Sword and Scale Nightmares - The Pact

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

A quaint township in Pennsylvania is shaken to its core when three dead bodies are discovered lying in a perfect line in their backyard. The police don’t immediately know what happened to Elizabeth Daub and her parents but it appears to be an execution-style killing. A bullet for each of them to the back of the head. But then strange documents and the discovery of chilling YouTube videos cast a different light on the God-fearing family.

Hey Sword and Scale fans, it's Ryan Williams, host of Sword and Scale Daily, and I'm here to tell you that we are back. That's right, we're back at it five days a week, bringing you the hottest true crime stories from around the country and around the globe. Now you can find Sword and Scale Daily at Apple podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sword and Scale Daily, true crime stories, five days a week. We'll see you soon.

Just before midnight on January 24th, 2023, a man in West Manchester, Pennsylvania, hears what he thinks is a gunshot. The first shot rings out, piercing the night's silence, but it sounds muffled. He isn't really quite sure if it's a gunshot or where it's coming from. He listens with wide-eyed intent. Ten, maybe fifteen seconds later, he hears a second shot. It too sounds muffled. Or distant. He's not sure. Then another ten to fifteen seconds later, he hears the last shot. This last one is louder and much more clear. It sounds closer. Could it be a gunshot, he thinks.

It is a freezing night, clear and calm. As he sits in his bed with the blankets pulled up under his arms, the tranquility returns. As he drifts off to sleep, he doubts it could have been gunshots in his neighborhood of cozy modest homes. The next morning, Wednesday, January 25th, he wakes up to a bizarre sight. In his neighbor's yard are what looks like deflated Christmas decorations. The more he thinks about it, the more odd it seems. It's almost the end of January, he thinks to himself.

Why have them out? And why in the backyard? As this thought crosses his mind, he remembers the three loud booms he heard the night before and fears the worst. They aren't deflated decorations. Instead, they're dead bodies. Welcome to Sword and Scale Nightmares. True crime for bedtime. Where nightmare begins now. The The neighbor hurries to the phone and dials the police, his fingers scrambling nervously

from button to button. He isn't sure what he's seeing but he knows something isn't right. He relays to the police what he heard the night before and what he's seeing now, with a hint of panic in his voice. The officer looks at his watch when he gets the call. It's nearly 1030. He glances out of the window at the snow that started to lightly fall sometime after the sun rose and puts the car in drive. By now the snow is covering the ground in a sparkling white blanket. He and his partner pull up to the

house on Lomond Ave a short time later and put the car in park. The brick home looms over the officers and is made all the more ominous by the dense fog enveloping it. They carefully walk down the snow-covered driveway and up the steps to the front door. He raises his arm and lets out a sigh that lingers in the air like a cloud before he knocks. The home is quiet. No one comes to the door. They both peek through the windows and announce themselves again. Everything inside seems in order. He tells his partner to head around the garage and they split up heading around the house in different directions. They walk

the perimeter of the home, snow crunching under each step. They start peeking through the windows and look for anything suspicious. He can hear his partner announcing himself and calling out for anyone to respond as he turns the corner into the backyard. There, just off the back porch, he sees what the neighbor reported, but he can immediately tell it's not decorations. It is like no other crime scene the officer has seen though. He can't fathom why lying in the backyard in a perfect line head to toe is an older man, an older woman, and a young woman.

He gets as close as he dares. The snow covers their bodies and their injuries, but it is apparent that each of them have a single bullet wound to the head. The senior officer puts one hand on his pistol and the other on his radio and reports there has been a homicide and scurries to secure the scene. His mind is racing to explain how this can happen in their community. Three people murdered in the middle of the night in a straight line. Could they have been executed? he wonders.

The questions flood his mind as he takes notes of the rest of the home. He looks for any signs of forced entry like pry marks on the doors or windows or broken glass, but he finds none. The front door is locked and the back door is unlocked. He looks for signs of a struggle, an overturned chair, scattered belongings, anything. Instead he finds a well-kept tidy and put-together home. The officer can't put the pieces together. No forced entry, no signs of a struggle. There is no indication that anyone other than the three people dead in the backyard had been there at all. An eerie fact made all the more foreboding by the peacefully sleeping family dog inside. When the detective arrives, he doesn't know what to make of the description of the scene.

It hardly seems believable. He walks past the crime scene tape and toward the backyard. It's cold outside, barely above freezing. He jams his fist into his warm coat pocket to escape the biting sting of January. He circles the house and approaches the backyard. He can see three outlines in the snow. And he exclaims in disbelief. Huh. They do kinda look like deflated Christmas decorations. He starts with Morgan first.

He immediately notices just how young she is, with her blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She looks at peace as if she's sleeping. He takes a step back to take in everything. Morgan is lying closest to the porch, on her back, her face a pale blue. At her feet is her mother, Deborah, lying in the same position, like they were making snow angels when it happened. James is last, lying down at Deborah's feet, but strangely pointed in the opposite direction. Each one had a bullet in the back of the head.

When the detective talked to the neighbors he learned that the Dobbs had lived in West Manchester for 23 years. They elaborated that James and Deborah bought the house when their daughter Morgan was just three years old. Described as friendly but deeply religious, the Patriarch James had strong ideals. He was a bit of a traditionalist. He worked, but Deborah did not. She stayed home and took care of Morgan. By the time Morgan was school-aged, the Dobbs decided to homeschool her. This led to Morgan not having many friends, other than kids from the neighborhood or church. They mostly kept to themselves, but on occasion would go door to door, spreading the word

of Christianity. And because her father didn't allow her to use social media, and she was pretty much supervised all the time, she became a bit secluded. Deborah was a bit of a helicopter mom, always hovering around Morgan and just generally overly concerned that she would get hurt or sick. Anywhere Morgan went, Deborah was sure to be nearby. With strict parental supervision, one of Morgan's few outlets was bowling. She got involved in a youth league when she was just 8 or 9. She was described as shy but happy and always wanted to learn more about bowling. And she got really good too.

She competed in youth tournaments and won several scholarships. After her youth career, she moved to an adult league and played doubles with her mom. At the same time, she started attending Messiah University in nearby Mechanicsburg. By the time she was in her early 20s, she had bowled two perfect games, a feat revered even by world professionals. After 2020 the neighbors said she didn't see the family much. With the onset of the pandemic and all the bowling alleys were closed and Morgan lost her most beloved outlet. Back at the crime scene Morgan lost her most beloved outlet. Back at the crime scene, the detective scratches his head as he walks into the Dobbs' home. There must be some kind of indication as to what happened here, he thinks,

as he feels the warmth coming from the inside of the home washing over him. He walks down the hall and enters Morgan's room. It's far from the kind of room he expects for a 26 year old woman. The off-white walls are sparsely decorated. The room is drab to say the least. The image of Morgan lying dead in the snow flashes in his mind as he notices a piece of paper on her bedroom table. He walks over, picks it up, and begins to read. It seems like a checklist.

He reads down the list. Speak to Dad. Clip the dog's nails. Write letters to family. The list seems a bit odd odd but not all that unusual. He looks around for any thing else, any other evidence, but he doesn't see anything. He starts to leave when he bumps into Morgan's table and her computer wakes up. An image

shows on the screen. The words follow me as I follow Christ, are in white font on a black background. His eyes dart to the top of the screen. He realizes it's a video posted on YouTube just hours earlier by someone using the screen name Lioness arising. He grabs the mouse and clicks on the user. The web page reloads to show all the users uploads. He notices another video titled potential human rights abuses by the US military. Let there be light. He sees that it was posted just four

months earlier. He clicks the video in it, begins to play. It opens with a still frame of a PowerPoint presentation with the words, Behold, the days are coming in white on a blue background. Then he hears the voice of a young woman begin to speak. She says, God is going to introduce me to you and he's going to use some evil and wicked people to do so. And then he's going to destroy those evil and wicked people. A sense of surprise jolts him when he realizes that the voice speaking in a serious tone is Morgan.

She continues, Morgan. First name is Morgan. It means great sea. I am a seer. I am a prophet of the Most High God. I am filled with power and justice and might to declare to people how they have transgressed God's law." The detective shakes his head in confusion.

This doesn't seem like the Morgan everyone described. She goes on to say, Yeah, there are hundreds of millions of people after me, including the United States military, and that's under Donald John Trump, 45th and current president of the United States. When she talks, her voice trembles with anger. A chill runs down his spine. Morgan seems to be suffering some sort of religious delusion, he thinks. She persists. in fear that they may know themselves to be but men. Behold, the days are coming when my people, my oppressed, persecuted, tiny, faithful remnant, rise up and I put them on top.

I flip things completely upside down and I put them on top and nothing will be able to stop it. Nothing. No one ever will be able to stop me because I am the most high God, El Elyon. God is going to unleash me fully and I'm going to burst upon the head of the wicked. Behold, the Lord is a mighty and strong one. Like a tempest of hail. A destroying storm with a flood of mighty waters overflowing. This world is so much more evil than anyone ever imagined.

I'm not the crazy one. Everybody out here thinking that the world is normal, you're the crazy ones. While I do empathize with at least some of her thoughts, what is it about religion that gives us this inflated sense of grandiosity? And what is it about mental illness that heightens it? Anyway, the detective is perplexed at this point. When she wasn't claiming to have the power of God, she was spouting political conspiracies. It's almost like she's going to start talking about raising goats and how flat the earth

is at any moment. She continues to rant, "...everyone thinking that what's on the fake news is what's really happening, you're the crazy ones, okay? If you're that awake, you know there's a deep state. Nothing is normal if you're still thinking life is normal after two and a half plus years of DIVOC. That's COVID, by the way.

DIVOC. It's backwards because everything's upside down and backwards. There's all manner of evil weaponry and technology being used on us from the military under Trump to the military under Hussein. The detective pensively stares at the screen and watches 28 minutes of Morgan ranting about her religious authority and politicians' lies. I mean, she's not wrong, but what are you going to do about it? Certainly not what it seems like she chose to do.

He removes his hand from his chin and clicks to stop the video. He clicks on the third and last video titled, formally abdicating the throne of England slash United Kingdom, uploaded just a couple months before. The video starts and the detective is surprised to see Morgan smiling back at him. She begins, I was next in line to the throne of England, United Kingdom. Not anymore. For all intents and purposes, I have formally abdicated. I refuse to be queen. I will not be crowned. It will force me to be crowned." A sense of dread fills the pit of the detective's stomach. He covers his slightly ajar mouth as Morgan speaks, this time in a mocking British accent, which I'll spare you from. She continues,

Somebody somewhere down the line decided they were going to be royal. Nobody was actually born royal and then somebody else went along with it. We're all made in the image of God. This was the ultimate plan against me and against God. I didn't know I was the ideal pick for the Antichrist, the devil. At this point the detective is noticing a disturbing trend in these videos. Listening to Morgan's voice he can tell she believes every single word she's saying. She finishes, I am a daughter of the Most God. I am royalty in Jesus.

I am a royal priesthood and they fucked with the wrong family. They really fucked with the wrong family. God will give me royal authority. I am a king and a priest under my God Yahweh, Elohim, and a lion. I am not the Christ. I am not Antichrist. No, I am not a false prophet. But I am prophet of the Most High God and I'm ready to roar for Him. It's time for the King to roar, the one true King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, King Jesus, the one true, Amen. Before the video suddenly ends, the detective notices Morgan glancing several times off

camera as if someone is approaching or she hears someone calling her. He stands up from the computer and walks away with a heavy heart. After watching all that, he can't help but feel that Morgan was quite sad. He returns to the backyard where the snow has started to melt. Then he notices something new about the family this time. They are dressed for the cold. How strange, he thinks. As the snow melts, more of the three bodies emerge from beneath it. Something on Morgan's hip catches his eye. She's wearing an empty holster on her belt. He quickly checks the other two and sees that

so is Deborah. The heat of the sun and time will eventually melt away all the snow from the morning and reveal even more clues. The detective is beginning to put together a theory as he finds two pairs of shooting earmuffs lying in between Deborah and James. He sees Morgan is still wearing a third pair. The sun glints off something to the left of Morgan. The detective leans down and finds two shell casings. To the left of Deborah he finds another one. As the last of the snow finally melts away, they find not one but

two guns. One to the left of Deborah and one to the right of Morgan. They also find the most peculiar of things. Gripped in Morgan's left hand is a sword inscribed with the words, Sword of the Lord. A detective is reminded of something Morgan said in one of her videos. She said, I don't care about America anymore. I would say country, but this country has proven itself to be so depraved. It's past saving. It's past worthy of being saved. The The detective had a theory of what happened and it was confirmed when officers found a written document taped to a door in the home. It was from Deborah.

In the document she explained that Morgan had been complaining of persistent audible hallucinations and they were only getting worse. She spoke to an unnamed evil that has mounted against Morgan and the family. She wrote that Morgan didn't want to live like this, and that she wanted to commit suicide. Deborah lamented that she didn't want her daughter to die alone and she decided to join her. The detective feels the hair on the back of his neck standing up, reminded of Morgan's

checklist with new context. Shuffling through the document, he realizes that the way Deborah writes is as if she expects James to be alive. Then he sees a series of handwritten letters from James. They read like several days of journal entries. The first one begins with him expressing how crushed he was when Morgan told him her plans. The detective pours over James's words. It's clear in the first journal entry that he's not ready to end his life, but by the end, after contemplating the void that would be left behind, he decides to do so. With the documents left behind, the Dobbs bodies in the backyard, and Morgan's YouTube

videos, the West Manchester police along with the coroner came to a conclusion. Very dark one. Morgan wanted to commit suicide and, one by one one her parents unable to imagine life without her agreed to kill themselves as well. They prepared a document outlining the disposition of their assets, locations and important documents and keys and even instructions for what to do with the family dog. They sedated the dog so that he wouldn't interfere with first responders. Then together, they put on their winter coats. Deborah and Morgan holstered their guns.

Morgan grasped her sword, and the trio marched into the cold night air. James went first, but because of his shaky hands, Debra pulled the trigger. He fell forward and landed with a thud. Then Debra went. She too had an unsure grip, so Morgan pulled the trigger. She caught her mother's body and slowly lowered it to the ground. Lastly, with the sword in hand, Morgan placed the gun to her head, looked up at the night sky, said a little prayer, and ended her life. Sometimes there isn't more to the story.

Sometimes there isn't some vast mystery to solve, some cold case to crack open. Sometimes depression takes what it wants indiscriminately, even the satisfying ending to a story. Sometimes it can take everything, including an entire family, even those not suffering from it. So I wish there was more to this story. But that very dark plague that surrounds us all, called depression, has taken it from us as well. If you enjoyed the show, please consider joining Plus at swordandscale.com slash plus. But if you can't, consider leaving us a positive review

on your preferred listening platform. Sweet dreams and good night.