A 44-year-old man was arrested in Tennessee this week in reference to the killing of a lacking member of a “cult-like” spiritual group within the Inland Empire, authorities mentioned.
Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was captured in Nashville on Jan. 12 and booked right into a San Bernardino jail on suspicion of homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in reference to the 2023 disappearance and loss of life of Emilio Ghanem, in line with a information launch issued from the Redlands Police Division. Duran Jr. will seem in a San Bernardino courtroom on Wednesday, information present.
Ghanem was a longtime member of “His Manner Spirit Led Assemblies,” a non secular group primarily based in Colton and Hemet that has been linked to various deaths and disappearances. State and native authorities have arrested 5 members of the group in complete, together with its two leaders, in reference to the killings of Ghanem and a 4-year-old boy named Timothy Thomas.
It was not instantly clear if Duran Jr. had authorized illustration. Authorities didn’t describe his alleged position in Ghanem’s loss of life.
Ghanem joined the spiritual group greater than twenty years in the past and helped launch a pest management enterprise overseen by the group known as Fullshield Inc., his sister Jennifer Ghanem beforehand advised The Occasions. Ghanem left the group in April 2023 and moved again to Nashville, the place he began his personal pest management firm, she mentioned.
In Could of that 12 months, he returned to the Redlands space to attempt to community with former purchasers however was served a cease-and desist letter that accused him of stealing enterprise from the spiritual group’s pest management firm, Ghanem’s sister mentioned. Seventeen days later, he vanished.
Final summer time, Redlands police mentioned they discovered the truck Ghanem was final seen driving and served search warrants on two of the group’s properties, the place they recovered ghost weapons and computerized rifles.
Shelly Bailey “Kat” Martin, 62, and her husband Darryl Muzic Martin, 58, have been described because the group’s leaders. Shelly Martin and one other group member, 43-year-old Rudy Moreno, have additionally been charged in Ghanem’s loss of life.
The Martins and former group member Andre Thomas, 48, have additionally been charged with the killing of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was discovered lifeless of septic shock brought on by a ruptured appendix at one of many group’s properties in Colton in 2010. The boy was within the care of the Martins on the time, police mentioned.
Police believed neglect performed a task within the boy’s loss of life, however struggled to get cooperation from members of the spiritual group because of the intensive management the Martins held over their followers, authorities mentioned.
A number of members have since parted methods with the group and revised their statements to police, saying that their authentic testimony was made beneath duress from the group’s leaders, in line with Colton Police Sgt. Shawn McFarland.
The group additionally has been named in reference to the 2019 disappearance of member Ruben Moreno in Claremont, in line with native police.
