Homicide Inc. - Compelling True Crime Stories
Homicide Inc. - Compelling True Crime Stories
Episode 78 | THE 'CHOSEN BY GOD' CULT MURDERS That Stunned South Africa | DEVILSDORP
In 2012 the sleepy mining town of Krugersdorp, South Africa was put on the map when a murderous satanic cult went on a revenge-seeking killing spree. The murderers had pledged an allegiance to a woman by the name of Cecelia Steyn, the self-proclaimed 'Bride of Satan' and 42nd generational witch. It's a really unbelievable story, the type of which simply can't be made up! In the end 11 innocents lost their lives in horrific ways, largely in the name of getting money to fund their leader's lifestyle. This story is also a popular documentary called 'Devilsdorp'. ★Enjoy!
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References:
https://www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/what-to-know-about-the-psychology-of-cults/
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-08-12-over-protected-zak-valentine-earned-r70000-a-month-when-he-began-killing/
#murder #truecrime #devilsdorp #cult #krugersdorp #ceceliasteyn #podcast #truestory #homicide #homicideinc #crime #investigative #killer #horror #truecrimepodcast #truecrimecommunity
DEVILSDORP- The Krugerdorp Murders
Electus per Deus: Chosen by God. Now, if God were to pick his own rag tag, Avenger-esque group to do his bidding, who do you think he’d choose? A schoolteacher? An investment broker? Perhaps a meek high school kid? No? How about a 42nd generational witch? Sound mad? Well, this is a story that is almost too crazy for fiction. The story of a housewife turned cult leader and her followers who terrorised a small town, killing 11 people during the four-year long crime spree. Question is, did their devotion to God drive them to kill? Or did they worship the master that rules the world: money, money, money.
Brace yourselves, this story has more moving parts than John Mayer’s dating roster. So, let’s start where all good stories start: with some elderly church ladies.
When Ria Grunewald started her program “Overcomers through Christ”, she could never have imagined where it would lead. The point of the program was to teach school children about the dangers of satanism. This obsession with satanism may seem strange, but it is not all that strange when you consider where they come from.
Krugersdorp is a small town in South Africa. South Africa has had a history of political turmoil and the culture in Krugersdorp reflects the aftermath of the upheaval. Until 1994, most South Africans were living under an oppressive, racist regime. The apartheid government was responsible for incredibly oppressive laws which stripped black people of basic rights. This was a continuation of the colonialist capture of the country which happened way back in the 1800s. Since the end of the protests that led to the overthrow of the apartheid government, the country has struggled to reach economic equality and stability.
Why is this little history lesson important? Well, it is important for context. Krugersdorp is a town of the haves and the have-nots. The underprivileged are often underserved. The forgotten can often look for a purpose, for somewhere to belong. Religion (or satanism) offers community, a promise of a better life and a purpose that is divine. This is why the town of Krugersdorp is so religious and also why there have been so many occult-related incidents in the town and its surrounding areas. And why the town officially declared a war on satanism. Harry Potter books were burnt to get rid of evil spirits, Santa Clause was outlawed and even Spiderman was given the boot. Satanic Panic was through the roof.
Back to Ria and her Overcomers through Christ. The group was fully focused on expelling evil spirits. They offered their services to schools and also offered trauma counselling for victims of satanic abuse. That is how Ria got that fateful call that would change the course of her life forever. A call for help from someone who had escaped a satanic cult and needed her help escaping the satanic abuse she had endured. The victim was allegedly the bride of Satan and a 42nd generational witch. This made her all the more vulnerable because the satanic cult would apparently not let her go without a fight. The victim was Cecilia Steyn.
Unfazed, and no doubt intrigued, by this crazy story, Ria was up for the challenge. These folks may not like Spiderman, but they sure do love a good hero story. Ria started counselling Cecilia and was horrified by her accounts of life in a satanic cult. She felt that they could use this knowledge to warn other Christians about the dangers of satanism. Thus began Ria’s new course, entitled “Know Your Enemy”. This course caught the attention of a few people. First, Mikeila Valentine and her husband ZAK Valentine, and second, schoolteacher Merinda Steyn (no relation) and her children Le Roux and Marcel.
The group devoted themselves to learning more from Cecilia about her life. Merinda became a pseudo-caregiver for Cecilia, which was a full-time job in and of itself. Cecilia’s time in the cult had left her with some pretty serious trauma. She claimed to have developed a split personality as a result of the trauma. Her youngest personality was a little girl named Anja who loved vanilla milk and would often demand that Merinda run to the store to get her the precious milk. Anja represented the part of Cecilia that was pure. The part that the occult wanted to get rid of.
Cecilia also had what she called “high nights”. During these nights, evil was rife, and the cult sent spirits to attack her. Cecilia would roll around on the floor and have out-of-body experiences. Blood would pour out of her mouth and she would convulse violently. The group believed it was up to them to save her, so they prayed her demons away and waited on her hand and foot. Merinda became so obsessed with Cecilia that she started sleeping at Cecilia’s house every day. Saving Cecilia became the group’s shared purpose. They became completely devoted to her and nothing spells cult quite like complete devotion to an individual.
Soon enough, Ria started to worry that she was focussing too much of her time on the enemy and not enough time on her God. She started a new program called “Know Your God”. The difference this time is that she asked a Pastor named Reg Bendixen to help her with the program. Cecilia’s stories about life in a cult became irrelevant and Ria spent less time with Cecilia and more time with Reg.
Cecilia was seething. How dare Ria have interest in anything other than saving her? How dare she not want to spend every waking moment in Cecilia’s presence? In an act of desperation, Cecilia concocted a story about how her biological mother had sacrificed her life to save Cecilia from the cult. Now motherless, Cecilia needed someone to take on the maternal role, so she transferred “maternal rights” to Ria. These “rights” could not be transferred away. Ria even got texts from witches who wanted to kill Cecilia and pictures of Cecilia lying bloodied in the street outside of her apartment.
Despite Cecilia’s pitiful attempts to keep Ria’s attention, Ria continued to distance herself. An incensed Cecilia wanted revenge for this apparent abandonment. She did not want to kill Ria. Oh no, that would be far too easy. She wanted to make Ria suffer. To take away everything Ria loved and to make her rue the day she ever turned her back on Cecilia Steyn.
And so came Cecilia’s plan to murder one of Ria’s close friends, Natacha. But Cecilia wasn’t about to do the dirty work herself. She was far too weak from constantly fighting off all those pesky demons. The solution? She’d convince her newfound devotees to commit the murder for her. But how exactly does one convince a bunch of devoted Christians to murder an innocent woman? Simple: by giving them a common enemy and a worthy cause; a cause worth killing for. Cecilia had managed to convince her acolytes that she was in touch with an orphanage for children of satanists, which was based out of a forest in America. Specific, I know. Cecilia would often collect donations for these poor children in America. How ironic? Africans sending aid to orphaned American kids for once.
Of course, this orphanage did not exist. Cecilia just has an incredible imagination and a knack for getting people to believe even the most unbelievable stories. Anyway, Cecilia told the group that Ria had prayed for the orphans in the forest and that had resulted in the deaths of 170 kids. The only way for them to save the rest of the children and to end evil forever would be for the group to kill one of Ria’s closest friends, Natacha. Confusing, I know.
The group, who now called themselves Electus per Deus, consisted of Mikeila, her husband ZAK, Merinda and her two children, Le Roux and Marcel. Once it was decided that Natacha had to die, the group started planning their grisly crime.
At first, they thought that maybe they should send 14-year-old Marcel over to Natacha’s apartment door. Marcel was to gain Natacha’s trust and then the group would force their way in. For some reason, they decided this plan was not going to work so they went with Plan B. Mikeila and ZAK went over to Natacha’s apartment building when they knew she’d be out and knocked on her elderly neighbour’s door. They pretended to be friends of Natacha’s who had come to give her a gift. When the old lady let them in, they forced her to write a letter to Natacha that would lure her to the old lady’s apartment. They stuck the note on Natacha’s door and waited for her to come home. When she saw the note and went over to check on her neighbour, ZAK ambushed her and stabbed her multiple times, leaving her dead next to the old lady, who ZAK had killed shortly after she’d written the note. During the murders, Mikeila panicked and ran out of the apartment. Guess she just couldn’t hang.
The police had no idea who could have committed such a gruesome crime, but when they found copies of Ria’s “Know Your Enemy” books in Natacha’s apartment, they started to suspect that the murders were occult-related.
When Ria found out about her friend’s murder, she was devasted. Cecilia’s plan to hurt her had worked. But that wasn’t enough for Cecilia. She wanted to remove Ria’s entire support network. Anyone that Ria associated with was in danger. And so, the next target was Pastor Reg Bendixen, the man who had been occupying much of Ria’s time; time that Ria should have been spending with Cecilia. Or at least, that’s how Cecilia saw it.
On the day of Pastor Reg’s death, Ria received an anonymous text that read “Hi Ria, have you said goodbye to Reg? I hope you have.” Wanting to prove her loyalty to Cecilia, schoolteacher Merinda decided that she would go to the pastor’s house with ZAK to commit the murder. Not only that, she dragged her 15-year-old daughter, Marcel, with her so that Marcel could also prove herself. Marcel wasn’t even old enough to get a learner driver’s permit but there she was, watching her schoolteacher mother stab a man to death on his lawn.
When Ria found out about the murder, she knew that Cecilia must have been involved one way or another. It doesn’t help that Ria received a package with meat in it the day after the pastor’s murder. The package had a note: “Sorry, this is all the doggies left you. Here is a piece of your precious Reggie.” A pretty ballsy move if you ask me.
The police had already connected Ria to both of the murders because of the victims’ connection to her “Know Your Enemy”/”Know Your God” programs, so when they questioned her, she pointed the finger at Cecilia. But when police searched Cecilia’s apartment, they found nothing but pictures of bombs and pictures of ZAK and Cecilia dressed as devil worshipers.
At this point, Zak’s wife, Mikeila was feeling pretty spooked about the murders. Remember, she was with ZAK on the night of the first murders, but lost her nerve and ran away from the scene. Maybe it all got to be too much for her. She called her mother and confided in her about the murders. She was afraid and she was crying. Unfortunately, that would be the last time her mom ever heard her voice because Mikeila was found dead in her bedroom not long after the phone call.
It is suspected that Mikeila told her husband that she had doubts, not knowing that Zak’s devotion to Cecilia was stronger than any vows he and his wife had shared on their wedding day. He slipped sleeping pills into her coffee one morning and, when she was nice and drowsy, he let schoolteacher Merinda, and her high school daughter Marcel, in to finish the deed. Merinda hit Mikeila in the head with hammer before she stabbed her multiple times. She then stopped and called her teen daughter over to help her. Marcel claims that she only stabbed Mikeila once before she lost her nerve. She lied and told her mom that the knife was too blunt. Merinda took her at her word and continued the stabbing. ZAK had left because he knew he needed an alibi. I’m sure we’ve all heard enough true crime stories to know that the husband is always the first suspect. So, once he had let the psycho schoolteacher and her daughter into his house, and sealed his wife’s fate, he calmly drove away.
When Mikeila’s body was found, the crime scene led investigators to believe that, once again, the occult was involved – her bedroom walls were covered with biblical writing. For some reason, the police did not link Cecilia to the murder and so Mikeila’s case, as well as Natacha and the pastor’s murders, went cold.
The group lay low for three years but eventually the money ran dry. They needed to find a way to sustain Cecilia’s lifestyle which, at this point, was drug-fuelled. One of the fringe members of the group suggested that the group kill his employers because they were apparently quite wealthy. When ZAK, Marcel and Merinda arrived at the home of Peter and Joan Meyer on the 26th of November 2015, they were outraged to find that the couple kept no money in their safe. Annoyed and not wanting to leave any witnesses, they stabbed the couple and fled the scene.
But the group’s money woes continued. Now, most of us have been broke before. But it takes a special sort of warped individual to fake a death and try to defraud an insurance company. The group came up with a plot to fake Zak’s murder so that Cecilia, who was the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy, could receive a pay-out of around $200 000. To fake Zak’s death, they needed a decoy corpse. Sadly, for the man who sold snacks outside of Cecilia’s apartment building, Jarod Jackson, he shared the same height and build as ZAK Valentine. They convinced Jarod to take a drive with ZAK and Le Roux, the schoolteacher’s son (she really is getting the whole family in on the act!). During the drive, ZAK slipped sleeping pills into Jarod’s drink. ZAK and Le Roux then strangled Jarod, put him in the driver’s seat of Zak’s car and set the car on fire. ZAK then stole Jarod’s identity and disappeared.
Once Merinda had “identified” Zak’s body at the mortuary a week later, the group thought their plan had worked and they’d soon be receiving a fat check. They’d beat the system, fooled the man. Right? Wrong. They should have known that no one fools the tax man or the insurance man. He always gets his due.
After they put in their claim for the insurance pay-out, the insurance company had some suspicions. You see, the policy had been in arrears, but one week before Zak’s supposed death, the outstanding balance was settled in cash. The insurance company felt that something fishy was going on so they put their best insurance claims investigator on the case. The investigator went to see Cecilia at her apartment to conduct an interview. There is actually footage of this interview. In fact, there is all sorts of footage that was collected of Cecilia’s “high nights” as well. Watching the footage, one cannot help but be enthralled by the extent that she would go to, to lie and manipulate. Remember the blood coming out of her mouth during convulsions? She placed a balloon filled with fake blood in her mouth and would bite the balloon during her episodes so that the fake blood could ooze out. Smart. Just not smart enough to fool the insurance investigator. He refused to pay out the policy and so the group was, once again, left broke.
This is what led to the group’s last killing spree. A cluster of murders dubbed by the media as “the appointment killings”. The group adopted a new M.O. They would set up “business” appointments with accountants, financial advisors and the like. Just before the appointment time, they would claim that they were unable to come to the office and would ask the victim to meet them at their apartment instead. None the wiser, the victim would arrive at the apartment and be lured in by Merinda the schoolteacher’s unassuming presence. It was there that they would be held at gun point and forced to hand over their bank cards and PIN numbers. One of the schoolteacher’s kids would then go withdraw money out of the victim’s bank accounts. When they had the cash, they’d kill the victim and leave the body in the trunk of the victim’s car or in an open field.
This new M.O worked for a while. The group was able to get some money and to remain undetected. But not for long. The police were under pressure to solve this latest string of murders. The community was living in fear of a serial killer on the loose. It got so bad that financial advisors and estate agents started cancelling their appointments.
The police realised that the victims had money withdrawn from their bank accounts shortly before their deaths. The next logical step was for them to scour the CCTV footage at the ATMs to see if anything stood out. To their surprise, the same two faces kept showing up whenever money was withdrawn from the victim’s account. These two baby-faced teens, the picture of innocence. These were the killers that had terrorised the town?
When they found out who the teens were, the police were even more shocked. Marcel had, by this time, just finished high school. She had aced her final exams with straight As. How could it be that this overachieving girl and her brother were responsible for the murders of four people?
The police arrested Marcel and Le Roux for possession of the stolen bank cards and brought them in for questioning. Marcel claimed that they had gotten the cards from some thugs who had instructed them to withdraw the money. Le Roux told an entirely different story. He confessed to committing the murders. He said that he acted on his own. The only problem is, Le Roux was maybe 130 pounds soaking wet. There was no way that he could have overpowered his victims and hauled their bodies all on his own.
Police knew that it’s pretty unusual for someone to go from a clean rap sheet to four murders. They suspected that Le Roux must have been involved in other crimes with a similar M.O. They suspected that the murders at the Meyer residence in November of 2015 might be linked to the Appointment Murders. And they were right. When they saw CCTV footage of the Meyer home, they saw Marinda’s car. Le Roux and Marcel’s mother was at the scene of a crime that is eerily similar to the one he is confessing to. Coincidence? Not a chance.
Investigators also got a tip that they should search Marinda’s classroom. What they found was the usual classroom stuff: desks, chairs, stationery. Oh, and a bucketload of ammunition. They also found a will which she kept at the school. This will would be the piece that unravelled the tight-knit group.
Investigators questioned Le Roux again. This time, they had that all important will in hand. The police slid the document over to Le Roux and he read, word for word, his mother’s complete devotion to Cecilia Steyn. He read how his mommy dearest had completely cut him and his sister out of her will and had left everything to Cecilia. While he was taking the fall, his mother was discarding him. Choosing her loyalty to Cecilia over her loyalty to her only son. That must have stung.
Hell hath no fury like a co-conspirator scorned. Le Roux told investigators everything. From the first murders in 2012, he detailed all of the group’s criminal activities. The police also had information from the insurance investigator that Zak’s blood type did not match the blood type of the person found burnt to a crisp in his car. So, if that wasn’t ZAK Valentine, then where is he?
ZAK had escaped to another city and was living on the streets. He joined a Christian ministry group which would take the homeless on camping trips. Turns out, a member of the team was dating a police officer. One day her boyfriend comes home with some papers and on the top of his stack of files is a picture of the homeless man she takes on camping trips. Except, it’s not just any homeless man, it is ZAK Valentine. The dead man. ZAK gets arrested for fraud just three days after Le Roux and Marcel’s arrest. Marinda and Cecilia weren’t free for long. They were also arrested for their involvement in the murders.
Le Roux pled guilty in return for a lighter sentence. He also agreed to testify against his sister, and the rest of the group. Marinda also pled guilty but she testified in Cecilia’s defence. Electus per Deus went before the judge (South Africa doesn’t have a jury system) in 2018.
It would seem that this would be a slam dunk case for the prosecution, but they had a big problem. Cecilia never murdered anyone herself. In fact, she wasn’t even there for some of these murders. This was the same problem that the prosecution faced at Charles Manson’s trial. How do you prosecute someone for a murder that they did not directly commit? Does their manipulation of their cult members meet the burden of culpability?
It also didn’t help that Marinda and Cecilia had two years to plan their strategy. Their strategy was to make Le Roux look crazy which, honestly, wasn’t that hard to do since his testimony was about 42nd generational witches and orphans in an American forest. Their response to his testimony was, “Pfft, what? I’m a good ol’ Christian who wouldn’t hurt a fly”. Marinda took the blame for all the murders and claimed Cecilia was not involved at all. How could she be involved? She wasn’t even there.
So, the prosecution had to pivot. They charged Cecilia with racketeering. They claimed that Electus per Deus was a crime syndicate, and that Cecilia was the top dog. She was the one calling the shots and collecting all the money. She was completely in control, and she managed to manipulate her followers to do all of her dirty work. When her followers didn’t comply or showed even a hint of disloyalty, like Mikeila Valentine, they were disposed of.
Marcel’s testimony was the largest bombshell of the entire case. She walked onto the stand, with a blank stoic look on her face, and spilled the beans. Her mother’s entire testimony was aimed at exonerating her and Cecilia. All she had to do was play along. But at the last minute, to the surprise of everyone in the courtroom, Marcel decided to tell the truth. She detailed all of the times that Cecilia instructed them to murder someone, and all of the times Cecilia actively planned the murders with them.
In the end, Le Roux received 35 years minus 10 years. The rest of the group received multiple life sentences.
This case boggles the mind. It is hard to imagine that a group of staunch Christians, a group of normal people with normal jobs and normal families could be convinced to become serial killers. The crimes were brutal and the way that Marinda in particular spoke about the crimes she committed is shocking. She went into graphic detail about every moment and reflected with aching nostalgia about how she felt when she watched her victims take their last breath. It is hard to imagine that before all of this, she was a 50-year-old English teacher and mom of two.
ZAK Valentine is also an interesting case. ZAK earned quite a bit of money before he met Cecilia. He was newly married to his beautiful wife and was a man of faith. By the end, he had given unthinkable amounts of his money to Cecilia, killed his wife for Cecilia and even lived on the streets so that Cecilia could get his life insurance pay out. How does an educated, working guy like that get sucked into this mess?
And what about Marcel? She was barely 15 years old when she witnessed her mother commit cold-blooded murder. She claims that, after her parents’ divorce when she was a child, her mental health suffered, and she was treated for anorexia at some stage. Does she really deserve a life sentence? Or is a person responsible for their own actions, regardless of traumas they might have faced?
The psychology of cults is complex. You would probably swear up and down that you would never get mixed up in a cult but don’t be so sure. Cult leaders are masters at mind control. They use your fears against you to form a sort of “us against the world” mentality and foster paranoia. And, if you think you’re too educated to ever fall into a cult, most of the time cults target young, educated people who are high earners. It also helps if you have a low self-esteem and are searching for a life purpose.
Lastly, Cecilia. Who is this woman really? Was she really abused as a child? Did she really escape a satanic cult? It might be surprising to find out that when all of this was going on, Cecilia lived with her husband and small kids. Her husband is actually a policeman! The police claim that he is a low-ranking officer in another department, but it does make one wonder. There were suspicions that Cecilia was being protected by an unnamed police officer and that is why her group was able to avoid detection for so long.
We may never get the answers to all the questions about Cecilia. And even if Cecilia does reveal some facts about her life, would you trust her? She is a master manipulator after all.
This case has certainly taken us on a wild ride. At times it felt like a fever dream. But it wasn’t a dream. It was a stark reminder that no one is immune to the lure of a master manipulator and at any moment, we too could fall into their treacherous web of lies.
