In 2010, 15 year old Kristy Bamu went to visit his sister, Magalie, and her boyfriend, Eric, for Christmas. His two sisters went with him and they were all so excited to spend time with Magalie. Shortly after arriving however, the couple accused the siblings of bringing witchcraft into their home and they aggressively attempted an exorcism. On Christmas Day, after days of torture, Kristy passed away. Would justice be served for Kristy’s death and the abuse he and his sisters endured?

Marvallous Keene and his girlfriend, Laura Taylor, were in need of cash on Christmas Eve 1992 and had the idea of robbing a man. It turned into more than a robbery when the two decided to murder the man. The couple then met up with two more friends, DeMarcus Smith and Heather Matthews. By the afternoon of December 26th, the four would be arrested on a handful of charges, including multiple murders.

On December 24, 2002, Jean Wholaver, and her two daughters, 20 year old Victoria and 15 year old Elizabeth were found brutally murdered in their family home. In the crook of Victoria’s arms was her nine month old daughter, Maddison, mercifully still alive. Eventually, police were led to Jean’s ex husband, Ernest Whoalver as their main suspect. Ernest claimed to be at the home around the time of the murders, but said he was not the one to murder his family. His brother however had a different story of what happened that night.

In December of 2000, Reginald and Jonathan Carr traveled to Wichita, Kansas and began what would end up being a week-long spree of horrible crimes. The brothers began with kidnapping and robbing, but by the end of the week, their crimes got much more brutal. Six victims would be shot, only one of them surviving. After the brothers were caught, this survivor would play a major role in putting the two men in prison for the rest of their lives.

On November 26, Paul Merhige showed up at his cousin’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. By the age of 35, Paul had distanced himself from family and friends, so his family was surprised to see him that day. A few hours later, Paul went outside to his car and came back in the house with a gun. He shot at multiple family members, killing his twin sisters, their aunt, and their cousin’s 7 year old daughter. What drove Paul away from his family and to then try to murder them all?

After Vernon Howell gained possession of the Mount Carmel Center, the headquarters for the original Branch Davidians, he began taking multiple wives, not all of them of legal age, and began reproducing in order to create the next “Army of God.” However, when police found out about the illegal marriages, as well as illegal gun possession, they planned a raid of Mount Carmel. The raid would last 51 days, take a total of 86 lives, end in fire, and would later be known as the Waco Siege.

In 1955, Benjamin Roden claimed that he received a calling from the Lord telling him to create his own religious group. He followed this calling and founded The Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Associate, better known as The Branch. Although harmless, this religious group would quickly become a cult. After Benjamin’s death in 1978, a man named Vernon Howell joined the cult. His beliefs were not as harmless as Benjamin’s, and things would soon take a turn for the worse for The Branch Davidians.

Omaima Nelson was born in 1968 in Egypt and at the age of 18, she met an American oil worker, married him, and moved to the US. The marriage wouldn’t last long, but Omaima would soon remarry a man named William Nelson. A month later, in November of 1991, William hadn’t been heard from in days and hadn’t shown up for work that Monday. That day, Omaima was stopped by police and trash bags full of body parts were found in her car. Omaima had murdered her husband of 30 days, but what was her reasoning, and where was the rest of his body?

On October 31, 1974, Ronald O’Bryan took his two children, 8 year old Timothy and 5 year old Elizabeth, trick-or-treating. Shortly after arriving back home, Timothy ate a piece of candy he had received and within minutes was throwing up and convulsing. Timothy had been poisoned and unfortunately wouldn’t survive the night. Police immediately searched the neighborhood trying to find who gave Timothy the poisoned candy. Little did they know, the murderer was already right in front of them.

For this spooky season episode, we not only have a special guest, we also got to sit back and listen as she told us a story! The Purple Gang started as a street gang in Detroit’s lower eastside during the WWI years. When the prohibition era began, the gang had grown in size. The gang members not only participated in illegal liquor trade, but violence, harassment, murder, and posisbly kidnapping. But this story doesn’t only have crime, it has ghost stories and many ties to locations in our home state of Michigan too. Thank you to our mother for putting in the time and research, and for telling us such a great story!