Murder at Ryan's Run: exposing the cult of John Africa
A true crime investigation exposing the Philadelphia cult operating as the MOVE Organization. Told by survivors and insiders, Murder At Ryan’s Run reveals abuse, lies, and lost lives—plus exclusive tapes, FBI files, and real-time reporting of a daring cult escape. This is the story MOVE leaders don’t want you to hear.
Murder at Ryan's Run: exposing the cult of John Africa
Mike Africa Jr.'s Tales of Richmond - Factchecked
When memoir meets mythology, what happens to historical truth? This gripping episode investigates Mike Africa Jr.'s vivid account of his childhood in Richmond, Virginia, revealing a remarkable disconnect between his published narrative and documented reality.
Through painstaking research, including interviews with the retired detective who led the 1980 operation, the prosecutor who brought charges, and the attorney who represented MOVE women, we uncover the actual circumstances surrounding the removal of 14 malnourished MOVE children from a Richmond house. Medical reports, court documents, and newspaper accounts directly contradict Mike's dramatic tale of police sirens, an orphanage with cruel nuns, and a daring escape.
The investigation places Mike at just 16 months old during these events, not the nearly three years he claims in his memoir. Photos taken during medical examinations show a distended belly and no dreadlocks, contradicting key elements of his story. Most significantly, there were no orphanages in Richmond at that time—the children were taken to a hospital and placed with foster families.
Beyond fact-checking, this episode reveals the profound connection between this little-known Richmond chapter, a lawyer who, if he had made a different choice, might have prevented 6 children from being with MOVE on May 13, 1985. You will hear that Pixie Africa, who escaped MOVE in 2021 with her 5 children when this podcast launched - she was not the first to attempt that - there is a woman that MOVE never speaks of because she got away and took her two children.
The producers of this podcast wish to stress that all individuals reference in this series are presumed innocent unless or until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law in the United States of America.
Executive Produced, reported, hosted, and edited by Beth McNamara
Additional research by Robert Helms
Murder At Ryan's Run
Instagram
Facebook Page
Podcast Press
If you have questions, comments, tips, or media inquiries, please reach out on social media or via email: murderatryansrun@gmail.com
All individuals referenced in this podcast are presumed to be innocent unless or until they are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a United States court of law.
Please note that this episode makes mention of violence and child abuse. It is intended for mature audiences only. Mike, you want?
Speaker 2:to speak on the demonstration.
Speaker 1:That's the voice of PAM Africa.
Speaker 2:legal name Jeanette Knighton Patton but yeah, we talked about having a protest at the Penn Museum at 3030 Spruce, 530 pm.
Speaker 3:That was my family in that house.
Speaker 2:It's like all Moon family is my family and I knew them kids and I spent years with them kids. I was in an abusive orphanage in Virginia with them kids. They did some monstrous things to us I mean, they pushed us down steps the oldest one of us at that time seven, eight years old and it was Consueluela's daughter Tree and they came and they put us in that orphanage as children of the MOVE organization. We always feared that the worst would happen and we were always so afraid and after we got away from that orphanage, that abusive place, we came back to Philadelphia and we felt that we were somewhat safe and I could not have imagined in my worst nightmare that the government would drop a bomb on us and kill my brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1:That voice, of course, is Mike Africa Jr. In April 2021, at a press conference that MOVE held at the Cobbs Creek Rec Center after remains believed to be two of the five children who were found in the garage of 6221 Osage on May 14th were found at Penn Museum. Mike has spoken about Richmond in a bunch of interviews and he wrote about it in his memoir. That's nonfiction. That was published in August 2024. The book is printed. It also has an audiobook with Mike narrating. I bought the book for $32.50. You're welcome, mike. The credit for the book is Mike Africa Jr and a writer out of Baltimore named Dee Watkins. The publisher is Mariner Books, which is an imprint of publisher HarperCollins. It's pretty standard in a nonfiction book, and especially a memoir, that there is an author's note at the top. This is Mike's author's note On.
Speaker 1:A Move is based in part on the extensive archives of Louise Africa, laverne Africa and Moe Africa. That includes roughly 60,000 pages of records, 500 audio tapes and 100 video tapes, all collected and sustained since the MOVE organization's early ideation in the late 1960s. Additionally, I conducted hundreds of hours of conversations with MOVE members over many years. Some of it is oral history passed down to me as a child raised in the organization. Some is based on taped conversations and some of the experience is based on my own memories, including what happened to me personally, what I saw and what I heard. Numerous newspaper articles and court records housed in the city of Philadelphia were also helpful in corroborating events. I have changed some names and identifying characteristics to protect the privacy of the individuals involved and I have reconstructed dialogue, including courtroom testimony, from the sources available to me. In all cases I have upheld the integrity and truthfulness of this story. This book has no footnotes, no bibliography and no index. Mike gets into great detail about what Move has always called a police raid on them in Richmond, virginia that was prompted by Philadelphia. So I'm going to read directly from the book. These are Mike's own words, page 84, second paragraph. Here we go.
Speaker 1:The day before the cops showed up seemed like any other day for me. It was late winter, going into early spring 1981, and I was almost three years old. For the big kids, something was off. The day went on without much laughing or joking with them. Later, while playing in the backyard, darren, birdie and Tree told us to make Hershey Kiss shapes out of the mud and put them on the windowsill. They said if we ever got away from the cops and came back home, we could recognize our house by the mud shapes we left on the sill. The very next day, at the crack of dawn, sirens came from all directions. Red, blue and yellowish lights spun around the walls. As I opened my eyes, I was terrified. Before I knew it, cops burst into the room, yelling and screaming and ordering everybody to stay down. They grabbed me right off the floor out of my sleeping bag Some of the kids had already escaped and made it outside the house.
Speaker 1:On the way out the door, my eyes scanned and frantically searched for Rhonda. I didn't see her. We kids were put in a police van and locked inside. I looked out the window and could see Darren running from the cops. He was locked in a police car at some point too, but somehow he escaped. He was hard to catch, but he was still just a kid. I can admit now how traumatizing it was to watch his capture. On the one hand, I wanted to see Darren successfully elude the police. On the other hand, I wanted to see Darren successfully elude the police. On the other hand, I wanted him to be with me wherever I was going. Darren's presence made me feel less scared and alone.
Speaker 1:Once we were all in the van, we rode for a while I don't remember how long but when we stopped and the doors opened, the police made us get out and go into a dilapidated building where we saw two nuns. I have never seen nuns before. They look like penguins to me. Every time one of the kids walked past them they said bless you, child. Their tone rang of a faraway holiness that we grimy-looking kids had little capacity to reach. The nuns looked at us like kids in need of saving. It was terrifying. The nuns seemed agitated. While they hurried us down some steps and into a basement, we were left it was terrifying behind a hot water tank. Even the bigger kids seemed helpless. We all cried and grabbed onto the railing when it was our turn to be taken away. We didn't understand what was happening. All these perverts and nobody from Move.
Speaker 1:When it was my turn, the nuns took me into a kitchen, sat me in a chair and tried to comb my natural dreadlocks straight. I resisted because it hurt so much. Each stroke ripped a clump of hair out of my scalp. When it was Taylor's turn, he screamed and fought so hard he knocked over what sounded like metal chairs and maybe a kitchen table. The nuns gave up on him quickly and sent him back down to the basement. When we saw Darren again, his head was patchy and bleeding. It was half afro and half dreadlocks.
Speaker 1:The next day the door opened again and a nun stood at the top of the steps for what we thought was about to be round two. She spoke with a sweet voice from the top of the stairs saying come on, guys, come on out. Come on out, you guys. Darren was only about nine years old at the time, but spoke for all of us. Fuck you, get away from us, you fucking pervert. Darren had paid attention to how move adults talk to police. Come on, you guys, you got to come out. The nun insisted Fuck you, pervert. Darren yelled again you fucking pervert. Fuck you, we ain't going nowhere with you. Another day or two passed like this. There was no sign of the move women. It felt like we'd been there forever.
Speaker 1:We were too scared for the hair combing incident to trust the nuns when they tried to bring us food. The nuns cooked us food. Most kids would like pancakes, eggs and bacon. We refused to eat any of it. The nuns didn't understand, noticing our already lean bodies. I think they were getting scared that we were malnourished and would starve. So they dragged us out of the basement and tried to force us to eat. Taylor stubbornly continued to resist, exasperated. The nuns grabbed his head, pried his mouth open and shoved a chocolate candy bar inside it. While he kicked and screamed, there was more chocolate on his face than in his mouth. The nuns realized they were getting nowhere with us.
Speaker 1:But they could tell that Darren had influence. He was like a leader. They figured if they could get Darren to us. But they could tell that Darren had influence. He was like a leader. They figured if they could get Darren to eat, we'd follow. First they had to win his trust. They called Darren up from the basement and promised him they would be nice. They offered him any food he wanted. By this point Darren was hungry enough to eat whatever they put in front of him. He caved and picked bacon, a food he remembered from before his family joined MOVE. After a while he was on his way down the steps with food for the rest of us. Bertie still refused to eat. Some of us follow Bertie's example. Taylor would eat only a banana because it was raw. The rest of us ate from the plate Darren brought down and we ate everything on it. We were too hungry to care whether the food was cooked raw or otherwise.
Speaker 1:After 11 days with the nuns at what I know now was an orphanage, we heard the sounds of someone knocking on the door. The adults had been released from jail and had come to get us. We were overwhelmed with joy when we heard Rhonda's and Marie's voices. We ran up the stairs straight to them. Rhonda looked at our condition and immediately started screaming at the nuns you bitch, you fucking bitch. Look at these kids. You call yourself women of God. What the fuck is godly about what y'all did to these kids? While Rhonda was yelling, marie was leading us out of the house. The nuns tried to plead their case, claiming they were just trying to clean us up, but Rhonda was hammering her with so many shut the fuck ups and fuck you bitches that the nuns couldn't verbalize a complete sentence. Suddenly, we could hear police sirens. A neighbor had heard the commotion and called the cops.
Speaker 1:Panic set in among the kids. Step by step, we inched across the open lawn with Marie. I was trying to stay attached to her, never wanting to be separated from her. Again, seeing our reactions in a calm voice, marie said it's okay, I got you, darren tree. Birdie, you see that U-Haul truck parked on the other side of the fence. Hank is right there waiting for all of us to take us home. I know you all are ready to get out of this place. Go ahead, run as fast as you can. Don't look back at this place, don't stop until you get there. When you reach the truck, get inside. Help the smaller kids get in. Then you wait for Rhonda and me.
Speaker 1:We kids barely waited for Marie to finish talking. We flew as fast as we could. Halfway across the lawn, violet was shouting faster, run faster. Everybody sprinted toward the truck. Little feet were running, stumbling, following and getting back up. Birdie was pulling wit feet were running, stumbling, following and getting back up. Bertie was pulling wit. Taylor, Little Phil and Lenny were kicking up dust.
Speaker 1:Marie carried me from the house to the truck. Just as we made it all to the U-Haul, the skies opened up and the rain began to fall so hard it sounded like hail. When Hank hit the gas, the tires spun in the mud. Rhonda and Marie jumped out of the truck from the front seat and pushed. They were pushing anxiously, trying to rock the car back and forth. Push Marie, push Rhonda, urged. The truck launched forward, rhonda and Marie, covered in mud from the spinning wheels, scrambled back into the truck and we blazed down the street as fast as the 1970s U-Haul truck could fly, which was not that fast. It was dark and hot in the back of the truck. We breathed on each other as we slid around on the floor. We were slippery from the rain and some of the kids had wet themselves.
Speaker 1:For the next few hours we rode. We rode the entire way on one tank of gas. I was trembling the whole way. It was pitch black. I couldn't see who I was sitting next to. My hands and fingers were shaking uncontrollably. I couldn't help but worry that it wasn't over.
Speaker 1:We finally arrived at 39th and Reno streets in West Philadelphia where Laverne was awaiting our arrival. The two-story house had a red brick exterior that was painted brown Inside. It was neat and clean, but bare Three bedrooms and one bath, very little, if any, furniture. We slept four or five kids to a room, with one adult in each room. He goes on to talk about baths and all that stuff and then he says that Benny, which is Vincent Leapart, which is John Africa, and the Rochester crew got word about our return home to Philly and Mo snuck into town to make sure we were all right. So that was five pages out of Mike's 287-page book.
Speaker 1:Let's do some fact-checking. This police raid Mike is describing in 1981, actually took place in 1980, january 15th 1980 to be exact, and the reason I can be exact is because it was reported in newspapers in Richmond, virginia, and in Philadelphia, pennsylvania. In this story Mike says he's three and a half years old and he is expressing an amazing level of recall for details. In January 1980, michael Davis was one year and four months, that's 16 months old. He was born in September 1978. That's his entire origin story. As a child of revolutionaries, his mom a MOVE member, his dad a MOVE member, his mom and dad were both in the August 8th 1978 confrontation. His mom was pregnant, she was holding Mike's two-year-old sister, wit, who you've heard on this podcast, and then she gave birth to him when she was in prison, didn't alert guards, didn't ask for medical attention and kept him in her cell for at least two days. So yeah, mike is way off with dates and his age. So feel free to ask him about that, if you see him. Also, his entire story is about this raid where police are sirens and lights and they're chasing kids and throwing them in vans and kids are jumping out of vans and escaping and then they take them all to this orphanage with vicious nuns and then two move women, who he calls Scarlett and Marie, show up and break them out of the orphanage in a barrage of fuck yous and then they all get into a U-Haul and head back to Philadelphia and Mo Africa brings them peanuts.
Speaker 1:I don't live in Philadelphia. I don't live in Richmond. Bob lives in Philadelphia. As you know, it was not difficult to find the first pieces of evidence and reporting on this police raid of MOVE in Richmond, virginia, and then, from there, I started making calls to anyone listed in MOVE commission files or in newspaper stories. In an earlier episode of this podcast series about Shaita Holloway, who is never spoken about she's the younger sister of Delisha Holloway, daughter of Delbert Orr and Janet Holloway I made an episode about her that references Richmond because that is the last location she was known to be alive, at just age four and a half. Five years old.
Speaker 1:Bob and I went to Richmond in June 2021, road trip before I even launched this podcast. We went to the house that Move had rented in 1977 that Mike is referencing. They lived there from 1977 through the summer of 1980. I talked to the current homeowner, I walked around, I talked to a neighbor who had lived on the street since 1975 and remembered move and I went and met with the Richmond police detective from youth services, now retired, and also the female prosecutor, also now retired, who was involved in this operation of removing the children because of reports from neighbors of neglect and abuse. So I did those interviews.
Speaker 1:I know when the raid took place. I did those interviews. I know that the police went in at one o'clock in the morning. There were no sirens, there were no lights. Neighbors didn't even know. It went down and it was coordinated with a father of a moved child who was in a relationship with Sharon Sims at the time. His name was Frank Cox. He's now passed away. He was concerned about his own infant daughter and he was concerned about the other kids. He was the intel so that police knew that they could go in and that it was going to be safe to remove the kids. Richmond police were completely aware of MOVE's history in Philadelphia, especially August 8, 1978. So this was done with precision and care and very quietly.
Speaker 1:Mike and the 13 other children between the ages of 8 months and 9 years old were not taken to an orphanage. They were taken to the local hospital where doctors and nurses were waiting for their arrival because they had been notified that this was happening by both police and social services. I have the summaries of the medical reports for each child, including Mike, who is listed by his move name, puga, which he never a name that he never admits to. I also have some photos that were taken for those medical reports, including one of Mike. He has an IV, he's wearing a diaper that was put on him at the hospital and he's drinking from a bottle. From the photo you can see that his belly is quite swollen and distended, which matches the medical evaluation for him and the others, and his hair is not dreadlocked, because at just 16 months old it's not that long. Looking at his photo and the other kids, it makes me really sad. They're not well and they look terrified. One child was admitted to the hospital, kazi, who Mike mentioned in the last episode with Dubside that she was the girl he was supposed to be married to. The rest of the 13 kids were placed with approved foster families and they were monitored and it was reported that they all had gained needed weight In Mike's version of this story.
Speaker 1:That he says is true. In Mike's version of this story he says that MO Move Women broke them out of the orphanage in 19. In Mike's version of this story he says that Move Women broke them out of the orphanage in 1981. There were no orphanages in Richmond, virginia, in 1981 or in 1980 when this actually happened. That is just totally made up either by Mike or within move and then told to Mike. But now Mike tells it as truth. It is easily fact-checked if you are a person looking for facts. I sent these pages from Mike's book to the retired detective that was there that night, january 15th 1980. This is his voicemail.
Speaker 4:Hi Beth, this is Steve Dalton. Again, I did want to address the claim of abusive nuns and orphanages. When I was a juvenile detective, I don't recall us having any type of orphanage. The kids were placed with social services who would place them in homes to be taken care of. We had no complaints from anyone about the care of the kids while they were in the custody of the Welfare Department of Social Services. There were no complaints. There was no such thing as nuns that I know of that would have been taking care of them. Again, like I said, the writer of this story is a very good fictional writer. Makes for interesting reading. But most of it is not true or, to my knowledge, never happened. So just want to bring you up to date on that. Any other questions, just give me a call. Talk to you later.
Speaker 1:So that was former detective Steve Dalton. He's retired, now still lives in Richmond and both he and former prosecutor Pat Bell, who was the first female prosecutor in Richmond actually their accounts, their interviews that they gave me they're backed up by their files and notes which they saved and they shared with me public reporting, court documents and interviews I conducted with two others who were part of the 14 moved children that were removed, and it's important to note that those two other children were two and three years older than Mike Africa Jr, michael Davis, in 1980. I'm going to put some of the newspaper clippings and a redacted medical report up on our website. I can't put everything up because it's just so much and some of it, in my opinion, is a privacy invasion of the children who are alive and now adults.
Speaker 1:Now there's a major character in this Seed of Wisdom story that both Mike and Move never mention. His name is Saad Alameen. He still lives in Richmond, virginia. He's in his early 80s and he sat down on the record to interview with myself and Bob back in June 2021. So nice to meet you in person. Thank you, okay, perfect.
Speaker 5:How are you? Thank you All right.
Speaker 1:Saad has a very interesting, colorful and entertaining personal and professional backstory that includes being the lawyer for the Nation of Islam, being an elected official, going to prison, being an avid tennis player at 83, 84 years old. He has a music room slash podcast studio in his home office where we conducted this two-hour interview. That was really more of a conversation and a continuation of our first phone call, which was quite long. I think I have the same boom arm as you. Yeah, yeah, this is it?
Speaker 5:Wow look at your monitors awesome.
Speaker 1:You're very tech savvy for an 81 year old.
Speaker 5:Well, you know you have to start it out young, and so it just went on. So that's good.
Speaker 1:So you want to go in and yeah, I'll set up a microphone for you, a microphone for me. We brought you some stuff to look at, because we're all about sharing information. Saad told me all about growing up in New York, going to Howard University and then Harvard Law School, along with his views and participation in Black Power movements in the late 1960s, 1970s, a little bit of a run-in with Jim Jones and the People's Temple in Los Angeles, with the Nation of Islam, and he tells me about how he feels about Black Power and racism and politics today. It's very interesting, but this episode and my interest in speaking with him is move, move that he knew as seed of wisdom.
Speaker 1:But most importantly, they were his legal clients, not as a group but as two individuals charged with child neglect 14 counts, january 15th 1980, richmond, virginia, valerie Brown, possibly Valerie Wilson and Sharon Sims, both going by the last name Africa, or sometimes using the surname Life, at the time they're arrested. Both are mothers and MOVE members that were sent to Richmond by their leader, vincent Lepard, aka John Africa, and their activity was to quote-unquote mind 14-plus children under the age of 10. While Vincent and seven other MOVE members, including Alberta and Sue and Moe, were fugitives with both federal and state warrants for their arrest. Let's talk about Seat of Wisdom. Do you recall who approached you about representing them? Man, woman, local, someone you knew? Yeah, local, local person.
Speaker 5:Local vocal.
Speaker 1:Local vocal person. Okay, man woman.
Speaker 5:Probably a woman.
Speaker 1:Nation of Islam.
Speaker 5:No, but a what we call a conscious person Okay, Politically conscious and my recollection is that they didn't agree with everything, but they agreed that they shouldn't be treated like they were treated.
Speaker 1:This connector for Seed of Wisdom to Saad Al-Amin is totally driving me crazy. I cannot figure out who it is because Seed of Wisdom and Sharon and Valerie and all the MOVE members, they were instructed to fly under the radar in Richmond, especially after August 8th 1978. And especially because their leader, vincent he was a fugitive, he was on the lam. So who was this woman? If anyone out there knows, please reach out to me. That's driving me crazy. Along with I can't figure out why Vincent even chose Richmond as an outpost. Did he know someone there? Family, maybe another group-like move?
Speaker 1:For context, saad has known both Pat Bell, the prosecutor, and Steve Dalton, the detective on this case, for decades. Richmond is really small. He's known them as a lawyer, as a politician, a public figure. So when I met with Pat and Steve we talked about Sod and I told both them and Sod that I was interviewing everybody. And to get to the meat of it all with Sod, I'm summarizing the events with him that led up to him representing Sharon and Valerie Neighbors talking about concern, neglect of kids, we've come to find out that one of the fathers of one of the children was also reporting to Pat and that he was concerned about all of the kids. Uh, 77 pat was not involved in which was their first attempt I believe it was valerie pulled a shotgun on them when they tried to come in and it was made clear that if you come in to try and take any of these children, we'll kill the children. So that was 77.
Speaker 5:That's what happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I didn't know about that and Frank Cox had said as much to them. That tracks as a pattern. One of the main concerns of the neighbors and Frank Cox was that they're malnourished, which you know. Now we're going on two years. That's dangerous, like we got to do something. So they had. They had a week to plan it and they said look, we, we don't want to have somebody pull a gun. You know, we don't know if there's men going back and forth from philadelphia.
Speaker 1:They're in the basement that we've been told about guns they knew they were connected to move by that point now because 78 had already happened. So they planned it for a week. She said they had a meeting in the afternoon. She went home, made dinner and it was SWAT social services. The medical staff was ready and they went in quietly. No neighbor even heard a thing because they were like go in. The goal is secure the location, make sure there's no guns, arrest the women for the misdemeanors, get the kids.
Speaker 5:So what were the misdemeanors?
Speaker 1:Neglect. Neglect for Valerie and for Sharon Cox Valerie Brown and Sharon Cox. And Frank was part of it. Now, this is where you're going to laugh. So Frank was part of the raid, frank Cox was the informant part of the raid, and so he said, okay, I'm going to go pick up Sharon from work. That was part of the plan. Well, his car broke down, so Pat loaned him her car, so he went. So the informant went to pick up the soon-to-be-arrestee in the prosecutor's car. Right, wow, that was well orchestrated. She just was, like you know, turning on a dime making it work. Right, right, they were a couple blocks away, she and Steve. They were told the house was secure. They went in. Some of the children were still asleep. Um, how many children was it? 14, 14, okay? Um, she said they immediately went to her as a woman, um, and they took the kids there was, I think, a social worker for each one um, took them to the hospital, did a full evaluation and then, uh, valerie and Sharon were arraigned.
Speaker 5:And that's where you come in, because you know I just I got in the middle of it. After that they were arrested and the children were taken right so I had to respond to that immediate situation of trying to get them bail and then getting the kids back.
Speaker 1:Specifically, you were representing Valerie and Sharon Sharon, right, not the kids, because they had their own court appointed.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 1:Did you feel like you were representing everybody?
Speaker 5:Because the kids identified with them. They didn't identify with the court appointed lawyers. You know, Sharon, that was in local parenthesis.
Speaker 1:Do you, how would you describe Sharon and Valerie as clients?
Speaker 5:Bright aware defiant.
Speaker 1:Defiant.
Speaker 5:Defiant.
Speaker 1:Defiant to you. No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 5:It was no deals.
Speaker 1:No deal.
Speaker 5:No deal. They didn't go in looking for a cop out. They were incensed and said they weren't guilty and that they wanted somebody that was going to. The reason they agreed to have me was that I had a reputation of no deals, and so it worked out. So did you ever actually see the children? No, okay, because they were separated in foster care.
Speaker 1:But then they came back.
Speaker 5:Yes, but I didn't see them. You never saw them, never had eyes on them, never saw them.
Speaker 1:And, as a defense attorney, did you want information on the children?
Speaker 5:No, because I recognized the disruption of the seed of wisdom in the community and I recognized that it was really a lifestyle argument that they had, that it was really a lifestyle argument that they had and the fact that they felt that the children were being mistreated because they weren't treated like normal parents would treat children. You know they'd run around naked and they'd eat only raw food.
Speaker 5:and you know the whole nine yards and you know people used the term. They were, what do they call it? Back to nature. Back to nature, but that's a nice way, you know. They said they were little savages. Okay, because that's what they to people. You know, hair, you know. So they thought, you know, wow, and this was going on on a daily basis and the place didn't smell great because it was about, you know, you defecate where you are okay and you throw food where it is, and so it was an aesthetic issue, coupled with children, that sort of ran, that piece, if you understand what I mean.
Speaker 1:How much did representing them take up? Was it a big case for you or one of many?
Speaker 5:One of many, in the sense that it was all concentrated in a short period of time and then it was gone. I saw it as a big commitment if it had gone its full length, because I had a judge who was, you know, willard Douglas was out of sight. You know, we never had a good relationship anyway, at least until he got in trouble and I ended up representing his significant other in that case. And for the same reason that Seed of Wisdom came to me, because I was not the person who they thought would be, you know, playing footsies with the constabulary and you were pro bono for Seed of Wisdom Okay, never got a dime Constabulary.
Speaker 1:And you were pro bono for a seat Pro bono, yeah, okay.
Speaker 5:Never got a dime.
Speaker 1:So, from what we've talked, the bullet points of the case are neglect, which are misdemeanors. Yes, they appeal the kids being taken from them. There is a discussion of paternity, biological connections for the kids, but people are not cooperating.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 1:The kids are returned to them after a full evaluation, but not by Douglas, by a different judge.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 1:He returns them in February.
Speaker 5:Temporarily.
Speaker 1:Temporarily pending appeal Pending appeal. Then there's a case, then it goes in May. They go in front of the judge again, yes, and then in October you show up to court. What are you expecting and what happens?
Speaker 5:I was expecting a hearing on what's in the best interest of the children, and I had done some research and found out that they wouldn't have returned them if they thought their lives were in danger. So you got inside information, yeah, and the most important thing was and I used that why would you return the kids if you thought their lives were in danger? So, therefore, their lives weren't in danger. So where's your beef?
Speaker 1:So you're in court and what happens?
Speaker 5:I don't know. I think Sharon and them left.
Speaker 1:Sharon and.
Speaker 5:Valerie, they At some point they disappeared and went back to Philadelphia. Now when that happened, I don't remember.
Speaker 1:Was between May and October.
Speaker 5:Sometime in time? Yes, was there a trial? I don't even remember that between May and October, Sometime at that.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, was there a trial I don't even remember that For abduction.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 1:This is where it gets interesting. We'll get to that. Did you know they were going to leave?
Speaker 5:No, I have to say that.
Speaker 1:Okay, right now I am staring at Sod and he's looking back at me with a very steady gaze and a smile. Bob is shifting in his chair a little bit and you might wonder why is this the energy in the room? Well, because in my phone call with Saad two weeks earlier, he told me without pause that he had warned his clients, valerie and Sharon, of the judge's upcoming decision to remove the children from their care and that he knew they were going to pack up and flee over state lines back to Philadelphia with all 14 children. Before that could happen, saad went to court as scheduled for the hearing, knowing full well that Valerie, sharon and the 14 children, including Mike aka Puga, were already gone. Here's one thing that Mike was telling the truth about they were put in the back of a U-Haul. Children between the ages of eight months and nine years old were put in the back of a U-Haul. Sod, of course, heard about May 13th 1985, but according to him, he didn't make a connection to his clients.
Speaker 5:So, of the total 14 that are left here, how many subsequently died from the fire? Five Subsequently died from the fire.
Speaker 1:Five, valerie Brown or Valerie Wilson. She escapes move with her two young daughters, linda and Cozzy, specifically from 6-2-2-1 Osage, louise James's house. Yep, louise was aware of the abduction. So in the middle of the night in April 1981, valerie escapes. That's before Vincent and the rest of them are discovered and apprehended in Rochester, new York, on May 13th 1981, and then put on trial and Vincent is acquitted in July 1981. With neighbors and police. And then no pun intended, no insensitivity intended, but boom, tragedy strikes and six of those 14 children who almost made it out of move in Richmond Virginia end up inside 6221 Osage behind fortified and barricaded windows and doors, during an armed confrontation with police that results in explosives being dropped and then a massive fire that engulfs the house. One of the six children escape, 13-year-old Owee Wolf Ward, known in MOVE as Birdie Africa. The other five die. Valerie when she escapes she goes back to Richmond Virginia because she knows that MOVE isn't going to follow her there.
Speaker 1:After May 13th 1985, she did interviews where she talked about why she escaped and that she was scared of Move. Sharon, on the other hand, who had left Move, did an interview for Philadelphia Magazine where she actually brings up the outstanding arrest warrant for her for child abduction. Now remember, in the last episode you heard Michael Davis, mike Africa Jr, puga talks about his brilliant idea to name the Move Kid rap group Seed of Wisdom. What you just heard is the story of Move, seed of Wisdom in Richmond, virginia. The fact checked, based in reality, true story and for good measure. At the end of this episode I'm going to put this question out there again when is Shiaida Holloway? If you see anybody in Move, please ask them. After dropping a two-part episode with Mike Africa Jr, in his own words, saying that he has no memory of May 13th 1985, he went to Philadelphia City Council for an official day of remembrance and gave this interview to a local news station. It was posted on TikTok and sent to me by a listener. Here it is.
Speaker 6:Before I move for adoption of the resolution, I ask that we observe a moment of silence for the victims who lost their lives in the move bombing 40 years ago, as we're days away from the 40th anniversary of the 1985 move bombing in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3:A resolution passed that vows to reflect and remember those impacted and lost due to the destruction. Mike africa jr says he remembers that tragic day like it was yesterday.
Speaker 2:It was his great aunt's home that was targeted and ultimately bombed you know, there was people in the neighborhoods coming up to me telling me that they dropped the bomb on move. It was disbelief, it was chaos, it was, you know, to see your family members watching their family members on the television and being killed is it's unbelievable his family belonged to the move organization, which was about black liberation and promoted a back to nature lifestyle.
Speaker 3:That bombing, followed by a fire, killed six adults and five children. Also, it destroyed 65 homes along Osage Avenue. Despite two grand jury investigations, no one from city government was criminally charged, which is why this resolution came as a surprise to Mike Africa Jr you know I grew up believing that all politicians were liars, and that's probably true for most, but Jamie Gauthier kept her word.
Speaker 6:If we don't sort of dissect the move bombing and why it happened, I think we won't be able to heal as a city, and it's also important to commemorate what happened so that it will never happen again.
Speaker 3:Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier introduced this resolution. For her it was a no-brainer For Africa. This is just the start.
Speaker 2:It means that we have to keep working. This is not the end. This is the beginning.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. If you have any questions, comments, tips, information, please reach out Social media or murder at ryan's run at gmailcom. Also, if you could give us a review or give us a five-star rating and share this episode, share the series, it'd be much appreciated. The more people listen, the more we get the word out there and somebody actually might know something about these unsolved cases. Produced, written, edited, hosted by me, beth mamara. Amazing additional archival research by Robert Helms.
