F.2d 915 (1983) the plaintiff Donald Childs, an alleged member of the “Satanic Church,” brought a Civil rights claim, requesting permission for various Satanic items, including the Satanic Bible, which the appellate court denied. Childs confessed to having sacrificed cats and pigeons and casting spells to retaliate against others. The Warden and Director both stated that Satanism was not recognized as a religion by that Institution. The Court stated the authorities had legitimate reason for denying inmates request and it did not deprive him of his Constitutional rights.

In Doty v. Lewis, 995 F. Supp. 1081 (1998) the court ruled that a ban on high security prisoners possession of candles, incense, Baphomet tapestry, and Satanic religious tracts, which advocated retaliation, sacrifices, spells and racial separation, did not impinge on plaintiff Doty’s free exercise rights, given rational reasons related to prison security for banning materials, and despite the prisoner’s sincere belief in the Satanic religion. Materials requested were not essential to practice his religious tenets, and there was a rational connection between restrictions of these materials and prison security concerns.

The inmate had thirty-one disciplinary actions reflecting an escalation of violence and aggression each year, and he was trying to engage other prisoners in violent behavior. It was thought that the Satanic Bible in the hands of this particular prisoner would endanger the security of the prison.

The appellate court stated the Satanic Bible presented a serious threat to the safety and security of the prison, that the book condoned human sacrifice and the book’s philosophies were blatantly “vicious,” “selfish,” and “brutal.” The book “advocated hurting someone, who in the opinion of the Satanists, deserved to be harmed and destroyed.” The plaintiff Doty admitted that he had engaged in “sacrificing cows.”

In Burton v. Frank, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9603, the prisoner’s request for the Satanic Bible was denied because the prison had shown that inmates possession of the Satanic Bible posed a threat to the prison’s legitimate interest in maintaining security and promoting rehabilitation. Passages from the Satanic Bible book were quoted:

“The only time a Satanist would perform a human sacrifice would be if it were to serve a two-fold purpose: that being to release the magician’s wrath in the throwing of a curse, and more important, to dispose of a totally obnoxious and deserving individual.”

At least one Satanist inmate engaged in a ritual in which an effigy was tortured and “murdered.” The appellate court stated that the Satanic Bible outlined procedures for destroying enemies through the use of effigies.

The prison’s position was that the Satanic Bible promoted “violent and illegal” behavior, and that “manipulation, disregard for laws and authority, self-indulgence and revenge” were inconsistent with criminal rehabilitation. The court also noted that other Satanists in this particular prison kept a notebook, called the “Book of Shadows,” which was filled with murderous language.

Note: The Church of Satan claims they have never been associated with any criminal activity. However, that is incorrect. Followers of Anton La Vey have routinely requested the Satanic Bible while in prison, and in the majority of cases their requests have been denied. As of 7/4/07 a Lexis Nexus search revealed more than 30 appellate decisions in which the Satanic Bible was mentioned. In Maine vs. Waterhouse (1986) the appellate court quoted passages from the Satanic Bible to prove and uphold the satanic motivation for the crime. In Adoption of Quentin (1997), the appellate court noted the perpetrator had read the Satanic Bible.

[The source of cattle mutilations has remained unsolved in the United States which makes the admission of the sacrifice of a cow in Doty vs. Lewis a point of interest.] See “Mutilated Bull: No Blood, No Clues”; Gallup Independent, May 5, 2007; “The Truth is Out There,” The Gallup Independent, May 5, 2007]

January 6, 2006, STATE OF IDAHO v. THOMAS WENDELL HELMS, COURT OF APPEALS OF IDAHO, 137 P.3d 466, 2006 Ida App. LEXIS 3, Sentencing for Battery of a Correctional Officer Modified

Overview: Appellant documents state that defendant Thomas Helms was serving time in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution for grand theft, possession of a dangerous weapon by an inmate, and battery with intent to murder. He had a self-inflicted wound on his arm which had required stitches and needed to be moved to another cell. When officers attempted to move him he threw toilet water on them which then required tests to insure that the guards had not contracted HIV or Hepatitis. Helms was charged with battery on a correctional officer and received the maximum prison sentence after a jury trial, a sentence which this appellant court reduced.

Defendant Helms had a history of disruptive behavior and had been placed in increasingly restrictive confinements. He was self-mutilating, destroyed property, exposed himself, and threw feces and urine. Helms had told investigators about “feats” of murder and cannibalism during a brief period of his life when he was not incarcerated, although it was not clear to the majority opinion whether these were actual crimes.

The Dissenting Judge thought a stronger sentence should have been imposed and remarked that the majority opinion minimized Helms’ behavior. He was in favor of Helms never being released and cited the following evidence as reason why he should be kept in confinement:

As a youth Helms had sexually violated a young girl and his younger brother. He was designated a sexual predator shortly thereafter. His parole officer stated Helms had no conscience. Helms slashed the throat of one inmate and planned to murder another one. After the attack Helms told officers that if they had not stopped him, he planned to eviscerate the victim, pull out his internal organs, and eat some of them.

Helms repeatedly displayed a fascination with homicide, cannibalism, and idolized Charlie Manson. In the year 2000, Helms told investigators that in 1994 he had been involved in the murder of a female African-American prostitute and subsequently ate her heart after assisting in cutting up her body to pieces. He also confessed to another murder at that time. When asked about the truth of these statements in the year 2003, Helms again affirmed that these statements were true, that he was part of a satanic cult at that time, and he had engaged in murder and cannibalism.

Based on this evidence, the Dissenting Judge thought Helms would always remain a danger to society.

May 26, 2005, THE PEOPLE v. RICHARD JOHN VIEIRA, SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA, 25 Cal. Rptr. 3d 337, Death Sentence Affirmed on Three Counts; Remand to Trial Court and Reversal of the Death Sentence for one count

Overview: Appellate documents state a jury convicted Richard John Vieira of Stanislaus County of four counts of murder and conspiracy which took place in 1990. Vieira and his co-defendants, David Beck and Gerald Cruz, all lived in a camp where Gerald Cruz served as the leader. Cruz instigated the murders of four individuals from a rival group.

Defendant’s sister testified that she lived with Cruz in 1987-1988, at which time Cruz led others in the study of the occult and the performance of supposedly occult rituals that included candles, robes and chanting. Cruz told Young that “to sacrifice your first newborn was the greatest thing you could ever do and that it was ‘for the satisfaction of Satan.’”

The defense solicited testimony regarding defendant’s cult membership and his incapacity to form the requisite criminal intent. Testimony evidenced that Vieira was a “slave” to other members of the group. Family members testified defendant often appeared to have been “beat up” with black eyes, fat lips and slashes on his arm. According to defendant’s diary he had been electroshocked and beat up by members of the group.

A cult expert testified that Cruz directed a cult which had occult and satanic underpinnings, they engaged in various rituals, and defendant was under Mind Control at the time of the crime. Cruz directed the members of the group to read and study the books of Alistair Crowley of whom Cruz believed himself to be the reincarnation. There were also reports that the defendants were part of a Nazi or White Supremacist organization. The court ultimately rejected the defense’s argument that the crimes were committed under duress.

The dissenting Judge wrote that he would have reversed the death penalty and acknowledged that at the time of the murders the defendant was a submissive member of a satanic cult led by Gerald Cruz.

“In this case, the evidence shows that defendant acted under the substantial domination of cult leader Gerald Cruz, who controlled every aspect of defendant’s life and threatened to kill anyone who did not follow his orders. Absent the pernicious influence of a satanic cult leader, it is doubtful that defendant would have committed murder.”

The dissent thought that the defendant was under Mind Control at the time of the crime and noted that the expert explained how cults use isolation, sleep deprivation, punishment, and occult ritual to dominate and control the minds of their members.

March 18, 2005, TRACE ROYAL DUNCAN v. STATE OF ALABAMA, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF ALABAMA, 925 So.2d 245, 2005 Ala. Crim. App. Lexis 78, Affirmed in Part, Remanded with Instructions; 827 So. 2d 838, 2005 Ala Crim App. LEXIS 116, Court of Appeal Reversed the Death Penalty

Overview: Appellate documents and news articles state four teenagers, Trace Royal Duncan, 17, Cary Dale Grayson, 19, Kenny Loggins, 17, and Louis Mangione, 16, kidnapped and murdered hitchhiker, Vicki De Blieux, 37, who was traveling to her mother’s home in Tennessee. The defendants picked her up and promised to take her to her mother’s but instead took her to a wooded area. After she spurned their sexual advances, they kicked and stomped her and threw her over a cliff. Carey Grayson told Louis Mangione that he was going to “sacrifice the bitch.” Three defendants then returned to the scene and proceeded to mutilate, cannibalize part of her body, and remove all of her fingers, both to thwart identification, and to keep as souvenirs. The defendants were arrested after Louis Mangione began showing Ms. De Blieux’s fingers to friends. Kenneth Loggins and Carey Dale Grayson were sentenced to death. Louis Christopher Mangione and Trace Royal Ducan received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The medical examiner found that every bone in the victim’s face was fractured at least once, her skull was broken open with most of the brain separated from it. Large lacerations were found on the back of her head along with extensive bruising on the head, her left and right ribs were fractured, there were at least 180 stab wounds all over her body, two incised wounds were found in her chest and abdomen, her left lung was removed by a knife, there was bleeding of the tongue, and all her fingers and thumbs had been removed. The medical examiner could not be certain what wounds were inflicted before and after death.

The satanic element of the crime was documented in Trace Royal Duncan’s appeal and several news articles. Duncan’s trial counsel stated that his co-defendants were Satanists and that Mr. Duncan “kicked the victim a few times in the head,” and the other co-defendants “returned to the victim’s body to mutilate it, stabbing it over 180 times, removing organs and eating them and removing fingers to thwart identification and to keep as souvenirs…” Counsel was able to interject his theory that two co-defendants were Satanists who instigated the murder, committed most of the acts against the victim, and threatened to kill the appellant if he told what happened. He attempted to portray co-defendant Grayson as the older instigator and leader who was a Satanist wanting to sacrifice the victim to Satan. In closing arguments the defense stated that the co-defendants could have committed the murder as a satanic ritual.

The legal history of this case is as follows:

Trace Royal Duncan: 925 So. 2d 245, 2005 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 78; 827 So. 2d 839, 1999 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 224; 673 So. 2d 838, 1995 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 350

Carey Dale Grayson: 954 So. 2d 1141, 2005 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 2676; 824 So. 2d 844, 2002 Ala. LEXIS 13; 824 So. 2d 844, 2001 Ala. LEXIS 167; 824 So. 2d 804, 1999 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 261; 665 So. 2d 986, 1995 Ala. Crim. Appl. LEXIS 71

Kenneth Loggins: 771 So. 2d 1093, 2000 Ala. LEXIS 217; 910 So. 2d 146, 2005 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 57; 771 So. 2d 1070, 1999 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 52

Louis Christopher Mangione: 740 So. 2d 444, 1998 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 133; 796 So. 2d. 446, 1999 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 2553

News articles report that co-defendant Dale Grayson told newspaper reporters that it was Trace Duncan who stabbed the woman, hacked open her chest and pulled out an organ from her body. The police were told that Grayson was a Satanist who drank the blood of his victim. See “Murder Suspect Claims he’s no Satanist,” Birmingham News, April 29, 1994; “Grayson Says Friends Carved Woman’s Body,” Birmingham News, May 5, 1994; “Trial Will Begin for Man Accused in Woman’s Sport Killing,” Birmingham News, October 29, 1995.

October 21, 2003, ANGLESEY, NORTH WALES, MATHEW HARDMAN, Appealing Conviction for Murder

Overview: News reports state a teenager found guilty of murdering his elderly neighbor and drinking her blood in a vampire ritual was attempting to challenge his conviction. He was jailed in 2002 for a minimum of 12 years following his trial. The jury was told the art student killed 90 year old Mabel Leyshon and removed her heart in a satanic-style ritual in November 2001. His first bid to appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal in early 2003. See “Vampire Killer to Challenge Conviction,” Press Association, October 21, 2003.

September 11, 2003, BRASILIA, BRAZIL, Cesio Brandao aka Cesi Favio Caldas aka Sergio Brandao, Sentenced for Murder and Attempted Murder

Overview: News articles report that five influential members of Brazilian society went on trial in 2003 for the torture, castration, and murder of five children, aged eight to 13, whose sexual organs had been removed and used in rites of black magic between 1989 and 1993. Amailton Madeira Gomes, son of a businessman, Carlos Alberto Santos, policeman, and two doctors, Anisio Ferreira de Souza, and Cesio Brandao, aka Cesi Favio aka Sergio Brandao were charged with the crimes. The fifth defendant, 75-year-old Valentina Andrade, a fortune teller and leader of a UFO group called the Superior Universal Alignment, was tried for these crimes but was not convicted.

The five defendants, including Valentina Andrade, allegedly used their influence in efforts to stop the case from going to trial, intimidated victims, and destroyed evidence. The prosecution asked for the trial to be moved to another locale, Para State.

A total of 19 boys, aged eight to 14, were victimized. Five were mutilated and died, three escaped with horrible injuries, six escaped before they were harmed, and five have never been seen again. Some victims had their eyes gouged out, wrists slit, and sexual organs cut off. The two doctors were accused of selling the internal organs of the children and using their genitals in satanic rituals.

Two mutilated survivors, now adults, escaped from Brazil’s Amazon region where they had been tied to trees after being doped and castrated. They both identified Carlos Alberto Santos as the man who kidnapped them when they were nine and 10 years old.

Brazil’s Special Secretary for Human Rights said the trial had symbolic significance because of the influential professions of the defendants. The trial was seen as a test of Brazil’s ability to bring justice to isolated areas where it was suspected the legal system might be under the sway of powerful locals.

Carlos Albert Santos was sentenced to 35 years, Amailton Gomes was sentenced to 57 years, Anisio Ferreira de Souza was sentenced to 77 years, Cesio Brandao was sentenced to 56 years. See “Trial Opens on Ritualistic Murders of Brazilian Children,” Agence France Presse, August 29, 2003; “Two Sentenced in Mutilation Murder Case in Brazil,” Associated Press, August 30, 2003; “Satanic Sect Leader Denies Charges She tortured, Murdered Children in Brazil,” Agence France Presse, November 19, 2003. See http://www.religionnewsblog.com for articles: “Five on Trial for Child Ritual Murders,” August. 29, 2003; “Doctor Gets 56 for Brazil Sect Killings,” September 10, 2003; “Brazil Jails Occult Killers,” Aug. 31, 2003; “Brazil Court Finds 2 Guilty in Mutilation Killings,” August 30, 2003; “Doctor Gets 77 Years for Brazil Sect Killings,” Sept. 5, 2003.

August 9, 2003, CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA: KANAWHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, Case No. 93-F45, Louis Kelley Sentenced to 15 years in prison for Sexual Assaults

Overview: News reports state that Louis Kelley, 37, was sentenced by the court to serve 15-30 years in prison for sexual assault and one to five years in prison for sexual abuse of a boy. Kelly, who also called himself Damien Prince, convinced the boy to participate in Satanic rituals and molested him numerous times. Kelly pleaded guilty in February 2003 to the two counts related to an incident on Halloween night in 1991. “Man to Serve 15 years for Sexual Assault of Boy during Ritual,” Associated Press, August 9, 2003.

June 19, 2003, MANASSAS, VIRGINIA, JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC COURT, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Case No. JA020390-02-00, Russell John Smith Plea-Bargained to Four Counts of Rape and was Sentenced to 48 Years

Overview: News reports state that self-described Satanist Russell John Smith, 38, a former guard at the Prince William County jail and founder of a satanic worship group on the internet, plead guilty to four counts of rape. He claimed that most of the sex acts with a 12 year old girl were part of his Satanic rituals. Police who searched his home found numerous Satanic items, including robes, black candles, a goat’s skull, a pentagram and an altar. See “Virginia Fugitive Arrested in Oregon,” Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2002; “Self-described Satanist Sentenced to 48 years for Rape,” Associated Press, July 25, 2003; “Sentencing Delayed for Satanist who Raped Girl,” Associated Press, June 19, 2003; “Metro in Brief,” The Washington Post, July 28, 2003.

May 19, 2003, POWELL v. THE STATE, SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA, 581 S.E. 2d 13, 2003 Ga. LEXIS 478, Conviction for Murder Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that on May 22, 1998, Keith Powell, 44, who had been living with his parents, shot his unarmed father during a family dispute. Powell routinely carried a .45 caliber handgun in a holster on his person while in the home.

Mr. Powell claimed that the shooting was in self-defense and that he feared his father due to the abuse he suffered as a child. A friend of his testified to the “positive” relationship that existed between Powell and his father but stated that Powell had a lot of anger toward his mother, accusing her of abusing him in a ritualistic satanic manner.

Note: A psychologist opined that Powell had a delusional disorder, apparently due to the fact he spoke of being beaten, drugged and threatened, supposedly because of “gold” he had discovered at some point in his life.

This case has been included because a diagnosis of “delusional disorder” does not necessarily negate this defendant’s claim of alleged satanic ritual victimization by his mother.

January 31, 2003, ROANOKE, VIRGINIA, ROANOKE CITY CIRCUIT COURT, Case No. CR02000968-04, Terry Dale Duncan, Pleaded No Contest to Attempted Capital Murder

Overview: News reports state Terry Dale Duncan, 30, a self-styled Satanic high priest, pleaded no contest in an attempt to murder his one month old son. His child would have died if not for the intervention of a nurse and social worker after the child missed a doctor’s appointment. Duncan’s child had suffered fractures to a leg, a shinbone, both collarbones, and bruises covered his nose, forehead and eyes. The authorities also discovered a wound that appeared to be a cigarette burn at the back of his throat.

The father said he decided to “sacrifice” the child because he believed he was not the child’s father, so he tried to “disassemble” him. The father claimed he used to injure victims in this manner when he was affiliated with an Oklahoma based satanic cult. He told police that, “The majority of those States that we done the sacrifices, some of them were immediate sacrifices to where the heart was busted or the throat was enclosed to cause breathing to stop immediately and cause instant death, and then we disassembled the bodies.”

He confessed to many satanic murders but the police stated law enforcement in other communities did not respond to their request for information about any unsolved homicides. See “Father Pleads No Contest to Abusing Infant,” The Roanoke Times, January 31, 2003.

January 8, 2003, FORT WORTH, TEXAS, TARRANT COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER, Case No. 0822743, Joseph Frank Cala II, Conviction for Murder

Overview: News reports state Joseph Frank Cala II, 41, pleaded guilty to murder in the 2001 death of his 79 years old mother, Lydia M. Cala, after he “beat her to death, sliced her open, and ate some of her heart.” After a three-hour hearing, the District Judge chose the maximum of the 20-30 year sentence range contained in a plea agreement.

The victim’s daughter testified that she went to her mother’s house the evening of Oct. 15, 2001 after neighbors called and said windows had been shattered from inside the house. She was afraid to enter the residence due to fear of her brother, so she notified authorities. Officer Kevin Meador testified that when he looked through a bedroom window, he saw a naked, bloody man standing over what he learned later was a woman’s mutilated body. Another officer saw Cala eat what appeared to be an organ, according to police reports. Meador and other officers said they went inside and heard Joey Cala saying that he worshipped the devil. When officers took him into custody, he told them they had interrupted his “sacrifice.” The 76 pound woman, had a broken nose, teeth, collar bone, ribs and multiple bruises and cuts likely caused by fist or feet, the medical examiner said. After she died, “her chest and abdomen were cut open and some organs were removed,” the medical examiner testified. Part of her heart contained teeth marks and a piece was missing. See “Man Gets 30 Years for Killing, Cannibalizing Mother,” Associated Press, January 8, 2003.

March 13, 2002, MICHAEL DELANEY, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS GUARDIAN AD LITEM FOR BRYAN DELANEY, JASON DELANEY AND JUSTYN DELANEY v. CAROL CLIFTON, PH.D AND MARY ELLEN FARLEY, M.A., COURT OF APPEALS OF OREGON, 41 P.3d 1099, Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Therapist Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state patient’s former husband and her children sued professional counselor and clinical psychologists for professional malpractice and the husband, a third party to the therapeutic relationship, sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

As background, in 1993, Lee Ann, the wife of the appellant, began to attend lectures and read books about Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD, now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)), and Satanic cults. She began to suspect she had been a victim of satanic ritual abuse. Her husband, the plaintiff, also became convinced of the existence of the satanic cult, his own involvement, and the validity of the therapy she was receiving.

In therapy, Lee Ann described “alters” that surfaced in response to environmental cues and believed she participated in ceremonies in which people and animals were tortured. Lee Ann was referred to a specialist who also diagnosed her as MPD.

The plaintiff and Lee Ann divorced and the husband filed a claim for damages against the therapist, alleging that the diagnosis of MPD was considered “controversial and unreliable in the mental health profession” and the therapists damaged the relationship between he and his wife. The local court dismissed this claim because the husband was a third party to the therapeutic relationship and Lee Ann had no complaint about her treatment. The appellate court noted that the plaintiff called for the court to join a “national trend” of jurisdictions that, in the context of MPD generally and memory retrieval in particular, recognize negligence claims against therapists brought by persons outside the therapist-patient relationship.

The Appellate court wrote: “We are unconvinced that such a trend exists. More to the point, however, we would have to depart from settled Oregon tort jurisprudence to join the trend, if there were one. We decline to do so.”

Several other lawsuits have had successful outcomes for therapists after their clients have recanted their disclosures of satanic activity:

November 30, 2000, Jones v. Lurie, 32 S.W. 3d 737. After a trial, no negligence was found on the part of psychologist Lurie and they found her treatment was within the standard of care. The client had disclosed that her grandfather, father, and brother, had sexually abused her, and that her parents took her to satanic rituals where she was physically and sexually abused by other cult members. She claimed to remember murdering and cannibalizing babies and believed “Nazi mind-control” methods were utilized on her, although she later attributed these statements to her therapist. The client had been diagnosed by all of her psychiatrists and treating psychologists with Multiple Personality Disorder. A Dr. Johnstone, who was a witness for the client, testified that there was no such diagnosis as Multiple Personality Disorder and that others professionals who wrote about MPD were “quacks.” The court found that the client was mentally ill long before Lurie treated her and affirmed the judgment of the trial court that found no negligence on the part of the therapist.

November 1, 2000, Bloom v. Braun, et al. 739 N.E. 2d 925. After her mother recommended treatment with therapist/defendant Braun, who she was also seeing in therapy, the client came to believe that she had a diagnosis of MPD and was involved in satanic cult ritual abuse. The client alleged that the therapist “misrepresented” as fact that satanic ritual abuse was proven to exist, there was no objective evidence of such cults, and that since her mother had recovered memories of participating in such rituals, she was also a victim/participant in this activity. She claimed that her memories and the resultant Multiple Personality Disorder were actually caused by the therapy. The appellate court dismissed Bloom’s complaint based on her failure to satisfy the requirements of the legal disability exception to the statue of limitations.

August 22, 2000, Althaus v. Cohen, 2000 Pa. LEXIS 2017. After a jury awarded monetary damages to the client and her parents, the therapist appealed. The issue in this case was whether a therapist – after being referred by social services – who treats a child for alleged parental sexual abuse owes a duty of care to the child’s parents in a therapeutic setting where the child allegedly has been abused by the parents. The child had accused her parents of incest, murder, and leading a satanic cult. The appellate court found that the therapist did not owe a duty of care to the client’s parents and reversed the jury’s decision, resulting in the parents having to return the monetary award. However, this decision did not affect the nominal amount of money awarded to the child.

August 19, 1998, Green v. Charter Pines Hospital, Wallace, Timmons, et al., No. 96-CVS-5235. Lawyer R. Christopher Barden argued that his client Susan A. Green had been made to falsely believe she had been molested by her father and by satanic cult members. He also stated that therapies which claim to retrieve forgotten sexual abuse memories from deep inside the mind are based on “junk science.” The jury rejected these claims and found in favor of the psychologists and believed that the therapist’s therapeutic techniques were well within the standard of care during the time the therapeutic relationship occurred.

September 18, 1995, Stecks v. Young, 38 Cal. App. 4th 365. David and Nancy Stecks brought an action for libel, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against psychologist Young after she made a report to Child Protective Services regarding the Steckses and others. Her client had alleged that these individuals engaged in child abuse and participated in cult activities such as human and animal sacrifice. The appellate court ruled because the therapist was a mandatory reporter, she had absolute immunity.

July 15, 1998, Charter Peachford Behavior Health System, et al. v. Kohout, 504 S.E. 2d 514, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 995. The appellate court reversed the judgment of the lower courts finding that therapists and hospital could be sued. The client, Kimberly Kohout, had claimed that she was “brainwashed” into creating “false memories” about being sexually and ritually abused by family members in Satanic cult ceremonies. Kohout admitted to having contacted the False Memory Syndrome Foundation about her “memories.” The court ruled that instead of using a “subjective standard” of the patient’s awareness of psychological harm, the court should use the objective one of when the patient reasonably should have known about it. The suit was dismissed due to the statute of limitations precluding a legitimate cause of action.

July 18, 2001, IN THE INTEREST OF S. C. P., A/K/A S. C. J, MINOR CHILD, M.C.P, MOTHER, COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA, 2001 Iowa App. LEXIS 442, Termination of Parental Rights Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that the mother, Mary, was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD, now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)), and other psychological disorders. Her child was a ward of the Juvenile Court and they wanted to terminate parental rights. There was domestic violence between her and the father of her child. The Courts concern was that “by November 1999 Mary was stating she had been the victim of Satanic ritualistic abuse.” She blamed her father for causing her mental illness. Mary’s therapist testified that she might be able to care for her child within one year. Her therapist stated she was working with the mother on her Dissociative Identity Disorder, helping her to map and contain her identity.

July 16, 2001, JEFFREY DEWAYNE CLARK v. MICHAEL O’DEA, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, SIXTH CIRCUIT, 257 F.3d 498, Conviction for First Degree Murder Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state a Kentucky jury convicted Jeffrey Clark and an accomplice of first-degree murder in 1995 for which he received a life sentence. Rhonda Sue Warford was stabbed multiple times and one stab wound pierced her brain stem. The medical examiner noted that an inverted cross was tattooed below her left clavicle, and that her injuries were caused by a sharp singled-edged instrument such as a knife. Both Keith Hardin and Jeffrey Clark were questioned about the crime and they were both indicted, jointly tried, and convicted for first degree murder.

Several witnesses testified about Clark and Hardin’s Satanic worship. Jeffrey Clark was also found to have an inverted tattoo on his shoulder. A witness claimed he took her to an area where he said a number of animal sacrifices had been made. Another witness testified that Clark always carried a knife with him and called it his “sacrificial knife,” and stated he had admitted to sacrificing an animal in front of a church. The victim’s sister testified, stating she too knew that Hardin was involved in satanic worship.

Defendant Clark contested the admittance of Satanism at his trial, claiming there was a lack of evidence to prove the murder was a ritualistic killing. The State claimed it introduced evidence of Satanism to supports its theory that the victim’s murder was motivated by the belief held by Clark and Hardin that they would gain “power” by killing her. Testimony had been solicited about satanic teachings and, according to a witness, certain worshippers could empower themselves by killing other living beings by performing a human sacrifice.

The appellate court stated this evidence was probative as to the motive for the killing.

April 12, 2001, SHARON LYNNE ARMSTRONG MORRIS v. JOEY FRANKLIN MORRIS, SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI, 783 So. 2d 681, Judgment of Custody Decision Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state the husband brought a divorce action against his wife (a nurse), and the court awarded him custody of their three children. The wife, Ms. Armstrong, filed an appeal. The husband alleged she subjected him to cruel and unusual treatment, in part, because she had homicidal thoughts of killing him and her mother. The record describes in detail mutual conflict between the parties. The mother had blackouts and would not know how to get home and would not recognize her husband and children. At times, she was suicidal.

The appellate court noted that her mental problems likely stemmed from her sexual abuse perpetrated by her grandfather from the ages of 8-12. The mother admitted to a history of Satanic cult involvement. Her involvement was reportedly at the insistence of her grandfather, and included “group sex, animal sacrifices, cannibalism and perhaps caused the death of at least one individual.” The court acknowledge that much of her emotional problems occurred because of this sexual abuse and because she was made to participate in satanic cult rituals as a child and raped as an adult. Consequently, the appellate court affirmed the decision of the local court.

October 24, 2000, FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, BROWARD COUNTY COURT, Case No. 9900926-CF10A, Darrel Wayne Harris Convicted of Attempted Second Degree Murder

Overview: News reports state that Darrel Wayne Harris, a 17-year-old, was charged as an adult and was arraigned on an attempted first-degree murder charge in a stabbing attack that stemmed from a Satanic ritual, police said. Harris allegedly stabbed Robert Menendez four to six times in the throat and back with a carving knife after a ritual in which they cut their hands to let their blood mingle and chanted lines from a satanic book together. Menendez and Harris had been friends for about a year. Harris told him he had prepared a “special alter” (sic) for satanic ritual at the site, Menendez testified.

As they were chanting on April 21, they drew a pentagram in the dirt and Harris told Menendez to look down at the symbol. As Menendez looked down, Harris attacked him with the knife. “Somewhere along the line the culprit just started to hack him with the knife,” said Fort Lauderdale Detective Arturo Carbo. “The victim told us that the stabbing was not part of the ritual and he firmly believed he was going to die.” Harris and others left Menendez for dead but he managed to crawl to a nearby area and get help. There was evidence that Harris planned the attack. The victim was hospitalized for several days.

“Harris and Menendez were part of a network of 30 to 40 local young people who were involved in Satanic activities,” Carbo said. Menendez told police he and Harris, who have known each other for at least 18 months, hung out at local public libraries to use computers to access satanic Web sites and send e-mail to each other. The group used online nicknames such as Natas, which is Satan spelled backwards, Mindblower and Deathtrap.

On October 24, 2000, a jury convicted Darrel Wayne Harris for attempted second degree murder. The victim formally testified in court that he had “dabbled in the occult” and had read a book on Satanic ritual. He accompanied Harris out of curiosity. Harris took a butcher knife and book on satanic rituals out of his backpack. Using the knife, Harris cut his hand and Menendez’ hand and the two mixed their blood. Harris carved a pentagram in the ground and stood behind the cross-legged Menendez, telling him to stare at his hand and watch as the fingers disappeared and reappeared. Harris using the butcher knife, stabbed Menendez once in the neck, and three times in the back. See “Teen Charged as Adult in Stabbing that took place during Satanic Ritual,” Associated Press, May 28, 1999; “Satanic Ritual ends in Stabbing: Teen Charged with Attempted Murder,” Sun Sentinel, May 28, 1999; “Mom: Son Depressive Teen Charged with Stabbing in Satanic Ritual,” Sun Sentinel, May 29, 1999; “Teen Guilty in Occult Ritual Stabbing Garners Second-Degree Murder Verdict,” Oct. 25, 2000.

October 12, 2000, EDDIE LEE SEXTON vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA, 775 So. 2d. 923, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 1993; 697 So. 2d. 833 (1997) Conviction and Death Sentence Affirmed

Overview: Appellant documents state that Eddie Sexton’s criminal trial was continued until August 1998 after the Appeals court in 1997 remanded the case back to the local court because testimony about the abuse of his children needlessly inflamed the jury. After the second trial, Eddie Lee Sexton was found guilty and sentenced to death again on Nov. 18, 1998. The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the conviction and death sentence on October 12, 2000.

Eddie Sexton was convicted and sentenced to death for the participation in the murder of his son-in-law, Joel Good. Joel was murdered by Sexton’s 22 year old son, Willie, who strangled him to death under Sexton’s direction. Willie Sexton testified against his father in exchange for his guilty plea to second-degree murder.

The court noted Sexton moved to Florida in 1993 with his family and the victim to avoid arrest and prevent authorities in Ohio from removing his children from the home. His infant grandchild, who was the son of the victim and his daughter, died under suspicious circumstances.

Sexton objected to the testimony of 5 of his daughters, as cited in the appellate opinion that he: “beat them, conducted ‘marriage’ ceremonies with his daughters, had regular sex with them and fathered several of their children, encouraged his children to have sex with each other, made his sons compare their penis sizes and ridiculed them, practiced Satanism and engaged in other bizarre conduct, threatened his children if they discussed family matters with others, trained his children how to kill FBI agents, engaged in a standoff with police in Ohio shortly before coming to Florida, fled to Florida to prevent his children from being taken into custody, and directed the killing of his infant grandchild.”

The State’s proposed motive for the killing was that Sexton’s son-in-law knew Sexton was the father of his own “grandchildren.” The prosecution wanted prior bad acts admitted to show the control this man had over his children. The appeals court thought this testimony needlessly inflamed the jury and so ordered a new trial.

News reports state that during the second trial, his son, Willie Sexton, said his father convinced him he had Satanic powers and sexually abused him. He also stated that he was tied up to his bed at night when he was a child, and the father gave coins to the other children to call home if anyone spoke about the abuse.

Sherri Sexton, daughter of Eddie Lee Sexton, discussed séances held in the home. She told news reporters that her dead cat was placed on a table and “my dad had all of us go around the table holding hands. He was talking weird. He was saying he was Satan… He kept asking us to give our souls to him — to follow him to Satan.”

Eddie Lee Sexton had been “ordained” by mail order at one time and had filed incorporation papers for a “Calvary Church of God.” Mr. Sexton’s own father was a “Free Will Baptist Preacher.” See “Children Tell of Life of Incest, Violence,” Beacon Journal , February 6, 1994; “Court Revisits Murder Case, Son’s Fears,” St. Petersburg Times, September 2, 1998.

[Eddie Lee Sexton is the husband of Estella Sexton whose case is described next.]

March 9, 1998, STATE OF OHIO vs ESTELLA SEXTON, COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, STARK COUNTY, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 1302; 1995 Ohio App. LEXIS 1413, Convictions for Complicity to Rape, Felonious Sexual Penetration, Gross Sexual Imposition, Complicity to Gross Sexual Imposition, and Child Endangerment Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that in April 1992 Machelle, one of Estella Sexton’s daughters, alleged that their father, Eddie Sexton, was molesting the three oldest daughters. There were 12 children in the family. DHS took six of the children into custody, but three of the children were returned to the mother under an agreement that she would keep the children away from the father.

In December of 1992, Mrs. Sexton fled Ohio with the three children, and reunited with Mr. Sexton at a hotel in Kentucky. On January 14, 1994, appellant and Eddie Sexton were arrested in Hillsboro County, Florida. The three children were returned to the custody of DHS. While living in Jackson Township, and in a camper in Hillsboro County, Florida, appellant and her husband perpetrated acts of sexual, physical, and mental abuse against all of the children. While living in Jackson Township, Kim, Lana, and Machelle were forced to participate in a wedding ceremony with their father. During the ceremony, Eddie engaged in a French kiss with the girls. Appellant was present, and took pictures of the ceremony.

The Court writes: “In the camper in Florida, appellant and Eddie gave Kim and Chris little red pills and Nyquil to ingest every evening, despite the fact that neither had a cold. On one occasion, Kim did not ingest the medicine and saw appellant fondling Chris’ penis while he was asleep.”…The mother and father inflicted “shaving rituals” on the girls. While living in Jackson Township, Lana and Machelle were forced to experience a similar shaving ritual. Lana was taken to the master bedroom for the purpose of punishment. Once inside the room, appellant held Lana down, while Eddie shaved her entire body with a razor. “While shaving her, Eddie cut her leg, put the blood on her finger, and made her sign a paper, saying that she was selling her soul to the devil.” During the shaving, both appellant and Eddie Sexton fondled Machelle’s vaginal area.

Chris received beatings from both appellant and Eddie Sexton. He would beat Chris once or twice a week, while appellant guarded the door. The beatings would often leave bruises. Appellant and Mr. Sexton also punished Chris by having him stand against the wall for five to six hours, holding a penny against the wall with his nose. During this punishment, Chris was not permitted to go to the bathroom. At age twelve, Chris was forced to participate in weekend parties involving the family members in which he was given beer to drink.

According to Ohio vs. Estella Sexton, February 13, 1995, 1995 Ohio App. Lexis 1413, one of the children stated that family members were involved in satanic rituals, invoking spirits, and “baby thingies and things like that.” “We will hold hands … it mostly takes place after my grandmother died. They will bring her spirit back. Sometimes they bring devils back. They come out of the table and you see them floating around in the room … we all hold hands while it’s happening.” This testimony regarding Satanic ritual was found by the court to be relevant to the proceedings.

Note: On October 11, 2005, COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, 2005 Ohio App. Lexis 5150, upheld the finding of the local court that Estella Sexton was a “Sexual Predator.”

September 30, 2000, MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE, RUTHERFORD COUNTY JUDICIAL BUILDING, Case No. 48444, Alonzo South Pleaded Guilty to Three Counts of Aggravated Sexual Battery, Sentenced to 24 years in prison

Overview: News articles state that according to the plea agreement Alonzo South, 31, admitted that on at least three occasions over the last two years he participated in satanic rituals in which a nude girl under the age of 10 was sexually touched. Court records say the child, who was the daughter of a woman involved in the Satanic group, was raped in a home, the nearby woods, a shed, a pickup truck and a car. See, “Man gets 24 years for Satanic-ritual rape of 10-year-old girl,” The Tennessean, Sept. 30, 2000.

August 10, 2000, PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOS v. PATRICK PAGE, SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS, 737 N.E.2d 264, Death Sentence Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that Patrick Page was convicted of three murders in approximately 1985-87. He confessed to committing these murders, along with other defendants, Kenneth Cherney and Gerald Feinberg. One victim was stabbed and set on fire. The second murder victim was also stabbed and a “fire was started over the grave with lighter fluid.” The third victim was stabbed, buried, and a sheet and rug were burned over his grave.

Defendant Page claimed that his trial counsel failed to include evidence regarding his involvement in a cult as a mitigating factor because it would explain to the jurors how he was associated with these murders, how others were more culpable, and how he came to be able to be involved in such acts. He claimed he needed to be in a hospital setting.

Defendant told one psychologist that he was engrossed in the study of black magic and that he and several friends, led by a 24 year old warlock, held services, conjured demons and cast spells. A prior police report quoted a witness stating that “there are people who believe Mr. Patrick Page is the Anti-christ, and that Page derived a power from the location where victim was buried” and indicated Page was a leader of a Satanic cult.” Another witness, and friend of Page, also stated Page derived “power” from certain locations and she “provided notes regarding defendant’s involvement in black magic, rituals and sacrifices.”

Defendant Page wrote in an affidavit that he was involved in certain practices from a young age and was still in fear of individuals who were involved and who may still be involved in these practices. Mr. Page’s father and brother submitted affidavits stating that when defendant was 16 year, he was involved in some kind of cult or devil worship. Another psychologist and physician stated that defendant was under the influence of a cult leader at the times he committed these murders. The Doctors described the mind-control techniques used by leaders of cults.

The court thought if this information had been submitted, far from being mitigating evidence, it would probably have served as aggravating evidence. “This evidence describes defendant’s involvement in devil worship and ritualistic sacrifices.” Defendant wanted his case remanded back to the local court so he could have Neurological Assessment and a cult-related Psycho Social Investigation. The court denied this request and upheld defendant’s death sentence.

April 1, 2000, WARSAW, POLAND, Tomasz Suszyna and Robert Krakowian Pleaded Guilty to Murder

Overview: News articles state Tomas Suszyna, 22, and Robert Krakowian, 19, plead guilty to a double murder and said the victims were an offering to Satan. The victims, a 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy, were killed during a ritual Satanic mass in southern Poland, police said, after finding the cut up and burned bodies. The two victims were members of a sect that staged the Black mass in a disused bunker on the outskirts of the town of Ruda Slaska, but they did not know they were to die. Another teenage cult member who survived was taken to the hospital with multiple knife wounds. See “Teenage Cult Members Killed in Satanic Mass,” Agence France Presse; March 4, 1999 and “Polish Satanists Jailed for Ritual Double Murder,” Agence France Presse, April 1, 2000.

March 9, 2000, IN THE MATTER OF: SHAWN ELLIS, DEPENDENT MINOR CHILD, (FRANKLIN COUNTY CHILDREN SERVICES, COMPLAINANT-APPELLEE, CARLA RICHARDSON, RESPONDENT-APPELLANT) . IN THE MATTER OF: KIMBERLY DAVIS, DEPENDENT MINOR CHILD, (FRANKLIN COUNTY CHILDREN SERVICES, COMPLAINANT-APPELLEE, CARLA RICHARDSON, RESPONDENT-APPELLANT) COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, TENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, FRANKLIN COUNTY, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 849, Permanent Court Commitment of Children Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state in May 1995 allegations of abuse and neglect were filed against the mother, Carla Richardson, on behalf of her two children. She failed to protect the children from being sexually molested by a boarder in the home who was ultimately convicted of rape. After three and a half years of offering services and receiving treatment from six different counselors, the mother remained in denial about the abuse her children had suffered. None of the parents complied with the reunification plans for their children and the court stated Satanic occult practices were allegedly commonplace.

The court noted that after being in counseling for over three years, appellant continued to deny what happened to her children and claimed an inability to remember the abuse. “There was even testimony that appellant could not recall taking blood and hair from the children as part of satanic rituals.”

February 24, 2000, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, Motion Withdrawn to Hold State in Contempt of Court

Overview: News articles report that a Federal judge was asked to hold the State in contempt of court in February 2000 for its continued failure to provide court-ordered and doctor-prescribed mental health services to a severely traumatized 17-year-old victim of rape and occult ritual abuse.

Four months prior, State officials signed a federal consent decree in the case which was known as Grier vs. Wadley to make sure Sarah C. received the care she needed. While in the custody of the State, she was exposed to occult sadism, was beaten, hung from walls locked for prolonged periods in closets, and raped repeatedly. This all happened before the age of seven. A State advocacy group, Tennessee Justice Center, filed a class action lawsuit against the state for failure to properly administer the appeals procedure for the health care plan enrollees of TennCare, (Tennessee Behavioral Health). The 17 yr. old victim was just one of the people named in the settlement but she was left without proper care until this motion was filed. In April, the state agreed to properly attend to her care. See “Tenn. Could be in Contempt if Mental Care for Teen Inadequate,” The Commercial Appeal, February 24, 2000; “Foster Parents Say State Failed to Care for Abused Girl in State Care,” AP, February 24, 2000; “Sarah C. to Get Badly Needed Care,” Knoxville News-Sentinel Co., April 18, 2000

October 21, 1999, SOUTH AFRICA, Ameriko Manyike Sentenced to Life in Prison

Overview: News articles state Ameriko Manyike, 32, mutilated a 15-yr-old boy and tried to sell his genitals which he had cut off. “Ritual or ‘muti’ murders are common in South Africa where people are prepared to pay well for potions made of human parts which they believe will bring good health or good fortune.” See “Mozambican Jailed for Life in S. Africa for Ritual Murder,” Agence France Presse, Oct. 21, 1999.

August 18, 1999, STATE OF OHIO v. KENNETH J. SMITH, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 3794, Status as Sexual Predator Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that on June 4, 1991 Kenneth Smith pled guilty to sexual imposition against a 10 year old child. Years later he appealed the designation as a sexual predator. The trial court noted the nature of the sexual conduct with the victim as indicated in the summary in the presentence investigation report and found defendant’s conduct demonstrated “a pattern of abuse.”

The court stated that in making its decision, the report indicated alcohol was used, the defendant had threatened the victim, and that Satanic ceremonies had been involved.

August 11, 1999, HELSINKI, FINLAND, Jarno Sebastian Elg, Terhi Johanna Tervashonka, Mika Kristian Riska Sentenced for Murder

Overview: News articles state a court sentenced three alleged Satanists, including a 17-year-old girl, to prison terms for ritually killing a man and ingesting some of the body parts. Jarno Sebastian Elg, 24, was given a life sentence for killing a 23-year-old man in November and instigating others to participate in a ritual that included torturing the victim and listening to heavy-metal music. The Hyvinkaa District Court in southern Finland sentenced Terhi Johanna Tervashonka, 17, to two years and six months in prison and Mika Kristian Riska, 21, to two years and eight months in the case. The victim, who was not named, suffered prolonged torture and eventually was strangled to death, the court said. It also said the three people convicted “were strongly influenced by Satanism.” The court declared most of the details of the case secret. See “Alleged Satanists Sentenced for Murder, Cannibalism,” Associated Press, August 11, 1999.

August 3, 1999, KIEV, Dmitry Dyomin was Sentenced to Death for Murder; His Accomplices, Valentin Chelyshev and Alexei Andreyev Sentenced to 13 and 8 yrs. in jail

Overview: News articles state Dmitry Dyomin and his two accomplices, Valentin Chelyshev and Alexei Andreyev, killed a 15-year-old girl whose tongue was then boiled and ate. Dyomin belonged to a Satanic cult and with the help of his two accomplices, he severed the girl’s head with a kitchen knife. Dyomin later lacquered the skull and kept it in his room. Skulls that he had taken out of graves, and books on black magic, pentagrams, and upside-down crucifixes were found during a search of the defendants home. See “Cannibal Satanists Get Death Sentence,” ITAR-TASS NEWS Agency, August 3, 1999.

July 24, 1999, UGANDA, AFRICA, Yunus Samanya, Francis Muwanga, Gloria Nagadya, Sentenced to Death

Overview: News reports state that Yunus Samanya, 23, a native healer, Francis Muwanga, 24, and his wife, Gloria Nagadya, 21, were sent to the gallows for the ritual murder of a girl, Shamin Muhamad.

The girl’s head, tongue, private parts, and two fingers were cut off. The motive for the murder was that the perpetrators wanted to become “rich,” with the assistance of evil spirits, and a witchdoctor advised them to make a human sacrifice.

The article also mentioned that cases of child sacrifice had triggered public outrage. See “Shamin Killers for the Gallows,” Africa News, July 24, 1999

Four companion cases are described below:

October 6, 1999, PEOPLE, STATE OF ILLINOIS v. ROBIN GECHT, SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS, 720 N.E. 2d 1098, 1999 Ill. LEXIS 1423, Petition For Leave to Appeal Denied

Note: Four members of a satanic cult, Andrew Kokoraleis, 23, Thomas Kokoraleis, 26, Robin Gecht, 28, and Edward Spreitzer, 26, were convicted in a series of murders, rituals, and acts of cannibalism over a number of years in the mid 1980’s. The case broke after an 18-year-old prostitute was brought unconscious to the local hospital after being found naked, bleeding profusely and near death. Her left breast had been severed and she identified Robin Gecht, a carpenter-electrician, as her attacker.

All the defendant’s appeals are in published decisions except for Robin Gecht’s which is reported as a Table case.

Overview: News articles report that Robin Gecht, 28, a carpenter-electrician was arrested on Oct. 20, 1982, in the vicious slashing of an 18-year-old prostitute which “proved to be the opening of a Pandora’s box of depravity, sadism, Satan worship and cannibalism that perhaps involved nearly a score of Chicago-area women.” Within a week of Gecht’s release on bond for the attack on the prostitute, another woman claimed to have been attacked by him. He was then rearrested.

Following clues, the police had pulled a van over to the side of the road which was driven by Edward Spreitzer, and which had Andrew Kokoraleis as a passenger, who told them the van belonged to Robin Gecht. The gruesome link between many of the slayings in which the remains were still identifiable was that victim’s breasts had been mutilated or slashed off with a knife or piano wire. The three suspects then began implicating each other.

“The first inkling that the killings might have been part of a cult ritual came when a former neighbor of Gecht in Villa Park told authorities that Gecht enjoyed reading books on torture practices of ancient cultures. ‘He told me that he was reading about how the ancients cut off the breasts of women and saved them for tobacco pouches,’ she said.”

The police found six crosses, some black and some red, painted on the walls of a tiny attic room in a house once occupied by Robin Gecht. Thomas Kokoraleis told investigators that the room had contained an altar, made from a board covered with red cloth, where cult members cut up animal parts, and sometimes human parts, for sacrifice.

“All were found to have been legally sane at the time of the murders, but Gecht was said by behavioral experts to exhibit multiple personalities, perhaps as a ruse. For example, in their discussion with him he wandered. His voice changed. He would speak as a small child, a teenager or a businessman. The experts said it probably was a sham.”

Robin Gecht was ultimately convicted of the attack on the 18 year old prostitute, and is currently serving a sentence of 120 years. Authorities learned later that Gecht had worked twice for John Wayne Gacy (the well-known serial murderer of 33 boys) as a construction worker. See “Disappearances of Young Women Formed a Path Into the Darkest Depths of the Human Psyche,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 11, 1987; “Trail’s End: Gruesome Clues Led to an Altar in an Attic,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 12, 1987.

March 15, 1999, THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS v. ANDREW KOKORALEIS, SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS, 707 N.E.2d 1224, 1999 Ill. LEXIS 670; 637 N.E.2d 1015 (1994); 547 N.E.2d 202 ( 1989); 507 N.E.2d 146 (1987), Stay of Execution Allowed

Overview: Appellate documents state Andrew Kokoraleis was convicted of the murder and kidnapping of Lorraine Borowski and Rose Beck Davis and was sentenced to death for these murders which occurred in 1982. Lorraine Borowski’s skeletal remains were discovered in a cemetery. Defendant told officers that he and his alleged accomplices, Robin Gecht and Edward Spreitzer, engaged in intercourse with the chest cavities of the victims after the breasts were removed. The State presented evidence of defendant’s participation in two other murders, Linda Sutton and Shui Mak, and the defendant ultimately confessed to 16 murders.

One of the victims, Linda Sutton, was found with her breasts and anterior chest wall absent. The pathologist concluded that the condition of the body was consistent with breast mutilation. The court agreed to exclude evidence of cult involvement in this defendant’s case at the start of the proceedings but the prosecutor told the jurors that the defendant lived out the “Satanic Bible.”

In 1994 Defendant Andrew Kokoraleis appealed his conviction and sentence of death in the murder of Lorraine Borowski. He claimed ineffective representation of counsel during his sentencing phase which resulted in the death penalty. He argued that counsel did not independently investigate the psychological factors that made him vulnerable in following co-defendant Robin Gecht, who “fancied he possessed a Charles Manson-like persona, (who) subjected defendant to his will to commit the crimes.”

Andrew Kokoraleis denied responsibility for the crimes committed and stated that his statements to police were coerced and that he was “framed.” The court stated that given the circumstances of this case, it was not unreasonable for his attorney to not have investigated his “disturbed psyche” because the defense strategy had been to “bar at the outset of trial the introduction of evidence that defendant’s crimes were part of some cult ritual. It would have been inconsistent with the strategy of barring that evidence for counsel to later argue the very same evidence showed, in the sentencing phase, that defendant’s culpability was due to a disturbed psyche. The fact that counsel did not investigate sources to glean such evidence is therefore rendered strategically inconsequential. Further, as already noted, arguing the lurid particularities of the crimes as evidence of a psyche ripe for Gecht’s enslavement was inconsistent with defendant’s sworn proclamations of innocence.”

On March 15, 1999, the Appeals court stayed Andrew Kokoraleis execution until the Supreme Court reviewed the case. The Supreme Court denied his writ of certiorari, and on March 17, 1999 Andrew Kokoraleis was executed.

See “Cult Murder Trial Opens in Du Page,” Chicago Tribune, March 11, 1987; “Mutilation Cult Suspect on Trial,” Chicago Tribune, Feb 5, 1985; “Kokoraleis Found Guilty in Rape, Killing,” Chicago Tribune, Feb. 12, 1985; “Man Guilty in Murder of Woman,” Mar 19, 1987; “High Court is Asked to Set Killer’s Execution,” Chicago Tribune, Dec. 10, 1998; “Gruesome Clues Led to an Altar in an Attic,” Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1987; “Cult Murder Trial Opens in Du Page,” Chicago Tribune, March 11, 1987; “Satanic Crime Police Say the Devil Made Some People Do It,” Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1988; See book– “Deadly Thrills,” by Jaye Slade Fletcher.

March 28, 1991, PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS v. EDWARD SPREITZER, SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS, 572 N.E.2d 931, 1991 Ill. LEXIS 22; 525 N.E. 2d 30 (1988), Dismissal of Post-Conviction Petition Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that Edward Spreitzer was found guilty along with Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis for the murder of Linda Sutton, whose breast had been amputated. Edward Spreitzer confessed to the crime and implicated Robin Gecht. He stated they had picked up a black woman and Gecht dragged her into the bushes, cut off one of her breast, and had sex in the chest cavity. Spreitzer retrieved a wire from their van at Gecht’s request, and Gecht severed the woman’s other breast and had sex in that chest cavity. Spreitzer later admitted to also severing the victim’s breast.

Defendant Spreitzer confessed to 4 other murders, including that of Shuk Mak, Rose Davis, Sandra Deleware, and Raphael Tiradao. Several of these victims also had their breasts removed. The Appellate court stated that the defendant filed a motion to exclude information about his “religious cult” in which “ritualistic ceremonies” were preformed with the amputated breasts in Gecht’s attic. Due to the agreement, the prosecutor erred by raising the issue of “devil worship,” but defendant did not object to it at the trial court.

Edward Spreitzer plead guilty and was sentenced to die for the slaying of Linda Sutton, and for his part in the killings of Lorraine Borowski, Shui Mak, Rose Beck Davis, Sandra Deleware and Rafael Tirado, but his sentence was commuted by the Governor in 2003.

See “Prosecutors to Seek Death in Devil-Worship Killings,” Chicago Tribune, Feb 25, 1986; “Defendant to Tell About Mutilation Victim Was Dead, Lawyer Says,” Chicago Tribune, March 4, 1986; “Defense Lawyer Admits Mutilation,” Chicago Tribune, Feb 26, 1986; “Spreitzer Sentenced to Death,” Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1986; “The Push to Restore Wisconsin’s Death Penalty: Advocates Have New Strategy, New Majority,” Madison Capitol Times, March 1, 2003.

January 25, 1990, PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS v. THOMAS C. KOKORALEIS, APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS, SECOND DISTRICT, 549 N.E.2d 1354, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 105; 501 N.E. 2d 207 (1986), Denial of Request to Withdraw Guilty Plea Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that Defendant Thomas Kokoraleis was convicted of the rape and murder of Lorraine Borowski. The Appellate court overturned his conviction in 1986 and remanded the case back to court. Defendant then plead guilty to murder in return for a 70 year sentence. Defendant sought to withdraw his guilty plea but the court denied his request.

The Defense stipulated that if the case had gone to trial, the State would have presented evidence to show that Borowski’s body was found with her left breast removed; that the defendant admitted to police officers that he and his cohorts had abducted Borowski, removed her left breast with a piano wire, and killed her; and that the defendant was part of a cult that would rape and kill women and cut off their breasts. The Appellate Court ruled that because the Defendant had falsely confessed to another murder it did not affect his admission of guilt regarding two other murders which he plead guilty to.

News articles report that Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Richard Beuke testified at Thomas Kokoraleis’s trial in Du Page County, stating that the severed breast of the murder victims would be removed from a box and placed on the altar. The rituals, while Gecht read passages from the Bible, involved cannibalism. Police thought Robin Gecht was the leader of the group. See “Gang Member Gets 70 Years in 1982 Slaying,” Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1987, and other articles.

February 19, 1999, PAUL A. BONACCI vs. LAWRENCE E. KING, 4:CV91-3037, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA; $1 Million Default Judgment Awarded for Conspiracy, Emotional Abuse, Battery, False Imprisonment

Overview: Court documents and a book publication by Paul Bonacci’s attorney, ex-senator John de Camp, state that Larry King organized groups of children to sexually blackmail and compromise politicians and businessmen while he served as Manager of the Franklin Credit Union in Omaha, Nebraska. King had political ties that reached the presidency of the United States and he sang at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

Paul Bonacci, who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder (now called Dissociative Identity Disorder), stated that as a youth, he had been subjected to Mind Control, he had been transported across the U.S., and was forced to have sex with various people, forced to deliver drugs, and forced to participate in satanic snuff films, where Larry King was present. He identified the Bohemian Grove in Northern California, a well known gathering/meeting site for politicians, as the location of a satanic murder, and he had inside knowledge about many satanic ritual abuse cases around the country that he claimed to have been present at. These include a case in Jordan, Minnesota, in which Jim Rud was the only defendant charged, and in Bakersfield, California, another case in which several individuals were criminally charged for the sexual abuse of children within the context of ritual abuse.

The Omaha police chief, Robert Wadman and publisher of the local newspaper Harold Andersen, were implicated in the sexual abuse allegations. The FBI refused to investigate the child abuse allegations because the local FBI representative, Nick O’Hara, claimed that Robert Wadman was his “friend.” A Grand Jury was convened which labeled the children’s allegations as a “hoax”; apparently due to the high-profile nature of the alleged perpetrators, the ritual abuse allegations, and after one witness, Troy Boner, recanted his statements about abuse. John de Camp states that his retraction was a key factor in the Grand Jury’s findings that all the children had lied. Troy Boner later claimed that the FBI threatened him into recanting.

One sexual molest victim, Alicia Owen, was charged with perjury due to naming the police chief, Robert Wadman, as one of her abusers. She served prison time for this charge but was released in the year 2000. Paul Bonacci claimed that the sex ring that plunged him into Satanism and Mind Control was centered at Offutt U.S. Air force Base, near Omaha. The main investigator assigned to this case, Gary Cadiori, died in a suspicious plane crash shortly after he took statements from the children.

Larry King was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzlement, conspiracy, and making false financial record entries. The Credit Union was missing 40 million dollars and there were allegations that funds were used to finance the Contras, and other clandestine operations by the CIA.

John de Camp linked Lt. Col. Michael Aquino, leader of the satanic group, the Temple of Set, to Mind Control operations and writes:

“Child victims gave evidence in depth of the role of Lt. Col. Michael Aquino in this depravity. Aquino…was long the leader of an Army psychological warfare section which drew on his expertise and personal practice in brainwashing, Satanism, Nazism, homosexual pedophilia and murder.”

Noreen Gosch, mother of Johnny Gosch who was kidnapped 20 years ago when he was 12, testified at Mr. Bonacci’s hearing on his behalf on February 5, 1999 in this civil lawsuit against Mr. King. Ms. Gosch was responsible for the passage of legislation on behalf of missing children, and due to her efforts, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was created. Over the years, she carried out her own investigation about her son’s disappearance and observed at this hearing that if the FBI had actually done their job in her case, it would have “opened up the biggest scandal in the United States, bigger than the Iran-Contra story.” Paul Bonacci gave information to Noreen Gosch about the kidnapping of her son, Johnny Gosch, and admitted to participating in his kidnapping.

Ms. Gosch claimed her son, Johnny, visited her in March of 1997 and told her the exact same story Paul Bonacci had, and asked her to make these claims public. He said kidnapped children and others were being used by professional pedophiles and some of those children were victims of Mind Control. In Ms. Gosch’s book, “Why Johnny Can’t Come Home,” (2000) she wrote that he and three others claimed that Lt. Col. Michael Aquino was involved in Johnny’s kidnapping. (pg. 223) Ms. Gosch stated the following in the court hearing:

“There was a man by the name of Michael Aquino. He was in the military. He had top Pentagon clearance. He was a pedophile. He was a Satanist. He’s founded the Temple of Set. And he was also a very close friend of Anton LaVey. The two of them were very active in ritualistic sexual abuse. And they deferred funding from this government program to use this experimentation upon children… where they deliberately split off the personalities of these children into multiples so that when they’re questioned or put under oath or questioned under lie detector, that unless the operator knows how to question a multiple personality disorder, they turn up with no evidence. They use these kids to sexually compromise politicians or anyone else they wish to have control of… they were taken to be used by professional pedophiles. People that have the money to buy what they want, take the kids wherever they want… and by splitting the children’s personalities they could then train each one of the personalities to do a different function. And the rest of the personalities within that host personality would not be aware of it or remember it.”

The Circuit court wrote in its judgment against Larry King:

“Two counts are alleged against the defendant King in the complaint. Count V alleges a conspiracy with public officers to deprive the plaintiff [Paul Bonacci] of his civil rights, designed to continue to subject the plaintiff to emotional abuse and to prevent him from informing authorities of criminal conduct. Count VIII charges battery, false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress, negligence and conspiracy to deprive the plaintiff of civil rights. Between December 1980 and 1988, the complaint alleges, the defendant King continually subjected the plaintiff to repeated sexual assaults, false imprisonments, infliction of extreme emotional distress, organized and directed Satanic rituals, forced the plaintiff to ‘scavenge’ for children to be a part of the defendant King’s sexual abuse and pornography ring, forced the plaintiff to engage in numerous masochistic orgies with other minor children. The defendant King’s default has made those allegations true against him. The issue now is the relief to be granted monetarily.

The now uncontradicted evidence is that the plaintiff has suffered much. He has suffered burns, broken fingers, beating of the head and face and other indignities by the wrongful actions of the defendant King. In addition to the misery of going through the experiences just related over a period of eight years, the plaintiff has suffered the lingering results to the present time. He is a victim of multiple personality disorder, involving as many as fourteen distinct personalities aside from his primary personality. He has given up a desired military career and received threats on his life. He suffers from sleeplessness, has bad dreams, has difficulty in holding a job, is fearful that others are following him, fears getting killed, has depressing flashbacks, and is verbally violent on occasion, all in connection with the multiple personality disorder and caused by the wrongful activities of the defendant King.”

Larry King did not appear at this civil hearing and a one million dollar default judgment was awarded to Mr. Bonacci.

See books which describes this case: “The Franklin Cover-up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska,” by John W. DeCamp, 1996; Why Johnny Can’t Come Home, by Noreen Gosch, 2000; [See, Aquino vs. Stone, 1992, Aquino vs. ElectriCiti, 1997], and news articles: “Judge Determining Damages in Bonacci Lawsuit,” AP, February 6, 1999; “Owen is paroled: Served a 4 ½ year sentence – The woman linked to the Franklin Credit Union sexual abuse investigation wants to be a normal person.” Omaha World-Herald, Sept. 21, 2000. The court transcript of this hearing can be ordered from Latimer Reporting 402-476-1153.

July 24, 1998, STATE OF OREGON v. MICHAEL JAMES HAYWARD, SUPREME COURT OF OREGON, 963 P.2d 667, 1998 Ore. LEXIS 593, Murder, Assault, Kidnapping, Robbery, and Burglary Affirmed, Death Sentence Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state that on April 10, 1994 Jason Brock, Daniel Rabago, Jason Brumwell, and Johl Brock, three of whom considered themselves to be Satanists and members of a “Death-Metal” band, decided to rob a Dari Mart. They listened to their Death-Metal music before they committed the crime, which included lyrics to “The Pick-Axe Murders,” An Experiment in Homicide,” “Hammer Smashed Face,” Meat Hook Sodomy,” “Gutted,” and “Living Dissection.” They planned their crime and went to a Dari Mart store, killed a female clerk, and brutally beat another one.

Jason Brock described the lyrics of “Cannibal Corpse,” as explaining or picturing through words “killing people.” Johl Brocks testified that the death metal lyrics to which the group listened “described basic satanic practices, ceremonies and stuff.” He also stated that the lyrics on the CD by the band Decide is what led to the two of them “dabbling into Satanism.” Daniel Rabago testified “we were all into evil and we were all pretty much deathers.”

The evidence of “Death-metal” music and Satanism was admitted into the court testimony and was upheld because it partially explained the motive for the crime and the motive for the degree of brutality used.

April 28, 1998, LUBUK PAKAM, INDONESIA, Achmad Suradji Sentenced to Death for Murdering 42 Women

Overview: News reports state an Indonesian sorcerer Achmad Suradji, 47, was sentenced to death for murdering 42 women as part of a bizarre attempt to “boost his magical powers.” The case first came to light in April last year when police, following up a missing person’s report, found a body buried in a sugar cane field near Suradji’s house. When they went to question the sorcerer, they found women’s shoes and handbags. Over the next few weeks, a further 41 bodies were unearthed close to his village. According to the police, Suradji said that he had a dream in 1986 in which the ghost of his father had told him to kill a total of 70 women and then drink their saliva in order to enhance his mystical powers. See “Sorcerer to die for 42 murders,” The Daily Telegraph, April 28, 1998 and “Witch Work: How an Indonesian lured 42 women to their death,” Asiaweek, June 13, 1997.

March 25, 1998, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO, Elio Hernandez Rivera, David Serna Valdes and Sergio Martinez Salinas, Sentences for Murder, Conspiracy, Drug Trafficking and Weapons Violations Reduced

Overview: News articles state that reputed “Godmother,” Sara Maria Aldrete Villarreal, a student at Texas Southmost College, and four other members of a cult were sentenced to more than 60 years in prison for the ritual slaying of 13 people, including Texas College student, Mark Kilroy. After they appealed, an appellate judge reduced the sentences of Rivera, Valdes, and Salinas from 67 to 50 years.

Mark Kilroy, 21, a pre-med student, was kidnapped on the streets of Matamoros on March 14, 1989 during Spring Break. Police arrested cult member Serafin Hernandez, a drug trafficker, after he drove through a federal judicial police roadblock outside Matamoros believing he was rendered “invisible” by his cult’s “black magic.”

Hernandez confessed to participating in the kidnapping and burial of Mark Kilroy and took authorities to his remains on a ranch near the Rio Grande. Sara Aldrete and other cult members had taken Kilroy there, where they ritualistically murdered him, removed his brain and cut his body into pieces. The police also discovered the remains of 13 other victims, including another U.S. citizen, and a 9-year-old child.

Decomposed goat heads, parts of a rooster, bowls containing dried blood, a cauldron with human remains, including a brain and a heart, and spines crafted into necklaces, were found on the ranch. Authorities said Sara Aldrete was the “Godmother” who presided over rituals along with “Godfather” and cult leader Adolfo de Jesus Constanza. In 1989 Aldofo Constanza was killed by another cult member at his request during a police shootout.

The group thought their self-styled religion, which drew from the Caribbean Santeria and the African Palo Mayombe traditions, would render them bulletproof and protect them from police and rival gang members which was the rationale for why they “sacrificed” Mark Kilroy and others. See “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This Before,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 16, 1989; “Texan Arrested in Cult Killings,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 18, 1989; “Behind Drug Cult Killings in Mexico,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 7, 1991; “Cult Killers Given Lighter Sentences,” San Antonio Express-News, March 25, 1998; “‘Devil Ranch’ Priestess Still Says She’s Innocent,” San Antonio Express-News, March 21, 2004.

March 18, 1998, SOUTH AFRICA, Naledzani Mabuda and his Wife Helen Madida Confessed to Murder

Overview: News reports state the father, Naledzani Mabuda, 26, a traditional healer and spiritual medium, and his wife, Helen, 22, confessed to ritually killing their 23 month old son because Mabuda’s ancestors had threatened to destroy him if he did not. Police found the boy’s head, legs, hands and genitals buried under various parts of the floor in the couple’s house. Mabuda testified in court that killing his son as a sacrifice to the family’s ancestors was central to his role as a traditional healer and spiritual medium. Later searches revealed the toddler’s intestines, liver and other internal organs found in a series of ritual “graves” on the nearby mountainside.

The couple were refused bail after another local traditional leader banned them from the village. He testified that the couple had committed a crime of the “greatest evil” and that the townspeople were terrified by the act. A series of sangomas were asked to testify about ritual human sacrifices as part of traditional African beliefs. See, “A Sangoma Couple in Court for Sacrificing Child to Ancestors,” Africa News Service, March 18, 1998.

In January 1998 several of South Africa’s witch-doctors, or sangomas, claimed that ritual murders and killings related to the medicinal quest for body parts had decreased by more than 90 percent. The news article reports that police estimate that several hundred people, many of them children, are killed in South Africa each year for their body parts. Female genitals, breasts and placentas are used for infertility and good luck, while hands burned to ashes and mixed into a paste are seen as a cure for strokes, and hearts for heart disease. Blood is given to impart vitality and brains for political power and business success. However “true sangomas eschew the use of body parts, treating physical and mental ailments using herbal medicines.” See “Witch-doctors not making a killing any more: South African healers say ritual murders no longer in vogue.” The Ottawa Citizen, January 2, 1998

February 4, 1998, SEAN RICHARD SELLERS v. RONALD WARD, WARDEN OF THE OKLAHOMA STATE PENITENTIARY, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS TENTH CIRCUIT, 135 F.3d 1333, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 1621; 728 P.2d 515 (1996); 889 P. 2d 895 (1995); 809 P.2d 676 (1991); Federal Habeas Corpus Relief Denied

Overview: Appellate documents state in 1985 – 1986, at the age of 16, Sean Sellers killed three people, including his parents. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to death. Evidence of his Satanic belief system was admitted by the defense at trial. His defense counsel had portrayed Sellers as the victim of Satanism and said he was addicted to the game Dungeons and Dragons.

Sean Sellers appealed in recent years due to new evidence that he suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder or (DID). Extensive medical documentation was submitted to the court indicating that an “alter” committed the offenses. The appeal was denied although the court was clearly disturbed by the ramifications of Sean Seller’s mental disorder.

“Although troubled by the extent of uncontroverted clinical evidence proving Petitioner suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, now and at the time of the offenses of conviction, and that the offenses were committed by an ‘alter’ personality, we are constrained to hold Petitioner has failed to establish grounds for federal habeas corpus relief.”

There was no evidence that Sellers host personality was aware of or could not control the alter, and that alter knew the difference between right and wrong at the time they committed the crime.

Note: Sean was executed on Feb. 4, 1999 despite appeals by Amnesty International contesting the legal wisdom of executing a man for crimes he committed at age 16 and who suffered from a psychological disorder like MPD/DID.

November 26, 1997, STATE OF TENNESSEE vs. CHRISTA GAIL PIKE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE, AT KNOXVILLE, 1997 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1186 (First Degree Murder-Death Penalty) Conviction for First Degree Murder and Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder Affirmed. Death Penalty Affirmed

Overview: Appellate documents state Christa Pike killed another female she felt rivalry with and carved a pentagram into her chest. A group of “others” were named who helped her, but Pike did not provide information about them. Both the Defendant and suspect Tadaryl Shipp wore pentagram necklaces and a “Satanic Bible” was recovered from a search of Shipp’s room. The Defendant admitted that she and another person carved the pentagram in the victim’s chest. The medical examiner testified that all of the wounds prior to the final blow to the head had been made while the victim was alive and conscious.

The psychiatrist involved thought there were Satanic elements to the crime but believed that Pike was just a “dabbler” in Satanism. A witness stated that as the Defendant described hitting Slemmer in the head with a piece of asphalt and carving a pentagram in her chest, she danced around in a circle, “smiling and singing.”

News articles report that an acquaintance of Pike stated she “seemed just like us when she first got here… two weeks later she’s talking about the Satanic Bible.”

Two years later another news report states Tadaryl Shipp was convicted for this murder:

“A Knox County judge imposed consecutive prison terms Thursday for a young Memphis man who took part in the torture slaying of a Knoxville Job Corps student. Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz said public safety concerns dictate that Tadaryl D. Shipp be imprisoned as long as the law allows. Shipp, 21, had no regard for human life when he helped murder Colleen A. Slemmer, 19, the night of Jan. 12, 1995, the judge said. He treated her with ‘gross cruelty’ while at least partly satisfying an interest in Satanism, Leibowitz said.”

See “Orange County Woman to Die for Tenn. Killing,” The News & Observer, April 1, 1996; “Judge Orders Shipp to Serve Life in Slaying, Then Another 25-year Term ” Knoxville News-Sentinel, March 12, 1999.

October 3, 1997, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, An Unnamed Individual was Condemned to Death

Overview: News reports state that an unnamed individual was condemned to death after removing the eyes, tongues, ears, and genitals of his 10 year old victim. Malabo radio reported that 17 ritual murders were committed in Equatorial Guinea in August and September of 1997, according to official figures. — See “Ritual murderer of girl, 10, sentenced to death,” Agence France Presse, October 3, 1997.

Another news report cites a Spanish journalist and ethnographer, Jose Manuel Novoa, an expert on the country who has conducted investigations in Equatorial Guinea since 1979 and has written two books about cannibalism in the region. Novoa claims that anthropophagy (eating human flesh) is widespread in the country. He stated, “Eating human flesh was a tradition of warriors pertaining to the ethnic group of the Fang, which lives in Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Gabon and Cameroon … as they conquered new territories, Fang warriors ate parts of their victims to absorb desirable qualities such as youth and strength… human organs are eaten by members of secret brotherhoods which practice sorcery in forests at night. New members are initiated in ceremonies which invoke spirits … bodies are obtained through murder and robbing them from cemeteries …the secret groups are known as ‘evu societies’, because many Guineans believe the human body to contain an organ known as the ‘evu.’” … “The human brain is known to be highly toxic, for which reason the cannibals seek to immunize themselves by ingesting potent vegetal poisons in small doses … nevertheless, the cannibalism is believed to have led to a disease known as the kuru.” See “Cannibalism still common in Equatorial Guinea, Spanish expert claims,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, April 5, 1998.

In April of 1988, President Omar Bongo met with leaders of the Catholic, Protestant and Moslem communities to discuss possible action against imported beliefs and practice. This action was taken after an admission by a witchdoctor, purporting to belong to a sect based in neighboring Equitorial Guinea, that he had eaten six humans, including two of his own children, over the past decade. The witchdoctor was a railway worker and his followers had killed another victim, a teacher who was seeking help to solve family problems. See “Bongo Denounces Sects in Wake of Gruesome Cannibalism Tale,” Reuters (Libreville), April 29, 1988.

The following case involves the author of this archive.

September 23, 1997, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, Aquino v. ElectriCiti, Inc., et al., Media Law Reporter, 26 Med. L. Rptr. 1032, No. 984751, Civil Suit Alleging Infliction of Emotional Distress, and other Claims,

Dismissed

Note: Lt. Col. Michael Aquino sued internet provider ElectriCiti, located in San Diego, California, for “infliction of emotional distress,” and other claims, due to an anonymous person posting information about him on the internet. The author of this archive, Diana Napolis, was this “anonymous” person, who debated with Lt. Col. Aquino while using the pseudonym “Karen Jones” and “Curio” during the years 1995-2000. Lt. Col. Aquino sued, claiming Electriciti was publicizing defamatory messages by “Curio”, when it was clear he only wanted the name of the owner of the account in question after military records were posted to the internet, proving he had been processed out of the Army in 1990 after a ritual abuse investigation.

After the Internet provider reviewed the allegedly “defamatory” messages and ascertained that no libel had occurred, they refused to divulge any account name to Lt. Col. Aquino because they believed he was dangerous.

ElectriCiti was sued twice, but the claims were ultimately dismissed due to the Communications Decency Act, which precluded internet companies from being held liable for messages written by their customers.

The Media Law Reporter gave an overview of the complaint but unfortunately quoted Aquino’s description of the “facts.” They wrote that “Curio” stated the Aquinos were the “ring leaders of an international conspiracy to further the satanic ritual abuse of children, and that they engaged in kidnapping, cannibalism and murder of anyone who stood in the way of this international conspiracy.”

Lt. Col. Aquino submitted this information to the Media Law Reporter for reasons unknown, even though this author never made those particular statements at the time. However, due to new information which has been reviewed, namely a publication by John de Camp, “The Franklin Coverup,”

(1996) which alleges criminal activity by Michael Aquino, Noreen Gosch’s book, “Why Johnny Can’t Come Home,” (2000) and after viewing several internal Criminal Investigative Tapes of the Army interviews of children in their investigation of Lt. Col. Aquino, it does appear that the above statements are absolutely correct.

Lt. Col. Aquino claimed he was not processed out of the Army in 1990; however, according to a letter from the National Personnel Records Center, dated December 1, 2006, his dates of service in the Army were from June 14, 1968 to August 31, 1990. Aquino is known for frivolously suing anyone who mentions this fact. [Aquino v. TimesWarner/Linda Blood, Aquino v. Lockwood]

An internet metasearch reveals 70 web pages which describe this lawsuit [Aquino v. ElectriCiti.] See news articles: “Internet Provider Sued Over Postings,” San Diego Union-Tribune, June 24, 1997; “Wired News Flash, Satanist Sues ISP to Silence Usenet Poster,” San Francisco, Business Wire, May 22, 1997; Army Transcript of CID Interview, dated 1989 (copies of Army transcript may be ordered from this author) [See cases in this

archive: Aquino vs. Stone, Presidio Army Base, People v. Daryl Ball, Fort Bragg- Jubilation Day Care Case]

A lawsuit is pending against Lt. Col. Aquino due to his continued efforts to violate the author’s First amendment rights to free sp