Afoot. Brutal, and violence, and chaotic, they are vicious killers. It was a horrible betrayal. This wasnt supposed to happen ever. It was a chilly december morning, 2020. The high desert outside of los angeles. In there, behind barbed wire and secure blocks of thick concrete, a prisoner was placed in front of a camera. It was a parole hearing, for a life or who was not supposed to be set free. 50 miles away, nervous and worried, the sisters of the mans victim listen to a live broadcast. With her, historic l. A. Homicide detective, now retired. And rick jackson. Powerless to intervene, they waited for the boards decision. And it all came flooded back. As if decades had vanished. And the strange, terrible events had only just occurred. I worked homicide, but by the end of my career what it was 20 years. And you also think that you have seen everything, and this is one of those cases that, that just did not make any sense. No, it did not. Still does not. And maybe never well. It was just
the madsen tunnel? yeah. it s a pretty foil place to die. the murder happened on the summer solstice. this whole occult story came out. there is evidence of a cult activities taking place up there before. he told me that he had witnessed a murder. [inaudible] and that he was helping the police with it. little by little it started coming out. there had been some plot afoot. brutal, and violence, and chaotic, they are vicious killers. it was a horrible betrayal. this wasn t supposed to happen ever. it was a chilly december morning, 2020. the high desert outside of los angeles. in there, behind barbed wire and secure blocks of thick concrete, a prisoner was placed in front of a camera. it was a parole hearing, for a life or who was not supposed to be set free. 50 miles away, nervous and worried, the sisters of the man s victim listen to a live broadcast. with her, historic l. a. homicide detective, now retired. and rick jackson. powerless to interve
highest murder rates ever. and the city, and a lot of it was fueled by the crack academic. and gang warfare, and all of that. but the murder of ron baker was different. a middle class college student. and the questions that made the news, was this a ritual killing, an occult crime. was it wicket related? the detectives had to know. we had to get an education real quick on wicca. we had interviewed one big wicca lady that was very knowledgeable about the practice of wicca. that woman was christine. ron s friend from the mystic circle club. and an expert on everything big wicca. it is helpful to be able to talk to somebody who not only knows what is entailed in the occult, at least in the terms of wicca. but more importantly to know what ron himself believed, and
ron was fascinated. i think as a physicist, there was something appealing about wicca being a nature religion. because what do physicists that a? they study energy, and forces. and those were things that were part of everyday language in wicca. but, had he encountered something much darker? ron shared an apartment with two roommates. nathan and duncan martinez. the detectives drove over to talk to them. nathan was out of town. so they talk to duncan about the murder. he was upset. how close was he to ron? they were pretty close. they were very different characters, ron was inward and naive a little bit. duncan was more worldly, he had the energy. charm. yemen and yang.
they probably, quickly got off the occult trail. it was very clear. not a ritual that all? there was no ritual. the wicca jazz faded away. and it became even more of non interest to us. so, while the media was focused on wicca, that detectives returned to more normal sources of police work. they talk to people who are with ron on the day that he died. roommate nathan was back in town, and ready to talk. not that he seem to know very much. and neither did duncan for that matter. though he was eager to help. the two told the same story. they dropped run off at the bus stop the night of the summer solstice. and they never saw him again. , and then, after they heard that ron had been kidnapped. they went looking for him. but when duncan told the detectives, where they searched. well.