The Misery Machine - The Case of Dena Schlosser

Starting point is 00:00:00 Dina Leitner was born in upstate New York in 1969 to parents Bob and Connie, who later divorced when she was just five years old. Dina loved to travel and would accompany her grandparents on trips to Bermuda, Florida, and the West Coast. But from a very early age, Dina didn't have it easy. During a family vacation to the Caribbean, eight-year-old Dina began trying on hats. None of them would fit, not even those made for adults. This was something serious, and this trip would soon be the turning point for massive changes in the little girl's life.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Dina was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, most commonly known as water on the brain. This is a serious condition that comes from excess cerebral spinal fluid building up in the brain. It causes massive amounts of pressure in the skull and can result in headaches, double vision, poor balance, and mental impairment. Sometimes in babies, it can cause increased head size. If left untreated, it can interfere with brain function and eventually lead to death. Following her diagnosis, Dina would endure four surgeries to alleviate the fluid in her brain. Much of that time, she lived with a shaved head and was ridiculed by her classmates. She turned to her mother for stability and depended on her for affection.

Starting point is 00:01:17 In total, Dina underwent eight surgeries to implant shunts into her brain, heart, and abdomen before she was 13 years. years old. Although her middle and high school years were difficult, Dina joined the cheering squad for a year and played flute in the school band. Connie later remarried. Soon the new family of three packed up and moved to Houston, Texas. Dina graduated from Kingwood High School in Houston in 1987. She went on to attend Maris College in Poughkepsy, New York, where she pursued a bachelor's in psychology and intended on getting her master's. During her sophomore year, she met her future husband, John Schlosser. It took John a year to work up the courage to Astine out. Although the two were very much attracted to one another, it's questionable whether or not John was in the relationship

Starting point is 00:02:06 for the right reasons. The young man took his future in-law's tuition money, skipped school, and never earned a degree. In fact, John went as far as to fake a graduation party, which was quickly uncovered as a sham. It should be mentioned that several publications have a picture falsely attributed to John Schloser. This man here is not John Schloser. This is John Schloser. But if you know the name of this other blonde man, let us know in the comments section down below. We feel bad he's had his picture wrongly associated with this case for years at this point.

Starting point is 00:02:46 Dina's mother later divorced her second husband and moved to Chicago around 1989. Dina and John soon followed her there and in 1990, Dina's mother later divorced her. mother married her third husband Mick McCauley, who worked as a mental health counselor. In 1991, Dina and John finally tied the knot. The two were described by Mick as very connected, very attached, in some ways, very romantic. Dina graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Northern Illinois University. But even with a degree, Dina also struggled with steady employment. She quit her job with Visa because a customer acted rudely towards her. She walked off during her shift at Ameritrade because a client lied to her.

Starting point is 00:03:28 She quit her job at a nursing home because she didn't like the way that patients were treated. Eventually, John didn't want Dina working anymore. However, John fared no better. He turned down employment opportunities for years if they did not fit his interest in computer science. One example being a stable and well-paying position at Hitachi's Dallas office that a close friend had set up for him. John turned down this position because he wanted to be in charge of an IT department, a position he was completely underqualified for. The Schlossers moved into low-cost housing that Dina's birth father, Bob Lightner, helped them obtain.

Starting point is 00:04:08 During this time, Dina suffered three miscarriages, and the couple were very worried that they could never have a child together. However, in 1995, Dina became pregnant with the couple's first daughter, Brianna. and then in 1997, their second daughter, Kelsey, was born. In 2000, the Schlossers packed up and moved to a big house in Fort Worth, Texas, where John found a great job in the computer science field, where he made six figures a year. Dina stayed home to take care of her two daughters,

Starting point is 00:04:37 but things were far from ideal for the couple. Dina suffered from minor postpartum depression, which she treated with medication. However, after she felt better from being on the medication, she was convinced she was cured, would subsequently stop taking her meds. John eventually left his dream job to focus on a freelance consulting practice. This didn't exactly pan out the way that he thought it would,

Starting point is 00:05:04 and soon the couple ran into money problems. Unemployed and with her house in foreclosure, the family packed up and moved into a small apartment in West Plano, Texas, in 2002. John and Dina grew up Catholic, but never regularly attended church. In 2002, the Schlossers began attending a fundamentalist church called the Water of Life Ministries after Dina learned of it from a neighbor. The church was run by veterinarian-turned-preather named Doyle Davidson, who claimed that

Starting point is 00:05:34 God spoke to him in visions. According to his website, Doyle served as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy during the Korean War, having spent 27 months in Yokosuka, Japan. After his return to the States, he was one of 30 students admitted to the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine in 1958. In August, just prior to entering veterinary school, he was rotating the tires on his car and he claimed that the presence of God fell upon him, and he heard the Lord say, quote, I don't want you to be a veterinarian, I want you to be a minister of the gospel, end quote. He did not obey God that day and continue with his plans to become a veterinarian. Upon his graduation, Doyle moved to North Texas and established a successful equine veterinary practice.

Starting point is 00:06:21 1968 was when Doyle claimed that God moved into his life, and for two years, an angel of the Lord rode in his car asking when he was going to preach the gospel. In 1969, the Lord told him to sell his practice and obey him. And so on January 2nd, 1970, the sale was finalized. However, Doyle was more of a cult leader than an actual pastor. To give you a better idea of the kind of man that he was, he preached that one of the victims of the infamous Collabine shooting could have been spared if she just had more faith. He also had a thing about women.

Starting point is 00:07:00 It would appear that he just didn't like them very much. Why was you trying to squirm away with me? Oh, who knows. Oh, come on. I wasn't trying to rape you. No. All right. Make it play because the witches and the wizards think that's what I am.

Starting point is 00:07:22 I see what you're saying. Well, I'm not. Never have been, right? You were trying to run away from God, and I wouldn't let you run. Right? Right. Now, are you going to be more honest? Doyle also believed that a Jezebel spirit had control over the city of Plano.

Starting point is 00:07:44 He taught that the spirit would attach to women who would then tempt men with their lurid behaviors. Now, in the Bible, Jezebel was a Phoenician princess in the ninth century who married Ahab, Prince of Israel. Eventually, they ruled his king and queen, and Jezebel continued to worship the nature god Baal. Her citizens and the Yahweh prophet Elijah despise such actions. preparing herself to be executed by General Jayhu, she applied makeup and dressed in finery before she was thrown over her balcony and eaten by dogs.

Starting point is 00:08:15 Jezebel hated me. I met more than one. I met more than one Jezebel. Unfortunately, Jezebel has great influence or leads most religions.

Starting point is 00:08:48 You can be it. know she's there. Gensabelle is all over the country, all over the world. I've been seeing in the spirit, women with robes, with a sash on them. It amazes me.

Starting point is 00:09:23 It's like we're in my bedroom, on the wall. It cannot be. Cannot be. There's no television in there, no screens, nothing. But I don't.

Starting point is 00:09:44 I see them, they're all eloquently dressed with their colored attire. They amazed me what I see. Only the last two or three days have I been thinking this must be Jezebel's and I places." In August of 1987, Doyle claimed that God spoke to his. him. According to Doyle, God told him that a woman in his congregation named Lisa Staten now belonged to him. The only problem, Lisa already had a husband named J.R., and Doyle had been married to his wife, Patty Tinkle, since 1952. Different news sources have reported different versions of the story.

Starting point is 00:11:01 Some state that Doyle and Lisa carried on an affair for years, while others claimed that Lisa and J.R. both went into hiding. Some claim both are true and Lisa wanted to be done with him. Another reported that a drunk Doyle was found in the state and home trying to choke the devil out of Lisa and that he was arrested for said incident. Either way, Doyle can't seem to keep Lisa's name out of his mouth and often goes into misogynistic rants about her in his sermons on his website and in threatening emails directed at the poor woman and her husband. Our name is Lisa. Are you ready for this?

Starting point is 00:11:41 And Lisa's a slut. My wife is a slut. How would you like for God to give you a wife that's a slut? Lisa is a slut. Needless to say, as the Schlossers began getting more involved with Doyle, things took a turn for the worst in their home life. The two had actually discovered the church, prior to the move to West Plano, and were so captivated by Doyle that they would make the 120-mile round

Starting point is 00:12:11 trip just to hear his teachings. The preacher blamed bad luck on lack of faith rather than personal responsibility. So, Dina began to wonder if her lack of faith is what caused her family to have money issues. During this time, John started to believe that evil spirits had attached to Dina. he began to treat her more like an object than a person and demanded that she did as he said. In reality, Dina was suffering from extreme mental illness. However, Doyle preached that mental illness was demonic possession, and that psychiatric medication was witchcraft. As such, Dina did not get the help that she so desperately needed.

Starting point is 00:12:56 Members of the church would pray over her in an attempt to cure her mental illness. The family went to church sometimes as much as six nights a week and twice on Sundays. Sometimes the sermons didn't get out until well past 10 o'clock at night, and Brianna and Kelsey would go without dinner. During a visit to Texas, the Schlossers tried to sell Dina's mother on the Water of Life Ministries. Now, at Dina's insistence, Connie met with Doyle Davidson because she believed that she could lay hands on her mother and heal her Parkinson's disease. And of course, he could not. There are no official sources that confirm the story we are about to share, but since a few publications are claiming it to be fact,

Starting point is 00:13:38 we felt we should address it. Now, allegedly, when Connie was dropped off at the airport, someone had stolen her Parkinson's medication from her purse. Supposedly, it was Dina, believing that her mother was cured and no longer needed her medication for Parkinson's. Unable to move, Connie missed her flight. She supposedly sat rigid in her own feces and urine all day and all night, until an observant person in the airport terminal noticed she had not moved.

Starting point is 00:14:10 Allegedly the Good Samaritan found the remnants of her pills stashed in her luggage, ones that allowed Connie to regain what bodily function she had lost. This story is questionable for a couple of reasons. One is that freezing in Parkinson's disease most commonly lasts a few seconds. While freezing can last several minutes, there is no recorded evidence of someone with Parkinson's freezing for hours. Also, while not impossible to freeze while sitting down, freezing happens most often when walking or doing a repetitive motion. Another issue with the story is that if Connie truly was frozen in place overnight and discovered by a Good Samaritan, why would she then be able to take a flight back?

Starting point is 00:14:53 Wouldn't emergency services be called if she was found this way? Although this is unlikely, if the story is true, it shows the level of a rational belief in Doyle Davidson's teaching to the point where Dina would risk her own mother's safety. On January 9, 2004, Dana gave birth to another baby girl named Margaret, whom they called Maggie. The little girl was born at home with the help of a midwife because the Schlossers didn't have health insurance. Now, even though she only carried one baby, who was Maggie, Dina believed that she had given birth to twins and that the male twin had died. The following day, Dina was reading the Bible when she claimed that the word cut jumped off the page at her. Mentally exhausted and overwhelmed by the birth of her third child,

Starting point is 00:15:42 Dina attempted to take her life by cutting her wrists with a pair of scissors. Rather than bring his wife to the hospital, John put band-aids on her cuts and insisted on keeping her home, thinking that prayer would completely heal her. Five days later, CPS became involved in the Schlosser's lives. The agency started investigating the family when Dina was spotted running down the street screaming with her daughter Kelsey chasing her on a bicycle. Meanwhile, baby Maggie was left unsupervised at home in a crib.

Starting point is 00:16:16 Her eldest Brianna was at school. When CPS questioned her, she claimed that cartoon characters on the TV were laughing at her. And the offending cartoon? Disney's the Little Mermaid. She was admitted to Green Oak Psychiatric Hospital where she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis. After her diagnoses, a psychiatrist urged Dina to seek extended treatment. Dina did want the help, but however, her husband John refused. He claimed that he prayed about it and decided the best and safest place for his wife

Starting point is 00:16:54 was at home with her kids. CPS decided that Dina could not be left alone with her children, so the family had John's sister move in with them. Despite John's contempt for treatment, Dina began taking Ativan and Haldol, and things seemed to get better, although the Schlossers felt that the prayer was actually healing Dina. After her hospitalization, CPS checked in with Dina,

Starting point is 00:17:16 or family regularly. Over time, the visits decreased until CPS decided to close the case entirely in August of 2004. John found a job and began leaving his wife alone with the kids unsupervised. By this time, it was reported that Dina had stopped taking her medication.

Starting point is 00:17:38 Soon she began to deteriorate once more and would hiss and make animal noises at people. On November 21st, 2004, Dina told John that she wanted to give her daughter away to God. What she specifically meant by this was to give Maggie to Doyle Davidson. You see, Doyle was a bit of a creepy purve, and like many false prophets, tried to marry young girls. At the time of our story, Doyle would have been 72 years old.

Starting point is 00:18:07 Nevertheless, Dina dressed Maggie and White and showed her to John, who was pretty to start by this. Now, as punishment, John spanked Dina. with a wooden spoon in front of their daughters. That same day, Dina and her parents chatted over the phone about Doyle. Mick claimed that a stepdaughter sounded feisty or over the phone than before. While Connie said she heard euphoria in Dina's voice.

Starting point is 00:18:32 Mick said to her, unless we believe in Doyle, like you believe in Doyle, we can't be close, can we? And Dina's single word reply to this was agreed. The following day, started off as normal. John went off to work and the couple's two older girls now age nine and six years old went off to school. For the last three days and nights, Dina tried to make sense of Matthew

Starting point is 00:18:57 530, which in some translations reads, if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from there, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. This is when things took a turn for the worst. Gospel music blaring in the background, Dina retrieved a nine-inch kitchen knife and began to saw Maggie's arms from her body before eventually turning the knife upon herself. She attempted to cut off her own arm, but stopped after she cut herself a bit too deep. Dina called John and told him that she hurt the baby before abruptly hanging up. Unsure of what to do, John first called Doyle Davidson, who supposedly told him to call Children's World Learning Center, the daycare that Dina worked at before she had Maggie.

Starting point is 00:19:58 Carolyn Thomas picked up the phone at 11.50 a.m. to a.m. to a frantic John telling her that Dina said she had hurt their baby. Carolyn asked several questions but ultimately called Dina herself. Carolyn had worked with Dina for two years and thought of Dina as a good mom, but the tone in John's voice made her believe that Dina may have had another mental breakdown. Dina picked up the phone when Carolyn called. The hymn, He Touched Me, played in the background. As Dina greeted her in a very calm and collected manner,

Starting point is 00:20:34 Carolyn asked her, what did she do to her baby? Dina replied, I killed her. According to reports, emergency services received a call from Carolyn's co-worker, which prompted operators to phone Dina. The mother, matter-of-factly told 911 dispatcher Steve Edwards that she cut off the arms of her baby daughter and then waited calmly in her living room for a police to arrive. Maggie lay in her crib in a back bedroom. According to Plano police officer David Tilly, quote, she had an ashen, gray look, there were no arms, and there was a lot of blood, end quote. She was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late for her. Maggie, unfortunately, suffered greatly in her final moments. In addition to

Starting point is 00:21:26 losing her arms, Maggie suffered about 50 cuts to her face as she struggled for her life. She was just 11 months old. Dina was sitting at her computer table, reading her Bible. Humbing along to Christian hymns, some reports claimed that she greeted the officers still holding the bloody knife. Other sources claim that the knife was found protruding from her shoulder. The mother told police that she was responsible for the baby's injuries, but declined to elaborate further.

Starting point is 00:21:59 She was taken into custody and charged with capital homicide. hours after her arrest, police heard her repeatedly chanting, Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Lord. During the trial, it was brought up that Dina did not receive the help that she so clearly needed. John had not been picking up her Haldol on a regular basis due to his skewed religious beliefs. Doyle Davidson was also present at trial, and he testified to the court that he believed mental illness was demonic. He also stated that while Dina and John were regulars,

Starting point is 00:22:32 at his church, he did not know them very well, which is interesting considering that allegedly phone records show that John and Doyle talked on the phone multiple times that day. Due to viewer outcry after the trial, Doyle's television ministry was canceled everywhere outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but this did not affect things much because as of the date of this recording, the Water of Life Ministries still has a presence on YouTube and other platforms. Psychologist David Self assessed Dina after she was arrested. She told him that she had been watching the news when a disturbing story came on.

Starting point is 00:23:12 The story was about a boy who had been mauled by a lion. Somehow, Dina took this as a sign of the apocalypse. Dina then said that she heard God telling her to cut the arms off of her baby. She was convinced that a female demon, whom she called Jezebel, had complete control over Maggie. She claimed that she did what she had to do. David Self determined that Dina had suffered from postpartum psychosis. Her first trial ended in a hung jury. In April of 2006, she was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Starting point is 00:23:47 Dina was committed to North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, where she was ordered to stay until she was no longer a threat to herself or others. It was at this hospital she shared a room in the Maple Unit with Andrea Yates, who you may remember from our previous episode, drowned her five kids in the family bathtub. The two mothers eventually struck up a friendship. According to Dina, quote, we talk about our past,

Starting point is 00:24:12 we talk about our memories, our fun memories, the things that our kids did, end quote. According to Andrea's ex-husband, Rusty Yates, he hoped the two women could help one another through the long recovery process. Dina and Andrea's cases drew a lot of parallels due to the fact that they both dealt with postpartum psychosis, religious zealotry, and husbands that some people believe were at least somewhat culpable.

Starting point is 00:24:41 John underwent a psychological evaluation after his two children were taken by CPS and put into foster care. He was diagnosed with narcissistic personality traits, and it was deemed that he failed to protect his kids from their mother. CPS would allow John to regain custody of Brianna and Kelsey, as long as his sister came to live with him. John agreed to this and later got a divorce from Dina. As part of the divorce, Dina was unable to have contact with him or their daughters. But unlike Andrea Yates, Dina wanted her freedom. On November 6, 2008, it was announced by state district judge Chris Oldner that Dina would

Starting point is 00:25:18 be released into outpatient care. As part of her release, she would be required to see a psychiatrist once a week, take medication, be on physician-approved birth control, and not have any unsupervised contact with children. If she failed to comply, the judge had the right to revoke her freedom. That's exactly what happened. In April of 2010, Dina was committed to the Terrell State Hospital after firefighters in Richardson, Texas, saw her walking down the street at two in the morning, seemingly very out of it. She had been seen screaming and singing, religious songs as loudly as possible.

Starting point is 00:25:59 Dina was later released to outpatient status. Dina stayed out of the public eye until 2012 when a Walmart shopper snapped a photo of a checkout cashier whose face she found familiar. The cashier was indeed Dina, and within hours, she was fired. WFAA TV in Dallas reported that she was working under her maiden name at a Walmart in Torell, Texas. Word spread quickly on the internet, and area residents expressed disappointment in Walmart for hiring someone who committed such an act. As of December 2020, Dina was ordered to remain committed to a state hospital.

Starting point is 00:26:40 John and his daughters went on to lead what appeared to be a normal life in Texas, sharing a love for Disney. On December 13, 2014, John married a woman named Michelle. His middle daughter, Kelsey, was married in 2021. with Big Sister Bionna serving as made of honor. On October 1st, 2022, John Schlosser suffered a massive heart attack and was placed in the ICU at Texas Health in Fort Worth. He passed away in October 3rd after his life support was removed.

Starting point is 00:27:11 His funeral was held on October 8th at First Baptist Church, Weatherford. He was buried at sea on a carnival cruise in December. It was supposed to be the couple's eighth anniversary vacation. In a post on social media, his wife wrote, quote, John Schlosser, Today I feel close to you. I got to share you with the ocean. You love it here.

Starting point is 00:27:34 My heart feels like it's ripping, but at the same time, I am at peace. I love you. I miss you. Enjoy the float, honey, forever. End quote.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Dena Schlosser

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