The show you're about to listen to may contain themes of violence, occult activities, strong language, and other sensitive material.

With an emphasis on cult's murder and other adult matters, listener discretion is advised.

On cult leader, I strive for telling stories in a truthful matter, though press, media, and other resources cannot always be verified.

Sources can be found in the show notes. Hello and welcome back to Colt Leader.

I'm your cult leader, Spencer Henry, and today I've got a story that sounds like it should only exist in a Cohen Brothers movie.

But it turns out the This Is a True Story. Disclaimer at the start of Fargo wasn't entirely a joke.

Parts of it were in fact inspired by real events.

Minnesota, we love you.

But this story didn't happen in the frozen Midwest.

It happened in Newtown, Connecticut. In the mid-80s, Newtown was about as quiet as a town could

possibly get. It was rural, woodsy, hilly, lots of lakes and streams. You get the idea. A true

classic New England community filled with professionals who commuted

into the Big Apple every day and came home to their manicured homes, good schools, and this general

sense that nothing bad really happened here. Okay, we're in the suburbs, we're not in a city,

what could go wrong? But, Colbabebs, as you know, when a story starts with nothing bad

really happened here, I mean, you should know, something bad is going to absolutely happen. I mean,

this is cult leader after all. At the time, though, there in the mid-80s, living here came with

a sense of safety. If anything, cops mostly dealt with noise complaints, fender benders, and,

of course, the occasional home burglary.

But violent crimes? I don't know. Violent crime was almost unheard of at the time, it seems.

There hadn't been a moida in town in over a decade. This was very much one of those quintessential

people didn't lock their doors at night because they didn't feel like they needed

...