Speaker 1: School of Humans. This show follows the investigation of serial
Speaker 1: murders and contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 2: On our third day in South Africa, the winter clouds
Speaker 2: parted and the sun warmed the earth. Producer Jennifer Zucchini
Speaker 2: and I hopped in a car with Detective Ben Boysen,
Speaker 2: who took us on a tour of krueger Storp.
Speaker 3: And that's on the fifty meters from Cecila's flat.
Speaker 2: Ben's wife Christelle and our fellow producer Jermaine joined us.
Speaker 2: There were high end suburbs with nice homes perched on
Speaker 2: hills that kind of reminded me of La Some areas
Speaker 2: looked more suburban, some more rural and far more flat,
Speaker 2: while other neighborhoods looked dilapidated, under resource forgotten.
Speaker 3: This area now is the worst GRAM area in Kruger's Door.
Speaker 2: We ended our tour at the home of epd's next victim.
Speaker 2: The housing complex stood on a single lane road with
Speaker 2: a field across the street. Not much was visible from
Speaker 2: outside the walls. Like most of the homes in kruger Stourre,
Speaker 2: it was protected by tall, imposing white walls, so then
Speaker 2: it's a gated community, yeah, which is wild because that
Speaker 2: gate is huge and this is a pretty privatized area,
Speaker 2: So I mean someone had to help Mirinda and Marcel
Speaker 2: to be able to get in here. As we looked around,
Speaker 2: we were reminded that Ben Boysen is a popular guy
Speaker 2: around these parts.
Speaker 4: Well, and the ice.
Speaker 3: Well, great garden track. Okay, the lady's staying in the outset,
Speaker 3: we can go inside.
Speaker 2: And just like that, the security gates parted and we
Speaker 2: were welcomed in by Anna Marie, the woman who now
Speaker 2: lives there. We got a tour of the home. It
Speaker 2: looked just like many of the condos that I visited
Speaker 2: as a kid in the suburbs of Chicago.
Speaker 4: It felt familiar, safe, But.
Speaker 2: Then, knowing what had happened within those walls, gravity set in.
Speaker 2: I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about the blood that was
Speaker 2: shed right here in the room where I stood. Chills
Speaker 2: ran down my spine. As Ben described the crime scene.
Speaker 3: The beating bought the wall and the roof was full
Speaker 3: of blood.
Speaker 5: She mentioned there were scratch marks along.
Speaker 2: The door in the kitchen. There were deep grooves in
Speaker 2: the corner of one of the old wooden doors leading
Speaker 2: to the backyard one that required a skeleton key. Anna
Speaker 2: Marie spoken Afrikaans, Christelle and Jermaine translated.
Speaker 1: What she's saying is that the neighbors actually informed it.
Speaker 3: It seems that those marks might be from when he
Speaker 3: locked it into the house.
Speaker 6: So there's the little marks that were made from that
Speaker 6: time on the door.
Speaker 2: From School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts, this is Queen
Speaker 2: Havoc and her murder Cult, I'm your host, Kurt Koupachak,
Speaker 2: Episode four Evil Ever After being in the house was eerie,
Speaker 2: but it was nothing compared to being in Miranda's presence.
Speaker 2: When I left the prison, I was relieved to find
Speaker 2: Jermaine waiting for me by the car. I was so
Speaker 2: shaken up. It was one of the most intense situations
Speaker 2: I've ever experienced.
Speaker 7: We can call off the search.
Speaker 6: Body could looking very very frazzile. So I'm really keen
Speaker 6: to see what is going to come from this.
Speaker 4: We're heading back to the hotel.
Speaker 1: Now, We'll see you soon.
Speaker 2: Are you okay?
Speaker 5: That was yeah?
Speaker 4: Let's just stand outside. Okay. Wow.
Speaker 2: Hearing that again brings you back to how rocked I was.
Speaker 2: I didn't even have words to articulate my thoughts. It's
Speaker 2: something I thought I was prepared for. I've been working
Speaker 2: on this story for a couple of years, and I
Speaker 2: knew I needed to be brave to walk into that prison.
Speaker 2: But actually the hardest part was walking out, sitting down
Speaker 2: with that kind of evil that stays with you. Here's
Speaker 2: the person we're calling Luke, who spent some time around
Speaker 2: Mirinda and the group. He refers to her by her profession,
Speaker 2: the teacher.
Speaker 5: And if you look at the teacher, she didn't have
Speaker 5: a good life. She struggled the whole life. She's also
Speaker 5: got a lot of hurt, and she once belonging somewhere,
Speaker 5: and the children got raised without her father's It's the
Speaker 5: perfect evil set up to manipulating gains someone for your avantach.
Speaker 2: Like Rhea, Mirinda was made vulnerable by her faith, by
Speaker 2: her upbringing, and I suppose she was the victim in
Speaker 2: her story. Here's journalist Maritzka Kotz there.
Speaker 4: And Mirenda's she's got two sisters.
Speaker 6: I got to know the adds I made the grandmother.
Speaker 1: They you know what they are, these very conservative ladies,
Speaker 1: and they don't swear, and they don't have hair out
Speaker 1: of place, and they are.
Speaker 2: So soft, maybe a bit too focused on propriety, and
Speaker 2: maybe why Mirinda often felt out of place. To her,
Speaker 2: it was slow death, and now she was trying to
Speaker 2: live for something greater than herself, acting in God's name,
Speaker 2: just like she'd been raised to. But in doing so
Speaker 2: she became a monster.
Speaker 1: She'll kill Marcel, and she'll kill Lys. If they go
Speaker 1: against Cecilia, she will kill And that's the bloody, sad
Speaker 1: part of this old story.
Speaker 2: That choice haunts me. Her betrayal of her own kids,
Speaker 2: the corruption of their innocence for what for her own
Speaker 2: satisfaction of her psychopathology. When I spoke to her, she
Speaker 2: actually brought this up totally imprompted.
Speaker 5: I study psychology.
Speaker 8: I studied psychology. My father was a psychologist. I know
Speaker 8: I'm not a psychopath. I still have a conscience about.
Speaker 4: Things, you know. But then she said this in almost
Speaker 4: the same breath, if you turn off.
Speaker 8: Do you kissing every time after I kill someone?
Speaker 4: It's like.
Speaker 6: A relief.
Speaker 4: Psychologist.
Speaker 2: Rosalind McNabb told producer Jennifer Tacchini what was happening in
Speaker 2: this case.
Speaker 6: Psychopathology is a personality disorder cat grasped as antisocial. It's
Speaker 6: that manipulation, that calculating ability, the ability to do something
Speaker 6: that is antisocial.
Speaker 2: What do you do if your mother or the mother
Speaker 2: you've been given to, actively goes against society with craven hostility.
Speaker 2: Journalist Jana Marx writes in her book that Marcel coped
Speaker 2: with her strange existence by working extremely hard at school,
Speaker 2: getting straight a's, and Mirinda was so compromised that she
Speaker 2: sent her high achieving daughter to live with Cecilia.
Speaker 6: She was thirteen when she moved in with Cecilia. She
Speaker 6: was literally told to live with Cecilia, babysit for Cecilia's kids,
Speaker 6: clean up for Cecilia, do everything. So this was really
Speaker 6: an abandoned kid.
Speaker 2: LaRue, on the other hand, used drugs as a way
Speaker 2: to escape. He tried running away a few times, but
Speaker 2: then he would quickly return. Didn't take him long to
Speaker 2: learn he had nowhere else to go, no one to
Speaker 2: help him, and out there on his own, his choices
Speaker 2: only became more grim. The Rue and Marcel were kept
Speaker 2: from their father by their mother, Mirinda.
Speaker 6: They were told her dad does not want to see you.
Speaker 2: But that's not to say her kids didn't have any
Speaker 2: male role models in their life. No for a father replacement.
Speaker 2: The kids had Zach Valentine talk about toxic LaRue looked
Speaker 2: up to him, while Marcel took to Mikayla. But Michaela
Speaker 2: was becoming desperate to get away from her husband, to
Speaker 2: get away from Cecilia, Mirinda, all of them, even the kids.
Speaker 2: The horror of the murders had not left her. She
Speaker 2: could not forget what they did.
Speaker 3: When she realized that her husband was now killing people,
Speaker 3: she started writing poems from the Bible versus on this warrior.
Speaker 2: Michaela had been so isolated by EPD she didn't know
Speaker 2: where else to turn. She felt like she was losing
Speaker 2: her grip. As her sanity started to unravel, she leaned
Speaker 2: harder into her faith. A personal favorite Bible quote of
Speaker 2: Michaela's fear not for I am with THEE. The God
Speaker 2: of Mikayla's faith would never condone census killing. A book
Speaker 2: she read on spirituality back that up.
Speaker 1: She decided, no, I'm reading this book, Fruits of Life,
Speaker 1: and in that book she came to realize God will
Speaker 1: never ask you to murder anybody.
Speaker 2: She knew she needed to flee from Cecilia and electus perdeis,
Speaker 2: even if escaping meant she'd have to leave the Colt
Speaker 2: without her husband. First, she had to muster the courage
Speaker 2: to confront Zach. Ever since he'd killed Pastor Reginald ben Dixon,
Speaker 2: things had been weird between them. Zach was changing into
Speaker 2: someone she didn't recognize. Michaela was also stressed about the
Speaker 2: couple's finances. Zach was spending heavily on Cecilia's medical bills
Speaker 2: and pulling big chunks from their savings to support her
Speaker 2: alleged overseas orphanage. Soon he was handing over far more
Speaker 2: money than they earned. When Michaela finally told her husband
Speaker 2: that she wanted to leave EPD, Zach listened, then he
Speaker 2: calmly suggested they pray on it.
Speaker 1: Weeks past, Mikaela found a mother and she said, listen,
Speaker 1: this stuff that I did, and I'm going to the police,
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry for what's going to happen, and i
Speaker 1: cannot tell you what it is now, but you'll see
Speaker 1: I'm apologizing now.
Speaker 2: For most of twenty twelve, Mikaela Valentine would lead work
Speaker 2: early every Thursday so she could stay by Cecilia's bedside.
Speaker 2: As the year wore on and her doubts about Cecilia
Speaker 2: and Zach became impossible to ignore. She started indirectly crying
Speaker 2: out for help. Once Michaela mentioned a one coworker that
Speaker 2: she needed to take some time off her reason so
Speaker 2: she could help her friends build car bombs. This person
Speaker 2: was later questioned by Susette about why she never reported
Speaker 2: that alarming information.
Speaker 1: She said She's spoken to a Osmond and a husband said,
Speaker 1: this is just unbelievable. Just don't go to the police.
Speaker 1: That gonna think you crazy.
Speaker 2: So often in stories like this, we wonder why didn't
Speaker 2: anyone say anything sound the alarm, ask for help. People
Speaker 2: feel like it's not their place, and who would believe them.
Speaker 2: Michayla's stories about Cecilia's prayer group were so outlandish, how
Speaker 2: could they possibly be true? Like many others in this story,
Speaker 2: Michayla's coworker chose to stay silent. Cut to October twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: By then, Cecilia had figured out that Michayla was a
Speaker 2: flight risk and posed a threat to all of them.
Speaker 2: Michayla knew way too much. If she went to the police,
Speaker 2: that would be the end. Cecilia and Mirinda began feeding
Speaker 2: Zach lyes about his wife Here's Luke.
Speaker 5: She has absolutely a mastermind. She knows how to manipulate people.
Speaker 5: She lied about Michaela to provoke soccagainst it.
Speaker 2: It was about this time that Cecilia turned her manipulation
Speaker 2: full tilt to seduce Zach Here's journalist Jana Marx.
Speaker 1: It came to light that he had understanding that he
Speaker 1: was married to the wrong woman, Mikayla, that Celia was
Speaker 1: actually tasting to be his wife.
Speaker 5: She started playing a psychological game with him. So she's
Speaker 5: a very dangerous person.
Speaker 2: On Wednesday, October three, twenty twelve, almost two months after
Speaker 2: Reginald ben Dixon was killed, Michaela mustered up the courage
Speaker 2: to confront her spiritual master and tell her that she
Speaker 2: was leaving EPD. When she arrived at Casana Flats, Michaela
Speaker 2: was escorted into Cecilia's bedroom. The door was closed behind her.
Speaker 2: Marcel waited out in the living room. One on ones
Speaker 2: with Cecilia were rare and unpredictable and could create tension
Speaker 2: within the group. Silence minutes past, but then the door
Speaker 2: to Cecilia's room opened. Mikayla emerged. She was light, ebulent,
Speaker 2: free Michaela said her goodbyes to Mirinda, to LaRue and
Speaker 2: to her surrogate baby sister, Marcel. I would guess that
Speaker 2: some part of her wish she could take Marcel away
Speaker 2: with her. Then Michayla exited Casana Flats for the last time,
Speaker 2: excited for her future.
Speaker 3: She was in a good place at that stage, chucking
Speaker 3: everybody away. You know, say, I don't want Marianell my
Speaker 3: life anymore. I don't want Cecilia on my life anymore.
Speaker 3: And she told her usband, you must it's Meo or Cecilia.
Speaker 2: The next morning, October fourth, Michaela wakes up next to Zach.
Speaker 2: They open their eyes. It's a normal day, like any other.
Speaker 2: It's Thursday, the day she'd usually take care of Cecilia,
Speaker 2: but today she's her own woman.
Speaker 4: She tends to herself instead.
Speaker 2: She makes coffee for her and Zach before he leaves
Speaker 2: for his office at Discovery Life Insurance.
Speaker 3: Cecilia told Zach they must give a sleeping tablets in
Speaker 3: a coffee.
Speaker 2: While Mikayla's back is turned, Zach drops two sleeping pills
Speaker 2: into her morning coffee and watches them dissolve. Suddenly, drowsy,
Speaker 2: Michaela says she'll probably go back to bed. Zach says
Speaker 2: goodbye and leaves for work. Just a heads up, this
Speaker 2: next part is quite upsetting. If you, or someone with
Speaker 2: you is a sensitive listener, you might want to skip
Speaker 2: ahead by a minute or two. Mikayla isn't in bed
Speaker 2: long before Marenda comes through their front door, armed with
Speaker 2: a hammer and a set of knives. Her daughter, Marcel
Speaker 2: follows obediently. Mirinda creeps into the bedroom, hammer in hand.
Speaker 2: She stands over the sleeping Mikayla.
Speaker 3: When Maranda came in, marandaita with a I'm on the eighth.
Speaker 2: Marcel stands frozen in the doorway, watching as her mother
Speaker 2: is about to murder her only friend. When I spoke
Speaker 2: to Mirenda in prison, she chillingly described to me what
Speaker 2: happened next.
Speaker 8: I have this thing in my hat that I have
Speaker 8: to eat it to incapacitate it because she's young. And
Speaker 8: then she opened her eyes and she was all dragged.
Speaker 4: Mikayla wasn't fully asleep, she.
Speaker 3: Awaked it actually, and then she looked at Maranda and
Speaker 3: de Marna told her, Mikaela, you now need to star
Speaker 3: to pray, because now I'm going.
Speaker 4: To kill you.
Speaker 8: And then and then she closed her eyes and she
Speaker 8: started prying out loud, and she pried, and I letter
Speaker 8: pray and until she finished, and then I stabbed it.
Speaker 2: Marcel nearly faints. She catches herself and leans on the
Speaker 2: doorframe for support. Her mother seems to forget that she's
Speaker 2: even there. Mirinda uses a crude knife on Michayla, one
Speaker 2: made for skinning fish. Without looking back, Mirinda shouts where
Speaker 2: are you to her daughter. Marcella is still holding herself
Speaker 2: up with the doorframe frozen. She knows she'll be in
Speaker 2: trouble with Cecilia if she doesn't honor her instructions. Fear
Speaker 2: animates her limbs. Marcella approaches Michayla. Her friend's eyes are
Speaker 2: glazed over. Blood is everywhere as the life leaks from
Speaker 2: her body. Michayla's prayers fall weakly from her lips. Marcel
Speaker 2: stands over Michayla. She looks down at her. She feels
Speaker 2: the menace of the knife in her hand and her
Speaker 2: mother's hot stare. Then Marcel surprises herself. She stabs Michaela
Speaker 2: in the abdomen on her left side.
Speaker 3: Marcel only stabbed at once with.
Speaker 2: Her knife stuck inside Michayla's body. Marcel lies. She tells
Speaker 2: her mother it won't go in. My knife is not
Speaker 2: sharp enough. That's okay, says Mirinda. Her mother reassures her,
Speaker 2: I'm almost through. Marcel pulls out the knife she's stuck
Speaker 2: in the side of her only ally, she looks at
Speaker 2: the blood on the blade. The praying stops. Michaela's lifts
Speaker 2: stop moving. Now she can hear her mother breathing heavily
Speaker 2: over Michaela's fatal silence. Marcel stares at the beads of
Speaker 2: sweat on her mother's brow, her blood speckled face. Mikayla's
Speaker 2: brief gasp of freedom was short lived, and.
Speaker 3: She stabbed her sixty four times. Unbelievable. So, but this
Speaker 3: is hows with you where they used.
Speaker 5: To stay.
Speaker 2: Before they leave. Marcel helps her mother pull the divey
Speaker 2: over Mikayla. Merinda adds an electric blanket.
Speaker 4: She switches it on.
Speaker 2: Cecilia had told her followers that the time of death
Speaker 2: is difficult to determine if a body is exposed to
Speaker 2: extreme heat. They take Michayla's phone, pocket her wedding ring,
Speaker 2: use the blood coated hammer to batter Mikayla's tablet to
Speaker 2: pieces so it can't be tracked. They aim to make
Speaker 2: it look like a home invasion and robbery. After they
Speaker 2: leave the scene, mother and daughter scatter all of these
Speaker 2: items and the murder weapons, dropping them from their car window.
Speaker 2: At various points on their drive back to Casana Flats,
Speaker 2: EPD gathered together and were reminded of the price of
Speaker 2: defying Cecilia. Here's journalist Mritzka Katz there.
Speaker 1: Mikaila was always the example. You know, remember what happened
Speaker 1: to Michaela.
Speaker 2: The threat of reprisal for defying Cecilia was now a
Speaker 2: promise to the group. Zach proved that he would sacrifice
Speaker 2: his wife to their queen, and Marinda seemed even more
Speaker 2: compelled to be the best, the favorite, the most committed,
Speaker 2: no matter what the cost. At three point thirty PM,
Speaker 2: Zach Valentine returns home.
Speaker 3: He's not alone the buzando I was supposed to sell DoLS.
Speaker 3: He might shure that day before he met the guet.
Speaker 2: He's with a real estate agent named Estelle. In order
Speaker 2: for his alibi to be air tight, someone has to
Speaker 2: be there when he discovers his wife's body. Zach had
Speaker 2: arranged to meet a Stelle at his house after work
Speaker 2: so she could take some photos. Estelle later testified that
Speaker 2: she waited at the front door with her colleague while
Speaker 2: Zack went in to greet his wife. The reel at
Speaker 2: her noticed an ashtray had been knocked under the ground.
Speaker 2: There was ash all over the carpet. The house smelled
Speaker 2: of cigarette smoke, alcohol, and men's yodor. Something's not right,
Speaker 2: she whispered to her assistant. Then they heard Zack shouting
Speaker 2: from the other room.
Speaker 3: It was doc in a room and he came out
Speaker 3: and he said to the woman, please come come look.
Speaker 3: I think my wife is date.
Speaker 2: When Estelle gets to the bedroom, she can't tell what's happening,
Speaker 2: not until she switches on the light. When she does,
Speaker 2: she sees someone under the covers of the bed, and
Speaker 2: there's blood everywhere, like everywhere. Zach doesn't touch his wife's
Speaker 2: dead body. He just stands there. A Stelle yells to
Speaker 2: her assistant to call the police. She pulls Zack gently
Speaker 2: away from the side of his wife. Is she really dead?
Speaker 2: Zach asks. Once he's out of the bedroom. A Stelle
Speaker 2: goes back to the bedside to check to be sure there.
Speaker 3: Was a lot of blood. Everything was blood. She was mutilated.
Speaker 2: Mikayla's gone, A Stelle says. Zach walks to the fridge.
Speaker 2: He chugs an entire cartner fruit juice. A Stelle watches him.
Speaker 2: Then she grabs two cups, thinking some water would be
Speaker 2: good for her and her colleague. But her hands are
Speaker 2: trembling so much she drops the glasses. They shatter against
Speaker 2: the tile floor, and.
Speaker 3: Then the woman ask him, are you not going to
Speaker 3: find somebody?
Speaker 2: Zach doesn't answer. Instead, he wonders aloud where the cats are?
Speaker 3: She said, find your patents and find the police. Okay,
Speaker 3: you find these patents, and she found the police. Because
Speaker 3: he didn't find the police, he never touched his wife.
Speaker 3: Then you just ask, we must look for my cats.
Speaker 3: Where is my cats? And they found the cats in
Speaker 3: one of the rooms, opened the door and the cats
Speaker 3: ran out. And then you walked outside and went to
Speaker 3: stand next to this wall smoking. Does he get it?
Speaker 4: His phone rings? It's his father.
Speaker 2: A Stelle listens as Zach pleads with his father to
Speaker 2: come to the house. A Stelle is relieved that Zach
Speaker 2: has someone to talk to, someone who can be there
Speaker 2: with him. The three of them wait in the living
Speaker 2: room for what to Estelle feels like ours. Zack inquires
Speaker 2: if the potential buyers are still coming this afternoon, will
Speaker 2: you still be able to sell the house? He asks, No,
Speaker 2: I've canceled the appointment. A Stelle responds. His wife's body
Speaker 2: is lying lifeless in the next room, growing colder by
Speaker 2: the minute. It's all a Stelle can think about. But
Speaker 2: Zach wants to know if the house will sell. Maybe
Speaker 2: he's in shock, a Stelle tells herself. Zach leans forward,
Speaker 2: face in hands. He says, I didn't want to trick
Speaker 2: my wife. Stelle pretends not to have heard that. She
Speaker 2: gets up and steps outside. She can hear the sirens
Speaker 2: that are to her relief, now approaching. The police take
Speaker 2: control of the crime scene. They hustle everyone outside and
Speaker 2: begin taking statements and document the murder with photographs. Mikayla's
Speaker 2: parents arrive in hysterics. A grief councilor speaks with Michaela's parents,
Speaker 2: but they're interrupted when the councilor hears laughter at the
Speaker 2: murder scene. She turns and is stunned when she sees it.
Speaker 2: Zach and his parents.
Speaker 3: They were standing mixed to him at the wall, and
Speaker 3: they were laughing.
Speaker 2: Zach and his parents are introduced to the grief and
Speaker 2: trauma counselor. The family makes it known that they are
Speaker 2: children of God and they don't need to speak with anybody.
Speaker 2: The grief counselor notes that Zach's eyes are dry. Zach
Speaker 2: complains aloud that all this is taking so long. The realtor,
Speaker 2: A Stelle, attempts to compassionately explain to him that the
Speaker 2: police have to photograph the house from every angle. Oh
Speaker 2: so you'll get some photos, just not the ones you wanted,
Speaker 2: Zach sarcastically says to an astounded Stelle. Around eleven PM
Speaker 2: that night, the police finally let the families back into
Speaker 2: the house. Mikayla's mother pulls Zach aside. She wants to
Speaker 2: know was Mikaela a Satanist. Zach assures her that her
Speaker 2: daughter was not. The police find assassination kits next to
Speaker 2: the couple's bed. Each member of EPD has their own kit.
Speaker 2: It contains gloves, a ski mask, cable ties, knives, strangling wire,
Speaker 2: and a handgun. This discovery alone should have alerted the
Speaker 2: detectives that something illegal was going on. People don't typically
Speaker 2: have strangling wire in their bedside tables, but for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: the police decide to overlook the matching his and hers
Speaker 2: assassination kits. Before leaving the murder scene, the trauma counselor
Speaker 2: approaches Zach one last time, nearly everyone else is left.
Speaker 2: She asks Zach if he has a friend to stay
Speaker 2: with or if he's going to stay with his parents.
Speaker 3: And he said, now he's going to sleep there. So
Speaker 3: he turned that mattress that was full of bloody, turned
Speaker 3: around and he sleeped in the same bed that this
Speaker 3: was killed.
Speaker 4: Unbelievable, no waybelievable.
Speaker 2: That night, after flipping the mattress, Zach puts a clean
Speaker 2: set of sheets on the bed. He lies down next
Speaker 2: to the spot where his wife was murdered, and he
Speaker 2: falls asleep. Captain Van Vick was stricken when he heard
Speaker 2: the news of Michaela's murder. He's the officer who brought
Speaker 2: in all the members of EPD but didn't have enough
Speaker 2: to convict them. But he did have ample evidence to
Speaker 2: apply for a search warrant that would have covered Zack
Speaker 2: and McKay's house.
Speaker 7: We started to compile evidence. She admitted the statement to
Speaker 7: a prosecutor. We approached him, he told him of the application.
Speaker 7: He told us to give him the document and he
Speaker 7: needed a few days to apply his mind.
Speaker 2: Those few days were a few too many.
Speaker 7: Unfortunately, two days after we gave him the document, we
Speaker 7: received the call that Mikaela was Unfortunately, she was murdered.
Speaker 2: Hearing this blew my mind. How devastating. This is one
Speaker 2: of the critical errors that may have cost the life
Speaker 2: of Michaela and the lives of seven others. Unfortunately, for
Speaker 2: reasons that defy explanation, the police remained distracted by the
Speaker 2: swirl of coincidence and fears of an occult connection. Enter
Speaker 2: detectives susc canose.
Speaker 1: The fact was right in front of him, but their
Speaker 1: attention was drawn to sensation, and you can't investigate like that.
Speaker 2: After the new use Michaela's murder broke, Ria Grunewald finally
Speaker 2: came to terms with the ugly truth she'd been trying
Speaker 2: to dodge. Cecilia was in fact capable of mass murder.
Speaker 2: She had to be behind it, all, the threats, the bombings,
Speaker 2: the murders, everything.
Speaker 1: I interviewed Ria, but she at some stage, because obviously
Speaker 1: of being very scared of Celia, she ran off and
Speaker 1: didn't want to talk to the police anymore.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, with one less member, the walls of EPD came
Speaker 2: down just enough to let Luke our infiltrator in for
Speaker 2: real this time. But first he needed to be just
Speaker 2: as guilty as the rest of them.
Speaker 5: We spoke about killing Ria Joshua.
Speaker 1: Joshua will neven know how close he was to the
Speaker 1: so many times.
Speaker 2: Fortunately for Joshua, Luke wasn't a killer.
Speaker 1: But then one of the witnesses that was part of
Speaker 1: the group at some stage that brought him to me
Speaker 1: and he was asked to help with this conspiracy of murder,
Speaker 1: and that was with Rhea's son.
Speaker 2: Detective Susette officially took over the murder investigations, which coincided
Speaker 2: perfectly with Luke's plans to turn EPD in. Things were
Speaker 2: heating up at Casana Flats and Luke's loyalty to Cecilia
Speaker 2: officially became a matter of life or death.
Speaker 5: You know, we're natural time and that course my time.
Speaker 4: On the next episode of Queen Havoc.
Speaker 1: When we went to search the apartment we had Warren,
Speaker 1: I went into Cecilia's room. I started asking her some
Speaker 1: questions about the Occulton. She couldn't answer me.
Speaker 3: I know if they're going to do something now. The
Speaker 3: spotlight is on there, and that's why they stopped with
Speaker 3: the killings and stuff.
Speaker 5: Actually run from my life. I was almost managed Date nine.
Speaker 2: Queen Havoc and Her Murder Cult is a production of
Speaker 2: Schooly Humans and iHeart Podcasts. Queen Havoc is hosted and
Speaker 2: created by me Kurt Kupachick, produced and written by Jennifer Tacchini,
Speaker 2: Julia Christgau, and Kurt Kupachick. Lead producer is Julia Chriskau.
Speaker 2: Story editor is Saren Burnett. Senior producer is Amelia Brock.
Speaker 2: Production manager is Daisy Church. Original music composed by Claire Campbell, editing,
Speaker 2: sound design and scoring by Jesse Niswanger. Associate producers are
Speaker 2: DaShan Moodley and Jamaine Kriher. Additional producing by Ben Mellman,
Speaker 2: fact checking by Dennis Webster. Recording engineers are Graham Gibson,
Speaker 2: Clay Hillenberg, and Josh Hook. Brind Stein was read by
Speaker 2: Angelique Pretorius. Executive producer are Virginia Prescott, LC Crowley, Brandon Barr,
Speaker 2: Jennifer Takeiny and Kurt Kupachak. We want to thank all
Speaker 2: of those who so generously welcomed us in South Africa
Speaker 2: and shared their stories.
Speaker 4: We're incredibly grateful to you all.
Speaker 2: We also want to acknowledge how traumatic these events are
Speaker 2: for the victims and their families. Please respect their privacy.
Speaker 2: If you or someone you know has been affected by
Speaker 2: cult behaviors, there are resources available, including Voices for Dignity,
Speaker 2: at Christine Murray dot com.