California cult led by 'master manipulator' committed brutal murders, detective says: 'One body after another'
Detective Gary Deckard and his team walked into a real-life nightmare on Elm Street.
Shortly after midnight on May 21, 1990, police entered a house at 5223 Elm Street in Salida, a small farming town in California. Inside were the bodies of Dennis Colwell, Darlene "Emmie" Paris, Franklin Raper and Richard Ritchey. All the victims suffered blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds. Paris had been nearly decapitated.
"When I got to the crime scene, we had two deputies who responded to the first 911 call," Deckard, the lead investigator, told Fox News Digital. "All these deputies were spooked by what they saw. And these are very big deputies… When I entered the crime scene, I understood why."
"When they went to murder these people, they flipped off the electricity," Deckard explained. "So it was completely dark in there… It was just a horrific crime scene. One of the female deputies told me it felt like Freddy Krueger was going to come out of the closet. It was one body after another in this small house."
The quadruple homicide is being explored on Investigation Discovery’s true-crime series, "The Real Murders on Elm Street." It explores chilling cases across the country that all took place on "Elm Street." It features interviews with loved ones and investigators, among others.
"People have always wanted to know why anyone would go to a house and savagely kill people," said Deckard. "Was this the act of an individual or a leader of a group?"
The police would soon get their answer.
There was one survivor, a woman named Donna, who managed to escape the attack. She described how the murders were committed by several people who had been dressed in camouflage and wore masks.
"I tried to get as much information out of her as possible," said Deckard. "What I learned was that Donna arrived at the house. She had nowhere to go that particular night. She arrived with another individual who ended up being one of the victims. She was in one of the bedrooms when the murders started taking place. One of the suspects had taken off his mask. That allowed Donna to see his face."
"As everybody was being murdered, Donna ran to the garage," Deckard continued. "There were no lights inside, but she found a pile of clothes. She hid underneath the clothes and the suspects didn’t see her… When she had a chance, she ran down Elm Street and knocked on people’s doors, hoping somebody would hear her screams. Someone finally did. That’s how the 911 call came in."
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Many in town gathered outside the crime scene. After getting a description from Donna of the suspect she saw – a Caucasian male with Afro hair – one of the locals said, "It sounds like a guy named Jason. He lives off ‘the Camp.’"
Police were familiar with the residential area known to locals as "the Camp." Those who lived there kept to themselves.
When police headed there, pieces of camouflage clothing were found hanging on a clothesline. Investigators then headed to a nearby trailer that belonged to Gerald Cruz. He denied knowing anything about the murders but gave a few names of members of his commune.
Authorities soon identified Jason LaMarsh from "the Camp." He matched the description of the suspect that Donna saw that night. As the investigation continued, police learned that Cruz was the leader of "The Cause," a group that, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, "was supposed to be the advancement of mankind." LaMarsh was connected to the group.
"Gerald Cruz was a dynamic personality," said Deckard. "He would take people off the street, those who were maybe unemployed, didn’t have any money. He would then become like their father, promising that he would provide for them. They became so emboldened… that they would do almost anything for him."
Investigators got a search warrant for Cruz’s home. Inside they found masks, bomb-making materials, a receipt for a knife and satanic literature. Court documents revealed that Cruz’s journals had the signatures and fingerprints of those who were recognized as his followers.
There was also the "Wheel of Punishment." Deckard said the device was used to torture Cruz’s followers if they ever disobeyed. Some of the punishments included eating off the floor, beatings and sodomy in front of the group.
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"When we found it at the property, we didn’t know what that wheel was about," said Deckard. "I interviewed other people who were part of the group that Gerald Cruz oversaw. They described to me that the ‘Wheel of Punishment’ was used if you got in trouble for anything. And Gerald ruled with an iron fist. If you got in trouble, you had to toss up the wheel. Wherever your thumb landed on the wheel, that’s the punishment you got."
"There were all sorts of punishments," said Deckard. "But the most bizarre punishment would be having sex with somebody else of the same gender. But it could be a beating, it could be several things."
According to court documents, Cruz was arrested for possession of explosives. Other followers were taken in.
"What we learned was that they had a meeting at ‘the Camp’ where they all mostly resided," Deckard explained. "During that meeting, they were getting psyched up in preparation to go over and kill Franklin Raper. That was the motive. They did not know anybody else was going to be at the house. But Gerald Cruz’s instructions were to make sure there were no witnesses."
Court documents revealed that in January 1990, Raper, who was about 50 years old, moved his trailer into "the Camp." He would go on to have "an acrimonious relationship" with Cruz.
Cruz later told an acquaintance before the murders that he would "like to get his hands on" Raper. Following one dispute, Raper’s car was set on fire.
The episode revealed that Raper was never afraid of Cruz and would not think twice about standing up to him.
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The series also revealed that Raper was known for bringing people in who had no place to go.
Deckard said Raper was targeted by Cruz and his group. The other victims were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.
According to the episode, Cruz and his followers ambushed Raper in his home. There, they gathered all the victims in the living room. Raper was beaten with a bat so badly that his head and face were "distorted," said court documents. He had also been stabbed, and his arm was broken.
Deckard said that when Paris was screaming and pleading for her life, Cruz told Vieira to "shut her up."
"Gerald Cruz had so much power over him," said Deckard.
The episode shared that LaMarsh and Ronald Willey were convicted of four counts of second-degree murder. Both were sentenced to 62 years in prison. Vieira is on death row at San Quentin, along with Cruz and James Beck. Michelle Evans pleaded guilty as an accessory to murder. She was sentenced to one year in prison in exchange for her testimony at trial. She served six months.
To this day, Deckard still has questions.
"Why would somebody forfeit their lives to please one individual, a master manipulator?" he said. "How could someone have so much authority and rule a whole camp as a father and provider for everybody? Why would people just sacrifice their whole lives and kill people they don’t even know? People who have never done anything to them? It was just appalling. I have no answers."