Fifth person arrested in murders connected to cult-like Inland Empire group

[ad_1] A 44-year-old man was arrested in Tennessee this week in reference to the killing of a lacking member of a “cult-like” spiritual group within the Inland Empire, authorities stated.

Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was captured in Nashville on Jan. 12 and booked right into a San Bernardino jail on suspicion of homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in reference to the 2023 disappearance and loss of life of Emilio Ghanem, based on a information launch issued from the Redlands Police Division. Duran Jr. will seem in a San Bernardino courtroom on Wednesday, information present.

Ghanem was a longtime member of “His Manner Spirit Led Assemblies,” a spiritual group primarily based in Colton and Hemet that has been linked to various deaths and disappearances. State and native authorities have arrested 5 members of the group in complete, together with its two leaders, in reference to the killings of Ghanem and a 4-year-old boy named Timothy Thomas.

It was not instantly clear if Duran Jr. had authorized illustration. Authorities didn't describe his alleged function in Ghanem’s loss of life.

Ghanem joined the spiritual group greater than 20 years in the past and helped launch a pest management enterprise overseen by the group referred to as Fullshield Inc., his sister Jennifer Ghanem beforehand instructed The Occasions. Ghanem left the group in April 2023 and moved again to Nashville, the place he began his personal pest management firm, she stated.

In Could of that 12 months, he returned to the Redlands space to try to community with former shoppers however was served a cease-and desist letter that accused him of stealing enterprise from the spiritual group’s pest management firm, Ghanem’s sister stated. Seventeen days later, he vanished.

Final summer season, Redlands police stated they discovered the truck Ghanem was final seen driving and served search warrants on two of the group’s properties, the place they recovered ghost weapons and automated rifles.

Shelly Bailey “Kat” Martin, 62, and her husband Darryl Muzic Martin, 58, have been described because the group’s leaders. Shelly Martin and one other group member, 43-year-old Rudy Moreno, have additionally been charged in Ghanem’s loss of life.

The Martins and former group member Andre Thomas, 48, have additionally been charged with the killing of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was discovered useless of septic shock attributable to a ruptured appendix at one of many group’s properties in Colton in 2010. The boy was within the care of the Martins on the time, police stated.

Police believed neglect performed a job within the boy’s loss of life, however struggled to get cooperation from members of the spiritual group because of the intensive management the Martins held over their followers, authorities stated.

A number of members have since parted methods with the group and revised their statements to police, saying that their unique testimony was made underneath duress from the group’s leaders, based on Colton Police Sgt. Shawn McFarland.