‘Prophetess’ was a ‘voice of the Lord,’ ex-congregant testifies as hearing involving alleged San Bernardino murders begins

A former member of the His Way Spirit Led Assemblies religious order testified in the murder case involving five congregants on Thursday, Feb. 5, that one of its leaders, Shelley “Kat” Martin, received prophecies from God in her bathroom before delivering them to church members in her apartment.

The order was organized as a Bible study in the late 1990s in Tennessee before Martin and husband and Pastor Darryl “Muzic” Martin led 13 members across the country to Newport Beach — on orders from God relayed through Shelley Martin — in 2000, Kelli Byrd testified. The congregation eventually settled in Hemet and Colton, where Shelley Martin served as the congregation’s emotional and vociferous leader.

Martin called herself the Prophetess.

“A voice of the Lord like speaking through a  CB radio,” is how Byrd described Martin. “It was the prophetic gift of the Lord. It was directly from the throne of the Lord. … She’s the embodiment of the Holy Spirit on Earth.”

Byrd’s testimony in Superior Court in San Bernardino came on the first day of a preliminary hearing in which a judge will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold the defendants for trial.

Shelley Martin is charged with murder in the apparent death of former congregant Emilio Ghanem, 40, who vanished after he left the church in 2023, and in the 2010 death of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who died in the care of the Martins from what authorities say was a ruptured appendix that went untreated.

Darryl Martin and Timothy’s father, Andre Thomas, are charged with murder in Timothy’s death. And Rudy Moreno and Ramon Duran are charged with murder in Ghanem’s disappearance.

All have pleaded not guilty.

Shelley Martin sat in a wheelchair with a half-filled catheter bag attached, with her husband next to her. She and Thomas both wore green jail jumpsuits, indicating they were in protective custody. The other defendants wore orange jumpsuits. All wore orange Crocs-style shoes.

Byrd was accompanied to the witness stand by a San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office advocate and the DA’s comfort dog, Schroeder, a black Labrador. Byrd told Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker that she had “a lot of emotions,” and they quickly showed when she incorrectly identified Darryl Martin as wearing a “yellow” jumpsuit. Crocker had Byrd correct herself.

“I’m still a little nervous,” Byrd acknowledged.

She wore black slacks and a black-and-white striped blouse with a black jacket accessorized by a broad, lace collar.

Crocker guided Byrd through the church’s beginnings to when 13 congregants arrived in Colton. As court ended for the day,  Crocker was eliciting testimony from Byrd that Shelley Martin began controlling the congregants’ lives physically, financially and emotionally.

Byrd said she met the Martins in 1994 when she was 16 and saw them occasionally at karaoke. She remembers Shelley Martin being “very excited to share the Lord with anybody.”

The church, at first called His Way Ministries, grew to about 40 members in 2000 and moved from the Martins’ apartment to a chapel built as an addition to a fitness gym in Tennessee.

Darryl Martin would give the sermon and “there would be a prophecy given through Shelley, which is known as a word from the Lord. Someone is an oracle, a mouthpiece, an instrument for the Holy Spirit to use,” Byrd testified.

The services evolved into something much more.

“Her body would move forcefully and at times spin around a lot,” Byrd said, describing Shelley Martin. “There was holy laughter. Her voice would change dramatically … very deep and strong. I was very reverent and I would go and get under the pew. I had a fear of what was coming forward as this was presented as a prophetic word coming from the Lord.”

Those prophecies first came to Shelley Martin in her apartment.

“Her gift of prophecy would begin in her bathroom with her alone,” Byrd said.

Byrd believed this was true, she told Crocker, because that’s what Martin told her.

“Of course I did,” Byrd said, never wavering. “They were my pastors. I was filled with the Holy Spirit under the ministry and the evidence of speaking in tongues.”

In 2000, Shelley Martin announced the congregation was moving to California.

“She stood in front of the church and let us know the Lord had put on Shelley the word to go to California under the assumption that we would be working with a music minister named Carmen, and the Lord told Shelley through prophecy we would be taking over TBN ministries.”

Among those who went west was Ghanem, who had recently joined the church. Byrd said she considered him a brother.

They moved into a Motel 6 in Newport Beach and ministered to others to make money. But the jobs with the giant religious broadcaster never materialized.

The promise of taking over TBN was a ruse by God to get the congregation to California, Byrd said Shelley Martin confided in her.

“We were brought here to fill the call of the Lord on her life,” Byrd testified.

The congregation moved into a home in Aliso Viejo for a time before establishing operations in the Inland Empire, Byrd said.

The church eventually found a way to make money by establishing a pest-control business called Fullshield. Authorities say Ghanem worked for that company before leaving the church and forming his own pest-control business. The church then accused him of stealing its customers. It wasn’t long afterward that Ghanem vanished.

Byrd’s testimony was expected to continue on Friday.