School of Humans. This show follows the investigation of serial murders and contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion advised.
It's twenty twelve Krugersdorp, South Africa. Ria Grunewald's prayer group Overcomers through Christ were under attack. Someone was sending a message. They believed it was Satanists from Cecilia's past. The same demons who chronically tortured Cecilia were now out for Rhea. Rhea's connection to Cecilia was the only thing protecting OTC, and now Ria had severed that connection just.
Before the murders thought it they was car bombings happening to SKA Ria.
Virtual bombs were used to intimidate people attending of these meetings.
The bombs were in indeed a message, but not from Satanists. In truth, it was Cecilia Stein, the Mastermind, ordering her new subjects to carry out these crimes in hopes of scaring Rhea in his submission. After being poisoned and receiving death threats, Rhea had been doing her best to distance herself from Cecilia, who felt deeply betrayed, and the rivalry had turned violent. The first two acts of wanting terrorism. Both involved car bombs hand made by the members of
Electus Perdaeus. Here's detective Susette Kenoz she woke.
Out to her car.
She smelt petroleum, he said, heavy smell. When they came out, they saw that there was all kinds of little packages underneath the cause.
The police were called and the bombs were disarmed. No one was hurt this time, but Rhea and her followers were all struck with a nameless fear. A few weeks later, OTC met again at a new location, the home of Pastor Reginald ben Dixon, Rhea's new mentor in faith. Before the meeting started, the prayer group encircled the house. They joined hands, called in protection against the devil and his demons. They created an invisible wall sealing the home to keep
out all things unholy. But then an hour into the meeting, a series of explosions shook the house. When they rushed outside, they discovered huge holes where the bombs had exploded against the lawn. Rhea's car was smoking and severely damaged. A few weeks later, at midnight on the evening of July fifteenth, Pastor George nell a spiritual adviser to Rihea's prayer group arrived to survey the wreckage of his house of worship. The Lighthouse Full Gospel Church that he had led for
eight years, had been set on fire. As the building smoldered, the pastor found a note taped to the wrought iron gate. Scrawled in big block letters, It reads, who is going
to protect you now? Rhea. Rihea had gone to the cops, but she was convinced that she was dealing with supernatural forces until the bombings in the church fire, she remained in the nile that her spiritual daughter Cecilia, the woman whom she had once bottle fed back to health and cared for for four long years, could ever want to do her harm. Rhea couldn't bear to grasp that ugly truth, so she didn't.
The revenge was totally on are. The only think she was doing wrong was she might friends with Celia, and she protected Celia, and she mighte Celia her best friend, and then she deserted Celia and Stela just couldn't take it.
It's pure revenge. And if you look at the people that got murdered, they were all close friends for Ria.
From School of Humans and iHeart podcasts. This is Queen Havoc and Her Murder Cult. I'm your host, Kurt Kubachek, Episode two Under Satan's Hammer. When we first arrived in South Africa, Jennifer and I quickly learned about a nationwide energy management technique called load shedding. That's where the power grid is shut down in certain areas at certain times. This is meant to lessen the strain on the country's electricity system, but it shifts the burd into the people.
Here's Jermaine Kraher, our South African producer, as we drive across Krueger Store from the airport to our hotel.
How do you does.
Everyone just have backup batteries?
Oh?
No, everyone just sits in the dark. Really, yes, backup batteries are incredibly expensive and a lot of people still don't have the resources for that. We've sat four or five days with our power before. The problem with that is our water pumps work on electricity, so after two days of no electricity we lose water as well, which is a little bit of a nightmare. Hi, how are you good?
Get I'm just dropping up some gays.
Back at the hotel. We found ourselves without WI Fi. Even the backup generator wasn't working. Our first taste of load shedding, we were deep in it now, experiencing firsthand this darkness that could take over it any more. I kept thinking about the members of Electus Perdaeis, the ones who sided with Cecilia when Otisi was divided, how dark their lives became after making the choice to become the
lords and ladies of Queen Havoc's bloody court. Not only were they carrying out amateur acts of violence against Rhea, who had in some respects been a caretaker to them all, but the closer they got to Cecilia, the more they lost themselves, lost their moral compass, and became her loyal soldiers. Mirinda, for example, moved in with Rhea after suffering through a tough divorce in twenty eleven. Rhea was there for her when Marinda needed her most, but that also meant she
lived next door to Cecilia. Cecilia's petit with short hair sometimes spiked at the top. She wears baggy clothing and small gold hoop earrings. She has a silver tongue and is mastered in the art of posturing, so that everyone wanted to be in her good graces.
She has the superpower in manipulation. I mean she can open a university teaching people manipulation.
So rather quickly, Marinda grew devoted to her, became desperate for Cecilia's approval, and by January of twenty twelve, Mirinda Stein had officially taken Ria's place as Cecilia's right hand and primary caregiver. The maternal rights that Ria once held had been transferred to Mirinda. Here's journalist Jana Marx.
Marinda ultimately did everything she did to impress Cecilia. She just wanted to get her approval, and that included her kids.
Like Ria and Cecilia, Mirinda was a mother. She worked as a high school English teacher and was known to be quite intelligent.
All the people that she has turned to believe in her are well learned people. Mirenda's IQ is more than one hundred and forty.
That's Colonel Christelle Boison a strong, almost intimidating presence, A seasoned and decorated detective. She's both mentally and physically tough and full of insight. She was close to the case as well. She told us about Mirinda's transformation, her fall to the dark side.
She was a loving mother, a loving spouse, and when she met up with Cecilia, Cecilia started feeding the bedside of Mirenda. Marenda even testified in court to say that killing a person is the most exciting thing that you can ever do in your life.
What a statement. Mirenda was fully committed to her role as the right hand to Secilia, even if that meant robbing her children of their innocence. Our resident scholar, doctor Niki Falkoff speculates.
Maybe the very natere of trying to be this kind of perfect white Christian mom and wife and teacher is part of what made her available to this narrative of Satanism that you know you are special and you have been chosen. You have been chosen to help fight evil.
The fear of Satanism, paired with the promise of doing God's work, kept Mirinda glued to Secilia.
She relied on a certain scripture where said the prophet Eli was given Samuel to raise, and obviously Eli was a prophet, so Marinda thought she will just give her children to Cecilia to raise, and she grounded her decision on that scripture. So, from a very early age, the children and Cecilia's lives were completely integrated.
I don't know about you, but when I was ten, I was playing basketball in the driveway and video games with my neighborhood friends, not building bombs and setting churches on fire, not being groomed by my own mother to commit brutal acts of violence. Upon Cecilia's orders, Marinda cut her kids off from their father, making them believe he no longer wanted to see them, and discouraged any social
interaction outside of their apartment complex, Casana Flats. She made sure her kids didn't have any friends of their own, no one that might make them second guess their devotion. Here is Rosalind McNabb again, child advocate and psychologists.
They were told your dad does not want to see you. Then they were told you will not speak to anyone at school because actually Cecilia knows everything about what is being spoken about.
They came to believe that Cecilia was omnipresent. One silver lining of being an ex Satanist was that she had been granted the power of astral project. She could be anywhere at any time, and she could hear everything. Marinda treated Cecilia like a prophet one who had survived the darkness and had seen the light. And now she was ready to impart her holy knowledge for the supposed benefit of all. And so did Zach and Michaela Valentine. They
were also true believers in Cecilia. Her influence was immediately evident. When we visited Detective Susette, she showed us pictures of Michaela.
I mean she was a beautiful woman. In a year time, she went from this to this.
In the first picture, she is bright, youthful. She looks happy and grounded. She was just twenty one when she met Cecilia, studying to become a pastor. In the second photo, Michaela's style seems to have changed drastically. Her face is laden with heavy makeup and there's a look in her eye, maybe fear, maybe sorrow. Whatever it is, it's dark with Kayla's husband, Zach had known Cecilia since they were kids. They attended the same church, presumably before Cecilia was lured
him by Satanists. Now he had a well paying job. He was a financial adviser at an insurance company called Discovery Life. Six feet tall, Zach kept his head shaved clean and had piercing blue eyes, his sly smile looked as if he knew something you didn't, and he was fiercely loyal to Cecilia. It's important to keep in mind
that Cecilia still depended on others at all times. She kept up the narrative that if she stepped outside a certain perimeter around Casana Flats, she would be attacked by Satanists, so getting a job was out of the question. Zach's salary provided a cushion. Here's Detective Ben Boysen with some hard numbers.
Zach Valentine gave them more than a nine a thousand ze monthly.
The equivalent of nearly six thousand dollars per month. We also learned that EPD was as high as they could afford to be, using primarily meth and cocaine. While See found the drugs, it was the group's funds that paid for them. This dynamic worked to deepen the toxic codependency that Secilia was fostering among her followers. It also kept them numb enough that they were less likely to notice that it wasn't just their money that was falling through
their pockets. Their identities were disappearing too. But according to Secilia. Their cash wasn't just for drugs and groceries. It was for orphans. Here's psychologist Rosalind McNab.
Zach Valentine, I'm an intelligent person who bought this story that I have this orphanage of all these children whose parents, whose mothers are safeness, and we need to save them. We need to get all this money and send it to these kids.
There were no pictures, no receipts, no medical bills, no phone calls, no proof at all that these orphans actually existed. But if Cecilia trusted them, Zach did, and he gave his money willingly. Saving children became the primary purpose of Electus Perdeas. This mission to save orphans overseas worked beautifully to keep morale high among the members. It was a holy mission, they could easily understand. It was also how Cecilia convinced Electus Perdeas to carry out yet another more
heinous act of revenge against Ria Grunewald. Just as Rhea had refused to believe that Cecilia was capable of such ruthlessness, Cecilia refused to believe that Rhea would actually reject her. She wanted Mama Ria back and would do anything to serve that end.
Then she kills Ria. Riakon returned to her, so she'll rat a go for people close to her eliminate that one thing her place will be open again.
After the car bombs in the church fire, Rhea stopped communicating by phone with the other members of Overcomers through Christ. They were all receiving persistent death threats via text. Rhea believed their communications were somehow being intercepted through word of mouth. Rhea passed a message to her followers calling for one final meeting. That night, Rhea informed her followers that she
was dissolving Overcomers through Christ. Ria's unceasing anxiety, he finally saw some relief when the police found fingerprints on one of the bombs that had been thrown into Pastor Nell's church. Turns out they belonged to Marenda's dime. That was enough to arrest her and bring her in for questioning, but law enforcement became stymied by the potential defense that Marinda could have been simply reading the newspaper, thrown it in the trash, and then later that same paper was used
to make the bomb. This was enough for reasonable doubt, so Mirinda was let off with the warning.
They couldn't connect to the crime, so.
They later go.
After this event, Rihea finally started coming to terms with the fact that Cecilia might actually be the one behind the recent wave of violence, so she agreed to work with the police. The plan was simple. Rihea would meet Cecilia at a coffee shop located just across the street from Casana Flats. The police officer would sit clow spy
and listen in on their conversation. The hope was that Cecilia would implicate herself, or at the very least give the cops a good lead should anything grave happen to Rihea in the future. The day of this sting, the officer met Ria at her new apartment. They agreed to drive separately. He would walk in first, just to be safe and secure a seat with an earshot of Cecilia. But when Rhea arrived, all she saw was Cecilia in a booth waiting for her. The police officer was nowhere
to be seen. Rihea couldn't just walk away or Cecilia would know something was up, so she sat down across the table from her. Cecilia's hatred was palpable, jaw tight, hands, clenched eyes obscured under a baseball cap.
There was no.
Trace of that helpless, spiritual daughter Riea had once cared for. And so begins the persistent tragedy of how the police handled the numerous investigations related to otc EPD, Rhea, Cecilia, and all the bloodshed to come. Despite everything that went woefully wrong in this heroin case, amid all the varying versions of these events, almost everyone we spoke to agrees is on one thing.
But first of all, I think if the judicial system played the well, many of these metals could have been prevented.
The sole thing could have been prevented if the police did they job.
Sitting at a booth across from Cecilia's menacing presence, Rhea spoke first. She calmly told Cecilia to stay away.
Cecilia stood up and said, well, if you think the car bombings was that bad, people is going to start dying, and she walked away.
Oh, would make good on that promise and without much interference. The police had let Ria down twice now and would continue.
To do so.
Here is another journalist who covered the coming horrorse Maritzka Kotz.
I feel that if police actually managed to stop the group in twenty twelve, so many people would have still left.
Today, they could have prevented so many murders.
And here's Detective Susette with the most difficult truth to bear.
At least seven people died because of the way the police did not do what they were supposed to do. Not just the police, this state prosecutor's office as well.
Soon after meeting Ria at the diner, Cecilia informed her flock that she had a vision a woman with blood streaming down her face. The woman was Natasha Berger, who had taken Cecilia's place as Ria's closest all. The revenge plot was about to enter its next phase.
She told the group God gave these people five things to pray about, But what the group and Natasha specifically did was she only prayed for four of those five things. And because Natasha only prayed for the four death curses was put upon over three hundred children and they all died.
I know it's wild, but the bite method had worked. Cecilia now controlled their behavior, information, thoughts, and emotions.
Any person in their right mind would know if three hundred kids ended up dead, it would be news. It would be in the world news, never mind just in our country. But they actually believed Celia.
Elia's psychological playground had twisted her follower's sense of truth, and now Cecilia's teeth were sunk deep into the hearts of Zach, Mirinda, and Mikayla, according to Yana Marx's book, In order to focus her follower's hatred and channel it at her new enemy, Natasha Berger, Cecilia gathered the group in her bedroom. She told them that Natasha was the one who was truly standing in direct opposition to the group. We have to take Natasha out, Cecilia said. It's blood for blood.
She was telling people the Bible since she was go and killed, but actually she was taking revenge.
LaRue was in charge of preparations for the operation. He kised the area and saw that in order to reach Natasha's townhouse door, they would have to get past security guards. The guards recorded the license plate number on each car that entered the complex. Cecilia found a work around. LaRue, under the cover of night, would steal a license plate off of a random car on the street and place it on Zach's car. Simple as that, and on July
twenty fourth, twenty twelve, it worked. Zach, Mikayla, and Marcel, who was an angsty tween at this point, got past the guards. When they got to Natasha Burger's home. They sent Marcel, the most innocent looking one, to the front door. Zach and Michaela waited in the car. Up her sleeve, Marcel had a surprise, a taser. She anxiously knocked at
the door, ready to immobilize Natasha. Then Zach and Michaela would swoop in and finish her off, but when Natasha opened the door, there was an additional security gate between them, so the clever Marcel improvised.
She said hook at passed in a garden in one of the cheese and she wanted to walk through Natasha's flat, and Natasha just said no.
But Marcel was persistent, and Natasha reluctantly agreed not to let Marcel in, but rather to go look for the cat herself. Natasha quickly disappeared in the back garden. After a few minutes, she returned to the front door and broke the news no cat. Then she politely shewed the young killer away and embarrassed Marcel tromped back to the car and delivered the bad news. Electus Perdeas continued to survey on Natasha for a few more days until they
discovered a weak spot. On the afternoon of July twenty sixth, twenty twelve, Zach and Mikayla Valentine approach Natasha Berger's housing complex for the second time, this time wearing wigs and carrying gift bags with colorful tissue peeking out, all part of their new ruse. Because of that weak spot they had discovered.
Natasha left her little puppy in daytime when she went to work with one of the neighbors.
Natasha's neighbor is a sweet, older woman named Joy Burnside. Natasha's poodle, Bubbles, starts barking as soon as Mikayla and Zach walk up to Joy's townhouse. The knocking only makes the dog bark more, but then the door opens. Joy greets them warmly. Bubbles eagerly wags her tail. Mikayla smiles back at Joy and says hello. Then she points to the gift bag in her hands and excitedly explains that they've traveled all the way from Kruger's door to surprise
Natasha for her birthday. Mikayla asks Joy if she'll let them in so they can wait inside until their friend gets home. The elderly neighbor is hesitant at first, but then succumbs to the charms of their thoughtfulness. She welcomes the married couple into her home. Just a warning here. The violence that comes next is quite disturbing. The moment her back is turned, Zack pulls out a knife. He says he won't hurt her as long as she cooperates. Joy is frozen in fear. He demands to write a
note to Natasha. Joy trembling, finds a pen and paper and scribbles a message, Natasha, please come see me urgently, Auntie Jay. Zach orders Mikayla to go put it on Natasha's door. When she returns, Zach winks at his wife and says, she's all yours love. Cecilia had specifically requested that Mikayla kill Joy to practice a test of Michaela's loyalty, but when Michaela looks at Joy, the frightened old woman, she doesn't have the heart. I can't, She screams and
flees from the old woman's house. Zach is shocked and disappointed.
In his wife.
He fears Cecilia's reaction and potential for a severe punishment. Joy tries to capitalize on Zach's momentary distraction. She makes a play for the door, but Zack is too fast for her. At six feet tall, he towers over the cowering woman. Zack has no mercy. He stabs her in the neck six times, then, as if overcome, he hits her with a hammer ten times, and after that, in his blind rage, he slits her throat. Blood splatters across
the room, covering everything the walls, floors, and bedding. Somehow, Joy isn't dead, but Zach leaves the room to place a barking bubbles in the cupboard. While he's gone, Joy crawls to her phone. She manages to dial for help. Unable to speak, though, she lets the phone fall to the floor. Then she drags herself towards the front door. Perhaps her dead body can become a warning to Natasha. Joy's last breaths escape her lungs there on the living
room floor. Zach returns from stashing the puppy. He sits down in the living room and stares at Joy Burnside's body waiting for Natasha to arrive. He doesn't have to wait long. Immediately, Zack grabs Natasha and pulls her into the apartment. She puts up a brave fight. She screams and thrashes against him, right up until the hammer comes out, followed by the knives. Zach attacks Natasha with the very same tools and in the same excessively violent manner as
he did Joy. Natasha dies suddenly, eyes still open. She lies on the floor, staring forward, mere feet away from her sweet old neighbor. Their blood now mixed together on the blades, their hair smashed on the head of the hammer, their bodies in a heap, crushed in Natasha's fist is anti Joy's note. Outside in the car, the Kayla hyperventilates, deeply disturbed by what she had just been. A part of the horror of it all was setting in. They had crossed the line.
So Natasha died because of revenge and the neighbor. It's very insensitive to Side that the words were she was only collateral damage.
But one of Joy Burnside's neighbors had heard Joy fighting for her life. When she peered out the window, she spied Michaela frantically escaping the house, racing back to the car. This neighbor would become a key witness, and Epd's newfound taste for blood would turn to a lust for more.
If you've harmed one person who's close to you, it becomes easier to do it again. The first time it's a shock, the fifth time, it's becoming normal. The tenth time it's unremarked.
On the next episode of Queen Havoc.
It was one of the most gruesome murders which I've seen in the thirty four years. In the reservice.
There was a lot of blood and the blood just went Missy, we can call off.
The search body, Curtis, There's been murders and it's Gold related.
It's in Krugerdosdorp area, connected to overcomers in.
That's when I mate Secin Nestin for the first time.
Queen Havoc and Her Murder Cult is a production of Schooly Humans and iHeart Podcasts. Queen Havoc is hosted and created by me Kurt Kupachick, produced and written by Jennifer Takini, Julia Chriskau and Kurt Kupachick. Lead producer is Julia Chriskau. Story editor is Saren Burnett. Senior producer is Amelia Brock. Production manager is Daisy Church. Original music composed by Claire Campbell, editing, sound design and scoring by Jesse Niswanger. Associate producers are
DaShan Moodley and Jamaine Kriher. Additional producing by Ben Melman, fact checking by Dennis Webster. Recording engineers are Graham Gibson, Clay Hillenberg and Josh Hook. Executive producers are Virginia Rescott, LC Crowley, Brandon Barr, Jennifer Takini and Kurt Kubachak. 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 COULD behaviors, there are resources available, including voices for Dignity at Christine Murray dot com