Going West: True Crime - The Clouse Family // 286

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

In 1981, a young couple and their daughter went missing after moving to Texas. When a group of robed women returned their vehicle to family, loved ones became suspicious of their whereabouts. But unable to track them down, it wouldn't be until 40 years later that they would uncover what happened to them. This is the story of the Clouse Family, and missing Baby Holly.  BONUS EPISODES patreon.con/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.texasobserver.org/who-killed-dean-and-tina-clouse/ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/230523986/tina-gail-clouse https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/230524102/harold-dean-clouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Dean_and_Tina_Clouse https://people.com/crime/inside-holly-marie-clouse-investigation-found-alive-40-years-disappearance-parents-murdered/ https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2022/6/14/23165766/baby-holly-who-is-she-where-has-she-been-what-happened-tina-gail-linn-clouse-harold-dean-clouse-jr https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/murdered-houston-couple-baby-cold-case-16767272.php%3futm_source=twitter.com%26utm_medium=social_organic https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/missing-baby-found-17230033.php https://nypost.com/2022/06/10/baby-holly-found-40-years-after-parents-murder-looks-like-mom-grandma/ https://culteducation.com/group/1363-christ-family-lightening-amen/36586-christ-family-lightening-amen-charles-franklin-mchugh-murder-investigation-texas.html https://apnews.com/article/f9b29c053b08bfadf555295d97708ad5 https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/14/could-this-be-the-cult-that-handed-over-missing-baby-holly-40-years-ago-16824649/ http://thingsnotfoundonwikipedia.blogspot.com/2017/09/christ-family-cult-and-lightning-amen.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/05/01/jesus-return-claimed/6f5e70f6-8acf-4f4b-a85c-5593246485fb/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10905311/Murders-missing-Baby-Hollys-parents-went-unknown-killers-claimed-theyd-joined-cult.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_movement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Heath. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to yet another episode of Going West. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to yet another episode of Go and West. Yes. I know he's he found you found this episode. I did but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody did suggest it because it is crazy. Well I actually went back and checked our email and I saw that one person has recommended it and it was Ashley who recommended it sometime last year and I guess I just forgot to write this one down somehow. So I'm sorry Ashley, but thank you for recommending it. And just so everybody knows, I see we still get a lot of suggestions for cases on our social media accounts, but we are not really able to check our messages

because we get so many. So email is like the place where we will see it. So I just wanted to make that known. And if you have a case that you want to recommend to us, just email us at goingwestpodcast at gmail.com. All right, guys, let's not waste any more time. This is episode 286 of Going West. So let's get into it! Thank you. In 1981, a young couple and their daughter went missing after moving to Texas.

When a group of robed women returned their vehicle to family, loved ones became suspicious of their whereabouts. But unable to track them down, it wouldn't be until 40 years later that they would uncover what happened to them. This is the story of the Clouce family and missing baby Holly. Harold Dean Clouce Jr., who his family called Jr. but he went by Dean, mostly so we're going to call him Dean, was born on June 7th, 1959 to parents Harold Dean Claus Sr. and Donna Ruth Allen in Fayette County, Kentucky. He grew up alongside his brother Chris and his three sisters Debbie Debbie, Cheryl, and Tess. Now, it appears that at a young age, Dean's father passed away at the age of 32, but his

cause of death was not listed, so we're not sure exactly what happened, but of course, this left the family in a very difficult position. Eventually, the family moved further south to Lake Smurna, Florida, which is located in central, Florida, about 822 miles away from where they lived in Kentucky. In the mid-1970s, when Dean was in high school, his mother described her son as academically gifted and having a passion for taking care of people. But she also said that he had some pretty interesting friends, ones who she described as quote, Jesus freaks.

Her words not mine. But in fact, she did grow slightly concerned when one afternoon at their floor to home, Dean was engaged in a conversation with two bearded men clad in flowing white robes in the kitchen talking about the gospel. His sister Debbie Brooks claimed that Dean was maybe a bit naive and sometimes made poor decisions. She described being irritated with him when he picked up a hitchhiker one day while driving home from school, which obviously made her very uncomfortable.

But Dean was considered a free spirit and open to new experiences, and he had befriended these religious groups and even traveled with them in his teenage years. But his mother described that he always made his way back home eventually. And just like a lot of young people did in the 70s, Dean was no stranger to psychedelic drugs. And before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I think it would be a good idea to kind of clarify what Dean's mother don meant when she said Jesus freaks. So during the 1970s religious movements and groups began to rise in popularity all over the

United States. This was because secular and Christian media exposure was amped up at this time, creating basically this fringe movement of counter-culture with self-proclaimed hippie pastors traveling the US in search of new followers. And this was like, you know, this was a very big movement. There were, they were considered Jesus people or Jesus freaks at this time. It was pretty common back in this day for pastors to find disgruntled youths who were either runaways or drug addicts and convince them to join up in order to cleanse themselves. Between 1969 and 1977, more than 2,000 groups were identified in the Jesus movement, and in 1972, one of the largest gatherings of said groups took place in Dallas, Texas, and what was called Godstock or the Christian Woodstock.

I've never even heard of that. The Christian Woodstock. Yeah, yeah. It was just as big gathering, and there was a lot of different musicians. There were pro football stars that came and just spoke and listened to pastors. It was a huge event.

Whoa. Yeah, so the real name of this event was actually called the 1972 Explo, which was sponsored by campus crusades for Christ, which describes themselves as a quote, inter-denominational Christian Parachurch organization. So at this event, more than 85,000 high school and college students congregated at the Dallas Cotton Bowl to listen to preacher speak and watch live Christian rock bands perform, which interestingly enough, even Johnny Cash performed at this explode.

So it appears that Dean had been involved in one or more of these organizations and his teens, but here's the thing, Not all of these groups were the same. In fact, most of them were very different. Some groups prided themselves on abstinence, being the only way to seek a relationship with God, and others grew long hair and beards, wore white robes and smoked weed. And as we'll discuss, some appear to be much more harmful than anyone could have imagined. And by the way, this is very relevant to the story. Yes it is.

So by the time the late 1970s rolled around, Dean was looking for something else entirely. Like he was looking for love, and it didn't take him very long to find it. Because in 1978, one of Dean's sisters was dating a new boyfriend who happened to have a 15-year-old sister named Tina, and Dean, who was 18 at the time, fell head over heels in love. The pair really hit it off and found out that they had a lot in common. They both lost their fathers when they were young, and they had both moved to Florida from other states.

Tina Gail Lynn was born on September 21, 1963 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to parents Leslie Roy Lynn and Shelby Jean-Jone Rogers. We couldn't find much about her family or upbringing, but we were able to find that she had a brother named Les, who was dating Dean's sister, and eventually married her actually, and had a sister named Sherry. When Tina met Dean, she was still in high school obviously like I said she's 15 years old, and Dean had just returned from a trip with a religious group and was now trying to build his career in Carpentry. And he had actually made a name for himself in the new Smurna area for his cabinet making

abilities, and it didn't take long for Dean and Tina to take their relationship to the next level. On June 25th, 1979, less than a year after meeting, The pair tied the knot at the Volusia County Courthouse and were extremely excited to start their lives together. Then, a year later on January 24, 1980, Tina gave birth to the couple's only child, a baby girl that they named Holly. And this was a really happy time in their lives

because not only had Tina given birth, but two of Dean's sisters, who Tina grew very close to, had also given birth to children. And the three women just day dreamed about raising their children together as cousins. But an opportunity arose that Dean knew he just couldn't pass up. He had landed a very promising job with a prominent home builder named DR Horton and the Dallas Fort Worth area, which meant that the couple would soon have to leave their families behind in Florida to embark on this new journey. Dean had caught wind that the construction business in Dallas was booming at this time, and

his mother remembered him remarking, quote, I can take better care of Tina and the baby. So in the summer of 1980, Dean borrowed his mother's maroon GMC Concord, packed up he and Tina's belongings, and set off west to begin their 950-mile move. But unfortunately, things didn't really turn out the way Dean had expected. The couple had moved to Lewisville, Texas, which is a city located in the Dallas metropolitan area that had a population at the time of around 24,000 residents. At first, the couple and the newborn baby Holly had moved in with Dean's cousin to save money for a place of their own, but work seemed to be pretty inconsistent for Dean,

and the young couple basically struggled to make ends meet. But according to friends and family, Tina and Dean were extremely happy, and they didn't let a few bumps in the road shake their family. Tina would often send letters home, updating her family on how she was doing, and in December of 1980, Tina sent a Christmas letter home with a photo of Holly, standing up on her own, stating that things were tough, but they were making it work. But then, for some unknown reason, the letters just ceased altogether. So understandably, Tina and Dean's families were confused as to why the couple had cut

off contact with them. But they assumed that the young couple was just busy trying to make a life for themselves. However, when a few months passed without any contact at all, their families grew very concerned, and that concern was only highlighted when in the spring of 1981, Dean's mother Donna received a very mysterious phone call. A man who remained anonymous told Donna that he had found her maroon GMC, which is the car that Dean and Tina had borrowed, in Los Angeles, and he would return it to her in Florida for a fee of $1,000. So Donna remembered thinking that this was obviously extremely strange and wondered how the vehicle ended up there in the first place.

But more importantly, she was concerned for the well-being of her son and his family. I mean, yeah, this would be so confusing, just receiving a phone call like this out of the blue and someone's like, hey, I know where your car is and I'm going to drive it back to Florida, but then just didn't give them any information about where Dean and Tina were. Yeah. Very bizarre. And then also, how did this person get her number? I don't know if there was, you know, her information was in like the glove box or something

like that and they went inside and called her that way, you know, if that's what she's thinking is happening. But either way, it's like, how'd you get my number? Why are you calling me and why are you offering to drive my car to me? And oh, yeah, where's my son? But as Heath just mentioned, the man didn't offer any information regarding Dean, Tina, or Holly. Only saying that he would meet her at the Daytona Speedway

parking lot at midnight a few days later to return the vehicle. So that's extremely sketchy. Why do you want to meet at the Daytona Speedway? And why do you want to meet at midnight? Yeah, just like so many red flags. But sure enough, a few days later, Donna's car pulled into the parking lot in Daytona. But unlike she had imagined,

a trio of three barefoot women who looked like they were maybe in their 30s stepped out of the vehicle dressed in white robes, which is just sort of like a really eerie picture. Very creepy. The leader of the group who introduced herself as sister Susan was the only one of the three who spoke during the exchange. And Donna expressed her concern for her family and just begged these robed women to give

her any information that they could about the location of Dean, Tina and Holly. But the women refused to give her answers, and simply stated, quote, he's joined our group and he's cutting off ties. Then, the women vanished into the night. Donna later recalled, quote, that was weird. We really got frightened,

and we started searching and searching. But it would be another 40 years until any information would come to light. So, in 1981, both Dean and Tina's families tried to contact police and file a missing persons report following their disappearance, but the police were convinced that Dean and Tina had simply cut off contact on purpose and wished to remain unfound. Now they believe this because Donna's car had been returned, but also because Dean had a history of following religious groups around. But the families still did their due diligence to find out what happened to their loved ones. They even contacted the Salvation Army, which at the time had been involved in tracking missing persons. But unfortunately, although the Salvation Army did have their information, it was never submitted to the NCIC,

which is the FBI system for identifying missing persons. So basically this was no help. In the early 1990s with the discovery of DNA technology, crime labs alongside the FBI began matching DNA to unknown or unidentified victims of crimes. Then, in 2011, Harris County in Texas was awarded a grant to exume the remains of unidentified victims in order to extract DNA and test it, just kind of hoping for a match and a chance to give these victims names.

But the sad truth was that Harris County alone had more than 300 unidentified remains of victims in their backlog. Even more alarming was that there was more than 19,000 unidentified victims in the state of Texas. That is a lot. Yeah, that is a ton. This was in 2011 as well. So there have definitely been more unidentified victims since then.

So, although Harris County was working as quickly as possible to extract the DNA and find matches, it would be another 11 years until we would find out any clues as to what happened to the Klaus family. Remarkably, in 2017, we saw the rise of the groundbreaking DNA technology known as Genetic Genealogy. And this would be the final step in many cases all across the United States that would begin to give grieving families and friends answers. Which as we know, we've covered a lot of cases that use genetic genealogy and you guys have probably seen in the news that so many older cases are finally being solved because of the use of genetic genealogy testing.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's truly incredible the amount of cases that are finally getting answers because of this. Yeah, just like an insanely awesome technological advancement. So then five years later in 2022, last year, with the help of many sources, including the popular podcast network audio check

as many of us know. Two genetic genealogists from California working for a group called identifiers were given a grant and tasked with the job of solving unidentified victims cases in Harris County, Texas. Misty Gillis and Allison Peacock began to work on a case that involved the homicides of two victims, one that appeared to be a white woman between the ages of 15 to 25 who had reddish brown hair instead about 5 foot 4 with brown eyes, and a male between 16 to 30 years old, with wavy brown hair,

standing about 5'9", with, quote, prominent eyebrows. The victims had both been murdered and were found near Wallaceville Road on January 12, 1981 in a patch of boggy wooded area just north of Houston, Texas by a man walking his dog. So just take that information as it is right now, like this is a situation where 40 years after they were found, they are finally trying to find a match. That's 40 years that somebody has to wait to learn who these people are, right? Well, back to the discovery really quick, the man who is with his dog was alerted to the remains when his dog had wandered off and brought back a decomposing human arm. The bodies had laid in

that wooded area for at least one to two weeks before being discovered, which is obviously not very long, but long enough for a significant decomposition to set in. But investigators were still able to draw up composite sketches of both faces. The bodies had been found just feet from each other, and it appeared that the young woman had been strangled, and the male had been bound and gagged and beaten to death. Police also noted that they believed the female victim had been attacked first, and that the male victim had tried to defend her but was ultimately killed. Thus, investigators coined the victims, the Romeo and Juliet case.

The female victim had been wearing a pair of green gym shorts, and the only item left at the crime scene was a bloody towel. Now these two particular victims had been among the unidentified group of people whose bodies had been exhumed in 2011 to collect DNA. So Misty Gillis and Allison Peacock went to work to find out exactly who these two unfortunate young victims were. And it didn't take long for Misty to trace DNA through Jedmatch, a genealogy site that basically allows users to upload their genetic information to law enforcement back to a family

who had roots in Kentucky with the surname, Klaus. Now, it took a little more digging, but she was able to finally trace the Klaus family to Florida. And within a few days, she was able to obtain the phone number of a woman named Debbie Brooks, who was formerly known as Debbie Klaus, Dean's sister. In total, it took 10 days to identify the remains of a man who had been missing for decades. One afternoon, Misty dialed the number that she had just found hoping that the person on the other

line might have more information. She asked, quote, Do you happen to have a missing relative to which Debbie replied, yes I do, my brother Dean. Misty then went on to explain that she believed that she had found her brother and sadly broke the news that he was deceased and had been found way back in January of 1981. I can't imagine how frustrating that would have been to know that you could have technically had answers to what happened to your missing loved one that long ago. Like 40 years is a massive hunk of time.

Oh, absolutely. And the really sad part about this is that the family basically thought that the police were right, that Dean and Tina had just taken off, joined a religious group and were traveling around the country for decades, just, you know, not having any contact with them. So after informing Debbie that Dean had been found, then Misty explained that there had also been an unidentified woman next to Dean's body, to which Debbie responded, that's Tina, his wife.

Even more strange is that Dean and Tina's remains were discovered 250 miles away from where they had last been living at that time in 1981. But then, Debbie asked a question that gave Misty Paws and severely confused her. She asked, but where's the baby? When information that Dean and Tina had been murdered was relayed to investigators in Harris County, Texas, two new questions surfaced. One, who had even killed this promising set of young parents, and two, like he said, where was Baby Holly? Well, at first, police surmised that maybe predators

had potentially dragged off her remains and consumed her, like, you know, predators, not people, like animals. But then they kind of thought that maybe they were dealing with another type of predator, one that had possibly abducted Baby Holly after brutally killing her parents. And if that was true, Holly would have been 42 years old at this time. So police began trying to see if they could locate her, assuming she's still alive, right?

So the department put out a statement saying, quote, no active suspects or any information on the missing daughter. This case may be transferred to the Texas Attorney General's missing person and cold case unit so that they can utilize more manpower and resources than we can. Allison Peacock then launched an organization called the Hope for Holly Project in order to raise funds to test DNA because many women were coming forward claiming that

they might be baby Holly. Allison said, quote, after the story broke about Dean and Tina last week, the number of women who wrote to me hoping that they might be Holly has inspired her family and me to take action. Their stories were all compelling and I didn't wanna leave them hanging." She also said, quote, I wanna hear from any women who recognizes some aspect of Holly's story.

Being raised by someone who she found out were not her parents, people raised by cults. So while the search was on for Holly, back in Florida, Tina and Dean's families made the trip to Houston, Texas to visit the site where their loved ones' lives had been tragically cut short. Later that same day, they joined together at the Harris County Cemetery in a portion known as Section G, where Dean and Tina had been laid to rest for decades without identity. Dean's sister Cheryl said, quote,

they were buried together and they're in heaven together. Meanwhile, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children produced an age progression sketch of what baby Holly might look like then. But the problem here was that police weren't sure if the baby's name was spelled H-O-L-L-I-E or H-O-L-L-Y. So police began to look through databases trying to find any sign of Holly, but to no avail. Well, also something you have to consider is, or that they would have to consider, is that maybe her name isn't Holly anymore, which makes this whole thing that much more difficult.

Exactly. maybe her name isn't Holly anymore, which makes this whole thing that much more difficult. Exactly, but this prompted one of Holly's aunts again, who was Debbie Brooks, to dig a bit further and request a birth certificate from the Florida Department of Vital Records. But that department actually denied this request, saying that she wasn't entitled to that document. Even the senior prosecutor with the Texas Attorney General's Office tried, but he was also denied. So after this, police enlisted the help of judges who were finally granted the document, and that's when they saw that there was a sealed record for an adoption. Now it took a lot more police work to make sure that they had the right person. But when that confirmation was made clear, police realized that they had in fact found

baby Holly on June 7, 2022. Although now, she was 42 years old living in Oklahoma with her husband of 20 years, her five children, and her two grandchildren. Which is just such a crazy discovery also to realize that there is a record for an adoption. Like if only this was discovered so many years earlier considering this document exists, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Just to say obviously though, you know here she is, she's alive, she's seemingly well,

she's married, she's got kids, grandkids, but let's see what happened to her. So Debbie called her mother Donna to let her know that they had found Holly, but before she could get the words out Donna responded, quote, please Debbie, I can't, no bad news, honey, I just can't, no more, no more. But little did she know that this time, the news was actually very positive. Donna later stated, quote, I was overwhelmed. I was crying for joy because we've all been praying that we would find her and that she would be okay. And that she had had a

family that took care of her and raised her proper. We were very glad for that. So, what actually happened? Well, as far as Dean and Tina's deaths go, the answers are still unclear and it's still an ongoing investigation, unfortunately. But specifically speaking about Holly, the circumstances of her life are actually very strange. So, records show that she had been taken after her parents were murdered and placed on the front steps of a church in Arizona by two barefoot women wearing white robes. The women never explained why they left baby Holly there or who they even were, they just left her.

They did, however, state quote, the beliefs of their religion included the separation of male and female members, practicing vegetarian habits and not using or wearing leather goods. So yeah, kind of weird. I mean, all they said was that this is like the organization they're a part of. And that was basically that, like it just kind of seems like a really bizarre thing to say. But they had also mentioned that they left another baby at a laundromat around the same time. After Holly was left on these church steps, a couple from the church in Arizona quickly

adopted her before relocating to Oklahoma at some point. But police stated that they don't believe the family who adopted Holly were suspects and Dean and Tina's murder case at all, because it seems like it was potentially connected to these robed people, which I think were all assuming anyway knowing that these are the people that Donna saw when they returned her car.

Yeah, and I think like part of this group's goal was essentially to separate man and woman and that celibacy. Like I think the fact that Dean and Tina had a child was interfering with them being in this group in some way. So I mean they had obviously done it with another baby, they left a separate baby at a laundromat somewhere in a different state. So it's like it just seemed like this is what they were doing.

Which is super messed up. It is. But for the first time in Holly's life, she was able to find out exactly who she was and reconnect with family that hope that she was still alive for 40 years. Tina's sister Sherry said quote, �After finally being able to reunite with Holly, I dreamed about her and my sister Tina last night. In my dream, Tina was laying on the floor rolling around and laughing and playing with Holly,

like I saw them do many times before when they lived with me prior to moving to Texas. I believe Tina's finally resting in peace knowing that Holly is reunited with her family. I personally am so relieved to know that Holly is alive and well and was well cared for, but also torn up by it all. That baby was her life. Even more incredible though, was that Holly was found on what would have been Dean's 63rd birthday. Donna said quote, she looks a lot like her mother, got her mother's soft voice, she's

got her mother's voice to a T. Tina's brother less stated quote, the juxtaposition of that call with Holly's sudden discovery just popped into my head. To go from hoping to find her to suddenly meeting her less than eight months later, how miraculous is that? So although this appeared to be a happy ending to a very tragic story, Holly's family and police were still left with so many unanswered questions and justice has yet to be served. So let's talk about some more probable suspects in this case and where this investigation may be headed.

As we mentioned a few times, Dean was known to run off with religious groups in his teens, which some would equate to being cults, right? Well we also mentioned that not every group was the same and some were very dangerous and just seeking total and complete control of their followers. One particular group that popped onto People's Radar was a nomadic group called the Christ Family. Now, this group was led by a man from California named Charles Franklin McHugh, who claimed that he was the second coming of Jesus Christ

and changed his name to Lightning A-Man. It's just kind of funny. It's such a weird, I don't know. And you know what's even funny? I didn't mention this in the case notes, but every person who was involved in this group had the last name Christ. They changed their last name to Christ.

The Christ family, right? Yes, so if your name was Ann, you were Ann Christ. Right. Well, in the 1970s, these groups seemed to be a dime a dozen, but as the decade came close to an end, a lot of these groups began to dwindle in membership. But when Dean and Tina were killed, there was still around 2,000 members of the Christ family operating all around the United States.

The group mainly spent their time in Yuma, Arizona, Blythe, California, Key West, Florida, and parts of New Mexico. But they had been known to travel through parts of Texas in the early 1980s. And remember that Dean and Tina were killed about 1981. So this group was known to wear, you guessed it, white robes with the women wearing white scarves and the men wearing diapers on their heads as makeshift turbans. They followed lightning amends interpretation of the Bible and forbids sex,

materialism, and the killing of animals. They also rejected any form of work claiming that they work for God and were known to sleep in parks and dumpster dive for food. Lightning amends, again whose real name was Charles McEw, appeared to originally be a painting contractor from San Diego, and developed a significant following after he claimed to be a carpenter and went on a 40-day fast in the Mojave desert. Now, his mother, a woman named Ruth Ribby, claimed that Charles told her that he was going to help people by returning them to Christ after his businesses and two marriages failed, and that she hadn't seen him in many, many years. The group were always barefoot and carried around camping bedrooms in all of Green Army

blankets, because again, they mainly slept outside. They also believed that marijuana is a god-given herb. I agree. Yeah, I mean, can't blame them there. So now you're probably thinking, well, that doesn't seem very dangerous or threatening, but not everything is as it appears to be on the outside. So let's get into why many people believe that this group was responsible for the murders of Dean and Tina and possibly many more.

So an FBI agent named Rick Ross put it very bluntly, said quote, There are many destructive cults, but they're not all equally destructive. But, the Christ family was one of the most destructive cults in modern history. Cult members were completely cut off from their families. McEw was an abusive and controlling leader. He psychologically and emotionally tortured the people who were under his control. He was an omnipresent, absolute ruler who was a megalomaniac. They were involved in a great deal of drugs.

McHue would encourage them to use drugs. Ross went on to say quote, Amen was all, you know, lightning, amen, aka, McHugh was known for twisting the meaning of individual scripture, individual verses in order to manipulate and control his followers. McHugh, very bad man, psychopath, hurt many people, dangerous. The group just really shredded families. Charles was known as a narcissist who was hungry for power and abused many of his followers, which I think can be said about all cult leaders.

Now according to one cult survivor not from the Christ family but from a different cult, his name is Joseph Simert and he actually now teaches classes on deprogramming from cult survivor, not from the Christ family, but from a different cult. His name is Joseph Simert, and he actually now teaches classes on deprogramming from cults. Said quote, The leader micromanaged the whole thing. He was narcissistic in his way of interpreting the Bible, combining back to the earth movement with the Bible. Charles claimed that the group practiced celibacy, but in true hypocritical nature,

he would force his female followers to sleep with him, which I guess is a polite way of saying that he sexually abused women, and he was even convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing a minor. Back in December of 1985, 10 of his followers were arrested for growing and possessing 900,000 dollars worth of weed. And a year later in October of 1986, Charles was arrested for possessing and transporting methamphetamine for sales, as well as possession of a concealed weapon and possession of used hypodermic needles. Police also found $30,000 worth of cash in his trunk along with more weapons.

So it truly appeared that lightning a men wasn't exactly who he said he was, and although the group claimed to be non-violent, many deep-programmed members later stated that Charles was also physically abusive if his orders were not obeyed. Joseph Simert also said that he is about 90% sure that the Christ family is involved in the deaths of Tina and Dean Klaus. Agent Rick Ross stated, quote, there aren't any other groups that wore white robes and went around barefoot other than the Christ family, and the locality would match as well. The time frame also matches.

He also said that Charles believed children were excess baggage and saw them as a distraction from the group. Ross said, quote, children need to be cared for. They need to be fed. They need to be possibly schooled. How do you deal with that? Lightning, amen was concerned about that. He was concerned about loyalty only to him and to the group's perpetuation. And so children were an incombrance. And my opinion would be that if there was a

child that they would get the child to a church rather than take care of that child. Which I think is interesting. You're talking about the perpetuation of the group. Like everyone's gonna die off and then there's gonna be no group. What are you talking about? Yeah, I think, I don't know what in the world

these people were thinking. Obviously they were insane and probably using a heavy amount of drugs and lightning amen was one of the biggest piece of shit to live. God, that name's so funny, but yeah, I mean, truly a piece of shit, but I do wanna add to, now that we've told you guys how much we think and other people think

that the Christ family was behind Tina and Dean's murders, then we talk about the fact that Donna's car had been returned to her by women in white robes who were barefoot and only one of them would speak to her. It kind of makes you wonder, like, did they kill Tina and Dean and then they wanted to try to make a little bit of money so they decided to drop the car off and return for a thousand dollars and that was their way of getting rid of this car and making a little cash. Yeah, I mean that's definitely a possibility and it's kind of funny to think about because they're this group that claims that they don't subscribe to materialism and that they're doing God's work, but maybe in their mind, this is acceptable

because they're doing what they think is God's work by delivering this car for a thousand dollars. But it's also like, for people who claim that they don't need material goods, you grew $900,000 worth of weed, and you also had a shit ton of guns, but you walked around barefoot, it's so know, it's just, it's so strange. Well, it's just like, it's typical cult behavior. It's the hypocrisy of it all. That's like, like, cults are

hypocritical. That's their whole thing. That's their whole bag. Definitely. So Charles McHugh died in March of 2010 at the age of 73, and the Christ family basically all but fizzled out since their leader has died. But you can still find some of these members speaking openly on online forums about their loyalty and also experiences with the group. As of now, police are still investigating the deaths of Tina and Dean Klaus, and their families are desperately seeking answers and justice. Because the culprits of these heinous murders may still be alive and well.

So if you have any information about the murders of Dean and Tina Klaus, please contact the Texas Attorney General's cold case and missing persons unit at coldcaseunit at o-a-g.texas.gov coldcase unit at o-a-g dot Texas dot gov. Or you can call 512-936-0742. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Tuesday we'll have an

all new case for you guys to dive into. What a crazy story from start to finish and just, you know, it's so amazing that Holly is alive, but terrible that she couldn't be raised by her parents who loved her so much and possibly just got mixed up in the wrong situation. And we're just really hoping that they can get justice and that these families can get answers. So please don't forget to share this episode. Thank you again to Ashley for recommending it. And thank you everybody for tuning in.

Yeah, I mean, this case was so crazy with so many twists and turns, but I'm so glad, as Daphne mentioned, that they did find Baby Holly. But we're still waiting on more answers, hopefully we get them soon. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger! 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% you