JW Murderers In The News
Below are listed several examples of Jehovah's Witnesses that have murdered Wives, children, family members and business associates. Abuse comes in many forms certainly murder is the most adverse. Read the news stories and see if you can find a common link as to why. In most cases the JW murderer thinks that taking a life will result in paradise for the victims. As in all cases of abuse the perpetrator justifies their actions with twisted logic as something ultimately good for those injured.
Long wait for husband's release
By EMMA BAILEY - The Timaru Herald | Thursday, 15 February 2007
Emma Bailey/The Timaru Herald
WEDDING DAY: Frances More holding a picture from the day she married Richard L Greist Jr in 2004. He has been in an institution for the past 29 years for the murder of his first wife.
Frances More has no idea if she will ever live with her husband, but that does not stop her loving him.
Two years ago the Winchester woman married a man who has spent the past 29 years in an American psychiatric hospital.
On May 10, 1978 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Richard L Greist Jr fatally stabbed and strangled his first wife, and cut their eight-month-old male fetus from her. He also attacked his six-year-old daughter who lost an eye and beat his 71-year-old grandmother.
He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. At the time of the deaths he believed he was the incarnation of Jesus Christ and thought he was killing the devil inside them and would then resurrect them.
He was committed to Norristown State Hospital, and by law is entitled to a recommitment hearing every year and despite his pleas to be released has been turned down.
Ms More met her future husband in 2004 on the internet and a connection grew through their shared interest in education and both being Jehovah's Witnesses.
"He has dyslexia and I do have a soft spot for people with learning difficulties.
"From the instant I met him in person I knew he was the man for me. He said to me `you're not leaving here without my ring on your finger'."
Through their communications she knew of his past before she left New Zealand for Pennsylvania in 2004.
"I trust him completely and know he would never strike me.
"If he could take back what happened in those few hours when he suffered psychosis in 1978, he would. He has not had an episode of psychosis since."
He was under an extraordinary amount of pressure at the time of his first wife's murder, she said.
"He was working at a hospital with mentally retarded people where the conditions were terrible and he was a vocational guidance officer developing programmes for them.
"His brother and his wife, and his grandmother and his own wife and two kids were living with him and he was providing for them all."
He had been unwell and was not coping when he suffered an episode of psychosis, she said.
"He loved his wife and children and still does. I brought him in a photo of his wife and he wept."
In the hospital he works in the cafeteria and also as a cleaner.
His father, an ex-army commander, and brother have tried unsuccessfully to have him released, as has Ms More.
"He has been inside nearly 30 years. If he had been sane at the time he would have served his sentence three times over.
"In March 2005 at his recommitment hearing they said he needed intensive insight therapy because he still did not know what had triggered him back in 1978. It was not until November that year he got the therapy."
They went back to court in July last year and was told he still needed more insight therapy, and he is still waiting for it.
"I don't know when he will get out. He is sane and has been medication free for 26 years and should not be there.
"My friends and family have supported me. Some may have been disappointed but they have supported me. My biggest support though has been Richard; he spoils me and thinks I'm wonderful."
Their belief has got them through, she said, and together they take bible classes at the hospital.
She became a Jehovah's Witness in 1997 and he has been for the past 12 years.
"We could not have got through this without Jehovah."
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Slain brothers to be laid to rest Saturday
Partner says investment deal is on track
Staff and wire reports
Posted Thursday, February 15, 2007
A funeral service for brothers Robert Norris and Mark Norris (below) will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at a Bear church.
Mark Norris
As Philadelphia police continue to investigate the worst mass shooting there in six years, relatives of two brothers killed, one of them a popular Delaware resident, are making plans to lay them to rest Saturday.
The funeral service for Robert Norris, 41, of Newark, and his brother Mark Norris, 46, of Pilesgrove, N.J., will be at 1 p.m. at Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Bear. Visitation hours will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church, located at 3135 Summit Bridge Road, a church employee said.
Robert Norris was a 15-year veteran of the New Castle County Police, retiring last year to pursue the business venture that ultimately got him killed, police believe. Norris starred on the University of Delaware football team before his law-enforcement career.
The Norris brothers were killed about 8:30 p.m. Monday by 44-year-old Bear resident Vincent Dortch, who went by his middle name, Julius, at a supposed business meeting in a second-floor conference room at the office of Zigzag Net, a marketing company located in a building at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
Dortch also killed James Reif, 42, of Endicott, N.Y., and critically wounded a fourth man, Zigzag Net employee Patrick Sweeney, 31, of Maple Shade, N.J., before shooting himself to death.
Sweeney was in critical condition Wednesday in a Philadelphia hospital, police said.
New Castle County Police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said officers are planning to form a college fund for Robert Norris' three children, who range from 8 to 15 years old.
Meanwhile, a fourth man whom Dortch also had plans to kill said no money had been lost in the real estate investment deal that spurred Dortch's deadly rampage.
Dortch believed that he and two other investors lost money, perhaps a half-million dollars or more, on a plan to turn a former IBM conference center near Binghamton, N.Y., into an entertainment and banquet facility, according to police.
Philadelphia Homicide Lt. Phil Riehl said Dortch had invested his wife's retirement money, but he was uncertain how much that was. Dortch claimed he lost "somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000," Riehl said.
Police had not yet determined if Dortch's claim was true.
Investor Vasantha Dammavalam said the investment group, Watson International, was moving forward with the conference center idea, despite some setbacks.
Watson bought the property, formerly known as Traditions at the Glen, about a year ago for $1.33 million from a company that had bought it from IBM.
The worst flooding in at least 70 years hit the region in June and damaged the property. But Watson had insurance, and the company settled with its insurer about a month ago, Dammavalam said.
"The check has been issued, but it has not been cashed yet," he said Wednesday.
Dammavalam declined to go into specifics, but said Watson's development plan had been "going quite well."
Dammavalam said he was horrified when police told him Tuesday that Dortch had intended to drive to New York and kill him after Monday night's shootings in Philadelphia.
The two other investors, who attended the meeting with Dortch but weren't harmed, talked Dortch out of it, police said.
The shootings occurred after Dortch got the three men, all Watson International executives, together under the pretense that he had another investor, police said.
Dammavalam said he had been on a conference call at the beginning of the meeting, but was disconnected before Dortch opened fire.
Dortch and his wife, Stephanie, had been members of the Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Elkton, Md., since it was founded a year and a half ago, said Minister John Higgins.
Always "jolly" and wearing a smile, Dortch showed up almost every Sunday, as well as for meetings on Mondays and Bible study on Wednesdays, Higgins said.
The 117-member congregation is shocked and taken aback, Higgins said. The Dortches always seemed happy.
"We just don't know what makes people snap sometimes," Higgins said. "It's a shame. It's a sorry shame."
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The picture above is of the South Carolina corner removing the bodies of the Meza children.
The South Carolina case of a Jehovah's Witness father murdering his wife and children appears to be an ongoing problem that seems to occur when JW fathers become emotionally disturbed. To understand the reason why this phenomena presents itself you must understand the theology of the religion itself. Anyone that becomes a Jehovah's Witness must accept that they are part of the only "truth." That "truth" is defined as being the only persons on earth that are approved by God. To find corroboration of that, note the following quotes from JW literature,
" Become members of an international brotherhood known for cleanness and good manners, the worldwide congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. In harmony with Ephesians 4:24, these sincere Christians have "put on the new personality which was created according to God's will in true righteousness and loyalty." Soon the world will be filled with such people because these will be the only ones who will survive and live forever." Watchtower99 6/15 page 6
" Is it presumptuous of Jehovah's Witnesses to point out that they alone have God's backing? Actually, no more so than when the Israelites in Egypt claimed to have God's backing in spite of the Egyptians' belief, or when the first-century Christians claimed to have God's backing to the exclusion of Jewish religionists." Watchtower 01 6/1 page 16
" Of all the organizations claiming to be Christian, only Jehovah's Witnesses both think upon his name and magnify it among the nations." Watchtower 92 12/1 page 17
"In fact , only Jehovah's Witnesses today follow the example of Jesus' early disciples and help people worldwide to 'call on the name of Jehovah and be saved . ' They alone can truly be called "a people for his name." Watchtower 85 1/15 page 29
"However , every person on earth will soon be involved when Jehovah executes the false gods of this world and their worshipers: "The gods that did not make the very heavens and the earth are the ones who will perish from the earth and from under these heavens." (Jeremiah 10:11) There will be no bystanders then. There will only be those who are witnesses for the true God and those who are not." Watchtower 88 2/1 page 20
"Far from lulling people to sleep with sweet-sounding platitudes about peace, they diligently strive to awaken them to the reality that today is a time for war . " Watchtower 99 10/1 page 14
"The message is clear: If we want to survive Armageddon , we must remain spiritually alert and keep the symbolic garments that identify us as faithful Witnesses of Jehovah God ." Watchtower 99 12/1 page18
As you can see from the material Jehovah's Witnesses believe they have the only path to surviving the end of the world. Anyone that does not become part of that path will be killed by God at the battle of Armageddon. The belief continues that Armageddon is immanent and the only way to help mankind survive is to allow them the opportunity to become Jehovah's Witnesses by calling on the homes of the public and inviting them to become members through home bible studies. Any member that does not participate in this "preaching work," will be killed by God at Armageddon.
What happens after Armageddon? The earth will be given to Jehovah's Witnesses to cultivate into a garden like park they call the "paradise earth." The function of the paradise earth will be for humans to be returned to perfection by God and live eternally in human bodies while cultivating it as a beautiful place to live. In addition, according to doctrinal belief, there will be a resurrection of those that passed away in the former world. These resurrected ones will be provided with education and an opportunity to become Jehovah's Witnesses as well. If they decline then they will die. Any Jehovah's Witness member that died in the former world will be resurrected to live eternity with friends and family, they will have perfect health with none of the maladies they may have experienced in the old world as well as have the prospect of living forever. The paradise earth is viewed as a solution to all the problems that Jehovah's Witnesses experience living in the current world they view as being ruled by Satan. The only escape from Satan's world is to have one of two options;
1. Wait for Armageddon to start the paradise earth.
2. Die and wake up in the paradise earth.
When JW father comes under severe emotional distress due to financial or other circumstances it is an easy escape to consider giving their family a way to enter the paradise earth immediately. The only way to do that is through murder. This has happened on several occasions in the last few years. One of the earlier cases involved the Kostelniuk family in Burnaby , British Columbia . The mother remarried a JW man who subsequently molested the children after which he murdered the family when placed under pressure. A book was written by the children's biological father called "Wolves among Sheep"
Yet this was not the only case, another came up in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia, the Barton case involved once again a JW father slaughtering his children and wife, the reason was financial and he also killed several other people as well, but why his wife and children? Could it be the reason giving them exit to a paradise earth?
Another case was Christian Longo in Washington . Again a JW father strangles his three small children and his wife puts them in suitcases and throws them in the ocean. Financial difficulty was citied as part of the reason.
A year later in the next state, JW father Bryant takes a shotgun and murders his four children and wife then turns the gun on himself. The reasons were financial and related to reporting of abuse.
In a reverse concept children have murdered their parents. The Freeman brothers killed their brother and parents after becoming skinheads. Part of the reason given was due to being raised as JW's. This resulted in a book and movie,
Then there are cases of JW parents killing just their children. In each case you have to wonder if they believed they were helping the child find paradise
Laree Slack age 12 Chicago IL-01.
Ri'vene Phifer infant NC- 97
Knight infant CA-99
Infant France-02
Brian Mackey and son 12 Florida-03
Robert and Ben Moore 10-13 WS-93 unsolved murder
When you consider that Jehovah's Witnesses are a relatively small religion, under one million members in the USA it is disturbing to see that most cases that involved the murder of a family by the father in recent years have had JW connections. Is this just a coincidence? Could it be that the theology and doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses creates a type of time bomb that can be tripped of the right set of circumstances presents it? The information above seems to indicate that this could be a strong possibility.