Cults are both a fascinating and terrifying topic to be an outsider, looking in and examining how they form and function can be extremely thought provoking, while being brainwashed into one can be life changing and terrifying. Today we talk about a family cult that, no matter your perspective, is downright horrific and disturbing. A family run by its father with an iron fist, A family that was filled with abuse and terror, A family that hardly made it out alive.
This is the story of the Sexton family and the tyrant named Eddie Lee Sexton.
My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast.
The following.
Material intent warm your audience, listener, cheers, cheers, cheers to what you have?
Fancy warm ass drinks. It's so nice.
Fancy warm ass drinks.
Well yours? I guess it is just coffee. Mine is like a non sweet hot chocolate.
None fair enough. Okay. I've got a question for people out there, because this is like a topic for debate, and people don't even realize it's really a topic for debate either. How do you drink your coffee? Because I drink my coffee black, no sugar, no cream, no nothing in it. The reason for it is I don't want to have that extra added calories, you know, become reliant on like all the sugar and stuff in the drinks.
Right.
But people are like, oh, you drink black coffee, You're like a prude.
You're like a prude. I think that's almost more like badassy.
Well that's what they think. It's like, oh, you're like a prude, or like maybe like you think you're a badass, you think you're cool, Like there's a few things that go along with it, and it's like, no, it's it's just saving me calories. Basically.
I used to My first job was at Timmy's as you know, yeah, and I would say it was Tim Horton's first Oh sorry, Tim Carton. Yes, I would say it's I was back then, especially like a rarity for people to order black coffee.
I think it is still a rarity today. But like when people like, see you order a black coffee, Like, I've had some sideways looks before, like really you're getting a black coffee, like you think of that fucking cull like just stuff like that. So I'm curious how you drink your coffee, and what's your perspective on other people, like who do drink black coffee or people who don't drink coffee because'n a cole you're not a coffee person.
No, it's nasty.
So I'm curious what you guys drink, what's your perspective on others.
But it is assumed that people usually put stuff in there because I've ordered you black coffee before and they usually always leave room yeah, And then I'm like, oh, actually, like we don't need room yeah, and then they're like, oh, like surprised. You know.
Whenever, whenever I order a coffee, even if it's from a place where like you go off to the side and you add your own cream and sugar, I always say black coffee, so they know, like, yeah, not filler up pretty much.
Yeah.
Anyways, that's my coffee rant for the day. I'm curious what you guys. Your thoughts on it though, are though, because there is that line in the sand. There's the non coffee drinker, there's a cold and hot coffee drinker, there is the sugary coffee drinker, there's the black coffee drinker, and then there's a coffee drinker who has like twelve different specific things that they need to re iterate for their drink to be perfect.
Oh and then there's people like me that drink like a child and have hot chocolate or apple juice.
Well, I said non coffee drink that covers it.
I think, I know. I'm just kidding.
Anyways, we have a case today coming off Patreon. We are still doing some Patreon recommendations and stuff we posted in there, and I think we got like somewhere around like sixty different cases or something recommended or requested, And this one's coming from Alyssa Bludorn who recommended this case. So yeah, thank you, Melissa, appreciate it.
Always loved a good cult.
Case we do. It is kind of akin to the last case we did with some of the household family abuse that took place. And this is going to be a two parter episode because there's a lot to tackle.
One Yeah, I think you tried to do another one part, but you're like, Nope, not happening, not happened.
There's just too much going on. It's a large family and lots of information and lots of horrifying things. So yeah, right.
On, I mean, could we have expected anything else.
Really, I mean typically not. It would be nice to get another maple syrup case somewhere and here I guess No.
We've had like a maple syrup type case before.
Well yeah, and I didn't have that one since. I mean, yeah, we had that one recently where the dude he smuggled gold out of the right right so gold up his ass and was stealing it.
Yeah, that was something that was quite the case. Yeah. Was that on Patreon? Patreon? I can't even I always want to see Patriot.
It might have been a Patreon case.
Actually, yeah, I can't remember.
If you're not certain or what we're talking about, it was probably a Patreon case. But there's this dude in Canada who worked at the Mint and he stole millions of dollars worth of gold by smuggling it out of the mint up his butt. Yeah, so recommend listening to that story because it's funny.
Gosh.
Yeah, anyways, we are talking about not a Rectum case here, we were talking about a different one. Cult. Let's get into it.
You're ready, I am ready, yes. So.
Eddie Lee Sexton was born on May twelfth, nineteen forty two. Sorry I fumbled that nineteen forty two near Logan, West Virginia. He was the youngest of ten children, which was a quite large family and also an impoverished family as well. His parents, Chester was a coal miner and Baptist preacher, and his mother Lana, struggled to provide really, you know, for their family. So what's with the glare?
Well, just the dogs. I'm like, they're making a lot of noise, but forgot to take their callers off. So if you hear little chimes, it's them.
Yeah, we usually take the callers off just in case they're getting active during recordings, but not today apparently, so you might hear them anyways. Yeah, So the father worked as a coal miner and Baptist preacher and the mother mostly provided for the family, And yeah, they struggled quite a bit. So this kind of meant that they often
relied on their own resourcefulness to survive. So in the cold winters, for example, with no money for coal, the children and siblings would often scour train tracks for pieces of coal that had fallen off passing trains to actually bring back home and help warm their house.
Really okay, yeah, so.
They're being resourceful doing what you need to survive, right, absolutely, So. When Eddie was still a child, the family relocated to Ironton, Ohio, in search for better opportunities. Now, however, their circumstances didn't exactly get any better. In fact, you could say they only worsened, because Eddie's father soon died suddenly from a heart attack at the age of fifty two.
Oh shit, And he was basically the provider, the sole provider.
Yeah yeah, I mean he wasn't like making a whole lot, but he was the one who was making any money for the family. So now Eddie was just ten years old at the time, and I mean he's left fatherless, and now the burden for raising the children like himself and his other siblings fell squarely onto his mother's shoulders. And yeah, so.
That's real stressful.
Hey, Well to put it make it even more worse, Shortly after he passed away, Lana suffered a debilitating stroke which left her with some permanent health issues. So not only that is the father gone, but the mother is now yeah, not who she used to be, both physically.
And then I'm also assuming back then, I don't know if there was such a thing as like life insurance or like you know, well, healthcare type things.
There is, Well, there certainly is, but I mean to what degree, I'm not too certain. I don't think like employers would exactly be providing that back in the day. So yeah, Now, according to Eddie's older brother Otis, Eddie was their mother's clear favorite. He received special attention and privileges that other siblings generally could only dream of really being.
You know that focus and yeah. So Lana's favoritism continued well into Eddie's adult life as well, not just when he was a kid, well into growing up, which for him it shaped a sense of entitlement and of course resentment a little bit within the family too. Now, as a teenager, Eddie's behavior began to spiral. By age fourteen, he had already had a run in with the law and was sent to reform school after being caught robbing
a store. While his brother Otis enlisted in the army to escape their grim reality of the family situation, Eddie's path diverged sharply. Now he too did join the military, but this stint was short lived, because within six months Eddie was dishonorably discharged in nineteen sixty three for bad conduct.
M Okay. Yeah, so even getting in all this trouble and stuff, Hey, like he's still just like a favorite. It didn't really matter.
Basically, Yeah, No, he was just the mama's boy. I guess I don't know.
So yeah, once a mama's boy, always a mama's boy. Maybe that doesn't change. I don't know.
Maybe who knows, but in this case, it certainly seems to be the situation. Eddie was the clear favorite. Maybe that's kind of why he developed into who he was, being this little bit of a dickhead. For lack of douche canoe. I'll sew the word douche canoe because that's what we use in the show. He's a bit of a doucee canoe. And maybe it's because of that position that he was in the family with his mother.
Yeah, would be, could very well be.
Now, at the age of twenty, Eddie married his fifteen year old girlfriend. It's a bit of an age disparity there, for sure, But I mean back in those days it was a little bit more normal, for sure. So now details of the relationship remained a little bit scarce, but the relationship was short lived. The day after their wedding, Eddie was arrested for his involvement in an arm robbery of a gas station and earned himself five years in prison.
Oh shit, seriously.
Yeah, so he's now locked up behind bars.
So you just get married and then your husband is locked up for five.
Years literally the next day.
I could not even imagine that. Holy shit.
Well, during his incarceration, his young wife gave birth to a son, which I'm not certain was his or not. I couldn't find that clarification.
It could be, but yeah, who knows.
I guess I'm pretty sure it's his, but I couldn't find that concrete evidence of you know, maybe he started dating her when she was already pregnant I don't right, or she.
Was pregnant like at the wedding. Maybe they didn't even know, or who knows.
Yeah, so I'm pretty sure it was his, but don't quote me on that. But yeah, not long after him being locked up, she filed for divorce, severing ties with him, and left to raise the kid on her own.
Okay, well, I mean she.
Didn't sign up for that, No, And if I'm being honest, she dodged a major fucking bullet right there. Okay, so good now, Following his release from prison prison prison. A few years later, Eddie attempted to rebuild his life. In nineteen sixty seven, he met Estelle May Carson. From from here and out. We're going to call her May, Okay, no Estelle May Carson, and she goes by May Now. May was born into a loving and well adjusted family
as one of ten children. Her father, a career military man, insured a stability, a stable, sorry household for the children and they're growing up. May's family moved frequently, looking across various military bases throughout the United States, but despite this transient nature of the military life, May thrived. She was described as outgoing and beautiful. She was a cheerleader who
loved dancing and spending time with her family. Her parents were supportive, and she enjoyed having an active and social life. By the age of twenty, May became pregnant by her boyfriend Bill, just before he left for Vietnam. In nineteen sixty seven. She gave birth to a son, Patrick Now. Tragically, Bill disappeared from her life shortly after, And when writing this here I put unfortunately, you know, tragically he was
a deadbeat dad. But then I throughout my research realized they're not sure if he actually died in combat or chose to leave. So, Okay, he may or may not be a dead beat dad. He may have actually died serving his country. So it's unclear.
Yeah, that sort of seems that possibility seems greater to.
Me, but most more than likely in all honesty. And now it was during this time that May would meet Eddie Lee Sexton. Eddie painted himself as a former serviceman who had enlisted in the military straight out of high school. I mean he did.
Enlist, right, yeah, he did, but he.
Used this as an excuse to hide the fact that he had actually spent five years in jail. So he's basically saying, yeah, I've been in the military this whole time.
Shit really yeah, oh wow.
Definitely not true. Big first red flag there.
Yeah.
May was unaware though, of Eddie's criminal past and the fact that he had actually been married and divorced as well.
Whoa, he just hid all this stuff, Like what a great start to a relationship.
Right When she actually asked him though about like any previously previous relationships, like if he had been married before, Eddie lied said he hadn't, so.
Yeah, and she outright had asked, uh yeah, wow.
Now, initially Eddie was he was a perfect gentleman. You know, he was a very nice carrying individual. He was polite, respectful. He was very slow to advance in the relationship as well, which you know Wating reportedly for the fourth date to even give her a kiss, Okay.
Which I guess is like that would be what that would be a little bit I don't know, like, what's what am I trying to say the word here? Like you think he's like a gentleman. That's the word chivalrous civorus. Yes, there you go.
No, that's what he was doing. He's portraying this chivalrous nature. He's being a gentleman. Yeah, and you know that's what every lady kind of wants. I mean, at least stereotypically so perfect man.
Right well in the beginning, especially too.
Okay, So beneath this facade, though, Eddie was manipulative, and his darker tendencies would begin to surface once May had actually fallen for him and was pregnant with his child.
Okay, yeah, well, and also I'm well curious too if he still you may not even know, had this like good relationship with his mom too, that she saw because lots of times they say, like, how men treat their their mom is like a kind of an indication of how they may go about treating their spouse.
Yeah. I'm not too sure though, how the relationship with his mother carried on into his adulthood too much. I mean, outside of his upbringing and being a bit of MoMA's boy and stuff. There's not too much written on at least what I could find regarding that relationship going forwards. Okay, everything really is kind of like, oh, his growing up and his family and then how he moves on to be a fucking douchebag.
So there you go.
Yeah. So now when Eddie proposed, May accept it, even though her family had some strong objectives about it. See, her relatives were a little bit perturbed by Eddie right from the beginning. They were sensing that something was off, a little bit unsettling about him. But unfortunately their warnings to May would ultimately fall in deaf years because in nineteen seventy May and Eddie married and settled into Jackson, Ohio.
So he wasn't full in the family.
Hey, No, he wasn't full in the family, And in all honesty. I don't think he was fooling her either, but I think it's just one of those manipulative situations, you know. And I think she just was in too deep and didn't know how to get out. Even at this point, sang Yeah. Now, the two quickly expanded their family, and when I say expanded, I mean expanded together. They eventually had twelve children.
Holy shit. But I mean they were both had large families, right, so it does kind of make sense.
Yeah, they had seven boys and five girls, and like, back in the day, these larger families were very common. So it's not to say it's like anything extreme. Maybe by per days, per days today's perspective, but by then, I don't think it was anything extraordinary or out of the ordinary.
Yeah, I feel like today, anyone that has like three, well maybe not three, but at least over three, it's like, whoa, you got a lot of kids.
I think when when you start saying I have three kids, that's when people are like, oh, you got a full household. They're not like, oh my god, you got lots of kids. It's just oh, that's a busy, full household. But yeah, over three, it's like, okay, how do you afford that exactly got a love inflation. But anyways, for them, as their family grew, Eddie began isolating May from her relatives more and more, you know, the classic abuse of spouse
move right, separating them from your loved ones. So for an entire decade, May would have no contact with her family, and during this time Eddie took control of nearly every aspect of her life. So in these nineteen seventies years, Eddie dedicated or sorry, decided to follow in his father's footsteps, and he became a preacher. He was ordained and was able to perform marriage and sorry marriage ceremonies, and he soon even founded his own church, the Cavalry Church of God.
Now.
The church operated out of a small storefront and catered to a modest congregation, which largely comprised of May and their children, along with a handful of couple like locals that just strewn in there.
Right.
Eddie portrayed himself as calm and charming to the community. He was smooth talking and soft spoken. He seemed very trustworthy, especially for someone who's you know, running a congregation, right. It made him very easy to be liked, and many of the people were actually drawn to him. However, Eddie's true intentions for starting the church were not the best.
It was pretty much more or less just a money making scheme, one of his many cons that he would actually run throughout his life, which may explain why his sermons grew increasingly more and more bizarre. His heart may not have actually been within the religion itself. He's got other reasons for running it, right, So maybe now that he's actually preaching someone like this, you know, probably being a little bit full of themself, might throw themselves into
the center of it. And that's kind of exactly what began to happen, because his sermons increasingly more and more bizarre, which actually mixed distorted scriptures with his own erratic ideas.
Okay, I mean, honestly, it's surprising, but it's not surprising, Like this guy is a piece of work.
Yeah, it's just surprising that someone would go into religion to do that, especially right out of the gate, Like come on, now, like work your way into something like yeah, you get some smaller gigs first, man, before you just go right for people who are praising the Lord.
Maybe he didn't have to write he was just like I don't know. He's like, this is my call, and I'm going to do it.
Maybe I'm gonna scam religious people.
Oh boy.
Now, within six months, attendance dwindled and the church eventually dissolved. Yeah so it didn't say it didn't even last a year. So by this time May found herself ensnared in Eddie's negative web. Things are just getting worse. The facade of the loving family man Eddie presented to everyone else just hid the dark truth of his abusive and control nature at home. Now, after the church, Eddie took on a variety of odd jobs, working intermittently as a painter or
a handyman. However, the bulk of the sex and family income came not from any sort of honest labor or these short term jobs that Eddie would hold, but instead from his exploitation of the disability and social security system. See. Eddie claimed to have suffered a debilitating back injury and alleged that he was battling multiple sclerosis as well, which there was no evidence of this diagnosis to ever be found.
Huh, but he was still able to like weasel money.
Oh yeah he was. Because like there's of course investigations and workers that look into this, right, and anytime there was a caseworker that visited the house to like question or investigate or anything, immediately Eddie would just like clamor into a wheelchair and fake having severe mobility issues.
Oh boy.
Yeah, And as soon as the visitors left, he'd just get up out of the wheelchair as if nothing was wrong.
Just like up and moving around. Yeah.
Yeah, too bad. It wasn't in the day and age when you have like investigators running across the street like with a camera following you sort of situation to grab that evidence.
When I'm just thinking to his kids witnessing this, right, oh yeah, that is just not a good life lesson there for them.
No, definitely not. And in all honesty, these sort of manipulations and schemes that he's running, this is on it. This is just a drop of water in the ocean of what these children would go through. Because trust me, we're going to touch on it.
Okay, I'm sure we will.
Now. At one point, his claims allowed him to collect over fifty thousand dollars annually in disability benefits, which is a lot for the nineteen seventies.
Yeah, I was just thinking for back then, Yeah, that's a good chunk of change.
That's like a lot of people make that as like your average wage nowadays, like even now, yeah, yeah, fifty grands. Like people are like, yeah, you know what, I can live comfortably on this. So Eddie ran numerous scams. In one instance, he claimed twenty five dollars worth of valuables to be stolen during a supposed burglary of their home and supportless claim, he provided an itemized list of missing items, which included a fabricated certificate of recognition from the US
Congress for Vietnam Services. Basically, yeah, he's all like using his documentation from when he was in the military to fabricate other documentations. Basically like this is like giving him a reputable name. It's like, oh, we're looking into a veteran here, like we can believe this veteran and stuff, you know.
Well, yeah wow.
When in reality he was dishonorably discharged and he only served six months, probably didn't even really get out of fucking training.
But yeah, I mean, my only thought though, too, is he can't be he can't be stupid if he's actually like getting away with all the shit.
Well, in the cases of a lot of people who are manipulative, manipulative like this, they're generally not They're not dumb, They're.
They got the street smart.
Say they got the streets smart. I mean some you even got the book smarts. Look at Ted Bundy like he's representing himself in court as a lawyer, right, true, So they can be for Devil's advocate purposes. Let's just assume for the moment of this conversation that Eddie is a genius. Say, his IQ is extraordinarily high. He knows how to manipulate people, he knows how to fuck his system. But for whatever reason, he's toxic. He's abusive, and he's lazy, and so he uses his smarts in negative ways.
Yep.
Now, I'm not saying Eddie is by any means a genius, but I do think he's not a dumb individual. Yeah, for whatever reason though, his mind just seems to fucking get weird.
Yeah he could say that again.
Yeah, Now to actually talk about some more of his schemes. He actually also devised a plan to burn down his own house and collect insurance money. But worse of all, he even intended to leave some of his least favorite children in the house when he started the fire.
Only yeah, you're not kidding.
Nope, because on the day that he planned to execute this plan, Eddie arranged for himself and May to spend the day out with some of said favorite children, and a babysitter was left in charge with the other kids inside the home. No, yes, So before leaving, Eddie set a fire under the stairs of the house and tampered with some wiring to make it appear as though the
electrical was faulty and sparked the flames. However, the babysitter unexpectedly decided to take the children out for ice cream, and the children's lives were saved from said fire.
I mean, maybe that was his reasoning for having twelve kids.
Maybe they're disposable. I guess who knows.
Gosh, that is so bad.
It's fucked now. Despite all these things, Eddie managed to remain very well liked. I mean within the community anyway. It's not necessarily at home, because behind the curtains he was just becoming more disturbing, more and more disturbing constantly. His behavior was more like I said, he's He might be a very smart individual, but for whatever reason, his mind just gets fucking weird. Now in their home, Eddie
established himself as an absolute authority. He began preaching his own twisted version of religion, blending elements of Christianity and Satanism into a create like a creative like weird mixture that he just thought was right. I don't know, he's just like I'm gonna blend this stuff and just start preaching it basically that.
He's now instead of doing it to other people as well, he's just mostly doing it with his.
Face, just his family at home. Yeah, and he basically positioned himself as the center of this whole belief system too, So basically he's like the Jesus. Yeah. Now, one day, in a uh fucked up display of his growing delusions, Eddie led his family into the backyard of their rock garden. In the center of this garden stood a small statue of Jesus with his outstretched arms. You know, Eddie took a hatchet and chopped the arms off this statue. And
why he did this, I really don't know. But it's kind of like this point of like almost severing religion and like being like, listen to me, I'm the true idol or figure to preach, but it was a manipulative tactic, more so against his family and his scare tactic as well. Now, his preachings also began to take a bit of a sexual turn, and his actions became increasingly sinister across very
bizarre ways. There are seances, there was rituals. Psychological manipulation began regular occurrences in the Sexton household, and during these seances, he transformed their home into a nightmare scene. He would like dozens of candles and position his family in a circle around a table adorned with Satanic symbol in the center. He draped black and draped himself at a black cape, and Eddie would mumble and speak Jimberish that he called tongues,
delivering incoherent yet frightening proclamations. He demanded that his family render their soul to Satan. Yeah, he's terrifying his fucking her.
Oh my gosh. Well, I mean, it's like one thing to have a cult and stuff and have all these just individuals a part of it, But like when you're doing it just with your family that I just think that just makes you look like, i don't know, just lower than low. Well, because of course, like you're their dad, Like, of course they have to listen to you, so you're not like proving or doing anything.
Yeah, and a lot of these cults actually start that way.
That's true, they do, and.
They start procreating within the family to grow in everything.
Right. Yeah.
Now, during one of these seances, Eddy plays a mysterious object under a sheet at the center of a pentagram. So he's got his family gathered around this table and there's this sheet draped over the table with something in the center. Now, during this seance, he eventually pulled back the sheet and revealed the dead body of the family's pet cat, Misty, laying in the center of the table.
That is some traumatizing shit right there.
Just wait, because he also began cutting this cat and draining its blood into a chalice and forced every single family member to drink from that cup.
No, no, no, yes, he did. That is one of the most fucked up things I've ever heard.
Yeah, tell me about it. Now. Everyone's fucking terrified of this man, especially these things that are going on with all this Satanist bullshit. The kids obeyed without question. They were so fucking terrified, and when the ritual ended, Eddie warned them never to speak of what occurred.
Well, yeah, because the kids would be taken away.
Yeah, exactly.
Holy shit, I cannot even believe that that is a thing that someone would do, like that is their pet cat.
You guys should see look on Nicole's face right now.
I'm very disturbed.
Yeah you are.
I don't know. That just seems like you can't come back from that as a kid.
I don't know, think no. Now, as I mentioned, like Eddie kind of had a decent head in his shoulders and in some aspect that he said, he's he's an intelligent individual, but his mind just kind of got weird. Right clearly we can.
See that weird. I think it's worse than that.
Well, you know what I mean, right, Like, we can clearly see that something is something's fucked up up. He's got a fucking screw loose somehow. But his behavior just continued to spiral further into madness. At one point, he claimed that one of his young daughters, Lana were and
himself were quote future trons. According to Eddie, they bore the unique markings on their hand that made them targets for Satanic cults who sought to sacrifice them and To make matters even stranger, Eddie claimed that he was negotiating a multi million dollar promotion deal with fast food giants like Wendy's or Burger King based on their future tron status. Don't even know what future tron means, but apparently yeah.
Okay, there, buddy.
Getting real fucking weird, no shit. Yeah. Now, while this behavior was getting more and more erratic, one thing with Eddie did remain constant, and that was his control and abuse of his family. He deliberately terrified as his children to reinforce the dependence on him. He was the savior, he was the protector. On one occasion, two of his sons, Matthew and Charles, were lying in bed when they heard
a strange noise in the roof. Curious, they looked out the window and saw what they described as quote a beast outside. They panicked and the boys screamed for their mother, may who rushed into the room. But by the time she got into there and looked at the window herself, and they're trying to like point out it's out there, it's out there. She looked out there, this beast was gone. Now.
Eddie soon entered the room and the boys told him what they had seen, and Eddie declared that that what they saw was Satan and he had come to take their souls. But as long as they obey him completely and follow his rules, he could protect them from Satan and harm. Okay, I think it's no surprise to say that all of us right now are very aware that this beast was Eddie himself, because it was Eddie dressed up to scare the shit out of his kids.
I just ge't, like, does he lay in bed at night and like come up with this?
I don't know, I don't know. I honestly am curious to see what he wore to be this beast and like see him like running inside and quickly getting undressed, like you know, like yeah, all to scare the fucking living shit out of his kids and and try to make that make himself this bigger fucking being.
But can I just say too, like kids do have nightmares and like you know, sometimes think they they see things or like monsters on the bed or whatever. Yeah, maybe he didn't even dress up potentially, and they just these boys had come up, thought they saw something, and then he uses it, you know, to his advantage, like he might even be just thinking on the spot and being like that was satan.
Oh potentially, but I mean he was. He was definitely out there on the roof doing something trying.
To sure his kids, right, I guess, yeah.
Maybe he is trying to dress up as this fucking beast and I just picture him like, because he probably doesn't have a fucking beast costume back in this like, you know, this year, so he's probably got like on a wool jacket or in tuk and maybe he's got like some sticks that he's holding up against his head to make it look like horns or something like, you know, just some dumb shit that he's throwing together, which is why I really want to know what his costume.
Yeah, I guess I'm sure very pathetic that you would be highly disappointed in it.
I would be highly disappointed in Eddie for sure, because trust me, I am. Now his children were allowed to attend school, but this was their only connection with the outside world. Just as Eddie had separated his wife may from her family, he had now also separated her and their kids from the public. Anytime they were out in public, Eddie monitored their every move. The children were forbidden from making friends engaging in conversation or participating in any school activities.
They couldn't even ride the school bus. Eddie or May had to personally drive them to and from school, ensuring that they walked directly in and out of the building without any deviation what soever. At school, the kids gained a reputation for being very odd and withdrawn, which is not surprising. Most of them were just eurally quiet, avoiding
eye contact and speaking only when absolutely necessary. This behavior actually began to be so distinct and so familiar that the family began or sorry, people began referring to the family and this look on their face as the sexton stare seriously, Yeah, the blank expression and unresponsiveness on their faces were haunting, and they dubbed it.
That, I mean, if every kid is like that though there's something wrong or.
Going on, right, well, it's almost like they have the humanity stripping.
Yeah, well, they're scared shitless exactly.
I mean Eddie's control, though, honestly like it. It was all out of fear manipulation, but he also did this separation and isolation as well. He began ruling the household with brutal physical abuse. To top it all off, his psychological or sorry, his philosophy was summed up with a chilling household rule, which really brings this physical abuse to light.
So his rule was once a child turned sixteen, they graduated from being disciplined with a belt, and from there they got to be beaten with fists.
Oh gosh, I don't know why I'm still shocked by anything that's coming out of your mouth. I'm sorry, I know, I just mean in regard to this case.
I know, but you got very personal there. I don't know why I'm shocked with anything that's coming out of your fucking mouth. I don't think guy said fucking you didn't but it worked. But I just mean, in regards to this Eddie character, I don't know why. I think should just be I guess open to anything at this point here. Yeah, Well, everyone in the house endured a regular and frequent beating from Eddie, so the children seem
to suffer the most of the severe punishments. If a beating left visible bruises or injuries, the children were kept home from school until the marks healed and faded.
Wow.
Eddie's punishments were not only violent, but also humiliating and psychologically cruel. In one instance, he forced two of his sons to stand naked in the living room in front of the entire family. He then had them hold out their arms outstretched while balancing heavy encyclopedias on their hands, ensuring the punishing was both physically excruciating as well as humiliating.
Oh that's that sounds terrible.
Yeah. So there was another incident that saw two of the sons to the brothers, Charles and another brother get in trouble for their prank. They made a slang shot using a cut up bicycle tire and they launched a battery out of the bedroom window, but unfortunately it went into the neighbor's yard and hit them on the head. Okay, yeah, so it's like some kids Shenanigan's for Yeah, the boys.
Are just finally like doing something that boys do, right, enjoying their childhood to a degree, and that happens.
Yeah, and so like the neighbor just got a fucking assaulted. So called. The police didn't know what was going on exactly, right, Eddie talked to the police and de escalated the situation, and once the police left, Eddie approached the two boys threw him in a closet locked the door and began spraying raid bug spray into the closet, and he kept spraying it until the fumes overwhelmed the kids and they passed out.
Okay, yeah, I don't even know. I just keep like staring at you like you can't be you can't be for real here that is so that could killed them, yeah, very much. So.
Yeah. Now, despite all this, though, despite the fear, the beatings, the punishments, the psychological torture, Eddie made sure that these kids were terrified of him. But also he made it so that they believed he was the only one who could protect them. So like mentioning that the beast outside the kids windows, Oh that's satan. I'm the only one who can protect you. I can stop you from from him coming and taking your soul.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's I don't know, it's just fucked up all around.
I mean, that's not abnormal in these situations, right.
Yeah, it's not what they do exactly.
Now.
Although Eddie managed to project an image of a devoted family man to the outside world, those closer to the family began to see some glimpses of these horrifying realities behind closed doors. Many of these individuals tried to intervene, making anonymous reports to child welfare agencies, and during thirteen years, nearly a dozen complaints were filed against Eddie and May Sexton.
One of the earliest reports came in nineteen seventy nine, filed by Eddie's sister Stella, after hearing alarming details of their brother, Otis Sexton from their older brother. Sorry Now, Otis Is, his teenage daughter had been asked to babysit Eddie's kids and what they found inside the home was it shocked him, to say the least. The house was in a state of utter disrepair. There was no electricity. Several of the children were locked in their bedrooms and
tied to their beds. One of the children, James Sexton, was a toddler at the time, was found lying alone in a playpen. The window in the room was covered with a sheet and James was covered in his own waist. It was clear he'd been left alone for quite some time. Really yeah, now, Once Otis's daughter, who was babysitting, Teresa, picked him up and carried him outside the room into light. The boy began screaming, showing that he hadn't been exposed to light for a long time.
Oh wow.
Teresa called her father Otis for help. Otis was horrified when he arrived and saw the state of the home. He called his sister Stella to share what he had just witnessed, and Stella from there made the anonymous report to the Department of Human Services or DHS. Each time a report was filed and an investigation performed, Eddie managed to talk his way out of it. Of course, he had a lie ready for every situation or accusation. He had a story to explain every single sign of abuse.
He would often begin by presenting his ministry credentials, claiming his position as a religious leader proved him to be a loving father doing his best. With just a large family, he's just overwhelmed. Yeah, and tragically this approach just far too often it worked. The system continued to fail the sex and family at every single turn.
Well, the Sexton kids.
Yeah, honestly it will.
Yeah.
Yeah. Now, unfortunately, we do have to talk a little bit of the sexual abuse that took place, because this is a bit a big part of the story. See, along with the psychological abuse and physical beatings, Eddie forced himself onto most of if not all of his children in the home. It would typically start around the age of twelve in May would often take part.
Oh so okay, seriously I was wondering with that, the baby not seeing the light thing. I was like, oh, starting to be like, okay, maybe she you know, has some issues too. And then now okay, well she was definitely, but she was manipulated too, I guess right.
She was like she was as we talked. Originally she was like this vibrant individual, oh going, she basically her husband just fucking wore her down. Yeah, he slowly took her her sense of herself away until she became an active participant in his fucking exploits of his kids.
Well, he was just like working on her for years, right to be the exact like his partner in crime, basically that he wanted.
And whether I mean it could have been fear that she's doing us out of, been the manipulation or the whole psychological breakdown of like what you said, years and years. But for whatever reason she's now complicit on this situation, is that right? Work?
Joining in?
Yeah, joining it?
There we go. Now.
There were times where the children were reportedly drugged with medications to keep them in a deep sleep, only to actually awaken in the middle middle of their father's sexual assaults. Some of them actually reported seeing may present during these moments, either watching passively or actively assisting by holding them down.
No.
Yeah, So to ensure each and every one of the children kept their mouths shut about the things that went on their home, Eddie turned them all against each other. Yeah, it's hard to believe, but he managed to do that. So each morning he lined up the kids before school and handed them all a quarter twenty five cents in their hand. He instructed them to use the payphones to report any of these siblings they if they saw them talking to teachers, counselors, or any authority figures, turning them
into informants, and the children couldn't trust one another. Now, there was a situation where one of the kids, for example, did do this, but it turns out the he did it on his sister. The sister was actually just talking to the teacher about lake school work. Yeah, and that daughter got drug home and fucking beaten. But the reason why the sun did it and called on his sister was because he was terrified his dad would find out
that he saw it and didn't report it. Yeah, so it's not that they're trying to fucking tattle on each other. It's that they're so fucking terrified if they don't that they'll get beaten.
H that heal some way go boat finding out exactly.
Yeah, so picture this. At this point, both parents become the abusers. Okay, so you are being beaten near daily, locked in your room more often than not, Satanic rituals and sexual abuse is running rampant in your home. You're covered in bruises and are left with no social skills to interact with the world around you. You can't trust your siblings because they may be the ones to report you and your actions to your parents. You have no one.
The only person you have to protect you from all the things that are all these fucked up things that are going on in your life is the very person who created and perpetuated it all. The control was so complete that even external interventions failed to disrupt this man's reign of terror. I mean, he's convinced everyone, everyone in the home that no one would believe them even if they did try to attempt to escape and talk to
someone else. The only result was they're terrified to try to do anything and they're absolutely helpless.
Well, I mean it would take Oh when you're at like that young of age, I don't think you could, you know, go against that. That would just it would be so hard to How do you And that's the only way of life that you know too, exactly.
The only way you can is if you have help, help from child protective services or something like that, right, someone to intervene.
Wow, this is just so disturbing.
It's so disturb Yeah, so this is going to be where we're ending it today. Okay, this is the end of part one. Okay, we will carry off on the rest of the story in part two on Tuesday.
I honestly have trouble even imagining that there is more to tell.
Oh, there's much more to go.
Yeah, I'm sure you got a lot in there for us.
Yeah, yeah, I can't give anything away there. There's there's a lot more to go on on to and talk about. Still, so.
Yeah, okay, well there you go. That's a that's a good way to start our day.
Eh, definitely. So thank you to Alyssa for recommending this case over on Patreon. If you want to go over and join Patreon, our link is in the description of this podcast, same with all all of our other social links, YouTube, Instagram, you name it. Yeah, it's We're an indie podcast. It's us. There's no other big corporation. We're not owned by anyone. It's Nicole and I who run, produce, research, all of it. So we appreciate any sort of support. You being here right now supports us massively.
Sure does.
If you want to give us a review or a rating, we would really appreciate that helps us grow, and you being here just I mean, it's what keeps us going, So thank you.
Yeah, no, seriously.
Yeah. Also, this coffee's not helped not too bad either, it's helping.
Keep me going to Okay, the dogs actually did pretty good. It's funny because I think especially Ripley knows when we're like wrapping up, because then usually right when we're about done, she like gets up and is like, Okay, now we can like run around and do whatever we want exactly.
It's probably my end of the podcast spiel with in the description of the podcast.
You know, she here's the word Indian. She's like, Okay, they're done.
That's wrap probably okay, but yeah, that was part one. Stay tuned for Part two and until then, stay wicked.