Prosecutors alleged that Perez forcibly drowned Hughes to collect a life insurance policy after her death. DETECTIVE RECALLS MEETING TRUCK STOP KILLER BRUCE MENDENHALL IN DEADLY RECALL: THERES EVIL OUT THERE. Born Daniel Perez, the moniker was created only after he fled Texas. At her sentencing, Mack expressed remorse. To evade law enforcement, Perez would consistently be on the move, relocating constantly from one state to another. The most notorious mass murder in Ohio's history happened on the night of April 21, 2016 in rural Pike County. While everyone inside Angel's Landing knew the suspected cult leader as Lou Castro, that had not always been his identity. An addition to the small group was Jennifer Hutson. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. Even after he was sentenced, I was a bit scared., KIM KARDASHIAN DETAILS HER NEW DOC, SAYS SHE'S NOT WORRIED ABOUT JUSTICE REFORM CRITICS, Daniel Perez also went by Lou Castro. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The two would have a child, Angelica in December 2004. Years later, the truth of the murder surfaced when one of the girls went back to police, even though Castro had initially convinced her to lie for him. As reported by The Wichita Eagle, he was subsequently sentenced to two terms of life in prison. Wichita, Kansas is located on the Great Plains and began as a trading post up the Chisholm Trail back in the 1860s. Angel's Landing Cult Mar 6 2022 Length: 1 hr and 1 min Podcast Listen for free View show details Summary Lou Castro (aka Daniel Perez, master manipulator) was a man who seemed to have this ability to draw families to him and convince them of the seemingly impossible. She was just sucked into it. The Wichita Eagle noted that the Kansas Bureau of Investigations sex offender registry showed Perez raped girls ranging in age from 8 to 16. The case of Kansas cult killer Daniel Perez, also known as Lou Castro, is being explored on Sunday. Famous celebrities from Wichita include actress Kristie Alley, Don Johnson, and Hattie McDaniel, who was the first African American to win an Oscar for her role in Gone With the Wind. Perez first attracted law enforcement's attention in 2003 when he was living with a small group of people from mixed backgrounds on a 20-acre property calledAngels Landing. In 2015, Sara told Fox News what it was like to survive a cult, talking specifically about the types of trauma she endured. At his trial, she even said that she was made to tape an 8-year old undressing as well at least twice. Daniel Perez testified in his defense along with three other witnesses. About every two and a half years, bankaccountbalances would get low in the makeshift family, then someone would die, Goodwyn said. His sex offender registry indicates he began abusing children in 2001, and the abuse spanned more than a decade, ending in 2015. In 2015, Daniel Perez, who was also known as Lou Castro, was found guilty on dozens of criminal counts, including sex crimes and murder. Emily was 10-years-old at the time. He. By the time police tracked him down, they found Constanzo and another follower both fatally shot. Joaquin, age 9, is at center. Goodwyn intensified his investigation, afraid that after another two years there might be another death. Sheela fled to Switzerland, where she served time for her crimes, and later opened nursing homes. The story of the rural Kansas compound, its survivors and Daniel Perez was told on an episode of Dateline that originally aired August 7, 2020, on NBC. Sarah would later state on the show Deadly Cults that Lou Castro told her he had to fix her so that she would be able to get married and have babies someday. The Russian doomsday cult was founded by Pyotr Kuznetsov. Columbia Daily Herald reports he was ultimately found guilty on one count of first-degree murder, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, three counts of aggravated assault, seven counts of aggravated sodomy, eight counts of rape, and eight counts of making false statements. As they had few resources, they contacted the FBI for assistance with the investigation. It is near Valley Center and Kechi. . The life insurance payout for Hughes death alone exceeded $1 million. She, as per the Dateline episode, was a paralegal in South Carolina, with hopes and ambitions of becoming a lawyer. Would love your thoughts, please comment. However, after this testimony, they were able to bring him down, and he is currently serving two life sentences and has been charged on 28 counts, including first-degree murder and sexual misconduct with minors. After being formally fingerprinted investigators discovered that Lou Castro/Joe Venegas was in fact, Daniel Perez. There was something about that Lou Castro guy #Dateline tonight at 9/8c. Years later Sarah thought that Brian may have taken his own life mostly due to him never getting over Trishs death and Castors teachings on death and crossing over. Perez told his followers that he needed to have sex with young girls to stay alive. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. On September 5, 2018, officials said he violated a published order, considered a class 3 offense, which is the least serious type of offense, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. Friday on #Dateline at 9/8c pic.twitter.com/GCQ8EC18Cg, Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) August 5, 2020. Oxygen reports authorities could not find any information about the man who called himself "Lou Castro." Sedgwick County Sheriff's OfficesDetective Ron Goodwyn had his eye on Perez already, and when he heard of 26-year-old Hughes's death, he took an active interest in finding out just what was happening atAngels Landing. The cult collapsed after authorities deported Rajneesh and convicted some of his staff, including secretary Ma Anand Sheela (seen here), of orchestrating a food-poisoning scheme against locals. He claimed that the women of the group held the money and had the final say in all matters. For 15 years, Daniel Perez a self-described "seer" who claimed to be a 1,000-year-old angel led a traveling group of mostly women from state to state. He had convinced the group that he needed someone "pure" to share his bed as he was a "seer" and needed a young female virgin to take care of him or he would die. Five drug smugglers were arrested in connection with the murders. All rights reserved. They told police they thought the human sacrifices would protect their drug smuggling operations. In the early 1980s, Rajneesh was having trouble with the Indian government and sent his followers to buy a ranch in Wasco County, Oregon, which they converted into a compound (seen here). Nettles died of liver cancer in 1985, but Applewhite (seen here) continued to lead the group. Cults have made headlines around the world for many years and continue to fascinate in documentaries and popular podcasts. With the help of the district attorney and his assistant, I was able to do it. The two had dated for a while, but ultimately remained friends. Daniel Perez had been living there when he met Trish Gomez. The murder victim, Patricia Hughes, was a 26-year-old wife and mother who lived at Angels Landing. Kramer and Raymond were released from jail on personal recognizance bonds, with more hearings scheduled for later this month. Daniel Perezs cult was motivated by greed, officials learned through their nine-year investigation. She was their real estate agent from Missouri who moved with her two daughters Emily, age 10, and Sarah. In 1994, a man who spoke against the cult was killed in his home, along with his wife and baby. On April 8, 2019, Allison Mack appeared in a Brooklyn federal court to enter a guilty plea for two racketeering charges in connection with her involvement with the NXIVM cult. On April 21, 2010, authorities arrested Perez at his new home in Tennessee after learning about what had been going on at Angels Landing in the past years through interviews with members of the commune. His sex offender registry indicates he began abusing children in 2001, and the abuse spanned more than a decade, ending in 2015. First published on June 15, 2018 / 2:32 PM. Was he clairvoyant? Sara didn't like Perez at all, she told producers, but her mom felt a bond with him and was convinced he was anangel, who could tell you when you were going to die. I didnt realize I was in a cult until I had been out for a few years.. (Photo courtesy of Oxygen. In fact, most of his other crimes also took place on Angel's Landing. One such episode, 'Angels and Demons,' presented the heinous crimes committed by self-proclaimed psychic Daniel Perez, whose known alias is Lou Castro (amongst others.) With the help of the district attorney and his assistant, I was able to do it. According to affidavits taken by the Saguache County Sheriff's Office, the group was brainwashing people and stealing their money. For years, this place would serve as the home for the makeshift family that Perez had created. He had prepared a fabricated story that had cleared his name since initially, the police thought that her death was an accident. [Perez] is either very unlucky,with close friends dying, or he's involved in some way in making it happen, he told producers. In April 1996, Perez met a woman named Marilynn along with her son and 14-year-old daughter, Michelle. The outlet shared that in 2015 Perez was handed two life sentences, plus 406 months with no possibility of parole for 80 years. Here, members sing before sitting down for lunch at their Los Angeles headquarters in February 1971. Emily testified as to what happened on the day Trish had drowned. His parents, suspicious that the group was becoming something more insidious than a religious community, decided to separate from the group in 1977, when Joaquin was 3 years old. The newly engaged couple, along with Monas daughter Lindsey went missing when the plan they had been on disappeared. In all, 74 cult members and former cult members died. The group broke off from the Russian Orthodox church. The dynamic in Angels Landing was Lou Castro was the boss with Trish being second in command. Daniel Perez claimed to be some sort of angel. Through interviews with Sara, her younger sister and other members of the commune, they uncovered Perez's shocking methods of manipulation and abuse and he was charged with 28 felonies. Afterward, she called her sister Sarah who was at the car dealership with Castro crying telling her that Trish fell in the pool. But it didnt take long for things to turn., HARVEY WEINSTEINS EX-ASSISTANT EXPLAINS IN DOC WHY IT TOOK HER OVER 20 YEARS TO REVEAL ALLEGED ATTEMPTED RAPE, Sara McGrath with her mother during happier times. Perez told commune members that she had slipped and fallen into the pool. By the spring of 2002, the small group had purchased three homes side-by-side in Sedgwick County, Kansas which is outside Valley Center. Life atAngels Landing took a dark turn after a few months, however. Powered by. He had become depressed and was talking to Perez more often, one of the survivors, Sara, told Oxygen. Daniel Perez, also known as Lou Castro, was sentenced to life in prison for murder and the rape of children in his cult, known as the Angel's Landing commune. He was already suspicious about the accidents that occurred within the family and would work go on to work with the FBI in 2010 to find Daniel Perezs next identity (that he would use in Tennessee.) Insurance agents and car salespersons also testified. Emily told the couple that she was sad about Trish dying, but Trish assured her that she would eventually come back in a new healthier body. Angel's Landing was the location where Daniel Perez's cult was housed. When he died his assets and policies were paid out to various people he had been living with at Angels Landing. READ NEXT: Angels Landing Commune: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. Former cult member Sara McGrath, who lived with Angel's Landing leader Daniel Perez, recounts the untimely death of her mother He left the care of his daughter to Hutson, who died in a traffic accident in 2008. It turned out that he was collecting the payments from the life insurance policies of the deceased members, and this could explain how he was able to afford such an extravagant property as well. According to both Emily and Sarah, Trish was like a second mother to them. After that Castro started to get nervous telling Sarah that they were trying to get him. Lou took off to look at houses in Tennessee. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. We begin in Texas in the mid-1990s. Now they preach that they are in a war of good versus evil. Perez was charged with 28 felonies. Sedgwick County/Kansas Department of Corrections In 2003, 26-year-old Patricia Hughes, a follower, drowned atthe compound. (Photo courtesy of Oxygen), EX-JEHOVAHS WITNESS RECOUNTS SEXUAL ABUSE IN DOC, ORGANIZATION DENIES TRYING TO COVER IT UP. When paramedics arrived they were surprised to see Trish floating in the shallow end of the pool, but believed the story that Emily told that Trish had rushed into the pool to save her daughter, but slipped hitting her head and drowned. Perez was found guilty in February 2015 of fraud, child exploitation, rape and first-degree murder. Daniel Perez and his followers lived on a 20-acre compound, near Valley Center and Kechi, which contained several residential buildings and a swimming pool. He was sentenced to two terms of life in prison and will not be eligible for parole until 2095. In 2004, the couple began living together and they eventually married. Daniel Perez led a commune which believed he could see into the future He was found guilty of killing a member in order to claim life insurance Jury also found Perez, 55, guilty of dozens of. He even threatened to kill Emily and Sarahs father and K.L. The hope was that they would get a fingerprint and finally find out who Lou Castro was. The Angels Landing cult was not housed in just one place. Noor Malhotra August 7, 2020 Sara and her younger sister Emily were barely teenagers when their mother, Jennifer Huston, packed their bags up and moved into Angel's Landing in Kansas to be a part of Daniel Perez's cult. He, three journalists and a cult defector were shot to death. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Investigators initially believed she drowned while trying to rescue her 2-year-old daughter from a swimming pool. The group moved from state to state, making it difficult to track Lou Castro and his crimes. Castro had gone into a restaurant to have a meal with someone and when he left Detective Goodwyn collected Castros water glass and silverware. His extreme spending didnt seem to stop with just the small group at Angels Landing. He also hosted parties at Angels Landing in which the local police were always welcome. That is when he came across an obituary for Mona, Jim, and Lindsey that had Lou Castros name attached to it. Kidnapping Survivor Abby Hernandez Reveals How She Never Lost Hope. Daniel Perez was convicted of 20 counts of sexual abuse of children, with his victims ranging in age from 8 to 16, according to the sex offender registry in Kansas. Koresh kept "spiritual wives," some of whom were underage. Actress Rose McGowan was also born into Children of God. The day after the guilty verdict, Goodwyn and two investigators he worked with - former Wichita. But the big break came when a girl told investigators she was 11 years old when Perez told her to give authorities a made-up story about Hughes demise. Castro was always present when these policies were taken out and had directed who would be taking policies, how much the policies would be for, and who would be named the beneficiaries. InFebruary2015,he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to 80 years in prison. Manson instructed followers to kill people because he believed the murders would provoke the race war. The two are closer than ever with each other and their father. I did not reach out and talk to anybody about it, she said. The penalty for a Class III offense may be any, all or any combination of the following: Restriction to inmates own cell, not to exceed three days;restriction from privileges, not to exceed 20 days;extra work for up to two hours per day, not to exceed 10 days;a fine not to exceed $10.00;restitution; oran oral or written reprimand.. LAS VEGAS SHOOTING SURVIVORS RECALL CHAOS AND TURMOIL OF HORRIFIC NIGHT, MEETING RESCUER, IN NEW DOCUMENTARY, Sara McGrath today. 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