SoCal "Cult-Like" Group Disappears
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Updated 12:00 PM PDT, Sun, Sep 19, 2010
A disturbing story is developing this weekend in Southern California that involves a very religious "cult like" group that has apparently left everything behind in preparation for the after life. The group of 13 people includes children as young as three.
The last known sighting of the group was early Saturday morning, according to reports from the AP. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy spoke with members of the sect while they were praying in their vehicles in the parking lot of a Palmdale high school.
Capt. Mike Parker said that when the deputy made contact at 3 a.m. Saturday, the adults in the group said they were praying against violence in schools and against premarital sex.
Parker said all five adults and eight children were present in three vehicles outside Pete Knight High School. The deputy said everyone appeared safe and he went on his way.
By Saturday afternoon, rumors began floating around that the group was planning a mass suicide causing detectives, mounted patrols and helicopters to comb a broad swatch of mountains, high desert and canyons early Sunday morning in search of the missing group.
The case brings to mind for many a cult called Heaven's Gate. Members apparently thought the comet Hale-Bopp was some kind of sign that they meant they were to commit suicide. Police found 39 bodies inside a Southern California. Each held five dollars and some coins, were covered in a purple cloth and was wearing Nike tennis shoes.
This disappearance involves a group of El Salvadoran immigrants led by a 32-year-old woman named Reyna Marisol Chicas from a community north of Los Angeles, sheriff's Captain Mike Parker said in a Saturday night news conference. Many left behind goodbye notes, along with cell phones, identificatin and deeds of property.
"Essentially, the letters say they are all going to heaven to meet Jesus and their deceased relatives," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. "Some of the letters were saying goodbye."
According to an emergency bulletin put out by the governor's office, in addition to Chicas, the missing include:
* Norma Isela Serrano, 31
* Alma Alicia Miranda Pleitez, 28
* Martha Clavel, 39
* Jose Clavel, 15
* Crystal Clavel, 3
* Roberto Tejada, 18
* Jonathan Tejada, 17
* Hugo Tejada, 3
* Ezequel Chicas, 15
* Genisis Chicas, 12
* Bryan Rivera, 17
* Stephanie Serrano, 12
Police were tipped to the case because a husband of one of the members was handed a purse filled with the items and told to pray over them.
He looked inside and then called police.
That man told investigators he believes group members had been "brainwashed" by Chicas, and one expressed worries that they might harm themselves, Parker said.
Friends of Chicas said she was devout but hardly fanatic in her religious beliefs.
Former neighbor Ricardo Giron told The Los Angeles Times that Chicas became increasingly religious after she separated from her husband four years ago.
But Giron's wife, Jisela, said the church she attended was a typical Christian congregation and Chicas did not have a leadership role.
The couple said Chicas regularly baby-sat for their children and the two families went on outings together.
"Everywhere she was going, she was taking her kids with her," Giron told the newspaper. "You felt like you could trust her."
A man at Chicas' Palmdale home who identified himself as her brother-in-law said early Sunday morning that he was sure the group would return.
"We see the news tonight and never think you know something like this happen," said the man, who would not provide his first name but said his last name was Orellana. "But they're gonna come back for sure."
Whitmore said the major crimes unit, helicopter patrols and many other deputies were looking for missing people.
They were searching for three vehicles: a silver Toyota Tundra pickup, a 1995 Mercury Villager and a 2004 white Nissan.
Parker said the materials the group left behind suggested they would be in the Antelope Valley area not far from their homes.
About six months ago, the group had planned to head to Vasquez Rocks, a wilderness area near Palmdale, to await a catastrophic earthquake or similar event, but one member of the group revealed details of the trip to relatives, Parker said. The trip was called off and the member kicked out.
The group had broken off from a mainstream Christian church in Palmdale, a high-desert city of 139,000.
Parker did not know what church they had belonged to previously, and it does not appear that they had given their sect a name.
"We've got a group here that's practicing some orthodox and some unorthodox Christianity," Parker said. "Obviously this falls under the unorthodox."
The church from which the group apparently split, Palmdale's Iglesia de Cristo Miel, was deserted early Sunday. A service was scheduled for 11 a.m., according to a sign outside.
