A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge, declaring Tuesday that a Colton religious order “went way astray,” ordered four members to stand trial on murder charges, including the self-described “Prophetess” who, according to testimony, told congregants that her voice was the word of God and must be obeyed.
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At the same time, a fifth defendant was released on his own recognizance and was ordered to return to the San Bernardino Justice Center on July 7. Judge Colin J. Bilash will rule then whether Andre Thomas Sr., 49, will stand trial in the death of his 4-year-old son Timothy in 2010 from untreated appendicitis.
Shelley “Kat” Martin, 63, was ordered to stand trial in Timothy’s death and the apparent death of former congregant Emilio Ghanem, who was last reported seen at a Starbucks in Redlands on May 25, 2023. Martin’s husband, His Way Spirit Led Assemblies Pastor Darryl Muzik Martin, 58, must face trial on the same charges as his wife: two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker said the Martins ordered congregants Rudy Moreno, 44, and Ramon Duran Jr., 44, to kill Ghanam because, after he left the order in 2023, he returned to Southern California from Tennessee and planned to siphon away customers from the order’s pest control business. Ghanem estimated, according to testimony during the preliminary hearing, that he thought he could collect $500,000 from those customers.
Moreno and Duran were ordered Tuesday to stand trial for murder and conspiracy.
Neither Bilash nor Crocker on Tuesday would describe the church as a cult. The order, which has had as many as perhaps 30 congregants, left Tennessee in the early 2000s and settled in Orange County for a few years before relocating to locations including Rialto, Claremont, Hemet and currently Anza.
“This is a church that came from Tennessee and was singing on the beach,” Moreno’s attorney, Mustafa Abdul-Rahman, told Bilash. “Where is that these people would kill someone they grew up with?”
Bilash acknowledged the lack of iron-clad evidence to the Martins’ attorney, Eugene Carson.
“The court recognizes the extreme circumstantial evidence against your clients,” the judge said. But he later explained, “A group can be doing some good things but gets lost. This group got lost. I view them as a church organization that went way astray.”
The standard of proof at a preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether there is sufficient evidence to hold someone for trial, is much lower than at a trial, where jurors must decide guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Ghanem’s rented pickup was seen on license plate cameras two days after he vanished. A few days later, it was found “burned to a crisp,” Crocker said, in the Mojave Desert with a 9mm bullet inside. There was no trace of Ghanem then, and there remains no publicly revealed trace of him today.
Crocker said cell phone data placed Moreno and Duran near Ghanem in the days leading up to his disappearance and showed suspicious periods where the phones were apparently off.
Testimony showed that anyone defying Martin was subject to physical punishment and loss of privileges. Crocker again showed in court Tuesday a photo of former congregant Fabian Formosa, who Crocker said was dragged out of his car, stripped to his underwear and beaten. Meanwhile, congregants looked at their phones, failing to intervene.
Former congregant Kelli Byrd previously testified that Shelley Martin beat her with a microphone for crossing her. And no one came to her help in a crowded room. Byrd said she was kicked out of the church and handed a bus ticket back to Nashville along with $666 — the sign of the devil, Byrd said.
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Such testimony was evidence that congregants — including Duran and Moreno — would almost without fail follow the Prophetess’ orders, Crocker said.
“To not follow her orders would be to not follow God, and there would be consequences,” Crocker said.
The prosecutor said the pest control company funded the Martins’ trips and houses.
But Carson said that Moreno and Duran were the actual owners of the company, and that his clients — the Martins — did not order them to kill.
Bilash was not convinced.
“They didn’t just out of the blue kill Emilio Ghanem,” the judge said of Duran and Moreno.
A bailiff briefly removed shackles from Thomas on Tuesday so he could sign documents related to his release. He remains charged with murder in Timothy’s death, but Bilash will rule Tuesday whether Thomas must face trial.
The initial investigation into Timothy’s death did not result in charges, but the case was reopened when the church came under scrutiny for Ghanem’s disappearance.
There was testimony during the hearing that Thomas knew his son was sick in the week before his death. But Thomas and his wife had signed over guardianship to the Martins because of domestic difficulties, which one attorney said included the family living in “squalor.”
Under Shelley Martin’s strict control, parents who lived in one of three church homes in Colton were separated from their children. Timothy lived with his father in the second week before he died, but he lived with the Martins in his final week.
Carson told Bilash that the Martins did not know Timothy was sick, that the Martins were told Timothy was faking his illness and that he ran around with other children at a church event at a park the day before he died. Carson did not mention other testimony during the hearing that said Timothy was lethargic that day.
Congregants relied on prayer to “Dr. Jesus,” one person testified, to heal the order’s sick.
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“Without question, Timothy Thomas should not have died,” Bilash said.