It was extremely scary, she said. One of the survivors, Sara, told Oxygenin 2020 that when Perez raped her repeatedly, he would say he was fixing her. Here, a soldier views the burned remains. Within weeks after their first meeting, Sara, her sister Emily, and her mother moved to Angel's Landing and became part of Daniel Perez's toxic "family.". He convinced his communal. . Castro then came to Emily and told her to wait until he met up with Sarah at a local car dealership and then call 911. She said that living on the property with her family and the other members of the commune was fine at first. Daniel Perezs cult was motivated by greed, officials learned through their nine-year investigation. Living under the same roof with this man would lead them to experience many painful events. The girl told investigators that she was 11 years old when Perez told her to lie to police, saying Hughes had fallen and drowned in the pool. I wasnt sure that I was going to be able to do it. There he met a 15-year-old girl, K.L., who believed that Perez was much younger than his actual age and the pair soon began a sexual relationship. Life atAngels Landing took a dark turn after a few months, however. Perez was 46-years-old at this time. TV actress Allison Mack (center) was sentenced on June 30, 2021, to three years for her role in the alleged cult. They said they would commit suicide if authorities intervened. Who was Daniel Perez? For years, this place would serve as the home for the makeshift family that Perez had created. pic.twitter.com/aps7CzzYu8. His sex offender registry indicates he began abusing children in 2001, and the abuse spanned more than a decade, ending in 2015. According to the reports, eye witness statements reported that there was no way Jennifer didnt see she was heading straight into the oncoming truck. Mack was also fined $20,000 and willhave to do 1,000 hours of community service as part of her sentence, CBS New Yorkreported. Wichita, Kansas is located on the Great Plains and began as a trading post up the Chisholm Trail back in the 1860s. The raid led to a shootout that left four agents dead, followed by a 51-daystandoffwith the FBI. There was something about that Lou Castro guy #Dateline tonight at 9/8c. In the meantime, Castro/Perez/Venegas was sentenced to two years in jail for aggravated identity theft and social security fraud. Perez, now 62, is behind. Kidnapping Survivor Abby Hernandez Reveals How She Never Lost Hope. Also on the properties were barn-like structures that housed the groups various vehicles and Castros large model airplane collection. McGrath was about 17 at the time. Angels Landing was the location where Daniel Perezs cult was housed. One day he and another detective showed up at Angels Landing with glossy photographs of made-up suspects. 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.) Daniel Perez sits in a Sedgwick County courtroom during the first day of his murder trial on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015 in Wichita, Kan. Perez, 55, is charged with first-degree premeditated. So it surprised many when he had been crushed to death under a vehicle when his jack slipped. She, like her sister, had faced abuse at his hands. I wasnt sure that I was going to be able to do it. All rights reserved. As U.S. media began to scrutinize the group, they fled to Guyana, where they created a settlement called Jonestown. He told the members he was an angel who was hundreds of years old and needed to have sex with children, or he would die. By this time, Castro had caused a wedge between her and her sister. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The episode ofDateline,titled Angels & Demons, features interviews with Daniel Perez, commune members Sara and Emily as well as with Detective Ron Goodwyn and more. The two had dated for a while, but ultimately remained friends. On September 11, 2011, Perez/Castro/Venegas was charged in Sedgwick County District Court in Kansas with one count of first-degree murder for Tricia Hughess death, ten counts of rape, ten counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, three counts of aggravated assault, eleven counts of making false information, and one count of criminal threat. When he died his assets and policies were paid out to various people he had been living with at Angels Landing. Soon after, new more expensive vehicles showed up on the driveway. As reported by Oxygen, the woman, who was like a second mother to Sara, slipped and fell in the compound's pool and drowned. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. This photo shows the Phoenix family in 1983. He, three journalists and a cult defector were shot to death. However, there are no further updates on her present situation, and she could not be placed on social media either. Insurance agents and car salespersons also testified. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. READ NEXT: Angels Landing Commune: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. She was eight months pregnant. When she went to court to testify against her abuser, Sara was terrified. Prior to his arrest and conviction, Perez was the cult leader of a Wichita, Kansas, group called Angel's Landing. Having put the pedophile behind bars, the 35-year has somewhat moved on with her life, fortunately, and became Mrs. Sara McGrath. The group believed that the apocalypse would occur on Dec. 31, 1999, and to avoid damnation, members had to follow the Ten Commandments very strictly. First, there were the fancy cars most of the vehicles on the property were worth more than $40,000, according to the Wichita Eagle. In Goodwyns mind with the group of homes being referred to as Angels Landing and all the cars vanity plates with the angel designation he thought he might be dealing with a cult. At his trial, she even said that she was made to tape an 8-year old undressing as well at least twice. All 530 in attendance, including dozens of children, were killed. The various group members would tell the jury about the control that Perez/Castro had over the group. One such story, where the cult leader Daniel Perez aka Lou Castro repeatedly manipulated and abused his followers, has been covered in the episode called Angels and Demons. For him to have been able to do such abhorrent acts, one wonders what the tools at his disposal were. 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 called Angel's Landing. Daniel Perez Now: Where Is Cult Leader Lou Castro Today in 2020? "Deadly Cults" airs Sunday, May 3 at 7 p.m. on Oxygen. (Photo courtesy of Oxygen. Sara became even more concerned when some of Perez's more disturbing predictions came true. pic.twitter.com/LsUYdFja74, Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) August 7, 2020. One day when Detective Goodwyn happened to come upon Castro driving down the road and he decided to follow him. When Sara was in her mid-teens and Emily was around 11, their mother brought them into Perezs family. According to her interview with Oxygen, Sara did not like Perez at all, but her mom was convinced he was an angel and was able to predict death. Daniel Perez Now: Where Is Cult Leader Lou Castro Today in 2022? Through their investigation and Daniels tip, they found out that Castro had assumed a new identity Joe Venegas and was now residing in Columbia, Tennessee. On April21, 2010, authorities arrested Perez at his new home in Tennessee. All the vehicles had vanity license plates with Angel 1, Angel 2, and so forth. While other 10-year-olds were riding bikes or playing with dolls, I was laying naked in a bed with a pillow over my head, just waiting for it to be over. Their mother believed that he was an angel who could predict peoples death. 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. At that point in time, both of them resided at Angel's Landing, a 20-acre property in rural Kansas. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. Join us in the Ol' Dirty Basement as we cover cult killer Lou Castro. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. He also claimed upon cross-examination by district attorney Marc Bennett, that he had no idea where the money had come from that paid for his lifestyle and that of the other group members. Investigators would later learn Hughes was collecting millions of dollars in life insurance payouts, and that six deaths ruled as accidents were connected to the cult. Sheela fled to Switzerland, where she served time for her crimes, and later opened nursing homes. The case of Kansas cult killer Daniel Perez, also known as Lou Castro, is being explored on Sunday. Here, members sing before sitting down for lunch at their Los Angeles headquarters in February 1971. Casto wasnt single for long as he had met a woman named Mona Griffith who happened to live in the same apartment complex as him at the time. Ron Lafferty was convicted of murdering his brother's wife and her toddler in 1984. She's seen here leaving the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, after sentencing. Though Sara had a bad feeling after their first interaction, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt due to her mother. [Perez] was now known for two things: Money no one could explain and the death of Patricia Hughes, Goodwyn told producers. In the early 1970s, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles renamed themselves Bo and Peep and took a road trip across the U.S., assembling a group they called "the crew.". In September 2008, Detective Goodwyn was notified that Jennifer Hutson was killed in a car accident. It was during their relationship that Daniel Perez convinced K.L. He also would tell her that if she told anyone he would kill her dad. Perez allowed the small family to stay with him for a few weeks as Marilynn was getting ready to move to Amarillo. On April 28, 2021, themummified remains of Amy Carlson, the 45-year-old leader of the group Love Has Won, were found in a home in Moffat, Colorado. Case of Kansas cult killer and rapist Daniel Perez, AKA Lou Castro, to be featured on TV https://t.co/In25MdYhcb, kansasdotcom (@kansasdotcom) March 6, 2020. Sedgwick County/Kansas Department of Corrections The Family International, also known as the Children of God, was founded in Huntington Beach, California, by David Brandt Berg in 1968. Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh attracted followers by the thousands in the 1970s. Unsanitary practices is an example of a Class III offense, the state Department of Corrections said. As for his crimes in Texas that he had pleaded guilty to, but admits he never served any time for. He asked Emily if she would like to be there when it happened. They changed their surname from Bottom to Phoenix, signaling their new beginning, and moved from Venezuela to the United States. The woman, 26-year-old. Two years after Brian Hughes died, Sara McGrath's mother died in a suspicious car accident. She felt an innate bond with him. At her sentencing, Mack expressed remorse. And more horrors occurred behind closed doors. Once recovered he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Four crime scenes, thirty-two gunshot wounds, eight members of the Rhoden family left dead in their homes. In total, there were six reported accidental deaths over seven years at Angels Landing. With the help of the district attorney and his assistant, I was able to do it. Only Castro, Trish, Emily, Sarah, and Nicole were at Angels Landing that day. While working on the real estate transaction Jennifer had spent a lot of time with Castro and soon their friendship developed into something more. pic.twitter.com/aps7CzzYu8, Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) August 6, 2020. In August 2006, Sherri Cox and her 8-year-old daughter, C.C. Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. Perez told his followers that he needed to have sex with young girls to stay alive. Upon settling, Trish took out a $1 million insurance policy on her life that included an accidental death rider. Emily tried to get her out but was unable to. Authorities found the corpses lying in bunk beds, covered by a purple cloths. You can move on and life can be good after a storm., The case of Daniel U. Perez is explored on Oxygen's 'Deadly Cults' true-crime docuseries. The most notorious mass murder in Ohio's history happened on the night of April 21, 2016 in rural Pike County. began to visit Castro. In fact, he would also consistently manipulate her into doing his bidding, as is evident with her involuntary participation in Patricias murder. The investigation into Daniel Perez centered around what investigators called his unexplained wealth, according to The Wichita Eagle. Over the years Castro would spend upwards of a million and a half dollars on lavish vehicles for the group. 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