The Krugersdorp Killings: Cult, Con Artists, and the Woman Who Claimed to Speak for God

In 2016, a string of professionals in the quiet mining town of Krugersdorp, South Africa, started disappearing after appointments with new clients. The killer was a team of believers doing the bidding of a woman who claimed to speak for God herself: Cecilia Steyn.

Join us as we unpack the chilling details of the Krugersdorp Killings, a case involving a massive financial con and a manipulative cult leader. Join us as we explore how one woman was able to gain control over her followers and convince them to commit a series of shocking murders. Join us as we discuss the terrifying power of this religious manipulation and how the cult’s methods were similar to the dangerous influence wielded by figures like Charles Manson. This is the story of how a twisted belief system led to an entirely preventable tragedy.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Mandy: [00:00:00] In 2016, a string of professionals in a quiet mining town started disappearing. After appointments with new clients, each one turned up dead. The killer wasn't a stranger lurking in the dark, though it was a team of believers doing the bidding of a woman who claimed to speak for God himself.

Marker

Mandy: Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True Crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa.

Hi, Melissa.

Melissa: Hi Mandy. How are you?

Mandy: I am doing well. I am looking out the window as I record. There's butterflies flying by, there's sunshine and there is my dog digging a hole in a 

Melissa: Hmm.

Mandy: where he should not be digging a hole. It's lovely. 

I. 

Melissa: Well, if you can ignore that part, I'm with you because it is so gorgeous. I'm out of the closet and I'm in a regular room with a window so I can actually record when it's not raining and it's beautiful and it's such a mind like cleanser for me. It's doing 

Mandy: is. 

Melissa: like serotonin's like crazy high.

Uh, it's [00:01:00] wonderful.

Mandy: I can tell, I can instantly tell when we got on the call that you, you, the vibes were, the vibes were there for you today.

Melissa: Which is just gonna make me question every time I talk to you, Melissa, are the vibes there? Mandy's gonna be able to tell the vibes aren't there? Um, but yes, they are there. They are here. And I am excited to get into this story this week. I know you are as well.

Mandy: I am too, because this one has a little bit of cult, a little cult action going on, and 

I don't 

Melissa: I'd say a 

Mandy: a good cult. Yeah, I 

like a good cult story, so we will get right into it. The city of Krueger's Dorp sits on the West Rand of the How Tang Province in South Africa. This was a gold mining town. It was built on the promise of wealth, but by the 2000 tens, that promise had kind of faded like a lot of towns founded.

Really on an industry that has seen better days. It struggled with significant poverty. It had that small town feel where everybody knew everyone, and for the most part, people lived with a sense of security. They didn't [00:02:00] lock their doors and they just trusted their neighbors. But that precious feeling of safety was completely shattered on May 27th, 2016. On that day, 64-year-old financial advisor, Anthony Scofield left his home He was heading out to meet a new client. He told his family where he was going and what time he expected to be back, But when that time came and went, his family became worried. They tried calling his phone multiple times with no success, and eventually they did call the police to report him missing. The very next day, the police located his abandoned car. Anthony wasn't inside, but investigators soon realized that this wasn't just a simple disappearance. They found his body stuffed into the trunk of his own vehicle. He'd been strangled to death the investigation immediately revealed that money had been withdrawn from his bank account shortly after he was killed. This looked like a robbery that had gone terribly wrong.

Melissa: This was a shocking and brutal crime for the small, close-knit [00:03:00] community, but the shock turned into sheer terror just a few days later when another victim surfaced on May 31st. Just four days after Anthony's disappearance, another financial advisor, 29-year-old Kevin McAlpine, also failed to return home.

He had told his family that he was attending a business meeting. His pregnant wife was absolutely frantic with worry, and she reported him missing. And just like with Anthony, the police found Kevin's car abandoned. His body was also found inside the trunk. He had been strangled, and again, money had been withdrawn from his bank account.

Now Krueger's Dorp was gripped by an overwhelming sense of fear. Two financial advisors were killed within four days. Both strangled both found in the trunks of their cars, and both of them had cash stolen from their accounts. It certainly looked like a serial killer was on the loose, specifically targeting people in the financial sector by luring them to fake appointments.

This led to people canceling their appointments and [00:04:00] withdrawing from their normal routines, and the police had a new terrifying label for the Killer's method. They called it the appointment murders, but this killer wasn't done just yet. On June 3rd is two days after Kevin's body was found.

The body of 52-year-old real estate agent Ley Lanigan was discovered in an open field. She had gone missing after meeting a client who wanted to look at a property. When she didn't come home, her Her husband called their son and told him he was concerned.

Later he called again and said that somebody was trying to withdraw money from his bank account. Huntley's husband and son had started searching immediately and they were actually the ones who found her abandoned car near a local hospital. Her body was later found a few miles away in a field, and she had also been strangled and money had been withdrawn from her account.

The difference there is her body was not found in the trunk of her car. CCTV footage showed Hunley getting out of her car and being approached by another woman, [00:05:00] but the camera didn't catch where the two of them went. Her murder sent shockwaves through the real estate community as it seemed like.

it wasn't just financial advisors that were being targeted. The victims were all seemingly lured to an appointment and then murdered in a terrifyingly similar manner. The people of Krueger's door were paralyzed with fear and desperately waiting for the police to catch this monster. 

Mandy: It didn't take long for the police to catch a major break in the case. Even though the killer or killers were very careful about how they lured their victims to these meetings, they made critical and obvious mistakes when it came to stealing the money. When investigators pulled the bank records and reviewed the transactions after the murders, they were able to find CCTV footage from an ATM where money was withdrawn from the victim's accounts. The footage was surprisingly clear and it showed two people. It was a man and a woman. The person who eventually identified the two people was an informer who recognized these individuals as siblings [00:06:00] named Marcel and LaRue Stain. The police immediately sought out these two and asked them to post for photos, which they then used to confirm the match with the ATM footage. With that key piece of evidence, Marcel and LA were arrested. They were also linked to the victim's bank cards. When the police started questioning the siblings, the story took a completely different and much darker turn than anyone expected. LaRue was the first to talk. He confessed to being involved in all three of the 2016 appointment murders, but he insisted strongly that he had acted alone. Investigators, though didn't believe him for a second. The way the murders were carried out in the cold and calculated way, the victims were lured suggested a planned operation that involved more than just one person. It just didn't make sense for a lone killer to be so organized and so brazen. But to truly understand how these two ordinary siblings became cold-blooded murderers, you have to really look at the religious landscape of Krueger's, [00:07:00] Dorf and South Africa as a whole. This is a place where people are extremely religious with deep seated conservative Christian values. This highly devout community was still very much reeling from the effects of the Satanic panic that had swept through the country back in the 1990s. And this panic, which was fueled often by the unsubstantiated claims from evangelical police officers, promoted the idea 

that ritualistic crimes were being committed across the country by devil worshipers. One of the loudest voices was that of Leonard sms. He was the head of Cape Town's Child Protection Unit, In 1991, he told reporters that 11 babies had been bred. That was his terminology specifically for the satanic sacrifice and cannibalism. He later admitted that the claims were actually not based in evidence at all, but. The damage had already been done and the public was fixated on the idea of a murderous satanic cult. And in a community that already views [00:08:00] things like playing Dungeons and Dragons and reading Harry Potter as potentially satanic, that pervasive fear really never went away.

Melissa: real quick, there is a podcast called Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as our friend, uh, Rebecca was a producer on it, and it's all about the Satanic panic in the US and how that was used to really scare people. which goes along with this exactly with this from the nineties even. It involves the West Memphis three and how that all came about.

so I was actually surprised to hear this was also happening in South Africa and not just here in the States. 

Mandy: too. I was fam, I'm familiar with the Satanic panic of the United 

States, but I guess I didn't realize that it really was, 

Melissa: It was 

worldwide, I guess. Yeah, But this is the climate that allowed a deliverance ministry called Overcomers through Christ or OTC to Thrive. This ministry was founded by RVA and it focused entirely on helping people escape satanism. Their practice was intense, involving loud and [00:09:00] long prayer sessions to cast out demons, believed to cause everything from depression and addiction to bad luck.

Essentially, they believed they were fighting the devil's army in a literal daily war, and that's when the actual devil, or a very convincing imitation came knocking. It was in 2008 when Rhea got a phone call that would eventually change everything and start the events that led to the appointment murders eight years later, The caller was a woman named Cecilia Stain. Cecilia Stanine was born in 1980 and had a background that seemed relatively ordinary at first while her mother, Mara fondly recalled Cecilia's early years and called her an obedient child. Cecilia claimed that her father was actually abusive. She dropped outta school when she was 15 and was once suspended for drinking.

She ended up marrying a man to help him obtain a green card, but the marriage only last four days. At the time she called the ministry, she was married to a police officer named Andre Stane.

And they [00:10:00] had been married for 15 years. Cecilia had children, and according to her mom, she was a devoted and wonderful mother. However, in 2008 when she called RIA from the OTC Ministry, she told a very different, far more dramatic story about herself. Cecilia claims to be a 42nd generational satanic witch and the quote bride of Satan, who was desperately trying To escape her destiny. She claimed that this was not a matter of choice, but something she was born into. Making her struggle all the more important. So this immediately grabbed R'S attention. Remember R'S entire ministry, this OTC was about fighting the devil and helping people escape satanism.

So who's a bigger git in this kind of thing than somebody that's a 42nd generation satanic witch? Obviously this is a big deal. And so to Ria, this was the biggest story she could ever hope for this real life devil worshiper who wanted to come over to the side of [00:11:00] God. Cecilia's story offered a terrifying yet thrilling validation of re's entire life's work.

And we still have so much more to get into after a quick break to hear word from this week's sponsors. 

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Melissa: And now back to the episode.

Mandy: Before the break, police in Krueger's door had just uncovered a horrifying pattern. Three professionals had all been lured to fake appointments, strangled and robbed. Investigators thought they might have a serial killer on their hands, but when they tracked ATM withdraws the footage from the surveillance, they're told a different story. In fact, it wasn't just one killer, but two siblings named Marcel and LaRue Stain, and their confession didn't just expose a murder plot. It really cracked open a twisted world of cults control and the woman pulling every string, which we started to talk about a little bit, Cecilia Stain. Now, Cecilia turned out to be. Not someone who really wanted to overcome satanism and find a different path in life. She turned out to [00:12:00] be a master of manipulation. She quickly convinced RIA and everyone in the ministry group that she was constantly under demon attacks. She would stage these incredibly disturbing and gruesome, even violent displays during these deliverance sessions. Like she would be violently spitting up fake blood, 

having these dramatic, violent convulsions on the floor and all very scary stuff to witness, I'm sure. But it was all just a performance and really part of this calculated deception. But it was so convincing and over the top that Ria not only believed Cecilia, but also ended up focusing. Pretty much all of her work on Cecilia's claims?

Melissa: You know what this reminds me of just a little bit. Uh, Jody Hildebrandt with Ruby Frankie. Remember how she was like acting this all out? I don't think she got to a place of fake blood. That's like a whole different 

level, 

but 

Mandy: she was far off. 

Melissa: no, no, not at all.

Mandy: Yeah, yeah. But Rhe was so convinced, she even created a [00:13:00] course called Know Your Enemy, which was based directly on these things that Cecilia was telling her about the internal workings of the supposed satanic world. And this meant that Cecilia was really at the absolute center of attention.

And of course, that's exactly what Cecilia wants. She's now the star of the show, and she alone is the key to this whole ministry's success. So as time passed, Cecilia's claims and demands grew bigger and bigger, and eventually the relationship between Ria and Cecilia started falling apart. Ria wanted to shift the focus of her ministry from the devil to God.

That's always been her mission, So she wanted to rename her course, know your Savior instead of Know your enemy, which to her was a fundamental change that meant that the devil would not be the central topic of conversation.

That's not what she really wants. But Cecilia, who's used to being the star of the show now and getting all the attention and constantly getting her way, took this as some type of mass massive, like personal betrayal. [00:14:00] So R'S shift in focus meant that Cecilia would no longer be the centerpiece of the ministry, and that just deeply shattered her very fragile ego. And this perceived betrayal fueled an intense desire for revenge.

Melissa: So this betrayal by Ria is exactly where the story of the elect per Deus cult, truly begins after the split. Cecilia quickly formed her own group, which she named Elect Per Deus, which meant chosen by God in Latin. This new group wasn't about deliverance or escaping the devil.

It was about serving Cecilia. And carrying out her will. She completely convinced her new terrified followers that RIA and the OTC Ministry had actually betrayed God and and that they were now on a divine mission to carry out God's punishment. In reality, they were simply carrying out Cecilia's will for revenge against tia's ministry and her associates.

The first person Cecilia recruited [00:15:00] was Meda. Stada was a school teacher in the community and a good, solid follower who believed every single fantastical word that Cecilia said. Meda even brought two of her children into the group. Marcel, who was only 14 at the time, and La Ru, who was slightly older.

The children were completely manipulated and controlled by both their mother and Cecilia. Another key member was Zach Valentine, who was a financial advisor who became completely infatuated with Cecilia and left his successful career to join her. Members like these all paid tithes to Cecilia giving her money for some supposed orphanage that actually didn't exist.

The orphanage was allegedly in the United States and it was for children of Satanist. I guess I orphan children of 

Mandy: Right, because why would they be there? 

Melissa: Yeah. 

Mandy: Like 

Melissa: Yeah. That, that, yeah, that makes no sense whatsoever. So to further cement their [00:16:00] loyalty, the members even got matching tattoos to show their belonging to the inner circle.

Some might say cult. Actually, 

we will say cult. It's a 

cult. So this revenge campaign though, began with subtle harassment, Cecilia was seen covered in blood and screaming outside R'S Ministry meetings, trying to both disrupt them and to spread fear, which I'm sure she did.

Ria started receiving terrifying cryptic text messages that she genuinely believed were coming from the Church of Satan. She actually couldn't see that the threat was so much closer, but text and screaming just weren't enough for Cecilia. The vengeance quickly escalated to violence and attempted murder.

The cult members started placing bombs under the cars of people who attended OTC meetings. They also set fire to a Christian center hoping to destroy it completely. They made sure to leave a chilling note at the scene that read rhe who is going to protect you now? End quote. [00:17:00] The campaign of revenge against RIA and anyone associated with her or the OTC Ministry would soon turn deadly targeting the people that RIA loved and entrusted the most.

It was in May of 2012 that Cecilia gave the order for the first murder. She convinced Zach Valentine to kill a woman named Natasha Berger, an OTC member, and one of R's close mentees. Cecilia provided Zach with the lie that Natasha was responsible for the deaths of 170 children.

I would've liked to fact check on that before I even believed that somebody did that. And of course, this fabricated claim was the justification for the first life taken by the cult.

Mandy: The first two murders took place on May 24th, 2012. Natasha was the initial target because of her close connection to Ria, but the first person that was actually killed that day was an acquaintance named Joy Boza. Zach Valentine and other cult members were there for the [00:18:00] murder. Zach decided that he needed to eliminate joy first, so he violently slit her throat and used her murder to lure Natasha to another apartment. The killers then made Natasha believe that joy was just injured and needed help. And once Natasha arrived, she realized she was in a trap and she put up a brave and violent fight for her life. The struggle wasn't enough though Zach fatally stabbed her to death. The murder was so brutal that when police arrived on scene, they immediately suspected there was a cult connection, specifically because they found a copy of r's.

Know Your Enemy Book at the scene. This detail sent up red flags, but at the time, the police were unable to connect it to really the bigger, deeper conspiracy. This was one of the first acts of the cult's blood soaked violence, but it certainly wouldn't be the last less than a month. Later on June 14th, The cult escalated the violence and targeted a high value victim. This time they murdered a [00:19:00] man named Reginald Benediction. Reginald wasn't just a friend, he was R'S trusted mentor and the pastor who helped her create the know your Savior, your course. So Miranda Stane volunteered to commit the murder to prove her loyalty and dedication to Cecilia. She was so completely dedicated that she even brought her 14-year-old daughter Marcella along to watch the execution, basically indoctrinating her child into the horrors of this cult group.

Melissa: It's unreal.

Mandy: So Miranda and Zach dressed up as police officers and they approached Reginald. This disguise, of course, is meant to disarm him and ensure that he will comply, and then they brutally attacked him with a hand axe and slit his throat. The violence displayed against him was excessive, personal and very terrifying. Cecilia absolutely reveled in the effect that his murder had, though. And to maximize the torture and fear that she was inflicting on Ria, Cecilia sent her a horrifying package containing pork [00:20:00] along with a note that read quote. This is all that's left of your precious Reggie. And this is just psychological terror, and it really just further solidified the police belief that they were dealing with a Satanic cult. But the terror in revenge sadly, did not stop there. The group would commit one final murder in 2012, and this one was the most shocking of all because the victim was actually one of their own.

Melissa: The Colt's Re of Terror took a sharp turn inward When Micah Valentine, Zach Valentine's wife, realized what she was truly a part of. Micah had become completely disillusioned with the group and their increasingly violent actions. She actually confided in her mother about the murders they were committing and about her fears regarding Cecilia.

She started looking for a lawyer, which is a move that the Colt considered the ultimate act of betrayal and a serious threat to their continued existence. Cecilia immediately deemed Mikela a massive [00:21:00] liability, and in a shocking move, she ordered her execution. Zach, who is now fully under Cecilia's, absolute terrifying spell actually agreed to the plan to kill his own wife.

The cult was now so completely devoted to Cecilia that they were willing to kill their family.

Mandy: I know we've talked before about like cults and like how do people get, into this position where they're in a cult and that they're under this type of influence 

because it truly is so mind-boggling to me. Like I, I just can't imagine that anyone who thinks they're carrying out a godly. Will, 

like, God's never gonna tell you that you need to murder your family or take out revenge on other people.

Like, I don't understand where people are like, actually, yeah, 

that's true. Like we should do that. Like that doesn't, that's never been, I don't know, that's never been word on the street that that's a thing that we need to be doing. So that's why I don't understand how people are so quick to follow someone who says that that's what they should be doing.

Melissa: I totally agree. I, but I do [00:22:00] don't think it's so quick. Right, because the whole thing is, they're like being indoctrinated for a while. I don't know exactly how long for Zach, but it's not like from one day to the next they say, kill your wife. To make the murder look like a suicide or a breakin gone wrong. Zach first drugged his wife with a tranquilizer rendering her defenseless. He then handed the keys over to me, Miranda Stane, and me, along with her 14-year-old daughter.

Marcel entered the house and murdered Quila. They killed her by smashing her skull and stabbing her repeatedly. The act was vicious and completely cold-blooded. Zach then went to great lengths to fake his shock and distress over his wife's death, even putting on a performance for the real estate agent, who was one of the first people on the scene.

Mandy: After Michaela's murder, the police finally started to make some significant progress, thanks to a cult member who had the conscious to get out. This man who's only known as Mr. X contacted a colonel in the [00:23:00] police force, and the colonel seemed to believe his story and gave Mr. XA recorder and told him to go back and get confessions from Cecilia and the others so they could be arrested and the entire ring could be taken down. Mr. X was successful and he got the damning evidence needed on tape. But when the time came for the planned sting operation and the arrests, the colonel never showed up. Mr. X was left alone and soon realized that Cecilia had somehow placed a tracker on his motorcycle, which then forced him to flee for his life and put the, really, just put the full scale of the cult influence into a much better perspective. So the reason the sting operation failed soon became completely clear. The investigation into the 2012 Satanic murders was stopped immediately, and the lead investigator who was Captain Johann van Wick was taken off the case without explanation. The murders then went completely cold. It was later revealed through subsequent investigations that Cecilia had a very close [00:24:00] personal connection with a high ranking police colonel who had been supplying her with weapons and it is strongly suspected. He was also destroying evidence and paperwork to protect her and her followers.

yeah, so the cult members were actually allowed to walk free for four years during which that time they continued their criminal activities, including the lesser known fact that they would drug film, and then blackmail their victims kind of as a side hustle to raise even more money for Cecilia. And we have more to get into after one last break to hear a word from this week's sponsors.

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Melissa: And now back to the episode. So before the break, Cecilia Stane had transformed from a so-called victim of satanism into a self-proclaimed prophet, and then into a full blown cult leader. Her group left a trail of bodies and terror across Krueger's door, even murdering one of their own when she tried to escape.

Police got close to catching them, but the investigation was abruptly shut down and the cult slipped right back into the [00:25:00] shadows. After the 2012 killings, the group seemed to go quiet, at least on the surface for a few years. There was nothing. There's no new bodies, no cryptic messages. Just silence. It wasn't repentance, it was recession.

Cecilia's so-called orphanage fund had dried up and her followers were broke. Zach Valentine had already sunk in over 2 million rand, which is about a hundred grand in US dollars into Cecilia's imaginary charities. He'd quit his job borrowed from his in-laws, who, by the way, he killed their daughter and even tried to start a business to keep the cash flowing.

When that tanked, Cecilia declared that God had given her a new mission. Conveniently, it was one that involved a lot of life insurance money. Enter the Meyers. Peter and Joan Meyer were a respectable krueger's. Do couple. Both were well known in local business circles. In late 2015, John Bernard, who was another member of the group, [00:26:00] set up what looked like a harmless investment meeting.

Zach Valentine, Mein Stain and Merinda teenage daughter, Marcel showed up. When the couple didn't hand over enough cash, the meeting turned into a massacre and both Meyers were stabbed to death in their own home. When police questioned Miranda afterward, she pretended to know nothing. She was just a sweet school teacher who once had an appointment with Pete Meyer, but of course, she was lying through her teeth and as if that wasn't depraved enough, Cecilia's Next Scheme would surely do it. She decided to fake Zach Valentine's death for a big insurance payout. They picked a random man named Jared Jackson, who was a street vendor just trying to make rent, and they killed him.

They burned his body in Zach's Mercedes and told authorities it was Zach that was in the driver's seat. Miranda even identified the body herself. Cecilia then filed the paperwork and [00:27:00] claimed the death benefit over three and a half million rand or about 200 grand in the us. Meanwhile, the real Zach checked into a hotel under a fake name like some budget bond villain, and hid there for months.

I was thinking about this earlier when it came to his wife and stuff like the only way these people can really. Uh, realize what they're doing is being away from the situation. And so when I realized they put him like in a hotel for a while, I was like, that actually probably could backfire because he's not constantly, you know, they're not constantly in his head 

Mandy: true. 

Melissa: When the insurance companies started asking questions, the story quickly unraveled. They noticed that the dental records didn't match, and so they called the cops. Zach ended up being arrested shortly after he was alive and broke, but very much not dead. but before he was caught, the group struck again.

Their next victim was Glenn McGregor, a 57-year-old tax consultant. They lured him to his [00:28:00] own home under the guise of business. They then forced him to transfer money to Miranda's account, then shot him twice and left him to die. those three murders. The Meyers, Jared Jackson and Glenn McGregor filled that four year gap between the so-called satanic murders of 2012 and the appointment murders of 2016. 

Mandy: So that brings us back to May, 2016 and the time of the appointment murders. The four years that the cult walked free, the families of the victims had no justice and no answers. Now investigators were faced with the seemingly unrelated appointment murders of Anthony Schofield, Kevin McAlpine, and Hunley Lanigan, which brought the stained siblings, Marcel and LaRue into custody. So the key to solving everything was connecting these new murders back to the cold case files. The true breakthrough in this entire saga happened when Captain Ben Boon, the lead investigator on the 2016 appointment murders [00:29:00] realized that the current case felt strangely connected to these older unsolved crimes in the Krueger's Dorf area. So Captain Boon decided to go back and look at these forgotten cold case files, and that's when he reached out to the original investigator of the 2012 Satanic murders. Captain Johann Van Wick. So when these two captains met, they immediately realized that the two sets of crimes had to be connected. They were dealing with the same town, the same methods, and now they even had the same suspects. The two investigators quickly realized that much of the old documentation and physical evidence from Captain Van Wick's 2012 case was either missing or it had been destroyed. And this confirmed the suspicion that there was indeed police corruption inside the department, likely led by the colonel who had pulled Van Wick off the case years earlier. A key piece of evidence still existed in the cold case file, and it was an affidavit that actually linked [00:30:00] Merinda stain, who was the mother of those arrested siblings to an entirely separate, unsolved 2012 murder involving Jared Jackson. The police also linked Meda to a separate crime where ammunition was found hidden in her classroom ovens at the school where she taught. Obviously, this is a woman who is armed and dangerous. So the investigators now had a full picture of the core cult members. They have the two siblings, their mother, me, Miranda, and of course they have the alleged Mastermind, Cecilia Stane. But they still needed something more concrete to force a confession and expose the full scale of the elective per Dayus cult. The detectives decided to use one final brilliant clue to break the silence, and that was Miranda Stains Will.

Melissa: The will turned out to be the ultimate lever. The detectives needed to turn the stain children against their mother and the cult. Meda, who was a teacher, had recently rewritten her will, [00:31:00] leaving everything she owned, every single scent and every possession to her beloved cult leader, Cecilia Stain This document showed an unnerving level of control and devotion showing Meda valued the cult leader above her own family. The police decided to use this information to confront LaRue the son, who had only confessed to the 3 20 16 appointment murders and insisted he acted alone.

The detectives presented LaRue with the will, which was written in his mother's handwriting. Seeing his mother's signature and the clear evidence of her complete devotion to Cecilia was the final straw, and he finally broke down. LaRue confessed to everything. He revealed the full truth of the entire sprawling operation, detailing all 11 murders, stretching all the way back to 2012.

He confirmed that the 2016 appointment murders were a financially motivated crime spree, a planned way for the cult to raise money for Cecilia, [00:32:00] who was constantly claiming to be under demonic attack and needing financial support. The total list of victims was absolutely shocking.

It included the four people murdered in 2012, joy, Natasha, Reginald, and Mikela. The three people murdered in 2016, Anthony, Kevin Hunley and Jared, and the four other unsolved missing persons cases from 2012 that investigators had missed confirming them as victims as well.

with Lar Ru's, full confession, the police were finally able to move in for the final arrest. Mastermind Cecilia. Stan was arrested along with Zach Valentine, Miranda Stan, and a final cult member named John Bernard Lare and Marshall. Stan agreed to turn state's witness in exchange for reduced sentences, a move that permanently tore the family and the cult apart.

The truth about the elects per Deus Cult and the Kruger's DOP killings was finally exposed. The court case that [00:33:00] followed was long and absolutely gripping, providing horrifying details about how the cult members operated. John Bernard, the final member arrested was the first one to take a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to two murders and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In exchange for testifying against the others, Miranda Stain was the most open about her devotion to the cult.

She was found guilty on all 11 counts of murder and sentenced to 11 life sentences plus 115 years in jail. In her shocking testimony, she told the court that she only murdered people to prove her loyalty and dedication to Cecilia and even called Cecilia, her very best friend. I would hope so. If you're gonna do all this, I would hope it wouldn't be like an acquaintance that 

Mandy: sure. Yeah. At least you have somebody who's like, no, I really love this person.

Melissa: when describing the murder of Reginald, which she committed with the hand ax, and remember she brought her kid with her. She chillingly told the court that it was an adrenaline rush to [00:34:00] murder the pastor and that she had worn, quote, throw away clothes from Pep for the act showing the cold and premeditated nature of her crime.

She had fully embraced the role of a cold-blooded killer while also being a teacher and a mother, which is. Just wild to me. And then there's Zach Valentine, who was found guilty on eight counts of murder, including the murder of his own wife, Quila. He was sentenced to eight life sentences plus 125 years.

He claimed he was brainwashed by Cecilia. And testimony from a judge revealed that the cults original plan for him was to fake his death so that he could dedicate his life and future assets. Entirely to Cecilia. The plan, of course, was stopped once he was arrested, but the sheer level of control Cecilia held over her followers was undeniable in these court proceedings.

Mandy: So Cecilia finally took the stand and she completely denied any involvement in the murders. This was a denial that continued even after the overwhelming evidence was [00:35:00] presented. She was completely defiant and showed no remorse. Her defense was shocking and often contradictory. They claim that she was physically too weak to commit any of the murders, and she also had multiple personalities, which meant that she wasn't around for when the murders took place. They were just really trying to kind of shift the blame to some sort of fictional alter ego. She even attempted to cook up a completely absurd prison break plot from behind bars, and she was later rumored to have started a relationship with another killer inside jail. An inmate described her as a fellow murderer.

I. Every investigator who dealt with Cecilia said the same thing about her. She didn't just manipulate people, she completely rewired them. She used religion like a weapon. She knew exactly which Bible verses to twist and which fears to feed off of. To her followers, every setback was just a spiritual attack that could only be fixed with obedience [00:36:00] and maybe a little money. If someone questioned her, she would claim that the devil was just using them to test her faith, and if they pleased her, they were chosen by God. It was really the textbook narcissistic control. You know that cult leaders sometimes use and disguise as divine prophecy. The scariest part about it is that she actually didn't lift a finger in any of the murders.

She did not, you know, touch a weapon herself. She got other people to do it. Like you were saying before, mothers kids, just ordinary churchgoers, that's, these are the people who she convinced to kill. For her,

it's, it's wild. And again, I don't understand cults. I don't understand cult leaders, but it really is, it does take a special kind of just evil, terrible person to even do something like this. But the judge saw right through her lies and this theatrical defense, and Cecilia was ultimately found guilty of all 11 counts of murder and sentenced to 11 life sentences plus 115 years. [00:37:00] And this brought the seven year reign of the elect per Dayus cult, to a final end. The total number of victims stood at 11 ranging from innocent financial advisors to a pastor and a cult member's wife. The case finally came to a close after 52 witnesses testified against the Krueger's DOP killers, and exposed not just a murderous cult, but also the terrible police corruption that allowed them to operate for so long. The shocking story of the Krueger's DOP killings as it has been documented in the True Crime Series, devil's dop and by investigative journalist, Jana Marks still stands as a chilling reminder of how easily fear and manipulation can turn ordinary people into serial murderers. That is truly the scariest part about cults to me, is just how easy it is to, um, get into people's brains like that.

Melissa: Absolutely. This reminded me a lot of Charles Manson, right? Because he never killed anyone, but he got everyone to do his deeds for him. [00:38:00] Also. What? You're sitting here, you're on your phone listening to us, you're at your computer, whatever, Google, Cecilia, Stan real quick.

Whatever you think she looks like, that's not what she looks like. I don't understand and I'm not being ugly, 

but just it sound, most of the time when we hear about these cult leaders, they're these like big personalities and they're just somebody you want to know and be around. 

Mandy: right 

Melissa: well presented.

This is a hot mess and I don't that this one is just shocking to me. I don't know what I thought she looked like and what she looks like are two totally different things, 

Mandy: For sure, for sure. And I guess like sometime in prison probably changes the way a person looks. I think some of the photos I saw maybe were more recent, like they looked like she was in a courtroom, so maybe she, maybe, maybe prison hasn't been kind to her, 

but I, yeah, I don't know. I don't get it in 

Melissa: Yeah. 

Mandy: I don't get it. 

Melissa: Which is good because that means we're maybe not super susceptible to at least her cult. 

Mandy: hope So 

I hope so, yes. All right guys. Thank you so much for [00:39:00] listening. We'll be back next week, same time, same place. New story.

Melissa: Have a great week.

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Melissa: