Thursday, July 15, 1999
Sidney suspect's tales of cult attacks doubted
Police wonder of link to killings
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SIDNEY, Ohio — Six weeks before the violent spree that left four people dead and two wounded, suspect Lawrence Michael Hensley reported to police that members of a
“devil-worshiping cult,” including a thug wearing a hood, beat him to unconsciousness and vandalized his car.
“The vehicle had the left driver's window broke and damage to the left front fend er. Almost every panel had been spray-painted or "keyed' with "666,' pentagrams, stars, etc.,” according to a sheriff's report released Wednesday.
"(Mr. Hensley) went on to advise that this was a devil-worshiping cult that he had been involved with and believed this was retaliation for him quitting the cult.”
But police questioned Mr. Hensley's assertions, noting that officers saw no sign of injury, although Mr. Hensley said he was hit in the head with a rock. Also, he was unable to state where the cult met, nor could he give an address for a former girlfriend who was allegedly present during the attack, “even though he was (dating) her for over three months.”
Now, members of the First Church of God, where Mr. Hensley sought refuge, saying he was escaping from the cult, are asking questions:
• Were the killings related to his reported cult involvement? Or were his cult stories fabricated to gain sympathy for himself — and excuse his bizarre behavior?
“We don't know. That's what we're waiting to discover,” Tom South, an associate pastor at the 400-member congregation, said Wednesday. “We initially believed it. Now we don't know.”
Police say Mr. Hensley, who has a history of public indecency convictions, shot and wounded a 22-year-old woman and killed three teen girls at his home July 8 before driving to the home of his Bible study teacher, Brett Wildermuth, 37, and fatally shooting him in the back.
A five-day manhunt came to a dramatic climax early Tuesday when Mr. Hensley allegedly shot and wounded a motorist on Interstate 75, then fired another shot into the Shelby County home of another Bible study leader. He then took three people hostage at a gas station for 90 minutes before surrendering.
Mr. Hensley is being held on $1 million bond, and a grand jury is expected to consider today whether to indict him. Shelby County Prosecutor James F. Stevenson said he will present evidence about the string of crimes, beginning with the slayings and ending with the hostage-taking.
He said charges that could result in the death penalty upon conviction are a valid option for grand jurors to consider, but stopped short of saying he would ask for a death penalty specification.
Since the killings, church members have become increasingly skeptical of Mr. Hensley's cult stories, particularly after learning of the apparent ruse Mr. Hensley used on the day of the killings, the Rev. South said. Mr. Hensley's wife, Julia, arrived home from work, only to have her husband rush her out of the house, telling her they had to flee from cult members.
Police have said they doubt Mrs. Hensley knew the girls' bodies were inside, but they wouldn't comment about her husband's alleged cult story.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Ben Davis, related that account publicly at Mr. Wildermuth's memorial service on Monday, stating he had spoken to Mrs. Hensley and others tied to the case.
Mrs. Hensley apparently believed her husband's statements about the cult. Sidney police records show she went to the police station May 28, two days after the alleged vandalism and beating, and told officers that she had received a harassing telephone call earlier that month.
“She believes the same subject that did this is the one that ran her husband off the road the other day in the county,” a report says.
The Rev. Mr. South said discerning whether the cult stories are true is as difficult as figuring out Mr. Hensley's motive for the slayings he's accused of.
Indeed, as the Rev. Ralph Stallard began the brief funeral for slaying victim Amy Mikesell, 14, on Wednesday, he said, “I'm sure the question has been going over and over in our minds: Why, Lord? Why?”
Amy, who was apparently stabbed, was the first victim to die and the last to be buried.
The other victims, who were shot, were 16-year-old cousins Tosha L. Barrett and Sherry Kimbler.
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