Jehovah's Witness Crime Cases Page 4 of 6

In the following criminal cases, the WatchTower Society - Jehovah's Witnesses religion served as the spiritual element of the perpetrator's and/or other actor's formative environment, or otherwise served as a major influencer of the perpetrator's and/or other actor's behavior. The following cases are often tragic, and speak for themselves.

GEORGIA v. NATHANIEL LOMBARDO was the 2005-06 prosecution of two separate vandalisms and partial arsons at two different Kingdom Halls located in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area. As are many if not most of such Kingdom Hall arsons and/or vandalisms, the perpetrator was a young, troubled, disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witness. As is typical in such cases, local Jehovah's Witnesses conspired to hide the perpetrator's connection to the Jehovah's Witnesses, including the real reasons the perpetrator was upset with the Body of Elders at multiple local Kingdom Halls to the point of committing vandalism and attempting arson.

In November 2005, 23 year-old Nathaniel Lombardo was arrested on various burglary, vandalism, and arson charges relating to his breaking into and setting fire to two Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses in the greater Atlanta area. Both fires, neither of which resulted in structural damage, were set only hours apart in the early AM hours of Monday, October 17, 2005, which might lead one to believe that Lombardo may have attended both regular and Judicial Committee meetings at both Kingdom Halls on Sunday, which may not have gone well from Lombardo's viewpoint. Media reports accused Lombardo of both using drugs and having mental problems typical of "demonism", a JW favorite. Of course, being "shunned" by all your family and friends only helps with such problems.

Sources alleged that Nathaniel (a favorite name chosen by JW Parents) Lombardo was a home-schooled child from a large, extended, multi-generation family of Italian Jehovah's Witnesses originally from Brooklyn, and then Texas, who for unknown reasons gradually began relocating to Georgia around 2000. At one point, more than 25 Lombardo family members were employed by 15-20 tree service businesses owned by the Lombardo family in central Georgia and east Texas.

"... [Hayward] Bissell was pressuring [Patricia Booher] to leave the Baptist church and go to his church, the Jehovah's Witnesses. Patty also told the woman that she had broken up with Bissell on Christmas Day [1998] because he took down [her] Christmas tree, which upset her. Like several of Patty's other friends, the woman asked her if Bissell had ever hurt her. Patricia remained silent and wouldn't discuss any further details of the Christmas-tree incident or say whether or not she had ever been physically abused by her on-again off-again boyfriend." -- BLOOD HIGHWAY, Sheila Johnson, 2004.

GEORGIA v. HAYWARD BISSELL was a 2000-02 MURDER conviction. Hayward Bissell, age 39, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to killing and mutilating his pregnant 24 year-old girlfriend during a January 2000 trip to Winter Haven, Florida to visit Bissell's father. Investigators believe Booher was killed in a convenience store parking lot in Chattooga County, Georgia. Police said Patricia Booher, also of Norwalk, Ohio, had been stabbed numerous times, her eyes gouged, and some of her organs partly removed. A hand and leg had been cut off, and she was seatbelted in the front seat of Bissell's car. Within minutes of the murder, Bissell entered Alabama near Mentone, where he allegedly tried to kill Donald Pirch by striking him with a car, and James Pumphrey, by stabbing him with a knife. Bissell was arrested when Alabama officers making a traffic stop found Booher's body. Bissell also was charged in DeKalb County, Alabama with the attempted murder of the two Alabama men.

GEORGIA v. BRYAN REID HANDSCHUH was a 2003-05 Supreme Court of Georgia criminal court case. "... Bryan Reid Handschuh contends that his refusal to submit to a blood test following a traffic accident must be suppressed because he was not arrested prior to the reading of his implied consent rights. Because the record shows that Handschuh was not involved in a traffic accident resulting in serious injuries or fatalities ... , we agree with the Court of Appeals that his refusal should have been suppressed.

"The record shows that, during the early morning hours of January 31, 2003, [Bryan R.] Handschuh drove off the side of the road, and his truck, which was equipped with an ignition interlock device, flipped over into a steep embankment. The investigating officer approached the truck and immediately noticed that the cab smelled like an alcoholic beverage. Emergency personnel removed [Bryan] Handschuh from the vehicle and determined that Handschuh was showing signs of paralysis in his extremities, indicating a spinal injury. The investigating officer discovered a half gallon bottle of Crown Royal, the majority of which had already been consumed, along with several unopened cans of beer inside the vehicle.

At the hospital, the officer observed that Handschuh's eyes were glassy, his breath smelled like an alcoholic beverage, his demeanor was belligerent, and his speech continued to be slurred. Based on both Handschuh's injuries and his suspicion that Handschuh had been driving under the influence, the officer informed Handschuh of his implied consent rights and asked him to submit to a blood test. Although Handschuh would not directly respond to the officer's request, Handschuh did instruct a nurse who had entered the room that he would not allow any of his blood to be drawn. The officer then informed Handschuh that this would be considered a refusal to take the state-required blood test. There was no indication of an arrest at that time, whether by citation or otherwise. In fact, Handschuh walked out of the hospital within approximately 24 hours on his own free will. Six days later, Handschuh was arrested for driving under the influence.

As an initial matter, under these facts, the investigating officer clearly had probable cause to believe that Handschuh was driving under the influence. ... Here, there is no question that Handschuh was not arrested until six days after the day he was read his implied consent rights. Thus, the reading of Handschuh's implied consent rights was in no way contemporaneous to his arrest for DUI. As such, we must agree with the Court of Appeals that the trial court erred by denying Handschuh's motion to suppress. However, we must disapprove of the Court of Appeals decision to the extent that it, in turn, disapproves of its decision in Hough v. State and other decisions which are not inconsistent with our rulings today. Judgments affirmed."

IRELAND v. JOE O'REILLY was a 2004-07 MURDER conviction which manages to continue to get news coverage through 2022. In 2004, Joe O'Reilly, age 32, savagely murdered his wife and mother of his two children, Rachel O'Reilly, age 31. In the most recent August 2022 coverage, as in much of previous coverage, Joe O'Reilly is portrayed as a "prison convert" to the WatchTower Cult -- much being made of his "baptism" in prison. However, in a 2007 newspaper article published only about a month or so after Joe O'Reilly's conviction and arrival in prison, Joe O'Reilly was labeled as a "devout Jehovah's Witness", whom other convicts had nicknamed "The Preacher". Earlier news reports between the time of his 2004 arrest and his 2007 trial stated that Joe O'Reilly's automobile could regularly be found parked at his local Balbriggan Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses during meeting times. Later in 2007, a Cult spokesman insinuated that Joe O'Reilly was a "hanger-around" who had studied with multiple different JWs at multiple different times. Typically, the harder that Jehovah's Witnesses deny their connection to "bad press", the closer the connection. The psychopath Joe O'Reilly's case has received so much publicity that the WatchTower Cult likely now welcomes the news stories about his prison proselytizing and refusing to celebrate his birthdays.

CONNECTICUT v. STEPHEN FERENZ was a 2003-05 Connecticut murder court case decision. This crime and subsequent prosecution received much media attention due to the fact that the stabbing victim, Carol Ferenz, 63, who was a Jehovah's Witness, died because she refused to consent to a life-saving blood transfusion. Despite an avalanche of news coverage, it appears that the supposed factual "snippets" that came to be repeated over and over created impressions in readers/viewers minds that were not necessarily accurate.

For example, many of the media reports repeatedly stated that the stabbing occurred on "New Years Eve", with the resulting impression that the perpetrator, Carol's 42 year-old son, Stephen Ferenz, possibly had been drinking, or partaking of other celebratory typicals. No report that I could find ever mentioned that any of the other involved family members -- Stephen Ferenz, 42, son and perpetrator, Andrew Ferenz, father, John Ferenz, 45, son, and an unidentified sister -- might also have been "Jehovah's Witnesses". Multiple media reports repeatedly quoted Andrew Ferenz as stating that his son, Stephen, "had been on medication for 25 years", which when combined with other article particulars might have led some readers to assume that Stephen was practically an invalid child, who had lived with and been cared for by his parents for those 25 years. Multiple media reports also repeatedly published this quote from Andrew Ferenz regarding his wife's refusal to consent to the needed blood transfusion: "She looked the doctor in the eye and said, 'No transfusion. No blood.'"

The stabbing actually occurred around 5:00 PM on December 31, 2003. Possibly having just gotten off from work, John Ferenz had come to his parent's Glenville, Connecticut home, where Stephen and the unidentified sister also lived, to install a computer for Carol Frenz in an upstairs bedroom. Apparently without warning, Stephen entered the bedroom and stabbed his mother with a kitchen knife an uncertain number of times. Apparently, it took John Ferenz a few moments to realize what had just occurred, and he possibly may not have even understood the gravity, but he apparently stopped the attack, and disarmed Stephen. The three family members then moved downstairs, where Stephen eventually grabbed a second kitchen knife, and attacked his mother a second time. In total, Carol Ferenz was stabbed 8 times in her chest, back and right arm.

In contrast with practically every other media report that quoted Andrew Ferenz as stating, "She looked the doctor in the eye and said, 'No transfusion. No blood.'", one media report quoted the local Prosecutor as stating, "She indicated both to the [responding] medical technicians and at the hospital that before receiving a blood transfusion she had to check with the elders of her faith."

Rather than being a life-long invalid under the care of his parents, around 1980/81, then 19 year-old Stephen Ferenz had sustained a head injury during an automobile accident while he was attending college in Florida. Yes, Stephen Ferenz "had been on medication for 25 years", but up until 1999 he had been able to lead a somewhat normal life. He had held down jobs, and he had even been married. Apparently, 1999 had been a negative turning point in Stephen Ferenz's life. Possibly, he and his wife had divorced. He may even have had children of his own.

What we do know is that between 1999 and the 2003 stabbing, Stephen had been hospitalized a dozen times for psychiatric treatment or evaluation. Stephen apparently also had moved back in with his parents and unidentified sister during this time period. During this time period, Stephen repeatedly would stop taking his medication, because he did not believe that he was ill, nor did he believe that he needed the medicine. He would then lapse into "delusional behavior", and "aggressive behavior", but he had supposedly never been "violent", according to the family.

In January 2005, a three-judge panel found Stephen Ferenz "not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect", and Ferenz was eventually sentenced to 40 years in a maximum security mental health facility. Interestingly, during the trial, a psychiatrist testified that Stephen Ferenz experienced "strange religious obsessions and paranoid fantasies", including the belief that his family, his doctors, and "other authority figures" were conspiring to keep him from reaching his career and "religious aspirations".

As noted above, none of the media reports ever identified any Ferenz family member as being a "Jehovah's Witness", except for the victim, Carol Ferenz. Yet, a local Jehovah's Witness, named Fred Kida, let it slip that the Ferenz family home was used as a location for one of the local Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses' weekly "Book Studies". It is extremely doubtful that in an area where there is a relatively large population of JWs -- suburban NYC -- that the Ferenz family would have received such a "privilege" and honor, unless the majority of family members were actually JWs, or JW sympathizers. And given such, one can only wonder about Stephen Ferenz's length and degree of connection to the JWs, and the role that such played in his personal issues over the years.

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CROWN v. BRUNO AGGIANO. In 1997, Italian immigrant and Jehovah's Witness convert, Bruno Aggiano, age 55, brutally murdered his estranged wife, Elva Aggiano, age 47. For only six weeks, Elva Aggiano had been living with her youngest daughter, Natalia Aggiano (escaped when she was age 17), then age 19, in Mansfield, UK, when Bruno Aggiano asked Elva to come to their Scunthorpe, UK, home to pick up her mail, and allow Bruno to see his youngest child. Although accompanied by her youngest son, Daniel Aggiano, age 9, Daniel was sent to pickup some carryout ordered for dinner. Once alone, Bruno Aggiano viciously attacked Elva with a knife -- slashing and stabbing her to death.

For years, the devoted Bible student had jealously and suspiciously bullied his meek and mild wife, while also beating youngest daughter Natalia Aggiano on multiple occasions for her seemingly endless "sins". The beliefs and practices of the WatchTower Cult, which the family had joined in the early 1980s after immigrating to the UK, did little to alleviate how the JW Minister mistreated his own wife and four children. Bruno Aggiano pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility and was sentenced to remain indefinitely at Rampton High Security Hospital. Bruno Aggiano died of cancer in 2006.

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IN RE MENTAL HEALTH OF C.R.C. was a 2003-04 Montana involuntary commitment proceeding which concerned a self-proclaimed Jehovah's Witness female named C.R.C., of Libby, Montana. In July 2003, the Lincoln County Sheriff and a Libby Police Sergeant responded to a telephone call from a neighbor reporting yelling and gunshots from the area of CRC's mobile home. The officers found CRC to be upset -- pacing and yelling inside her home, alone. They also discovered that CRC had no water nor electric service, and the home was in a state of uncleanliness. Concerned that CRC might hurt herself or others, she was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital, where doctors assessed as having psychosis with agitation. CRC physically resisted being taken into custody, and restraint and sedation at the hospital. The local prosecutor initiated involuntary commitment proceedings, and the local court committed CRC to Montana State Hospital. In June 2004, the Montana appellate court vacated the commitment order holding that there had not been sufficient evidence that CRC was a threat to herself or others.

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JW ELDER-SON MURDER-SUICIDE??? In August 2003, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida Jehovah's Witness Elder, named Carl Dennis Mackey, 41, allegedly shot his 12 year-old son, Brian, (or Bryan) just after midnight in the early AM hours of a Monday morning. The JW Elder then supposedly turned his pistol on himself. Curiously, local police became aware of the alleged murder-suicide when they responded to a telephone call which had reported a supposed emergency at another home near the Mackey residence. When the police arrived in the neighborhood in response to that telephone call, at around 12:40 AM, Laura Mackey ran out of the Mackey home screaming that her husband was trying to kill her and her son. Laura Mackey, (or Lora Mackey), then told the officers that she last saw her husband heading to her 12 year-old son's bedroom, and that she had just heard two gunshots. The officers entered the residence to investigate, and discovered Dennis Mackey and Brian Mackey both dead from single gunshots to the head, as well as a "small caliber" handgun lying next to Dennis Mackey's body.

Dennis Mackey was a supervisor at the City of Plantation Department of Public Works. Co-workers and supervisors had nothing but positive things to say about Dennis Mackey. Brian Mackey, 12, was reportedly an honors student, who was well behaved and had never been in trouble. Dennis Mackey reportedly doted on Brian. Tim Mackey, 22, stated that his father was a hard worker, who preached morals. The Mackey home was even the site of two weekly Jehovah's Witness congregation meetings -- on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Family, friends, and co-workers could not believe nor speculate any reason why Dennis Mackey would have, or even could have, murdered the son whom he loved so much, much less have committed suicide. Laura Mackey, who was employed as an Office Manager at an alternative school, reportedly alleged that Dennis Mackey and she had been having marital problems for the past several months.

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FLORIDA v. JAVIER ORLANDO CARASQUILLO was a 2003-4 Florida murder court decision. On Sunday, December 1, 2003, a mentally-ill 28 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Javier Orlando Carrasquillo, hired a taxi in Sanford, Florida to take him to the Orange City, Florida home of fellow Jehovah's Witnesses, Carmen Negron, 63, and her two sons, Gilberto Vergara-Negron, 28, and Yamir Orlando Vergara-Negron, 26. On arrival, Javier O. Carrasquillo asked to use their restroom. On exiting, Carrasquillo pulled a 9mm pistol, and first shot Gilberto Negron in a bedroom, and then Carmen Negron in a second bathroom. Apparently, having been alerted by the gunshots, Orlando Negron fought with Carrasquillo, who eventually managed to both shoot Orlando Negron, and cut his throat with a knife.

Although the time of the murders is not known, I am assuming that Carrasquillo had come to the Negron home with the excuse of accompanying the family to the Sunday meeting at their local Spanish-speaking Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, in Orange City, which could have been either Sunday morning or afternoon. Apparently, Carrasquillo was able to surprise his first two victims as they were getting bathed and dressed for that Sunday meeting. After ransacking the house, Carrasquillo took Gilberto Negron's car for transportation, which Carrasquillo left at an Orlando fee parking lot the next day.

The murders were discovered Monday evening, at around 7:00 PM, when multiple Jehovah's Witnesses, including Israel Gonzalez and BS Overseer Eugenio Muriel, arrived at the Negron's home, which was one of the locations for the Orange City Congregation's weekly "Book Studies". Later, when the prosecutor announced that he would seek the death penalty for the mentally-ill Carrasquillo, Elder Eugenio Muriel publicly praised that decision.

Javier Carrasquillo was the main suspect from the start of the investigation, and he was arrested on a prior warrant that Thursday, at an unidentified Sanford mental health facility. Carrasquillo confessed to the murders. Carrasquillo explained that he had been disfellowshipped (excommunicated) from the Jehovah's Witnesses (who believe they are GOD's only chosen people on the earth, and that all other people, even other professed Christians, are Satan-worshipers), and that as a result of such he had become an "anti-christ". Carrasquillo's mentally-ill mind then led him to believe that he had been dumped onto Satan's side, and as a result, Carrasquillo supposedly had made a "pact" with the Devil for a human sacrifice.

Interestingly, around September-October 2003, Carrasquillo had told his mother, Leida Rivera, who lived somewhere in the Orlando area, about those thoughts, and Carrasquillo had even telephoned and told his grandmother, Natividad Ortiz, who lived in Puerto Rico.Thereafter, Leida Rivera had telephoned one or more of the Spanish-speaking Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in the area to warn them regarding what Carrasquillo had told her, including that he had threatened members of the JWs involved in his excommunication, including the Negron family. Apparently, Javier Carrasquillo associated with a number of the area's Spanish-speaking Congregations, including ones in Sanford, Deltona, De Bary, Orange City, and possibly others. Reportedly, after receiving Leida Rivera's warning, one or more of those Kingdom Halls had started locking their doors after their various "meetings" had commenced, which begs the question whether Rivera or any of the Elders at those Congregations had ever warned the Negron family about these specific threats (After the fact, JWs told reporters that the Negrons were afraid of Carrasquillo. Then, why did they allow him into their house?)

Curiously, Elder Eugenio Muriel told reporters that Carrasquillo had been a member of the DeBary, Florida Spanish-speaking Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, and that it was his understanding that Carrasquillo had been returned to membership. Since that apparently was not Carrasquillo's understanding, it is unclear whether Carrasquillo was actually disfellowshipped (excommunicated), or "reproved" (lesser punishment short of excommunication, in which the Elders can select any number of temporary punishments). Further, it is unclear whether Carrasquillo had be reinstated to membership, if excommunicated, or removed or partially removed from "reproof", if only "reproved".

Despite tons of media reports, I cannot locate any reports which explained how Javier Orlando Carrasquillo had become a Jehovah's Witness. Thus, it is anyone's guess whether Leida Rivera and Natividad Ortiz were or had been JWs, and whether Carrasquillo had been reared as a JW. Reportedly, after learning of the murders, Carrasquillo's mother, herself, even sought police protection. Neither did media reports explain how Carrasquillo became friends with the Negron family, in Orange City, given that such reports mention Carrasquillo's having lived just about everywhere in the area except Orange City. Neither did the reports explain what role the Negrons played in Carrasquillo's "judicial proceedings" with the JWs, which apparently was the reason for their being murdered. (Roberto Negron, brother of Carmen Negron, was an Elder in one of the area's other Spanish-speaking Congregations, so that may have been the link.)

Those same media reports also failed to reveal much else about Carrasquillo's life prior to 2003. A March 2003 incident was mentioned when Carrasquillo was committed for psychiatric evaluation for 72-hours after police found Carrasquillo walking the streets of Deltona in bloody clothing. While attempting to place Carrasquillo in protective custody, he fled from and fought with the police, slashed himself with a knife, and taunted police to shoot him. Carrasquillo had to be "tasered" at the scene and again at the hospital. Reportedly, the March flare-up had been caused to Carrasquillo's having been fired from his job, and having broken up with his fiance, of whom there is no additional info.

Javier's sister, Sheyla Carrasquillo, 20, who lived in Puerto Rico, also reported that Carrasquillo had been mugged in Sanford, in April 2003, and as a result of head trauma, he had had to be airlifted to an Orlando hospital. Natividad Ortiz reported that Carrasquillo had been mentally-ill since childhood, but had not been violent until just recently. In fact, Javier Orlando Carrasquillo reportedly had no criminal record in Florida prior to 2003, and supposedly none in Puerto Rico (unknown when he came to live in the U.S.)

Apparently, in October-November 2003, Carrasquillo had voluntarily (re)entered the Sanford mental health facility, which may have been where he was incarcerated in March. It was there that Carrasquillo was arrested on Monday, December 2, 2003. During later court hearings, Carrasquillo claimed to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

In October 2004, Javier Carrasquillo pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and armed house burglary, in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to pursue the death penalty. Carrasquillo was sentenced to five life sentences. The delay may have been due to Carrasquillo's having been ruled mentally unfit to participate in the proceeding, and he may have spent time in a state mental health facility until judged mentally fit to continue.

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CROWN v. RICHARD THORPE was a 2008 British criminal court case in which a "mentally ill" Jehovah's Witness named Richard Thorpe, then age 26, beat and kicked to death his 58 year-old father, Eddie Thorpe, on the sidewalk in front of his JW Parent's home in Batley, West Yorkshire. In October 2008, Thorpe was convicted in Leeds Crown Court of manslaughter due to his diminished accountability. Richard Thorpe died of influenza in January 2011 at a mental health institution.

One sibling, Robert Thorpe, who has been unable to work at any job due to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.after witnessing the attack on his father, and who has received a LARGE settlement from the NHS, told a reporter that Richard was a normal person in every way until 2003, when Richard began to accuse his father, Eddie Thorpe, of sexually molesting him when he was a child. On the morning of the murder, Richard again called his father a "paedophile" and accused his father of having molested him when he was a child. Richard began to beat his father stopping only to ask his father why he should not continue. Richard killed his father by repeatedly stomping on his head.

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IN RE R. N. was a 2003 Ontario, Canada, involuntary hospitalization proceeding due to mental illness. In June 2003, an unmarried 32 year-old Jehovah's Witness Male was involuntarily taken into custody and hospitalized at Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital, Windsor, Ontario -- apparently at the request of his JW Parents. RN was previously hospitalized for depression and obsessive compulsive disorder in 1994. RN had been threatening various Elders and other members of his local congregation who he believed were all part of a conspiracy to turn him into a "homosexual". RN stated that he was told by a fellow JW that she had put a hex on him and a mark on his back indicating he was a homosexual, and that other JW Females were part of a conspiracy to turn him into a homosexual using witchcraft and demons. RN stated that during one of his trips to the Kingdom Hall that two JW Females had been staring at him and gasping in horror at him. RN also believed that a JW Elder and others were making homosexual advances towards him. RN told his JW Mother that he would fight the hex and do whatever he had to do to rid himself of the demons that weer controlling his mind, including fight anyone to the death. RN told his JW Mother that he was willing to die to get rid of the demons and that death would be a relief.

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NEW YORK v. KENNETH KAFTAN. In June 2002, Kenneth Kaftan, then age 40, was accused of confronting an Olive, New York police officer with a shotgun when that local officer responded to a family dispute at the Kaftan home. New York State Police were called as backup, but by the time they arrived, an unidentified family member had taken away Ken Kaftan's shotgun. Kenneth Kaftan had then fled into an outbuilding, where he was charged with setting a fire. Ken Kaftan then fled into some nearby woods. State Troopers, Olive, and DEP police, along with the Ulster County Sheriff's K-9 Unit searched the woods without success. Kaftan, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself in the following day. Kaftan was charged with fifth-degree arson and second-degree menacing -- both misdemeanors. Kaftan was arraigned and sent to Ulster County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail, then released two days later on the condition that he seek mental health treatment.

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NEW YORK v. LAWRENCE BULLARD was a 2002 New York criminal court case in which a 30 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Lawrence Bullard, pleaded "guilty" to felony attempted sexual abuse against his former Jehovah's Witness girlfriend. Larry Bullard was sentenced to 10 years of probation, and Bullard was ordered to register as a sex offender. In a 2010 newspaper article, Lawrence Bullard, now living in Cincinnati, Ohio, claims that in December 2001, after the then engaged couple had broken up, that he went to his former JW Girlfriend's apartment and "let himself in", and hid in a closet. When the JW Female arrived home, Bullard physically assaulted her -- knocking her to the floor, kissing her, and putting his hands down her pants. Bullard claims that he then regained his senses, stopped the assault, and left the apartment. Bullard further claims that he telephoned police from the lobby of the apartment building and reported the assault himself. The newspaper account does not say whether the JW Girlfriend had already telephoned police.

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CONNECTICUT v. CHASITY WEST was a 2005 Connecticut Supreme Court decision which affirmed the 2001 trial court decision. In August 2001, a by-then 26 year-old Jehovah's Witness Licensed Practical Nurse, named Chasity West, who had been employed at the local state prison, was convicted on a variety of burglary, assault, attempted murder, and murder charges resulting from her role in the July 1998 "JW Family Love Triangle" attack against three other Jehovah's Witness relatives in her Windsor and Bristol, Connecticut family. West was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of release, plus seventy years.

Arnold and Tammi Cuyler married sometime around 1990. Tammi Cuyler, a Supervisor with Connecticut's Department of Children and Families, was a Jehovah's Witness from a large extended Jehovah's Witness family, so it likely can be assumed that Arnold Cuyler, a banker, was probably also a JW. Jarrell Cuyler was born around 1991. Lindsey Cuyler was born in August 1995.

In August 1995, Tammi Cuyler's 21 year-old Jehovah's Witness first cousin and babysitter, Chasity West, began an affair with 31 year-old Arnold Cuyler. Arnold Cuyler and Tammi Cuyler separated soon thereafter, and divorced in March 1996. Apparently, Arnold Cuyler and Chasity West were able to keep their affair a secret given that Chasity West and her mother, Joyce West, who was Tammi Cuyler's aunt, continued to baby-sit for Jarrell Cuyler and Lindsey Cuyler until sometime in 1997. It was not even until early 1998 that Tammi Cuyler first reported the affair to the Elders of the her Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Possibly more than one Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses was involved, but Chasity West lied and denied the affair to whichever group of Elders conducted her own "judicial hearing". There are also "hints" that Arnold Cuyler, who was living in Bristol at that time, may have also been approached by JW Elders from one or more Congregations, and that he also may have denied the affair.

Arnold Cuyler and Chasity West maintained an ongoing relationship from August 1995 forward, but Arnold Cuyler rejected West's attempts to get married and move away from Connecticut and the prying eyes of all their Jehovah's Witness family members. Arnold Cuyler used as his excuse his parental obligations to his young son and daughter.

Keeping it in the family, Chasity West paid $3400.00 to AlexisGrajales, the 18 year-old boyfriend of another [probable JW] cousin, India Riley, to help her solve the "children problem". Using a key copied from a house key that Chasity West, who was reportedly accompanied by yet another cousin named Amber Riley, had stolen out of Lindsey's diaper bag while the children were being babysat by a Great-Grandmother, Chasity West and Alexis Grajales entered the home of Tammi Cuyler around 2:00 AM on July 9, 1998. While Grajales restrained Tammi Cuyler, Chasity West attempted to cut the throats and wrists of Jarrell Cuyler and Lindsey Cuyler with a box cutter. West nearly decapitated Jarrell Cuyler, but Lindsey Cuyler survived deep cuts to her throat and arms. Curiously, no attempt was made to kill nor seriously injure Tammi Cuyler. Danny Henderson, Tammi Cuyler's 18 month-old nephew, whom she was babysitting, also went untouched.

Chasity West and Alexis Grajales were eventually arrested and charged for the crimes. Alexis Grajales turned states witness and testified against West because he allegedly had been under the impression that West was only going to vandalize Tammi Cuyler's home. During the trial, Chasity West alleged that Tammi Cuyler's father, Wallace Henderson, had sexually abused her when she was a child. Joyce West also alleged that Wallace Henderson had also sexually abused Tammi Henderson when she was a child.

Joyce West, mother, and Paul West Jr., brother, each gave specific testimony during the trial, that if believed, would have negated parts of the case established by the prosecution against Chasity West. Joyce West even testified that Chasity West was at home at the time of the attack. Reportedly, by the end of the trial, various segments of these JW families were extremely upset with other segments. During the police investigation of this case, Roberto Marquez, 23, of Hartford, Connecticut, was charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. Outcome unknown.

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PENNSYLVANIA v. VINCENT HATCHER was a 2001-02 Pennsylvania murder court decision. In October 2001, Vincent Hatcher, 21, of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and who had no prior criminal record, shot and killed and shot and wounded two fellow Jehovah's Witnesses during an argument over a girl at a Philadelphia "Jehovah's Witness Get-Together".

Devon Jacobs, 18, and Quenton Jacobs, 17, had spent that Sunday attending their local Kingdom Hall, and going door-to-door selling WatchTowers. That evening, they decided to attend the "Get-Together" at the Palace Roller Skating Rink. There, while apparently waiting for the rink to open, the two JW Brothers got into an argument with Hatcher reportedly over a girl. The opening of the rink apparently interrupted the argument, and the Jacob brothers went inside. However, Hatcher, who JWs later reported as having been "disfellowshipped", retrieved a pistol from his car. Inside, Hatcher proceeded to shoot Devon Jacobs multiple times in the chest and abdomen, while Quenton Jacobs was wounded in the leg. A third older Jacobs brother attempted to transport his brothers to the hospital, but got lost on the way. By the time they got to a hospital, Devon Jacobs had died due to loss of blood (one can't help but wonder if the likely offered blood transfusion would have saved him in the ER).

In May 2002, Vincent Hatcher was convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to the mandatory term of life in prison with no chance of parole. Hatcher was also convicted for violation of the Uniform Firearms Act, and sentenced to two and a half to five years; as well as 10 to 20 years for aggravated assault on Quenton Jacobs.

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PENNSYLVANIA v. MALCOLM MOORE was a 2000-01 Pennsylvania murder court case. Limited Details. In Summer 2000, 25 year-old Malcolm Moore, Philadelphia, stabbed to death his Jehovah's Witness Mother, Mary Moore Hooper. Moore reportedly had been severely mentally ill for years, and had been cared for by his mother until he went berserk and stabbed her over 100 times. Moore claimed that "evil voices" instructed him to do the deed. Thelma Moore, 29, was the only other sibling. Outcome unknown.

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NEW YORK v. WILLIAM RODRIGUEZ was a 2001-02 New York murder court case. William Rodriguez, 37, and Gloria Rodriguez, 35, who lived in the Bronx, apparently were a happy Jehovah's Witness couple for many years. The JW Couple had three children. However, sometime around 1999, after Gloria Rodriguez became employed with the local Bronx Board of Education, possibly after the youngest child had reached teenage years, Gloria Rodriguez started "cheating" on her husband. Gloria Rodriguez had an affair with Hector Rodriguez, 23, in late 1999 or early 2000. She also may have had other affairs.

In Summer 2001, Gloria Rodriguez asked for a divorce, but William Rodriguez refused. Given the JWs' belief that divorces should only be considered if a partner has committed adultery, it apparently took a while for William Rodriguez to suspect his wife of cheating. Once the light bulb came on, the couple may have started arguing and fighting because Gloria Rodriguez did not want to 'fess up. As much as it does not make sense to non-JWs, Gloria Rodriguez may have preferred to hire the murder of her husband, rather than admit to adultery, which would have resulted in her "excommunication", even if she were an "inactive" JW.

Gloria Rodriguez approached Hector Rodriguez and offered him $1000.00 down, and $3000.00 afterwards to kill her husband. Hector Rodriguez agreed. On Monday morning, August 6, 2001, at 7:35 AM, as William Rodriguez walked to his street-parked car to go to work, Hector Rodriguez approached him in a fake robbery attempt. Hector Rodriguez then gunned down William Rodriguez in a hail of bullets -- one of which grazed a bystander.

Hector Rodriguez then fled to Florida, where he was arrested on that Thursday at a Tampa area Western-Union office, where he believed he was going to receive the additional $3000.00. It is unclear how police solved the case so quickly. In May 2002, Gloria Rodriguez and Hector Rodriguez each pled guilty to first degree murder, and reportedly were to be sentenced to 20 years to life.

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TEXAS v. JOHNNY WALDEN was a 2001 Texas murder court decision. Limited, incomplete details. In May 2001, a 93 year-old "devout" and "active" Jehovah's Witness, named Julia Walden, of Brazoria, Texas, was murdered by her 39 year-old son, Johnny Walden. Walden was convicted, and he may have received a 40 year prison sentence in a plea deal.

Johnny Walden and his 18 month younger brother, Tommy Walden, were adopted by Julia Walden when they were babies/infants, and when she was in her mid to late 50s. Julia Walden's husband, Bill Walden, left her not long thereafter, and she reared the boys by herself. There is a good possibility that the two boys were children of one of Julia Walden's relatives.

Johnny Walden had lived a troubled life -- from childhood right up to the murder. He was the "bad" son, while Tommy was the "good" son. Over the years, Johnny Walden had claimed that his troubled life was the result of mental issues caused by his having been sexually molested when he was around 3-4 years old by a late-teens male relative who also lived in the household at that time.

Possibly after serving a tour in the Army, Johnny Walden returned to Brazoria and married Sheryl Anderson, and they had a son sometime around 1984/5, named Jonathon Walden. Johnny Walden and Sheryl Walden divorced around 1992/3.

Prior to April 2001, Johnny Walden had lived away from Brazoria. It is not clear whether this was his choice, or whether he had been incarcerated. In any event, Johnny Walden asked his mother's permission to move into a small house behind her home, and she allowed him to do so, in April 2001, despite protests from Tommy Walden, Sheryl Anderson, and Jonathon Walden.

On the evening of May 20, 2001, Johnny Walden and Julia Walden argued over whether or not Johnny had been molested by a relative when he was a child. Apparently, this had been a decades-long issue between Johnny and his mother, who apparently had always denied that the molestation had occurred. Julia Walden still would not admit such. Johnny Walden apparently stewed overnight on the issue, and re-initiated the argument on the morning of May 21. Apparently, when Julia Walden still would not admit that Johnny had been molested, he attacked her, and smothered her to death with a pillow.

Tommy Walden found his mother's body when he got off work that afternoon. She was in her bed, as if she had died in her sleep -- except for the signs of a struggle on both her forearms. Johnny Walden was the main suspect, and he apparently confessed a few days after the Kingdom Hall funeral.

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ROBERT GRAHAM - SHERRY GRAHAM SUICIDES. In April 2000, a Newton, North Carolina, Jehovah's Witness Couple, named Robert Avery Graham, 38, and Sherry Graham, 38, each died after refusing to consent to life-saving blood transfusions made necessary by blood loss caused by gunshot wounds. Limited details. Sometime on Saturday, April 15, 2000, Robert Graham shot his wife Sherry Graham in a domestic dispute at their home. Robert Graham fled their home, but Sherry Graham's gunshot wound apparently was not that serious given that she was conscious when police arrived and found her on the kitchen floor. It is not known whether she had telephoned police, or whether there were children in the house at the time of the shooting, nor is it known how long it was between the shooting and arrival of help.

Robert Graham was shot by Newton police several hours later on Saturday afternoon when Graham fired a shot at a moving cruiser, and apparently later threatened to again fire at police after his vehicle was stopped. Graham was admitted to the local hospital with a "non-life threatening" wound, but Graham refused to consent to a needed blood transfusion. Robert Graham died about 28 hours later on Sunday evening at Catawba Memorial Hospital due to blood loss.

Interestingly, local JWs quickly claimed that Robert Graham was not a Jehovah's Witness, despite the fact that he was able to do what many JWs have been unable to do -- look death in the face and refuse to save his own life by simply saying "yes" to a WatchTower-prohibited blood transfusion. Sherry Graham was transported at some point to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, where she too died during the night of April 18-19, because she refused to consent to a needed blood transfusion. Sherry Graham's father, who provided info to reporters about his daughter's condition and the beliefs of JWs, identified himself as someone who had "studied with the Jehovah's Witnesses".

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SOUTH CAROLINA v. MARK EAST was a 2000-02 South Carolina court decision. Limited details. At around 5:45 PM, on October 25, 2000, Mark East, 63, of Berea, South Carolina, shot and killed his wife of 40 years, Judith East, 57. Authorities reportedly found Judith East in the couple's living room dead from two shotgun blasts. The couple had four surviving children, and four grandchildren. Curiously, in June 2002, the local prosecutor agreed to a plea deal with Mark East in which East pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a sentence of 30 years, BUT suspended upon completion of five years' home incarceration and five years' probation.

Apparently, there were unknown extenuating circumstances related to this "killing". Judith East reportedly was a Jehovah's Witness Pioneer, that is, a full-time "door-knocker", with the Greenville Northwest Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Judith East's Mother was also a JW, so it is possible that she had been reared as a JW. And, since JWs are commanded not to marry non-JWs, if Judith East had been reared JW, then it is more probable than not that Mark East would have been a JW. Even those who know practically nothing about JWs know that someone married to a spouse with that many JW connections has themselves had some amount of JW connections over the years. At most, Mark East was or had been a JW. At the very least, he was a tortured non-JW husband, who simply may have had all that he could take.

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CALIFORNIA v. LONNIE DAVID STRINGER was a 1996-2021 California state MURDER case in which a one-time Jehovah's Witness ELDER murdered his wife for the $100,000.00 life insurance proceeds. Many of the friends and relatives in this drama also were longtime Jehovah's Witnesses. On a morning in April 1995, Lonnie D. Stringer, age 32, called 9-1-1 and reported that he had returned from errands only to find his deceased wife, Cynthia Stringer, having been beaten repeatedly on her head with a blunt object.

It took investigators until July 1996 to gather sufficient evidence to arrest Lonnie Stringer -- probably due to the "Jehovah's Witness Factor". First, and TYPICALLY, most non-JWs who thought that they knew Lonnie Stringer could not believe that Lonnie Springer was capable of harming anyone -- especially his wife. Most non-JWs thought Lonnie Springer was one of the nicest, laidback people in the world. Second, many of Stringer's JW family and friends were as marginal as was he. The Kingdom Halls in Vallejo, California did not contain the WatchTower Society's most desirable caucasian members.

By 1995, onetime Elder Lonnie Springer was not even attending meetings with any regularity. While Cynthia Springer attended the Kingdom Hall the night previous, Lonnie Springer attended a nearby casino, where he lost the $1000.00 that he had just borrowed from a JW friend to pay for the truck driving school that Stringer had just started. Knowing that there would be hell raised over such probably made the intoxicated Springer do what he did. Besides, it was later discovered that for years Springer had been telling certain non-JWs, potential girlfriends for instance, that he was unhappy with his JW Wife, because typically, she did not want to have children. He even had told one male that he would like to have Cynthia Springer killed.

Lonnie David Springer cut a plea deal in which he received 16 years to life, and Cynthia's family has had to fight to keep Springer from being paroled. Springer has been in California's courts constantly since his conviction.

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UNITED STATES v. PETER A. NEDD was a 1999-2000 Massachusetts federal criminal court case. In December 1999, an African-American Jehovah's Witness, named Peter A. Nedd, was arrested by the F.B.I. on multiple charges of interstate threats and stalking. Nedd had been threatening to rape and murder three members of a fellow Jehovah's Witness family that lived in Massachusetts. Peter Nedd, 38, had become obsessed with and started stalking the young teenage daughter of this JW family sometime around 1995. After four years of telephone calls and letters from Nedd, the JW Parents obtained a restraining order against him. However, Nedd repeatedly violated that order in 1999 by telephoning them, threatening them, and appearing at their residence in an attempt to visit the by-then young adult daughter. Approximately 80 harassing telephone calls were tape-recorded. In 2000, Nedd was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 33 months of incarceration. During this trial, the federal prosecutor presented evidence that Nedd had been diagnosed with a mentally illness as far back as 1989, but that Nedd had not continued to get psychiatric care or take his medication.

See also PETER A. NEDD v. HOME DEPOT, which was a 1995-98 New York federal civil court case in which Peter Nedd sued his employer, Home Depot, alleging employment discrimination. That New York jury believed Nedd's allegations over Home Depot's multiple discrediting witnesses, and awarded Nedd $210,000.00 in compensatory damages and $1,000,000.00 in punitive damages. Because of the statutory damages cap, the judge had to reduce Nedd's total award to $300,000.00.

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On Sunday morning, January 2, 2000, services at the Norco, California Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses were delayed for about an hour as Riverside County Deputies attempted to disarm an unidentified 40-year-old JW Female who was threatening to commit suicide by slashing her throat and wrists with a kitchen knife.

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MARK O. BARTON - JW DAY TRADER. On Thursday afternoon, July 30, 1999, in what was deemed Atlanta's worst mass murder, a recently converted Jehovah's Witness, named Mark Orrin Barton, 44, who was an unemployed chemical salesman turned "day trader", walked into the offices of two Atlanta stock brokerage firms, Momentum Securities and All-Tech Investment Group, and announced, "I hope this doesn't ruin your trading day." Mark O. Barton then opened fire with two 9mm and .45 caliber handguns -- killing 9 people and wounding 7 others at the two offices. After a five-hour manhunt, police stopped his van at an Acworth, Georgia, BP gasoline station, where Barton committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with both pistols at the same time.

When police went to Barton's apartment, they discovered the bodies of Barton's wife, Leigh Ann (Vandiver) Barton, age 27, his son, Matthew, age 11, and his daughter, Mychelle, age 7. The childrens' bodies were found in their beds, and the wife was found in a closet. Barton murdered his wife Tuesday evening, while she slept, and then he murdered his children the following Wednesday night, while they slept. All three had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer. The Bartons had only recently reconciled after Leigh Ann Barton had moved out in April -- possibly because Mark Barton was demanding that she also join the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Barton left hand-written notes on all three bodies, and a typed suicide note, which explained, in part:

"It just seemed like a quiet way to kill and a relatively painless way to die. There was little pain. All of them were dead in less than five minutes. I hit them with a hammer in their sleep and then put them face down in the bathtub to make sure they did not wake up in pain. To make sure they were dead.

"... I have come to hate this life and this system of things. I have come to have no hope. I killed the children to exchange them for five minutes of pain for a lifetime of pain.

"... I know that Jehovah will take care of all of them in the next life.

"Please know that I love Leigh Ann, Matthew and Mychelle with all of my heart. If Jehovah is willing, I would like to see all of them again in the resurrection, to have a second chance. ... ."

Barton was apparently distraught over the heavy financial losses that he recently had suffered while day-trading at the two stock brokerage firms. Barton had reportedly lost $20,000.00 on Tuesday, and over $100,000.00 over the past couple months. Barton had lost his home and possibly several hundreds of thousands of dollars of his life savings (and life insurance proceeds) over the previous year.

After these murders, it was disclosed that Barton had been considered the main suspect in the 1993 deaths of his first wife, Debra Barton, 36, (the mother of Matthew and Mychelle), and her mother, Eloise Spivey, 59, both of whom had been hacked to death inside a camper at a crowded Alabama lakeside campsite over Labor Day weekend. Barton had taken out a $600,000.00 insurance policy on that first wife just weeks before her murder. Barton had not been charged, despite a ton of circumstantial and some physical evidence. Barton and the married Leigh Ann Vandiver were even dating at the time, and Vandiver even accompanied Barton to the funeral.

Three months after the 1993 murders, a day-care worker reported that Barton's then 2 year-old daughter, Mychelle, told her that her father had been sexually molesting her. An investigation by Georgia's Department of Family and Children Services was inconclusive mainly due to the child's age.

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In August 1999, an unidentified 16 year-old male, who lived with his grandparents near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was arrested for threatening the life of his Jehovah's Witness GrandMother, and threatening to go to her Kingdom Hall and kill certain persons there. The teenager was arrested on charges of assault and terroristic threatening, and was placed in juvenile detention pending further action. Given that the troubled teen had threatened to make an attack on the Lancaster Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, this was more than a simple family quarrel. As has repeated itself numerous times over the decades, the untrained JW Elders probably stuck their noses where such did not belong, and made a bad situation even worse. No further details.

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MARIA DE JESUS CESPEDES SUICIDE. The following 1999 Jehovah's Witness tragedy involved a JW young adult who was injured while committing a crime, and then committed "backdoor-suicide" by refusing a blood transfusion. In February 1999, members of a family of Peruvian Jehovah's Witnesses had previously entered Canada -- apparently for the purpose of more easily crossing the border illegally into the United States. Maria de Jesus Cespedes-Cabanillas, 23, and probably others of her family, were using what was apparently a "well-known" method of breaking America's immigration laws -- sneaking into the United States late at night on slow moving freight trains crossing the Michigan Central Railroad Bridge, just south of the Whirlpool Bridge, in Niagara Falls, New York.

However, Maria de Jesus Cespedes-Cabanillas accidentally fell from the train as it proceeded through Niagara, and her left leg was severed. The woman was found by Border Patrol Agents, who then had her transported to Erie County Medical Center. There, Maria de Jesus Cespedes-Cabanillas' high moral standards would not permit her to consent to life-saving blood transfusions made necessary by her massive blood loss. She died around noontime the next day. Maria de Jesus Cespedes-Cabanillas was buried by relatives in Miami, Florida.

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CALIFORNIA v. JOSHUA SHERMAN was a 1998 California murder court case. In May 1998, a 19 year-old Jehovah's Witness named Joshua Sherman was convicted of "involuntary manslaughter" in the April 1997 death of a fellow 18 year-old Jehovah's Witness and romantic rival, named Michael Vernon Barnett. Sentence unknown.

The female in this Newhall, California Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses "Love Triangle" was named Roxanne Roy. Michael Barnett and Roxanne Roy had been dating since Barnett's sophomore year at Hart High School, but had recently broken up. Joshua Sherman reportedly had been contending for Roxanne Roy's affection, and evidently wanted to remove Barnett from contention.

Michael Barnett was an award winning artist, who was in his first year of college. Barnett's JW Parents and friends described him as shy, reserved, and "very sensitive". Joshua Sherman's attorney alleged that Barnett was a martial arts expert. Sherman's attorney described Sherman as a a socially awkward teen, who had been home schooled by protective parents, who reportedly were "wealthy".

On Sunday, April 13, 1997, at 2:00 AM, the physically larger Sherman reportedly telephoned Barnett and talked Barnett into meeting him in the parking lot of Grace Baptist Church, which was within walking distance of Barnett's home. There, a physical altercation occurred in which noone but Sherman knows what actually happened. Around 5:30 AM, a church member arrived to prepare the church for Sunday services, and found Barnett alive, but badly beaten and lying in a pool of his own blood. Barnett's wounds were described as "massive injuries to the head and face",' including a broken tooth, and a depressed fracture to his left temple measuring four inches in diameter, which apparently had been caused by some sort of weapon.

Interestingly, the Grace Baptist Church member who found Barnett and summoned help had attended high school with Barnett. Barnett died the next day. It is not known if a need for blood transfusions was an issue.

Initially, noone knew who had telephoned Barnett. It was four days before Sherman eventually turned himself into police. Interestingly, a Jehovah's Witness named Kenneth Vail played some uncertain role during those four days. Vail reportedly was also a member of the Newhall, California Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, and possibly may have been an Elder. Evidently, Sherman had confided the events of early Sunday morning to Vail. Interestingly, it was reported that Vail testified in court regarding such. [If true, such is extremely interesting given California JW Elders refusal to testify in various California child molestation cases. Evidently, California JW Elders believe they have the right to pick and choose which confidential conversations they wish to divulge.]

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RHODE ISLAND v. MONIQUE FOFANA was a 1998 Rhode Island murder court decision. In March 1996, a 15 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Monique Fofana, who attended Classical High School in Providence, attacked and beat with a frying pan her 75-year-old grandmother, Mildred Washington, who had stopped by the apartment occupied by Fofana and her mother to pickup Fofana and take her to a meeting at their Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. Washington survived the vicious attack, which left serious injuries to her head, torso, and arms, but never regained consciousness, and died six months later in a nursing home.

To make matters even worse, Monique Fofana appeared on television, and eventually appeared before a grand jury, and testified that she had witnessed two "burglars" bludgeon her 75-year-old grandmother with the frying pan. Fofana claimed that she had been in an upstairs bedroom when the attack began, and that after discovering such, she stayed hidden out of fear for her own safety. Fofana identified 19-year-old Darrell Pona as one of the assailants. Pona was charged, and Fofana then provided additional testimony against him before Fofana's juvenile boyfriend stepped forward in Spring 1997 and disclosed that it was he who had been hiding in an upstairs bedroom, when instead, it was Fofana who argued with and attacked her grandmother.

In December 1998, Monique Fofana pleaded "no contest" to second degree murder, and was sentenced to 52 years in prison. Fofana will be eligible for parole in 2015.

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CALIFORNIA v. GARY STEVEN DELLAPENTA was a 1999 California court decision, which is billed as "The United State's First CyberStalking Conviction". Sometime during 1997-8, Gary Steven Dellapenta, 48/9, met "Randi Barber" (ficticious), 27/8, at a North Hollywood area Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, which they both were attending. Dellapenta and Barber apparently initiated some sort of brief relationship given that he later publicly divulged the code to Barber's security system. When Barber terminated whatever relationship there was, and rebuffed Dellapenta's continued advances, Dellapenta evidently made a nuisance of himself -- possibly even at their Kingdom Hall. The Elders became involved, supposedly at Barber's request, but possibly simply via the congregation grapevine. It is unclear exactly what the Elders did or said to Dellapenta, but whatever it was, it caused Dellapenta to become further enraged at Randi Barber. Some media reports later indicated that Dellapenta was "banned" from the Kingdom Hall, but it is not certain that such drastic action was taken until later in this several months long saga.

Thereafter, Gary S. Dellapenta began to impersonate Barber, who did not even own a personal home computer, on the internet. Gary Dellapenta opened a number of email accounts using Barber's name. Dellapenta also started posting ads on sexually oriented websites, using Barber's name and personal info, in which he solicited sexual relationships on her behalf. During a five or six month period during 1998, Barber received dozens of telephone calls, and six or more males went to Barber's apartment in response to the internet advertisements and email exchanges during which Dellapenta impersonated Barber, and gave out her name, address, description, telephone number, and even the code to her apartment's security system.

Gary Dellapenta also continued his own stalking of Barber, who eventually out of fear stopped sleeping at her own apartment. Barber also eventually lost her real estate office job due her poor job performance caused by the stalking and the resultant stress. At some point, Barber and her father went on the offensive. After explaining the situation to callers, Barber received help from a couple of men who provided info and correspondence with Dellapenta. Barber's father also posed as a responder to one of Dellapenta's ads, and gathered additional email address info. The gathered info was turned over to state and federal authorities, who eventually obtained search warrants which allowed them access to Dellapenta's various online accounts, his Internet Service Provider, and eventually Dellapenta's own computer.

Gary Steven Dellapenta was arrested in February 1999, and initially pleaded not guilty to charges of stalking, computer fraud, and solicitation of sexual assault. However, in April 1999, Dellapenta pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and three counts of solicitation of sexual assault. Dellapenta was sentenced to six years in prison.

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VIRGINIA v. TENILLE A. MORINGS was a 1998 Virginia attempted murder court decision. In November 1998, a 17 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Tenille A. Morings, of Suffolk, Virginia, pleaded "guilty" to three charges, including attempted murder, relating to the November 1997 shooting of her Jehovah's Witness Mother, Elaine Morings. In the plea bargain deal, which Elaine Morings apparently had approved, Tenille Morings was sentenced to serve only 6 of a 33 year prison sentence (apparently 27 years were suspended).

Around 3:00 AM, on Friday, November 21, 1997, then 16 year-old Tenille Morings arrived home late from a date with her 22 year-old boyfriend, of whom Elaine Morings, 42, disapproved, and discovered that her mother had fallen asleep on the living room couch. Tenille Morings put a black stocking cap over her face, and put socks on her hands, and then placed a pillow over her mother's face. Tenille then shot her mother in the forehead with a .25 caliber "saturday night special" pistol.

The underpowered small bullet penetrated her mother's skull, but barely penetrated her brain. The sound of the gunshot apparently woke up Elaine Morings. One media report indicated that Tenille telephoned 9-1-1, but another report indicated that Elaine Morings call 9-1-1 for help and reported a tingling sensation in her arms and that she thought that she had been electrocuted. Possibly both call. Elaine Morings suffered a fractured skull, and the frontal lobes of her brain were bruised, but fortunately, she suffered no permanent injury. She was discharged from the hospital on the following Tuesday.

Tenille's disabled father, Vernon Morings, actually partially excused what his daughter had done. Vernon Morings told reporters that his wife, 14 year-old son, and Tenille were all Jehovah's Witnesses, "but you see where they are". Morings related that his wife and daughter had been fighting for months over Tenille's 22 year-old boyfriend, and that the mother had even called the police multiple times to the family's apartment. Both amusingly, and typically, Vernon Morings, despite stating that he loved and fully supported his daughter, and hinting at disdain for his JW wife who had went to stay with Portsmouth relatives after discharge, also stated that what had just occurred was a sign of the "last days" predicted by the Bible.

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NEW YORK v. FREDERICK C. WIEDL was a 1994-99 FAMILICIDE case. On a Wednesday evening in March 1994, in Hudson Falls, New York, after being ridiculed by his Jehovah's Witness Wife (possibly joined by Laura's niece, who was spending the night) about his finally becoming a Jehovah's Witness, Frederick Wiedl, age 30, stewed on the insults. After his wife and her 8 year-old neice, Courtney Lawrence, went to bed, Fred Wiedl got his hatchet, returned, and proceeded to strike in her head, Laura Parsons Wiedl, age 29, his wife. The childless couple had been married about three years. Wiedl also attempted to kill in the same manner Laura's niece. The attack left Lawrence seriously disabled and partially paralyzed. The next morning Fred Weidl went to the police station and reported the attacks. Wiedl pleaded guilty to second degree murder and first degree assault, and he was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

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SEAN HINTON SUICIDE. Described by his widow, Francine Hinton Toney, as being "strait-laced" during his teen years growing up in Baltimore, Sean Hinton was reared as a Jehovah's Witness. By 1992, then 22 year-old Sean Hinton sought employment as a law enforcement officer with the Baltimore Police Department, in order to support his wife, two infant sons, and a 5 year-old (step?) daughter. By mid-October 1992, all seemed to be going well. Hinton had nearly completed work at the academy, and was undergoing field training. Graduation and becoming a sworn officer were only a few short weeks away. However, on Friday night, October 24, 1992, Sean Hinton had an auto accident in downtown Baltimore, and was arrested and jailed for DUI. Hinton spent most of that Saturday getting out of jail, and getting his auto out of impoundment. Later that same Saturday afternoon, at 5:40 PM, the troubled Sean Hinton penned a short note to his wife, which stated in part:

"Francine you have dealt with me 4 years, and you never seemed to believe I really loved you -- I do love you. You have Jehovah on your side. I have no one. I need Jehovah but I just can't seem to reach him. So I guess I will see someone. Please take care of our children for me."

Shortly thereafter, Sean Hinton left the housing project apartment which he, his wife, and their children shared with Sean's mother, Jean Hinton. Hinton walked out of the project, rather than driving his auto. At 6:48 PM, Hinton telephoned home from Amtrack's Penn Station to say that he would be home shortly. However, when he didn't return by midnight, his mother and wife reported him missing. Hinton did not return home that weekend, nor to his job on Monday.

On Tuesday, November 3, 1992, Sean Hinton's partially decomposed corpse was found floating in NYC harbor. His wrists were tied together using the drawstrings from the jacket he was wearing. His wallet contained a small amount of cash, and multiple pieces of ID. The autopsy indicated that Hinton had died from drowning several days previous. The NYC medical examiner eventually ruled Hinton's death to be a suicide, but issued the death certificate without a cause of death listed. Curiously, the Baltimore Police Department gave the unsworn Hinton a police funeral and burial, paid for all the expenses, and even reportedly paid out Hinton's insurance benefits to his family, despite the fact that due to the DUI, and failing to return to work, Hinton reportedly had been officially recommended for termination on or about October 28/29, 1992.

Because of all those uncertainties, and others too numerous to mention in this summary, Francine Hinton, Jean Hinton, and other family members refused to believe that Hinton had committed suicide, but rather believed that he had been murdered by corrupt members of the Baltimore Police Department. On Tuesday, October 21, 1992, during Hinton's field training, Hinton and two regular drug-enforcement officers busted an alleged drug dealer. That alleged drug dealer later filed a formal complaint in which he accused the three officers of burglarizing drugs and cash from his home while he was in jail. Hinton's family believe that he was murdered to keep him from testifying in the inquiry that later cleared the two drug-enforcement officers.

MARYLAND v. RONALD HINTON. The 1992 case of Sean Hinton was brought back to the public's attention in June 2006, when Hinton's by-then 15 year-old son, Ronald Hinton, was arrested for the rape and murder of the 4 year-old female cousin that he was babysitting. The Hinton family resurrected the case in efforts to excuse why Ronald Hinton had essentially confessed to committing the crime to police interrogators. Although Francine Toney believed and still believes that her son was innocent, in May 2008, a Baltimore jury convicted Ronald Hinton of the rape and murder. Hinton was sentenced to life plus 25 years in prison.

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TODD KOMANIAK. According to numerous media articles, in November 1998, a "devoted" Jehovah's Witness Father of five children, ages 3 to 13, named Todd Komaniak, age 36, who was "active" in one of the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, reportedly staged his death by murder/suicide, so that he could leave his JW family and flee to south Florida.

On Monday, November 23, 1998, Todd Komaniak first telephoned his wife, Donna Komaniak, and told her he was running an errand, but soon thereafter called 9-1-1 from his cell phone and reported that he had been shot and was having trouble breathing. The next day, his pickup truck was found abandoned in the Strip District near the Allegheny River. The pickup's passenger side window was smashed, and blood spots were found inside. A blood-stained boot thought to be Komaniak's was found nearby. A land search by police helicopters and tracking dogs, as well as a river search by police divers, turned up nothing.

On Wednesday, Roxann Gerber, age 38, reported and proved via photos to police that Komaniak and she had been having an affair for the past two years. Thereafter, police discovered that Komaniak, an auto service technician, had sold most of his tools the day of his disappearance, "because he was going out of business and leaving town". Komaniak had also recently purchased a bunch of camping equipment that he had put on lay-away several months previous.

On December 13, 1998, Todd Komaniak telephoned his wife, Donna Komaniak, from the Miami, Florida area, and let her know that he was alive and well. Komaniak also communicated with the Pittsburgh Police Department given that he was subject to possible prosecution on a number of charges for his false report. Pittsburgh police contacted Florida police, who began a series of communications with Komaniak. Miami police eventually took Todd Komaniak into protective custody, and had Komaniak involuntarily committed to a Florida mental health facility, due to their belief that he was suicidal.

Todd Komaniak reportedly returned to Pennsylvania briefly in early January 1999, but thereafter returned to south Florida to live and work. It is not known whether Komaniak's wife and five children later joined him in south Florida.

In February 1999, Roxann Gerber was charged with making harassing telephone calls to Donna Komaniak. Outcome unknown.

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MAINE v. JOHN C. MANSFIELD was a 1992-95 Maine state court ARSON conviction. In November 1992, while the Jehovah's Witness Couple were estranged, John Mansfield, age 51, set fire to the family home in Trenton, Maine, just before he and a son, Jason Mansfield, left to attend a meeting at their local Kingdom Hall. Reportedly, there were TWO insurance policies on the home???? Investigators also found valuable personal property stashed away from the home. Sentence unknown.

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FLORIDA v. JUSTINA RIVERO. On July 3, 1998, a 72 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Justina Rivero, attempted to murder her 83 year-old JW Husband, named Agustin Rivero, Sr. Agustin Rivero Sr., who suffered from Alzheimer's, and could not talk, was living at a West Palm Beach area nursing home at the time. During the July 1998 visit with her husband, Justina Rivero mixed a "rat poison cocktail" for both her husband and herself. Both the murder and suicide attempts failed. An arrest warrant was issued in November 1998, and Justina Rivero was released without bond after she finally turned herself in two weeks after the warrant was issued.

In February 1999, Rivero was acquitted of attempted murder charges on the grounds of temporary insanity. Her trial defense was that she had been depressed and suicidal over her and her husband's living conditions, and she did not want to die and leave her husband to be "abused" at the nursing home. That, despite the fact that this elderly Cuban immigrant couple evidently were surrounded by a large extended Jehovah's Witness family. With Justina Rivero at his bedside, Agustin Rivero, Sr., died three days after her acquittal.

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CALIFORNIA v. MARIO SALVADOR PADILLA and CALIFORNIA v. SAMUEL RAMIREZ are related ongoing 1998-2017 California FAMILICIDE - MURDER criminal court cases. In January 1998, Mario S. Padilla, age 16, of Los Angeles, California, accompliced by his 14 year-old cousin (whom lived nearby with one of the grandparents), named Samuel Ramirez, intentionally plotted the murders of his step-father, Pedro Castillo, and his mother, Gina Castillo. Mario Padilla apparently was angry that his step-father and mother, whom already had other children living in a cramp, two bedroom apartment, had just had another baby whom they had moved into their children's already cramped bedroom.

Skipping school and smoking marijuana, Padilla and Ramirez went to the Castillo's apartment where Padilla attacked and stabbed Gina Castillo time after time with multiple inadequate knives and a screwdriver due to his lack of "killing" experience. Gina Castillo survived 45 stab wounds, and even was able to tell LA County Deputies responding to her 911 call who were the perpetrators. Gina Castillo possibly died only after refusing necessary life-saving blood transfusions.

In 1999, Mario Padilla was convicted of the first-degree murder of Gina Castillo and conspiracy to murder Pedro Castillo, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That sentence is now being challenged due to recent changes in the law regarding convicted juveniles. Samuel Ramirez was convicted of assisting those crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In 2006, Mario Padilla was BAPTIZED in Pelican Bay State Prison as a Jehovah's Witness Minister. Padilla's family's status as Jehovah's Witnesses is undocumented, but seems to exist. Media reports from 1998 indicate that the 16 year-old boy had never been in trouble until the planned FAMILICIDE. Padilla was said to regularly accompany his parents to "church". Padilla complained that his parents were overly strict, and would not allow him to go anywhere or do anything. Once in jail and prison, Padilla maintained an exemplary record, stayed away from gangs, and always maintained "religious" contacts. Essentially, Mario Padilla was the TYPICAL Jehovah's Witness Murderer. If Padilla did not have prior contact with the WatchTower Cult, at a minimum, then the WatchTower Cult is trolling for converts amongst, and is attractive to, CONVICTED FAMILICIDE MURDERERS.

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