Queen Havoc and Her Murder Cult - Episode 9: Only Hope

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

Police receive a tip that leads them to Zak Valentine. Investigators then connect the dots of the attempted insurance fraud, giving them the leverage they need to arrest Cecilia and Marinda, too. Now, Electus Per Deus is falling apart, as the group’s stories unravel and confessions come out. Another tip leads to a windfall of evidence that may connect Marinda to the murders. But with the members of EPD being held for fraud, and not murder, will the police be able to keep them behind bars?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The True Crime Podcast, Sacred Scandal, returns for a second season to investigate a led sexual abuse at Mexico's La Luz del Mundo Mega Church. Journalist Robert Garza explores survivor stories of pure evil experiences at the hands of a self-proclaimed apostle who is now behind bars. I remember as a little girl being groomed to be his concubine, that's how I was raised. It is not wrong if you take your clothes off for the Apostle. Listen to Sacred Scandal on the IHR radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 911 what's your emergency? It's a nightmare we could never have imagined. An Achiller?

Who is still on the loose? In the 1980s we're in high school losing friends, teachers, and community members. We weren't safe anywhere. Would we be next? It was getting harder and harder to live in Mompine. Listen to the Murder Years on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Facing Evil is back and we're bringing you conversations that matter.

I can't tell you how many times she had said he's going to kill me. I will never escape him, he will find me and he will kill me. We're talking with experts and change makers devoted to making a difference in these tragic true crime stories. Our system failed us, we need to make sure that that does not happen again. Listen to Facing Evil on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. School of Humans.

This show follows the investigation of serial murders and contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion advised. Under two children were locked up in custody in Kruger's door, the South African Police Service hastened its investigation. They had LaRou and Marcel on solid charges, including photographic evidence that showed them taking money out of accounts belonging to two of the murder victims, Anthony Scofield and Hanley Lodigan. Initially, Miranda coached them to keep feeding the cops the story that they had been working for drug dealers. The kids knew that not doing as they were instructed was a matter of life or death.

Eventually, Miranda and Cecilia decided that LaRou should take the fall. LaRou's Stein made a confession that he's the only person that killed appointment murders. Leroux and Marcel's statements were taken on June 25th, 2016, two days after the arrest. Detective Ben Boyzen was briefed on this interview and read Leroux's statement. The season investigator wasn't buying his story for a second. With him being about 65-70 kilograms, it's impossible that they would have been able

to kill the two men, pick them up, load them in a vehicle, drive away with that vehicle, it's not strong enough to do that, it's totally not possible. but it's totally not possible. Both Marcel and LaRue remained in custody, but the police needed more serious charges to keep Miranda behind bars. When there was no new evidence to report after a few days in jail, Miranda had her day in court.

The case involving the pot plant was delayed, making way for the larger claims against her, like insurance fraud and murder. When she got out, Miranda immediately filed her third lawsuit against the police for wrongful arrest. This time, she promised LaRue that she would push for resolution and use any award from the claim to bail him out. It was starting to look like the Kruger's Dwarf killers

would once again walk free. But detective Ben Boizen worked overtime to make sure that didn't happen. The case quickly took over his life. I took one of my rooms in my house and I made that the war room. And I started working there at night. I never raised it.

Sometimes my wife will wake up two o'clock in the morning and I'm not in bed and she comes in there and take me on my ear and take me back to bed and say, listen, you need to go home and sleep. It didn't take long for Ben and Mani Victor's task team to connect the dots between LaRue, Marcel, Miranda, and Cecilia. And it recognized the mayhem that EPD had been adjacent to for the past four

years. Digging a little deeper, they discovered the open claim with discovery life. Cecilia was waiting to collect Zach Valentine's insurance payout. And at that stage, Zach Valentin was still missing because that was the Bern out in Pietro State, which then led them to look into Jarrah Jackson's murder. The details surrounding his death also appeared immediately suspicious in Benzai's. These arms were full of cutting marks. They only had socks on no shoes. It cannot be suicide. Something happened before this.

Soon enough, there was a warrant out for Zack's arrest. And on June 26th, just one day after LaRue's confession, the task team received an anonymous tip. Someone matching Zack Valentine's description had been spotted. From School of Humans and Ihar Podcasts, this is Queen Havoc and her murder cult. I'm your host, Kurt Kupichek. Episode 9.

Only Hope. For the six months following Jared Jackson's murder, Zach Valentine had been in hiding. When hotels got too expensive, especially without the insurance payout they'd been expecting, he sought shelter from a religious charity organization. Here's journalists and author, Yana Marx. Zach has been lying low at Kiyakaya, a Christian ministry. Since his arrival, Zach had been using an alias, Michael DeVillars.

When law enforcement arrived at the ministry, they didn't find Zach right away, but they found his roommate. And at the time officer raised, he was busy camping at Kiyakaya's camping grounds. It was on a farm near Mahalisburg. Upon viewing a photo of the suspect, the roommate insisted that the man they were looking for

was named Michael DeVillars, and that he was currently away camping. Two officers from Mani's War Room headed to the location. Detective Hurt Kruger was one of them. On the place where he was arrested, he first gave up a knife that not least real name. The task team was prepared.

He had just a lot of tattoos on his back. Now I had a photo of that and I asked him to turn around and check the tattoos. And then the game was over. They managed to ID him as Zac Valentine. That's also when he then admitted that he was indeed Zac Valentine. He was arrested on charges of fraud for faking his own death. Then, in another suspicious twist, when Ben went searching for information on the suspects, the case files from the first four murders,

and mysteriously gone missing. There are 2012 murder cases that I eventually started investigation. All those dockets is missing, till today it's missing. Nobody knows where it is. All the evidence that was taken into that 2012 investigation, everything is gone. So I had to restore that in 2016. So, after all that had happened in 2012, Ben had only three case files,

one on the Jared Jackson murder, another on Joan and Peter Meyer being robbed and killed in their home. And after Zach's arrest, a clear attempt at an insurance scam. home and after Zach's arrest a clear attempt at an insurance scam. So I opened a fraud case against Zach for trying to defraud discovery and then I started investigations all on those three dockets. This fraud case was Ben's only real in-road. The only thing unquestionably

linking all the perpetrators, Zach, Cecilia and Miranda, and eventually, LaRue and Marcel too. Maranita Steinwin, two Pietro Stein, saying that she's the sister of Zach Valentine and she got a false address, false information for the people at the Mojari and Cecilia Stain was the sole beneficiary of that discovery thing and knowingly that Zac is now alive they all were cursed to commit this fraud. On July 29th 2016 Cecilia St Stein and Miranda Stein were arrested for insurance fraud linked to the killing of Jared Jackson. So I luckily arrested him when I opened the front case so that nobody would understand

anymore except for John Barnard. Cecilia Stein was finally behind bars, and so was Miranda. This time, as it turned out, for good. Ben wanted to interview them right away. I thought when I arrested them, I arrested them for the murders. But I never arrested them for the murders. And as soon as I start reading, why I arrested them, you know, they changed. I couldn't believe they are now arresting

them for fraud because I didn't have proof at that stage about the murders. They were being held in the precincts in Kruger's door. He brought her still with him, as he often did. On weekends and after hours when I arrested or I interview women, I always take my wife with because she's a police officer and there's always stories when you interview women alone, you're sexual harassment or you know, you put pressure on them to do say stuff. Kristell and Ben very quickly got a taste of Cecilia's manipulation tactics. First, she went for pity. Cecilia Osteinos was a freaking clown. She came in with a bottle of oxygen bottle

and she sat down and was a huge oxygen bottle. As soon as I told the why I'm resting, she suddenly stopped breathing difficult. I looked at the bottle and I saw that the pipe from the mast to the bottle was not even connected. Then, she went for ridicule. Ben and Kristell got a front row seat to the way Cecilia nasht her teeth when she felt vulnerable. At one point, Ben was taking a note, trying to spell the word conspiracy, and he casually asked his wife for help.

I said, how do you spell conspiracy? And she start laughing in my face and said, you're fucking idiot, you can't even spell conspiracy, but you want to send me to jail. And I just told her, you know, the person who lost, lost the loudest. Then they pressed Cecilia about Zack and his relationship to his wife, Michaela. They had learned about Zack and Cecilia's intimate relationship.

Ben tested her by saying that he found evidence that Zack and Michaela had intercourse the night she was killed or the night before she was killed. And Cecilia went like, it's fucking impossible. From this silly clown, what would she turn into? This vicious person. An ice-chained. An ice-chained. She physically transformed the environment as from this, you know,

calm brief and poor person. She said, it's fucking impossible. It won't happen. It's only very, very, very, very. She was there and then said, but why wouldn't it happen? They were not happily married. And she said, and then she came forward to him. And she says, I'm telling you, it wouldn't have happened. Crystal chimed in, pushing Cecilia further on this and I say to her But how would you have insight into what's happening in this marriage and she turned to me again And she said I'm telling you it fucking didn't happen and then all of a sudden someone else walked in she went like this

Kristell shook her shoulders as she spoke like a duck shaking water off its back She you know she like this and sell sugar shoulders as she spoke, like a duck shaking water off its back. She, you know, shook like this and, and she's like, and next, next question please. So, we saw that. I saw a change. A transformation. Meanwhile, Zach was desperately trying to get out of jail.

All three of them were actually. They had the right to apply for bail since their only charge was fraud, which is not a capital offense, but Ben kept fighting to keep them off the streets. And luckily, I fought all of their bail applications, Zack, brought about eight of them. Bayle would mean Zack could walk free. Once released, he'd be a likely flight risk. And the police might never see him again. They got lucky to find him the first time.

Now, prosecutors were considering letting Zack walk. That because he was declared dead, it's impossible to give him bail because I'm going to blacklist him on the airports and stuff like that. So that was a fight between me and the prosecutor of the regional court trying to keep him in jail. During this fight, this back and forth with the state, fate finally played a hand in Ben's favor. forth with the state. Fate finally played a hand in Ben's favor. Ben and Kristell are known as trusted cops in the community and got a number of tips from citizens of Krugerstorp anxious to end the murders. One in particular though

led to a windfall. So one of the people that found my wife's seat I must go to Randa's Tlausroom to see what's happening in the classroom. 911, what's your emergency? You shot her! Oh my God! It's a nightmare we could never have imagined. And a killer who is still on the loose. My small town rocked by murder.

There are certain murders I'm scared to discuss. In the 1980s, we're in high school losing friends, teachers, and community members. One after another, after another for a decade. We weren't safe anywhere. We're teenagers terrified to leave our own homes. Would we be next? Who is killing all the kids? And why?

In that moment, I saw rage. And why do some want the town secrets to stay dead and buried forever? I'm not sure why you're digging up all this old stuff again, but I'd be careful. Don't say I didn't warn you, Nancy. Listen to The Murder Years on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Sacred Skando, one of the best new podcasts of 2022, is back with a closer look at the darkness surrounding mega-church La Luz del Mundo and its leader, Nasson Joaquin Garcia.

They believe that he was Jesus Christ on Earth. It wasn't even so much that he liked sex. He wanted something to pray. It's the largest cult in the world that no one has ever heard of. For three generations, the Luz del Mundo had an incredible control on his community, that began in Mexico and then grew across the United States, until one day. A day of reckoning for the man whose millions of followers call him the Apostle. Their leader was arrested and survivors began to speak out about the sexual abuse, the murder, and corruption. This is just a business and their product are people.

They want to know that they will kill you. Listen to all episodes now on the I Heart Radioy Up, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcasts. On August 9, 2016, Ben, Kristell, and a fellow officer from the Kruger's door police, headed over to the high school where Miranda taught English. Turns out, we were there interviewing Ben exactly five years to the day that this happened. I actually arranged it for today.

That's women's day in South Africa. He's got to be today because there will be no children in that school. The headmaster was resistant at first. Explaining that Miranda was one of the best teachers at the school, the kids all loved her. Detective Ben Boyz and casually threatened the headmaster that if he didn't comply, Ben could return with a proper search warrant on a school day and conduct his search

in front of all the kids. Principal didn't have to think long. He led them down the empty hallways toward Miranda's classroom. It's a large room with multiple sections and storage closets with stoves in them. I searched the whole place but I didn't know what to look for. I looked for laptops and looked for papers, I looked for photos, I look for anything that I can link to what they were doing. Ben almost gave up. The headmaster was skeptical of the cops and Ben certainly didn't want to waste anyone's time. I couldn't find anything in the ventula, I went to sit down with the headmaster and I said, it's

just sorry, it seems to me it's false information. But something was still nagging at Ben. So before he left left he decided to take one last look around. We all stood up and on the way out I told another lady from Cruz of Detective Unit who was with me. I just want to go through all the rooms again and I went into the rooms and I checked and I checked and eventually I went to the left front room. There was a lot of stuff laying around there, but there was this two stoves standing in the middle of the premises and something just told me going open the ovens. Marina's room was a repurposed home economics classroom. And as soon as I opened the ovens, I found all this ammunition and machine to reload, the end of the 8th master also turned and was on outside day because it

was not on the police side from the beginning. He continued his search and discovered a bullet reloading kit, shotgun shells, 9 millimeter bullets then, red-tipped rubber bullets only used by specially trained police officers and soldiers. What was Marin to doing with guns in ammo? Some of which was from the heyday of South Africa's violent apartheid past, and in a high school, no less. How did a school teacher wind up with military-grade weaponry. When he was done, he lined up all the ammo on a school desk.

The principal was shocked to silence. As the veteran cops stared at the amateur arsenal, he had a new concern. Were there cops helping these killers? The only people who have access to this kind of ordinance are people with a badge. The next domino fell that same day after he called the task team in to gather evidence from Miranda's classroom. I picked it out and we took photos and stuff and eventually I think it was his wife, she's working in the office this day. She came to me and she said that I know that Marinda changed the world. I said no, I knew nothing about it.

Miranda had just recently changed her will. Things had unfolded so fast since Miranda's arrest. Plus the 2012 case files were all missing, so Ben was doing his best to catch up. Oste, it must have... will you give me the wall? Otherwise, I must make a two or five application and force them to give me the wall through the right channels and luckily sit them and I'll give you the wall. Ben took a statement from the headmaster and his wife, confirming that they were handing over this document of their own free will. As they sign the paperwork, Ben read over the will.

While reading this will, I knew I've got now something to approach Larueveth, because in that will she does own the children, and she gave everything that is part of her life to Cecilia Stein. But before he had a chance to meet with Leroux, the task team made yet another breakthrough. They found the sort of hard evidence that would make prosecutors finally believe everything Ben had already suspected. Luckily, in the 2015-16 murders, John Barnard took his cell phone to all the crime scenes. Detectives Kruger in Violin had been busy tracing the suspects and discovered that Ping's from John Barnard's cell phone matched the murder map to a T. This was the smoking gun the cops needed.

On August 18, 2016, John Barnard was taken into custody in connection with the insurance fraud and his involvement in the murder of Glenn McGregor. Here's Commander Hurt Kruger. We erased John Barnard at his work, the mayor's printing company, and while we were driving back, like Kojnissima stopped, we stopped and John just started confessing. Barnard confessed to being part of all of the appointment workers. I then got an officer to take his confession. It was his first confession that he made. After that the investigating officer kept office, a captain boy, since then this dad even repeated that confession in front of a magistrate just to give it more power.

And John was the first one that was convicted and the first one who went to prison. Finally, on August 19th, the day after John Barnard's confession, Ben sat down with LaRue. He baited LaRue, telling him that his mother Miranda's claim against the police wasn't going to pay out. There was no way she'd be able to save him from a life behind bars. He let that sink in. Then he told LaRue that Barnard had made a full confession at his Raymond hearing, implicating everyone. It was a smart move Ben told the

roof. The confession would increase his chances of getting a reasonable plea deal. Still, the roof stuck to his story and took the blame for all the murders. Ben was still not buying it. For a young boy like that picking up a date person and allowed him into a vehicle it's totally not possible. Not only did Ben immediately recognize the improbability of this claim, but he could see through LaRue, see the boy in him, a boy who is in way over his head. While I was speaking to him in prison, I've got the sense that he's protecting the people around him. At first, Leru was agitated, tense, pacing like a caged tiger. Detective Ben Boyzin is a father. He thought of his own son and how he could reach him when he was combative.

Here's Kristell recalling his approach. She refers to LaRou by his nickname Lex. Ben was friendly to Lex and he was kind to Lex and he was talking to Lex with respect. And that turned, ultimately turned Lex eventually to say, but listen, you are giving me more kindness and love than I ever experienced from my mother. Ben knew that if he was calm with the wayward son and asked him why he'd done what he'd done, rather than scream at him, he was more likely to hear the truth from LaRue. He was right.

I'll talk to him a lot, and eventually I took to well out on a pretty different front of him, but the words face him my way. And I'll ask him who's handwriting is this. And he said it's my mother because she's got a very, very nice handwriting need. And I turned the paper around and I said, let's read how much mother loved you. Harsh, right? But Ben's instincts were guiding him. The Roo was apt to turn against his mother.

Throughout his first couple of months in police custody, Luru had been worried about his sister Marcel, who was also in custody. He wrote her a series of letters, pleading with her to come clean, not to take the rap for their mother Cecilia or any of the others. When Cecilia and Marin to got word that one of their puppets was turning on them, they tried to kill LaRue. Journalist Moritzka Cotser was visiting him in jail around this time, reporting on the case. She recalled LaRue telling her about when his mother brought him medication. There was once where she apparently took him medication for for stomach and it was supposedly two steps.

So, you know, that is a poison that, step one, you take it and step two, you die. Can you imagine living in fear that your own mother wants to kill you? It appears that even in jail, LaRue wasn't safe from Cecilia's wrath. In Miranda's will, she attested. I'm Miranda's time to clear the time of same, and wish to record my last wishes as follows. Every cent and property that I own and will become available at my death, I begweathed to Cecilia Stein,

Nisiwirt, Nibranth, to use as she sees fit, whether my biological children are still in jail or not, whether she wants to spend it on them Murnaut, it totally becomes hers. As soon as LaRue heard about the change in the will, he broke down. Ben's compassionate approach had softened the edges, eroded the walls around the Rue's broken heart. And the netiers could start coming out here and his lips started going like this and he started crying and then he said, fuck them now I'm going to talk. And then he told me a lot of stuff where the guns was hiding and stuff like that, then he told me about the 2012 murders. 2012 made this. After the cathartic confession, Ben did his due diligence and got LaRue to repeat it

in front of a magistrate. On their way back from the hearing to the jail, LaRue was exhausted. He fell into this sort of paralyzing exhaustion that is specific to the Fala from a world-crumbling realization. Once LaRue stopped seeing the world through the lies Cecilianna's mother raised him to believe, Laru was free to face the truth of what his entire life had been and the grim future ahead. The silence hung heavy on the drive.

Ben and Detective Hurt Kruger sat up front. They knew it would be a long time before LaRue would ever see the world again. Ben asked him, is there anything you need? And he says, yes, Uncle, I'm hungry. And Ben asked him, what would you like to eat? And Lex was very confused because he says that they could never decide what they wanted to eat. They always had to eat what Cecilia was prescribing. Because that was part of her

power. And then he said, can I please have a pizza and a coke? Lerubi became emotional, recognizing something that had been missing from his life, human kindness. When we got hold of Marenda's diary, she writes in her diary as if she's speaking to the person, in the first person. And she wrote in her diary as if she's speaking to the person in the first person, and she wrote in her diary with regard to Lix and Afrikaans, but I'll translate it into English to say, but you sold your soul for a pizza and a coke. This was the beginning of Kristal and Ben kind of taking care of LaRue, they would continue to provide him with emotional support throughout the trial. And over time, they became bonded to him.

The Rue even wrote letters to Ben while he was in prison. He had no one else. What she doesn't realize is that if you mean so little to your children that they are willing to sell you out for a pitana coke, this is no indication of lexberids indication of how poor mother she was to her children and that is what she caused not anyone else. Armed with LaRou's confession, boys and and hurt Kruger go to Cecilia's apartment. Upon entry they find blood on the carpet. I saw the stains on the carpet and then I got the police to come out and check the stains for me for blood and then we found Kofil's blood and Lerus blood inside the premises. So the previous policemen that were about ten times in that

flat didn't arrange for that to be done. Ben and his team also confiscate a whole lot of illegal firearms and ammunition, stashed in the walls at 17 Kassana flats. La Rue had been the one to create these hidden panels. And they was a little gap between the cupboards and the wall, and they kind of broke one of the wooden panels. So, the length of the closet thing, it made like a little chimney hole almost.

And we like, push it back and put the panel back there. So, it looked like any other cupboard just, you know, going up to the ceiling. Cecilia's husband, Sergeant Dree's Stein, an officer with the South African Police Service, was also arrested after the arsenal was found hidden in the walls of his home. All the firearms were illegal. He was only held for a few days and then released. The case against EPD would finally go to trial in 2017, and it would take two years to connect them to all the murders and officially see them convicted.

It's a nightmare we could never have imagined. And a killer who is still on the loose. My small town rocked by murder. There are certain murders I'm scared to discuss. In the 1980s, we're in high school losing friends, teachers, and community members. One after another, after another, for a decade. We weren't safe anywhere. We're teenagers terrified to leave our own homes. Would we be next?

Who is killing all the kids? And why? In that moment, I saw rage. And why do some want the town secrets to stay dead and buried forever? I'm not sure why you're digging up all this old stuff again, but I'd be careful. Don't say I didn't warn you Nancy. Listen to the murder years on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Sacred Skando, one of the best new podcasts of 2022, is back with a closer look at the darkness surrounding mega-church La Luz del Mundo and its leader, Nasson Joaquin Garcia. They believe that he was Jesus Christ on Earth. It wasn't even so much that he liked sex. He wanted something to pray. It's the largest cult in the world that no one has ever heard of.

For three generations, La Luz del Mundo had an incredible control on his community that began in Mexico and then grew across the United States. Until one day... Their leader was arrested and survivors began to speak out about the sexual abuse, the murder and corruption. This is just a business and their product are people. They want to know that they will kill you. Listen to all episodes now on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcasts. Journalist Maritska Kotser's book on the Kruger Store of Killings

walks readers through these events from LaRue's perspective. It's called Outcast. Like most people in Kruger Store and many more across the nation, Maritska had been following this story. Thanks to her press credentials, she was granted access to visible John Barnard and LaRue in the late stage of the trial. Upon meeting the two men, it was immediately clear to her who her main subject should be.

Larue's the easy target. You know, because I thought he had a little hot leg. Maritska also had a cousin who was locked up with Larue, giving her a whiff of street cred, so he agreed to meet with her one-on-one. I got there, waited, I was scared, and then he actually agreed to see me, and I think it's because he knew my name, because of my cousin,

and I remember the first word that he said to me was dachse, so it's something like good day, it's very ploughed. So I thought to myself, do murderers have manners? You know, I was really like, what's this guy so nice, you know? Mouritska and LaRue had an instant connection. You like metal music, you was into piercings, into tattoos. So when I got down, you only had a short time to win him over. So now I said to him I want to tell you a story but I don't want to tell you a story like yes I

committed the murders. I said I want to I want to hear your story like I want you to tell me what you want to say. And that day he asked me my number and I gave it to him. In the months leading up to his sentencing, she and LaRou formed a tight bond that evolved into Maritska becoming an advocate for him and Marcel. I mean, is there not one person that can see that this was child abuse? She conditioned him to be monsters. On December 14th, 2016, John Barnard took his plea deal. In exchange for testifying against EPD, his sentence was reduced from life to 20 years in prison. Charging the rest of EPD was a challenge. Now, keep in mind that in South Africa, it's a judge's courtroom.

The jury system was abolished during a part-hide, so the fate of each EPD member lays solely in the judge's hands. You might show you bring the truth to the court in a water-taught vehicle where you're theicated effect. That's Dean Venvik. He's worked in the state's attorney's office for 30 years, 20 of which were in the high court,

which is like the federal district courts in the US. He is currently a senior state advocate. At just under six feet tall, Dean Venvik is an authoritative presence and has been doing this so long he is extremely well versed in the intricacies of South African law. And not to be confused with Captain Johann Van Vick, who you've heard from in earlier episodes.

On the facts of the case that you guys are investigating, Many crimes were perpetrated by videos of her followers. But the challenge is to prosecute them all for each and every one of them to keep them liable, criminally liable, for all your fences would be impossible without the tool of racketeering. Ben had a background in organized crime, so he developed a strategy to approach this rare, unprecedented prosecution. Ben Vick says, according to the Prevention of Organized Crime Act, or Paka, Ben would have to prove that the crimes involved racketeering.

Section one of our Paka act creates that too. You turn on proving an enterprise enterprise which was easy to do. In this case, electus Pardaeus' enterprise was blatant insurance fraud, faking Zach's death to cash in on his policy. Secondly, how your factual association it will depends on what level. Obviously the 9 person will be the manager. You have sufficient evidence to prove that. Cecilia, being the sole beneficiary of the attempted fraud, made her the manager or ringleader in this act of organized crime.

And then, persons associating in activities to further the objectives of the enterprise. And that was the key. This is how Miranda and her children were linked in complicity. The kids were working to carry out Cecilia's enterprise. For example, LaRue had made incessant calls to check on the claim for Cecilia. Then he backed her up in the insurance inquiry video. And Marcel was an active participant in the robberies, the ATM withdrawals. From this angle, they were all enmeshed, involved in an ongoing conspiracy beyond a reasonable

doubt. Still, this approach was unheard of at the time. Normally, you would not deploy recutaining on a murder case like this, but that was the only way to bring them all to book. And there's nothing boring us or boring the prosecution team in law to apply that. So that's the first in South Africa, as far as I know. Since it had never been used in a murder case before, it took a while to convince the judge that pocket charges

held water for the prosecution. But finally, in February, the judge approved. Senior State Advocate, Dion Benvic, also illuminated for us, based on his years in the field that organized crime at this level usually leads to murder. Keeping in mind that it doesn't matter in what sphere of organized crime you move. If your financial, your criminal benefit is big enough, people will die. Just to be clear, Deon Venvick didn't work on this case, but we spoke to him to get some clarity on the racketeering stuff from an actual state official. While Ben developed this racketeering angle, he also gathered witnesses at 250 witnesses actually. And I served 250 teaspoons three times, but we only used at the end of the day about

70 witnesses to destify. Many of the witnesses were reduced to tears. They were all emotionally broken and terrified of speaking out against Cecilia. As you've heard, Luke asked us to alter his voice and use an alias because he still convinced that he's a target for testifying against Cecilia. Prison bars were no match for her. Not only did she speak of astral projection,

but no one would have been surprised if she put a hit out on any of the witnesses or their families. Throughout the investigation, Ben received death threats, warning him that if he didn't stop his pursuit of justice, he would be murdered by this Satanic Church. At one point, Brigadier Mani Victor got a tip that a 1 million-ran contract had been offered to anyone that would take out Ben Boyzen. That's about $50,000 US dollars.

A suspect was eventually arrested and identified as the would-be hitman. Sassilja also came after Ben and Kristal's family. Since her first year in jail, one of the people she was incarcerated was released. She told us, she met a statement, she's coming from Kluge Sturk and she told us that Sassilja's planning on killing our youngest daughter, she took out a contract to kill our youngest daughter for revenge on what being has done. And then our youngest daughter had to move out of town

and she doesn't stay with us anymore. The court dates kept getting postponed for myriad reasons, a slow moving justice system being won, but also because the 2012 case files were missing. LaRou's confession was not enough. Ben had to completely recreate reports on crimes that happened four years earlier, which took time. But to remember, there was no dockets, there was no witness statements, there was nothing. So even if it tells me any confess all

the stuff I still need to go out and get evidence to prove what he said is the truth and that was very difficult. And Ben's health had not improved. In fact it was buckling under the pressure. Every time the court was found, I had to serve all that the punas again by myself. I became very, very ill. Kristal finally forced him to go to the doctor. I didn't want to go to the doctor because I know they're going to book me off and I can't be booked off because I still need to get information and staff and one morning I woke up and I was sitting on bed and I didn't have a voice.

And she said, you're going to hospital to the doctor today. And I was so weak when I get to the hospital that I actually couldn't walk. Turns out he had pneumonia. But even during treatment, Ben kept working. So they brought the wheelchair to take me into the hospital. And as I, because the hospital was its opposite Cecilia Stain's flats. There was suspicion that Cecilia had a friend working in the hospital pharmacy who would secure drugs for Cecilia and electors per dayas.

I saw the chemist and I said, I still need to tell, I still need a statement. Yes, and my wife reached out. She said, no, since you want everybody in hospital, that they must not talk about the case with me, I must relax. And then eventually, a doctor came to me and he said, you've got an overgrown heart. An overgrown heart. An overgrown heart. After a few days of rest, Ben was released. I wasn't supposed to go to work, but when I get home I took the signal that I

carried it up and I started working the next day again. My wife was very very cross with me but you know I knew that if I'm not going to see this cases through, that it's not going to work out nicely. So I forced myself to work. About a year into the trial, Janna Marx was working as a court reporter. I was working in court, so I was attending court cases and I was literally sitting in court every day. It would be different cases because cases get postponed. I was a digital journalist.

It becomes difficult to see a trial evolving from start to end. I mean, it's not always possible because of the speed of the journalism that we practice. The case against EPD was moved to the high court in May of 2018, and Yana was assigned to it. So I think from the very beginning, this really grabbed people's attention just because of the religion and also the normalization

of what happened there. I mean, regular people being part of a group, a goodness, now regular people are killing other regular people. We are so grateful for all the insight and expertise that Yana went to this project. For over a year, nearly every time these murderers took the stand, Yana was there, watching. She'll walk us through the trial in the next episode. We'll get her take on Cecilia, Zach, and the kids as they try to make a case for themselves.

Miranda too, well, sort of. Yana also speaks to Cecilia's delusional style, which was on full display in the courtroom. display in the courtroom. Cecilia is very, you know, she's very lively and tells jokes and that happens in court. Cecilia's charming personality is part of what makes her so terrifying. Even today her shadow is buried deep. I know this because I met her. I like joking. I like having fun, laughing. Life is serious and you can't be serious all the time. It'll just make you depressed if you

shouldn't think about life. On the next episode of Queen Havoc, La Rue Crete win when you were found guilty. And in front of his mother he said thank you captain for sending this bitch to jail. On the stand she lied blatantly. I killed regionaled and I enjoyed every minute of it and went into great gory detail about how she did it and saying it had nothing to do with Cecilia. But he still says there and thinks like what if Cecilia can sneak into my cell and come and hurt me, you know? Masal was a bit different. I think the whole country's sympathy, lay with Masal, and everyone believed her.

Everyone believed in what she was saying. Queen Havek in her murder cult is a production of School of Humans and I Heart podcasts. Queen Havoc is hosted and created by me, Kurt Kubicek, produced and written by Jennifer Tachini, Julia Kriskow, and Kurt Kubicek. Lead producer is Julia Kriskow. Story editor is Zaryn Burnett. Senior producer is Amelia Brock.

Production manager is Daisy Church. Original music composed by Claire Campbell. Editing, Sound Design, and Scoring by Jesse Nicewanger. Associate producers are Dash and Moodly and Jameen Kricker, additional producing by Ben Melman. Fact checking by Dennis Webster. Recording engineers are Graham Gibson, Clay Hillenberg,

and Josh Hook. Her industry was read by Angelique Pretorias. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, LC Crowley, Brandon Barr, Jennifer Tkini, and Kurt Kubuchek. We want to thank all of those who so generously welcomed us in South Africa and shared their stories. We're incredibly grateful to you all. We also want to acknowledge how traumatic these events are for the victims and their families. Please respect their privacy.

If you or someone you know has been affected by cold behaviors, there are resources available, including Voices for Dignity at ChristineMurray.com. The True Crime Podcast sacred scandal returns for a second season to investigate a led sexual abuse at Mexico's La Luz del Mundo Mega Church. Journalist Robert Garza explores survivor stories of pure evil experiences at the hands of a self-proclaimed apostle who is now behind bars. I remember as a little girl being groomed to be his concubine, that's how I was raised. It is not wrong if you take your clothes off for the apostle.

Listen to Sacred Scandal on the IHR Radio App Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 911, what's your emergency? You shoulder! It's a nightmare we could never have imagined. And a killer? Who is still on the loose? In the 1980s, we're in high school losing friends, teachers, and community members.

We weren't safe anywhere. Would we be next? It was getting harder and harder to live in Mompine. Listen to the murder years on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Facing evil is back and we're bringing you conversations that matter. I can't tell you how many times she had said he's going to kill me. I will never escape him. He will find me and he will kill me." We're talking with experts and change makers devoted to making a difference in

these tragic true crime stories. Our system failed us. We need to make sure that that does not happen again. Listen to Facing Evil on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to Facing Evil on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.