July 4, 2023 • 35 mins
Zak Valentine is missing, and Queen Cecilia is the sole beneficiary of his life insurance plan. Acting on their suspicions, the insurance company pays a visit to Cosanna Flats to investigate further. They interview Cecilia Steyn herself and uncover the depths of her delusions. This puts EPD at risk, once again forcing them to stick with what they know best.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
School of Humans. This show follows the investigation of serial
murders and contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
In late December of twenty fifteen, LaRue Stein made a
call to Discovery Life Insurance inquiring about a payout due
to his aunt, Cecilia Stein.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Thank you so much for holding for me, Luro. I
am waiting in the system to generate the claim number
for us maker. I'm going to also need your.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
E After Michaela's death, Zach Valentine received five hundred thousand
rand or twenty seven four hundred and seventy US dollars
from her life insurance policy. Cecilia, recognizing this as a
potential way to make a lot of fast money, ensured
that she was named as Zach's soul beneficiary.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Did he have any kids or one?
Speaker 4 (01:07):
He didn't have kids, and his wife was quite nice.
Actually we knew her quite well as well. But a
few years ago they broke into the house and said
that she was there and she got murdered as well.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh my gosh, say man.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The insurance agent then askel Rue if Zach was his
best friend, Well, basically.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I've known him since I was basically twelve years old,
and we did create it together. We went fishing together,
we did together. I didn't have a follow in my
life or a big brother, so he was maybe a
big brother as a father and everything he was and
he's the only my own old model in my life.
So I just turned twenty the other day. I mean,
we did everything together, man, That's why we were really close.
(01:58):
And that's why he said, if anything happen, make sure
his mom is okay, he's cats okay, his family everything
sort out.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And what's your mom's name.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
My mom's plame is Miranda Arenda. And my aunt's name
whose nine him? Since you was basically seven years old,
Cecilia status.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I see, So I'll forward it through to the broker.
You're more than welcome to contact the broker if you
want to deal with it, and you can get a
little of racharity from the beneficiary.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
The rue tells the insurance agent that the beneficiary is
right there with us.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Yeah, the room, but she's like, she really devastated. Must
I give her the phone by any jones?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Okay, you can. If she can agree for me to
send the requirements through to you, then that will be fine.
I won't need to send it to the broker.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Okay, just give me a sure he's the agreement.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
For I don't know about you, but to me, those
sound like real tears. It would make sense after all
the rue had been through that lies or not, he
was genuinely distraught. He put Cecilia Stein on the line.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Ill, Hi am speaking sill she lasteyn Cecilia, please, can
you come from your ID for me? Okay, it's uh,
that's not I don't know what it means, you know. Okay,
can you just give me such hard No problem.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Cecilia sobs into the phone for a while, and then
returns and gives the agent her idea number.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Thank you so much, Cecilia. Okay, can you just come
from and re reside for me over the phone if
it's took care for me to send the requirements to
the ruse email.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Address used to work with doc I Discoveries.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Only two thousands, Okay, no problem, Thank you very much,
and I'm very sorry for you last day.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
Pleasure.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, bye bye.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The responsibility of claiming this payout was now in the
hands of a twenty year old LaRue Stein from School
of Humans and iHeart podcasts. This is Queen Havoc and
her murder Cult. I'm your host, Kurt Koubachak, Episode seven,
(04:34):
Abhorrent Behavior.
Speaker 7 (04:38):
This is so good.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's a warm winter day here in Johannesburg. Journalist Jana
Marx invited us over to enjoy a traditional South African
bride a gathering outdoors. Yanna makes us feel right at home.
The flames of the fire, look at the meat on
the grill, several different meats season with Paprika, cloves, brown show, bugger,
(05:00):
and honey. The aromas are new, but familiar and wonderfully inviting.
As we dig into the bride, we discussed possibly heading
out to downtown Joe Burt to one of the biggest
sports matches in the country to watch the spring Box
play rugby. After lunch, we dive into more details of
(05:20):
the case involving Joan and Peter Meyer. This double homicide
is the first of what would become known as the
Appointment murders.
Speaker 8 (05:29):
It could have been me and you. They were doing
regular jobs, showing up for appointment and they were killed.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
The Krugersdorp Killings is an umbrella title given to all
the murders carried out by Electus Perdaeis. But there were
two waves. The revenge killings aimed at Ria Grunewald that
took place in twenty twelve, and then the appointment murders
seven killings that occurred between November of twenty fifteen and
June of two thousand and six. Team these happened in
(06:02):
such quick succession that Krugersdorp was once again consumed by fear.
Investigative journalist Maritzka kots Here lived in the area at
the time and covered this second wave of homicides. You know,
it was scary because you didn't know who the killers were.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You know, you think a serial killer, but what does
a serial killer look like?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It can be anyone around us.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Reflecting on the case files, detective Ben Boyson thought the
murder of Joan and Peter Meyer looked like a classic
robbery gone wrong, but the seasoned detective kept turning over
the facts.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
I think Cecilia told him that it must be a robbery.
But I think at the end of the day, Marenda
and Zack by himself decided, no, we're going to get
this ten million run from his house and then.
Speaker 6 (06:50):
We're going to kill them.
Speaker 7 (06:51):
Because if you go and rob somebody, you cover your face.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
By this logic, no mass were necessary for Mirenda and Zach.
While Cecilia she may have forgiven this betrayal of her orders,
she had not forgotten it. If Zach Valentine had come
back to her with millions of rants instead of a
measly forty or so bucks, she might have let it slide.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
The plan was to go rob them, and then the
robbery became a murder.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
The fact that Zach killed them.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Angered even more, because that was never part of a plan.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Because of this epic failure by Zach, Cecilia shifted her
strategy for fattening her and epd's coffers. To do that,
EPD would have to be more loyal than vengeful, more
brains and less blood. Zach's life insurance policy was worth
three point five million Rand roughly two hundred thousand US dollars.
(07:48):
That would go a long way, and thus they'd all agreed.
Zach concluded he needed to die, except not really. As
long as the cops and insurance company never caught on.
Zach was worth a lot more dead than alive. All
they needed now was a corpse and a fool proof
(08:10):
hiding spot. Jared Jackson was a forty one year old
street vendor. Jared and his partner Candace, both struggled with addiction.
To make money, they sold snacks outside the hospital, the
one across the street from Casana Flats. Here's detective Ben Boysen.
Speaker 7 (08:31):
So they befriend it Garret because he was a homeless
guy and who's going to miss only his golfriend and
they were both sleeping on the street.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Unfortunately, to Cecilia, Jared was someone the cops overwhelmed as
they were probably wouldn't spend too much time looking for. Also,
he and Zach could easily be mistaken for one another,
especially from far away. But there was one person who
would never mistake Jared for anyone else, his fiance, Candace Ellison.
(09:05):
She sat for an interview broadcast on jack Randa FM
in February of twenty twenty two. She reflected a bit
on what came.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Before growing up in difficult household, getting into drugs to survive,
and thinking that was the answer every bad, horrible story
you hear. I've pretty much loved.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It, but then she met Jared.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Girls are raised to look for their prince charming, and
it's something that I did constantly trying to find that
beautiful moment, and I met Jared and we had beautiful moments.
And we also went to hell together quite literally on
the street heroin addicts, and it was not something I
would put my worst enemy through.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But in twenty fifteen, Candace was pregnant and the couple
was actively trying to find a path toward as sober,
healthy life. That's when they met Cecilia Steine.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
He met Cecilia and the whole group, Zaka and Marinda
and all of them. And at the time, I remember thinking,
all these people are a little bit off, but they
seem to really care, they want to help. And it's
only afterwards that I realized that we were being groomed.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Throughout the winter of twenty fifteen, Cecilia conditioned Jared Jackson
and his fiance Candice Ellison to think that she was
someone who really cared about them and wanted to help.
Keep in mind, the seasons in South Africa are the
opposite of those in the States. First, she hired Jared
(10:49):
to sort through her storage room. She said he could
take whatever he liked and sell it if he got
rid of everything else for her. Later Cecilia offered the
room to Jared and candas as a place to crash.
There was no running water, and at night they would
have to be locked inside the tiny space so that
the other residents wouldn't get suspicious. But they needed the help,
(11:13):
and the couple was grateful. After all, it was cold
outside and at least they had each other. They were
off the streets and in love. Then one day the
following summer, on December sixteenth, twenty fifteen, he.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Walked out the door, looked back and said, just remember
I will always love you. And at the time I
was like, oh yeah, just just go come back just now,
not realizing what a moment that that would be the
last moment.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Zach and Cecilia made a point to run into Jared
that day. They said they needed his help with something
out of town. Cecilia lied and told him Zach was
epileptic and unable to drive alone. They appealed to Jared's
good nature and asked him to help. She'd been so
good to him and Candace after all, and they could
(12:06):
even advance him one hundred rand. Jared broke and, indebted
to Cecilia, agreed. That was at four thirty pm. By nightfall,
Candace got.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Worried Jared didn't come home, which was totally unlike him.
He didn't stray very far.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
When Jared still wasn't back by morning, Candace knew something
was terribly wrong. She tried calling Cecilia but got no response,
so she walked over to Casana Flats. Cecilia came to
the door when she saw Candace standing there. Cecilia's face
(12:47):
changed suddenly. She was in tears, sobbing while she explained
that Zach had been in an accident. He had a
seizure while he was driving, and he was now in
a coma cannas fell part. She assumed Jared must have
been in the car with Zack, but Cecilia reassured Candace
that Jared had bailed on the trip altogether.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I went to Cecilia's house, knowing that he'd gone there,
and she was like, nope, I never saw him. He
never came.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Meanwhile, the charred wreckage of a silver BMW was discovered
tucked into the tall grassland off to the side of
the road in petrus Stein, a little over two hours
south of Krueger'sdorp, burned beyond recognition. Officers found no skid marks,
no broken glass, no signs of a collision of any kind.
(13:43):
But inside they found a body.
Speaker 9 (13:46):
He was found in a car with a pipe through
the exhaust, and then the pulice said, okay, he committed suicide.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
The previous afternoon, Zach drove the BMW that same car,
which was due to be repossessed by the bank, with
Jared there in the passenger seat, LaRue just behind him.
It's not hard to imagine them when ripping through the
windows and a South African summer evening, Jared squinting in
the dusty light, turning inward as they leave the city limits.
(14:23):
The way a long car ride urges reflection from the
back seat. LaRue hands Jared a mango juice he packed
for the drive. Jared drinks it down quickly. As the
minutes pass with the setting sun, it can't stay awake,
sleeping pills again. LaRue slowly unravels blue and red twine
(14:44):
from a spool. With one quick move, he sits forward
and loops the twine around Jared's throat there in the
seat in front of him. Jared struggles, He flails, He
kicks the dashboard, fighting for his life, but without air.
He can't fight for long. As Jared thrashes, Zak almost
(15:06):
loses control. The silver BMW swerves across the lane. In
the car behind them, Mirinda and John Barnard follow. A
few jagged moments pass Zach's car slows and pulls off
to the side of the road. That's their signal, Jared
(15:27):
Jackson is dead. They prop his lifeless body up behind
the wheel. Zak plants his phone on the passenger seat,
evidence to be found. Next, John and LaRue loop a
hose from the car's exhaust pipe and feed it into
(15:48):
the front window. They pour paraffin wax on the car
and push the BMW through the grass toward the tree line.
A match is thrown, the car goes up. It burns
bright and hot, a blossom of flames against the dark
as the three men stare at the fire, licking the
Knight's air. Jared's body will be of little use to
(16:11):
any investigator, or so they hoped.
Speaker 9 (16:15):
You couldn't even see that it's a human being.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
It's like a piece of an animal that was burnt
in a feltfire.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Now they had a body. Next, it was time to
make the reel. Zach Valentine disappear.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
When they killed Tedet, they brought Zach to this hotel,
de Ahrabert Hotel.
Speaker 9 (16:35):
So this is the first place where he was hiding.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
The next morning, while Candace searched for Jared, Marinda called
the officer who had been investigating the Meyer murders. She
contacted him on his private cell phone number. She explained
in a quivering voice that Zach died the previous night.
He would not be taking his polygraph tests later that month.
Mirinda also requested that her own tests be postponed to
(17:01):
January seventh, twenty sixteen, three weeks away. The officer agreed
to the rescheduling, but was then quickly consumed by the
constant barrage of other present cases.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
After Zach died, and actually got so much cases that
the guys went cold.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
The last entry in that.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Murder was in January twenty sixteen, and I took over
in June July twenty to sixteen, So from January till
that time nothing happened.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
On that case. By now, Mirinda felt she was a
pro at evading law enforcement. Lucky for the people of
Kruger's Door, Discovery Life insurance was far more thorough than
the police less overwhelmed and trained to sniff out fraud.
That same morning, after successfully shaking the police off their trail,
(17:53):
Mirinda traveled out of town to the morgue to identify
Zach Valentine's dead body. This was the first step in
the process of claiming his life insurance policy. She posed
as his sister, and she brought along a friend. Remember
Cecilia's husband Drees. The cop well his brother in law
tagged along and posed as Mirenda's husband. A seemingly suspect ruse,
(18:18):
but will keep going. According to Detective Ben and Colonel
Christelle Boysen, the four couple allegedly made a shady deal
with the coroner in charge of Jared Jackson's burned up body.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
Even the mortuary official that allowed this identification. They paid
off because we will never accept an identification like this
to say this is my brother. There has to be
DNA taken to say this is my DNA, this is
my brother's DNA.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
The two seasoned officers told us that typically the mortuary
official must provide a written statement confirming the identity of
a body. This process is supposed to be done under
oath in the presence of a law enforcement official.
Speaker 7 (18:59):
She took a statement from them, and then she owtho
statement her self, using another police officer's signature, defrauding it.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Now armed with doctored paperwork, Marinda had it straight to
the funeral home. She requested they handle the cremation as
soon as possible. To do so required written permission from
next of kin in this case, Zach's parents. Thrown by
this surprise, Mirinda and her fake husband agreed to return
the following day with the written permission along with payment. Cecilia,
(19:33):
in the meantime, was on damage control. Working from the
safety of Cassana Flats. She placated a frantic Canvae, still
searching for her fiance.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
She said, I'll help you. Look, I'll contact the morgue,
I will contact the hospitals. And she seemed genuinely of
said she was going to help me look, and then
that she even obviously we were still really struggling. She
gave me fifty rand. She said, here, go get something
to eat. I'll let you know if I hear anything.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Unfortunately, the appointment murders would continue to stain Krugersdorp with blood,
while Discovery Life Insurance stalled on the Zach Valentine payout.
The company eventually conducted their own investigation, which included a
house call an in person interview with the beneficiary. Cecilia
had been preparing for this role her entire life.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
Wayzy's wife. She died three years ago.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The insurance investigation conducted by Discovery Life was recorded on video.
The assessors wore body cams to preserve evidence, safeguard themselves,
and confirm the validity of the claim. In matters of
grief and money, emotions run high, and beloved or even
estranged relatives may act erratically. The audio we're going to
(21:01):
share with you now is pulled from the shaky video
of Cecilia's interview with these representatives. It starts as the
insurance agents enter Cecilia's apartment.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
There are quite a few things that stand out about
this initial impression of Cassana Flats. First and foremost, it's
the noise. There is a din that surrounds and penetrates
Casana Flats. There's the swinging of rusted iron and steel
slamming against metal framed doorways. The city bus and cars
rush by, not to mention the hospital directly across the street,
(21:50):
Sirens racing to and from the er, it's all a
bit maddening. An app soundtrack to Cecilia's chaotic world. Cecilia
settles in for the interview. She centers herself on the couch,
a bit of a man spread. She looks quite at ease,
But the tell for us is that the whole time
(22:12):
she has a baseball cap pulled down low just over
her spectacled eyes. She is in the center of the frame.
The assessors sit directly across from Cecilia. The interviewer is
the one wearing the body cam, so his voice is
often louder than Cecilia's. His colleague is in the room
off camera. He does all the talking and cuts right
(22:33):
to the heart of the matter, Cecilia's relationship with Zach.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
Okay, you know him quite well. Okay, obviously that's why
you us beneficiary was still married to his wife.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So in case you miss that, she says, quote, I
was his beneficiary when he was still married to his wife.
It sounds like she's boasting here, and the interviewer calls
her on it.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
Any specific reason that just sounds odd.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Sorry, no, no, no, he had that before he got
married and.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
I never changed it.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, strange that she felt the need to even mention
that fact. Right, of course, they continue to inquire about
Mikayla and his wife.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
WA's wife she died four years ago. Okay, and he
never got remarried.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
No, okay, alright?
Speaker 6 (23:28):
And did they have any children.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Cecilia mumbles something about Zach's diabetes and how he didn't
want kids because of his condition. The investigator presses on.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
Did something bad happen to his wife or something? Yeah,
and they broke into the house and.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
She got killed.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
F It's hard to hear, but she explains that Zach's
wife died during a home invasion. She also tells him
Michaela wasn't supposed to be home that day, which is
creepy because, if you remember correctly, Mikayla died on a Thursday,
the day she typically missed work to care for Cecilia.
(24:08):
After this strange exchange, the insurance examiner refocuses his line
of questioning.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Mister Valent Andymnifad just referred toim as Zach post On
the sixteenth of December last year in pietr Stein, in
the freestyle from a car accident to Corburnt.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
They go over what all happened on the day Zach died,
and ask about who Zach was in the eyes of
his apparent closest friend. The agent wonders about Zach's likes
and dislikes, his relationship to money, and even his mental
and physical health. At this point, LaRue had entered the room.
He sits perched on the arm of the couch almost
(24:48):
out a frame on the right side. The insurance examiner
asks if Zach ever had trouble with the law, any
conflict with the law.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
I'm using the one that gets.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Stuff I shouldn't be doing anything, LaRue says, quote, No,
I'm usually the one that gets caught by the law
doing stuff I shouldn't be doing. Then he tells about
how he was shot when someone tried to rob him
at gunpoint. Cecilia backs him up, saying, yeah, they tried
to rob him. Laru doesn't want to say where he
(25:24):
was wounded, but Cecilia is a bully about it. She's
poking fun at him. They both know the truth. Laru
accidentally shot himself in the groin while preparing the guns
(25:44):
for the Meyer murders. He boasted the mail insurance investigator
about how he had defended himself, and how he thought
the gun the robbers had was a toy, because get this,
his father has tons of big guns.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
I should die down to the floor.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
And as you wund to walk away because he's dumb
and he pulled out a gun.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
I'm used to my father having massive guns, wastefully full
of magnum.
Speaker 8 (26:10):
I mean, that's a massive of all gun.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Laru's father is not in the picture, and he hasn't
been for years. It's like Laru is living inside a
figment of his own imagination. He goes on about this
for like a full minute or two. Cecilia continues to laugh,
and oddly enough, so does the insurance guy. I guess
he's trying to keep some levity in the room.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
Yeah, that was that was don't tell your no no.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I really just feel for LaRue in this moment when
he sheepishly says that was actually bad as his response
to Cecilia making light of a very serious situation. He's
legally an adult at this point, twenty years old, and
yet you can hear the child in him, the one
who is morally abandoned, and this tall tale of his
(27:00):
own bravery sounds to me like a desperate cry for
help or a way out. The subtext here is a
big SOS written in the sand, soon to be swept
away by the rolling tide. That tide would arrive a
bit later in the form of a man Detective Ben Boysen,
when he was assigned to the case two months after
(27:22):
this interview, he would immediately notice the changes made to
Zach's insurance policy just before his death. The life insurance
agent had questions about this too.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
The reason why I'm asking about the finances is because
this policy was reasonably new at any started lock in November.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Zach's policy was purchased in November, just one month before
his death. But Cecilia had a defense in her pocket,
which was that when Zach left his job at Discovery
Life Insurance, he had to start all over purchasing a
new policy. A while. But it turns out that his
account had been delinquent for quite some time.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
He actually did not by a single premium.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Coincidentally, Cecilia made a payment a few days before the
fatal accident to bring the account current. The insurance investigator
attempts to confirm this payment.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Then there was a deposit mad a kesh deposit made
to bring the policy in.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
To Lafayat, she explains her way out of this. She
mumbles something vague about Zach's medical bills. His bank was closed,
she says, so she deposited the money for him. It
was like a bouquet of red flags. After some shuffling,
the interview changes direction again, moving on to the required paperwork.
(28:46):
Before a payout can be made, Discovery Life Insurance needs
an official police statement confirming that it is in fact
Zach beneath the charred remains. Now DRez enters the picture
literally in the video, he sits close to his wife
on the couch. He's practically on top of her. He's
a somewhat large man in a brown T shirt. The
(29:07):
couple explains that they are waiting on a second autopsy
and DNA results. They are apparently trying to match DNA
with Zach's parents. She says this is all far from
the truth. Then, just as the agent is getting up
to go, much like the TV detective Colombo, he says,
just one more thing.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Okay, there's something I'd like to ask you. This came
to my Deska BA two three weeks ago. One of
these clients locked the complaint against him. This client claims
that Zech was running Ponzi scheme pyramid scheme with his
clients that have complained that he took money from them.
(29:50):
If that thing wasn't.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
Against Zach, it is from Rhino.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
To clarify, she says, if that complaint was on Zach,
it's from Rena. Cecilia launches into a ran about someone
Zach worked with at Discovery of Life who had it
out for him. This person falsely accused him of cheating
his clients. All these details will come out in the
wash once detective Ben Boysen comes into the arena, so
(30:16):
we'll return to this in a bit. Keep in mind
this video was recorded in May of twenty sixteen, a
full six months after the car was found with Jared's
body inside. In the meantime, EPD resorted again to robbery
and murder. Cannis's reflection eight years after Jared's murder is
(30:37):
a reminder of just how cold and calculated Cecilia was.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I don't think she thought it all about Jared's life.
He was not a person. He was a means to
an end. I think that is the hottest part of
all of this, Even how it's been reported, there's been
a lack of his humanity.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Jared's humanity was lost on EPD, as was that of
all the victims, and the majority of the reporting that
was done very much focuses on the group and not
on who Jared was. By the time journalists started writing
about him, it was also being revealed that EPD had
murdered ten other people, so individual victims kind of got
(31:18):
lost in the mix. But Cannas's interview is a solid
example of how EPD was destroying lives. Cannas's baby was
born two months after her husband's disappearance. At this point,
(31:38):
if there was any humanity left, any hope for redemption
in the hearts of EPD, Cecilia made sure it was
obliterated by their belief in her. What was once a
Christian group bent on defeating Satan no longer needed a
good reason to kill the innocent. As long as it
pleased Cecilia, that was all that mattered. Now they were
(32:01):
living in the play, the one where Cecilia plays an invalid,
a bereaved friend, and a secret queen with loyal soldiers.
Her reality was now their identity. It's incredible the show
they put on. I mean, Cecilia's monologuing for Candace, forcing
tears in front of the woman whose life she just decimated,
(32:22):
Marenda's performance at the morgue and the funeral home, the
two of them in concert leading a search party was
Zac's parents. They even held a funeral for him that
his family and friends attended and pretended to weep. And
then there's this interview that happened while they were actively
planning to murder more innocent people. I mean, it's staggering
(32:44):
the lengths to which they would go to feel like
they belonged to something larger than themselves. While the inconsistencies
of this insurance fraud would be a sort of lynchpin
in breaking the case, there would unfortunately be a lot
more bloodshed before anyone would set foot in a courtroom,
(33:06):
and the citizens of Krugersdorp would continue to be terrorized.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
It was kind of like an attack on my community, Like,
who the hell is out there killing my people.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
On the next episode of Queen Havoc.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Queen Kevin was murdered. That was the turning point.
Speaker 8 (33:25):
The first turning.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Point, people thinking there's a serial murderer on the loose,
marching to the police station and they were demanding actions.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And so forth.
Speaker 9 (33:35):
Sometimes you need to watch what you wish for, because
it can come true.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
This man comes, isn't tears, and he says to me, Marisco,
thank goodness you are here?
Speaker 9 (33:46):
No right?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
How does this man know my name?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
That's why he was there when he was arrested.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Queen Havoc in Her Murder Cult is a production of
Schoolly Humans and iHeart Podcasts. Queen Havoc is hosted and
created by me Kurt Kupachick, produced and written by Jennifer Takeney,
Julia Chriscau, and Kirk Kupachick. Lead producer is Julia Chriskau.
Story editor is Saren Burnett. Senior producer is Amelia Brock.
(34:16):
Production manager is Daisy Church. Original music composed by Claire Campbell, Editing,
sound design and scoring by Jesse Niswanger, Additional editing by
Miranda Hawkins. Associated producers are DaShan Moodley and Jamaine Kriher.
Additional producing by Ben Melman, fact checking by Dennis Webster.
(34:40):
Recording engineers are Graham Gibson, Clay Hillenberg, and Josh Hook.
Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, L. C. Crowley, Brandon Barr
Jennifer to Kenney, and Kurt Kupachick. We want to thank
all of those who so generously welcomed us in South
Africa and shared their stories. We're incredibly grateful to you all.
(35:04):
We also want to acknowledge how traumatic these events are
for the victims and their families. Please respect their privacy.
If you or someone you know has been affected by
cult behaviors, there are resources available, including Voices for Dignity
at Christine Murray dot com
School of Humans. This show follows the investigation of serial
murders and contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
In late December of twenty fifteen, LaRue Stein made a
call to Discovery Life Insurance inquiring about a payout due
to his aunt, Cecilia Stein.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Thank you so much for holding for me, Luro. I
am waiting in the system to generate the claim number
for us maker. I'm going to also need your.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
E After Michaela's death, Zach Valentine received five hundred thousand
rand or twenty seven four hundred and seventy US dollars
from her life insurance policy. Cecilia, recognizing this as a
potential way to make a lot of fast money, ensured
that she was named as Zach's soul beneficiary.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Did he have any kids or one?
Speaker 4 (01:07):
He didn't have kids, and his wife was quite nice.
Actually we knew her quite well as well. But a
few years ago they broke into the house and said
that she was there and she got murdered as well.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh my gosh, say man.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The insurance agent then askel Rue if Zach was his
best friend, Well, basically.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I've known him since I was basically twelve years old,
and we did create it together. We went fishing together,
we did together. I didn't have a follow in my
life or a big brother, so he was maybe a
big brother as a father and everything he was and
he's the only my own old model in my life.
So I just turned twenty the other day. I mean,
we did everything together, man, That's why we were really close.
(01:58):
And that's why he said, if anything happen, make sure
his mom is okay, he's cats okay, his family everything
sort out.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And what's your mom's name.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
My mom's plame is Miranda Arenda. And my aunt's name
whose nine him? Since you was basically seven years old,
Cecilia status.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I see, So I'll forward it through to the broker.
You're more than welcome to contact the broker if you
want to deal with it, and you can get a
little of racharity from the beneficiary.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
The rue tells the insurance agent that the beneficiary is
right there with us.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Yeah, the room, but she's like, she really devastated. Must
I give her the phone by any jones?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Okay, you can. If she can agree for me to
send the requirements through to you, then that will be fine.
I won't need to send it to the broker.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Okay, just give me a sure he's the agreement.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
For I don't know about you, but to me, those
sound like real tears. It would make sense after all
the rue had been through that lies or not, he
was genuinely distraught. He put Cecilia Stein on the line.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Ill, Hi am speaking sill she lasteyn Cecilia, please, can
you come from your ID for me? Okay, it's uh,
that's not I don't know what it means, you know. Okay,
can you just give me such hard No problem.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Cecilia sobs into the phone for a while, and then
returns and gives the agent her idea number.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Thank you so much, Cecilia. Okay, can you just come
from and re reside for me over the phone if
it's took care for me to send the requirements to
the ruse email.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Address used to work with doc I Discoveries.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Only two thousands, Okay, no problem, Thank you very much,
and I'm very sorry for you last day.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
Pleasure.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, bye bye.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The responsibility of claiming this payout was now in the
hands of a twenty year old LaRue Stein from School
of Humans and iHeart podcasts. This is Queen Havoc and
her murder Cult. I'm your host, Kurt Koubachak, Episode seven,
(04:34):
Abhorrent Behavior.
Speaker 7 (04:38):
This is so good.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's a warm winter day here in Johannesburg. Journalist Jana
Marx invited us over to enjoy a traditional South African
bride a gathering outdoors. Yanna makes us feel right at home.
The flames of the fire, look at the meat on
the grill, several different meats season with Paprika, cloves, brown show, bugger,
(05:00):
and honey. The aromas are new, but familiar and wonderfully inviting.
As we dig into the bride, we discussed possibly heading
out to downtown Joe Burt to one of the biggest
sports matches in the country to watch the spring Box
play rugby. After lunch, we dive into more details of
(05:20):
the case involving Joan and Peter Meyer. This double homicide
is the first of what would become known as the
Appointment murders.
Speaker 8 (05:29):
It could have been me and you. They were doing
regular jobs, showing up for appointment and they were killed.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
The Krugersdorp Killings is an umbrella title given to all
the murders carried out by Electus Perdaeis. But there were
two waves. The revenge killings aimed at Ria Grunewald that
took place in twenty twelve, and then the appointment murders
seven killings that occurred between November of twenty fifteen and
June of two thousand and six. Team these happened in
(06:02):
such quick succession that Krugersdorp was once again consumed by fear.
Investigative journalist Maritzka kots Here lived in the area at
the time and covered this second wave of homicides. You know,
it was scary because you didn't know who the killers were.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You know, you think a serial killer, but what does
a serial killer look like?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It can be anyone around us.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Reflecting on the case files, detective Ben Boyson thought the
murder of Joan and Peter Meyer looked like a classic
robbery gone wrong, but the seasoned detective kept turning over
the facts.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
I think Cecilia told him that it must be a robbery.
But I think at the end of the day, Marenda
and Zack by himself decided, no, we're going to get
this ten million run from his house and then.
Speaker 6 (06:50):
We're going to kill them.
Speaker 7 (06:51):
Because if you go and rob somebody, you cover your face.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
By this logic, no mass were necessary for Mirenda and Zach.
While Cecilia she may have forgiven this betrayal of her orders,
she had not forgotten it. If Zach Valentine had come
back to her with millions of rants instead of a
measly forty or so bucks, she might have let it slide.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
The plan was to go rob them, and then the
robbery became a murder.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
The fact that Zach killed them.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Angered even more, because that was never part of a plan.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Because of this epic failure by Zach, Cecilia shifted her
strategy for fattening her and epd's coffers. To do that,
EPD would have to be more loyal than vengeful, more
brains and less blood. Zach's life insurance policy was worth
three point five million Rand roughly two hundred thousand US dollars.
(07:48):
That would go a long way, and thus they'd all agreed.
Zach concluded he needed to die, except not really. As
long as the cops and insurance company never caught on.
Zach was worth a lot more dead than alive. All
they needed now was a corpse and a fool proof
(08:10):
hiding spot. Jared Jackson was a forty one year old
street vendor. Jared and his partner Candace, both struggled with addiction.
To make money, they sold snacks outside the hospital, the
one across the street from Casana Flats. Here's detective Ben Boysen.
Speaker 7 (08:31):
So they befriend it Garret because he was a homeless
guy and who's going to miss only his golfriend and
they were both sleeping on the street.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Unfortunately, to Cecilia, Jared was someone the cops overwhelmed as
they were probably wouldn't spend too much time looking for. Also,
he and Zach could easily be mistaken for one another,
especially from far away. But there was one person who
would never mistake Jared for anyone else, his fiance, Candace Ellison.
(09:05):
She sat for an interview broadcast on jack Randa FM
in February of twenty twenty two. She reflected a bit
on what came.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Before growing up in difficult household, getting into drugs to survive,
and thinking that was the answer every bad, horrible story
you hear. I've pretty much loved.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It, but then she met Jared.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Girls are raised to look for their prince charming, and
it's something that I did constantly trying to find that
beautiful moment, and I met Jared and we had beautiful moments.
And we also went to hell together quite literally on
the street heroin addicts, and it was not something I
would put my worst enemy through.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But in twenty fifteen, Candace was pregnant and the couple
was actively trying to find a path toward as sober,
healthy life. That's when they met Cecilia Steine.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
He met Cecilia and the whole group, Zaka and Marinda
and all of them. And at the time, I remember thinking,
all these people are a little bit off, but they
seem to really care, they want to help. And it's
only afterwards that I realized that we were being groomed.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Throughout the winter of twenty fifteen, Cecilia conditioned Jared Jackson
and his fiance Candice Ellison to think that she was
someone who really cared about them and wanted to help.
Keep in mind, the seasons in South Africa are the
opposite of those in the States. First, she hired Jared
(10:49):
to sort through her storage room. She said he could
take whatever he liked and sell it if he got
rid of everything else for her. Later Cecilia offered the
room to Jared and candas as a place to crash.
There was no running water, and at night they would
have to be locked inside the tiny space so that
the other residents wouldn't get suspicious. But they needed the help,
(11:13):
and the couple was grateful. After all, it was cold
outside and at least they had each other. They were
off the streets and in love. Then one day the
following summer, on December sixteenth, twenty fifteen, he.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Walked out the door, looked back and said, just remember
I will always love you. And at the time I
was like, oh yeah, just just go come back just now,
not realizing what a moment that that would be the
last moment.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Zach and Cecilia made a point to run into Jared
that day. They said they needed his help with something
out of town. Cecilia lied and told him Zach was
epileptic and unable to drive alone. They appealed to Jared's
good nature and asked him to help. She'd been so
good to him and Candace after all, and they could
(12:06):
even advance him one hundred rand. Jared broke and, indebted
to Cecilia, agreed. That was at four thirty pm. By nightfall,
Candace got.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Worried Jared didn't come home, which was totally unlike him.
He didn't stray very far.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
When Jared still wasn't back by morning, Candace knew something
was terribly wrong. She tried calling Cecilia but got no response,
so she walked over to Casana Flats. Cecilia came to
the door when she saw Candace standing there. Cecilia's face
(12:47):
changed suddenly. She was in tears, sobbing while she explained
that Zach had been in an accident. He had a
seizure while he was driving, and he was now in
a coma cannas fell part. She assumed Jared must have
been in the car with Zack, but Cecilia reassured Candace
that Jared had bailed on the trip altogether.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I went to Cecilia's house, knowing that he'd gone there,
and she was like, nope, I never saw him. He
never came.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Meanwhile, the charred wreckage of a silver BMW was discovered
tucked into the tall grassland off to the side of
the road in petrus Stein, a little over two hours
south of Krueger'sdorp, burned beyond recognition. Officers found no skid marks,
no broken glass, no signs of a collision of any kind.
(13:43):
But inside they found a body.
Speaker 9 (13:46):
He was found in a car with a pipe through
the exhaust, and then the pulice said, okay, he committed suicide.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
The previous afternoon, Zach drove the BMW that same car,
which was due to be repossessed by the bank, with
Jared there in the passenger seat, LaRue just behind him.
It's not hard to imagine them when ripping through the
windows and a South African summer evening, Jared squinting in
the dusty light, turning inward as they leave the city limits.
(14:23):
The way a long car ride urges reflection from the
back seat. LaRue hands Jared a mango juice he packed
for the drive. Jared drinks it down quickly. As the
minutes pass with the setting sun, it can't stay awake,
sleeping pills again. LaRue slowly unravels blue and red twine
(14:44):
from a spool. With one quick move, he sits forward
and loops the twine around Jared's throat there in the
seat in front of him. Jared struggles, He flails, He
kicks the dashboard, fighting for his life, but without air.
He can't fight for long. As Jared thrashes, Zak almost
(15:06):
loses control. The silver BMW swerves across the lane. In
the car behind them, Mirinda and John Barnard follow. A
few jagged moments pass Zach's car slows and pulls off
to the side of the road. That's their signal, Jared
(15:27):
Jackson is dead. They prop his lifeless body up behind
the wheel. Zak plants his phone on the passenger seat,
evidence to be found. Next, John and LaRue loop a
hose from the car's exhaust pipe and feed it into
(15:48):
the front window. They pour paraffin wax on the car
and push the BMW through the grass toward the tree line.
A match is thrown, the car goes up. It burns
bright and hot, a blossom of flames against the dark
as the three men stare at the fire, licking the
Knight's air. Jared's body will be of little use to
(16:11):
any investigator, or so they hoped.
Speaker 9 (16:15):
You couldn't even see that it's a human being.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
It's like a piece of an animal that was burnt
in a feltfire.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Now they had a body. Next, it was time to
make the reel. Zach Valentine disappear.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
When they killed Tedet, they brought Zach to this hotel,
de Ahrabert Hotel.
Speaker 9 (16:35):
So this is the first place where he was hiding.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
The next morning, while Candace searched for Jared, Marinda called
the officer who had been investigating the Meyer murders. She
contacted him on his private cell phone number. She explained
in a quivering voice that Zach died the previous night.
He would not be taking his polygraph tests later that month.
Mirinda also requested that her own tests be postponed to
(17:01):
January seventh, twenty sixteen, three weeks away. The officer agreed
to the rescheduling, but was then quickly consumed by the
constant barrage of other present cases.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
After Zach died, and actually got so much cases that
the guys went cold.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
The last entry in that.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Murder was in January twenty sixteen, and I took over
in June July twenty to sixteen, So from January till
that time nothing happened.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
On that case. By now, Mirinda felt she was a
pro at evading law enforcement. Lucky for the people of
Kruger's Door, Discovery Life insurance was far more thorough than
the police less overwhelmed and trained to sniff out fraud.
That same morning, after successfully shaking the police off their trail,
(17:53):
Mirinda traveled out of town to the morgue to identify
Zach Valentine's dead body. This was the first step in
the process of claiming his life insurance policy. She posed
as his sister, and she brought along a friend. Remember
Cecilia's husband Drees. The cop well his brother in law
tagged along and posed as Mirenda's husband. A seemingly suspect ruse,
(18:18):
but will keep going. According to Detective Ben and Colonel
Christelle Boysen, the four couple allegedly made a shady deal
with the coroner in charge of Jared Jackson's burned up body.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
Even the mortuary official that allowed this identification. They paid
off because we will never accept an identification like this
to say this is my brother. There has to be
DNA taken to say this is my DNA, this is
my brother's DNA.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
The two seasoned officers told us that typically the mortuary
official must provide a written statement confirming the identity of
a body. This process is supposed to be done under
oath in the presence of a law enforcement official.
Speaker 7 (18:59):
She took a statement from them, and then she owtho
statement her self, using another police officer's signature, defrauding it.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Now armed with doctored paperwork, Marinda had it straight to
the funeral home. She requested they handle the cremation as
soon as possible. To do so required written permission from
next of kin in this case, Zach's parents. Thrown by
this surprise, Mirinda and her fake husband agreed to return
the following day with the written permission along with payment. Cecilia,
(19:33):
in the meantime, was on damage control. Working from the
safety of Cassana Flats. She placated a frantic Canvae, still
searching for her fiance.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
She said, I'll help you. Look, I'll contact the morgue,
I will contact the hospitals. And she seemed genuinely of
said she was going to help me look, and then
that she even obviously we were still really struggling. She
gave me fifty rand. She said, here, go get something
to eat. I'll let you know if I hear anything.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Unfortunately, the appointment murders would continue to stain Krugersdorp with blood,
while Discovery Life Insurance stalled on the Zach Valentine payout.
The company eventually conducted their own investigation, which included a
house call an in person interview with the beneficiary. Cecilia
had been preparing for this role her entire life.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
Wayzy's wife. She died three years ago.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The insurance investigation conducted by Discovery Life was recorded on video.
The assessors wore body cams to preserve evidence, safeguard themselves,
and confirm the validity of the claim. In matters of
grief and money, emotions run high, and beloved or even
estranged relatives may act erratically. The audio we're going to
(21:01):
share with you now is pulled from the shaky video
of Cecilia's interview with these representatives. It starts as the
insurance agents enter Cecilia's apartment.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
There are quite a few things that stand out about
this initial impression of Cassana Flats. First and foremost, it's
the noise. There is a din that surrounds and penetrates
Casana Flats. There's the swinging of rusted iron and steel
slamming against metal framed doorways. The city bus and cars
rush by, not to mention the hospital directly across the street,
(21:50):
Sirens racing to and from the er, it's all a
bit maddening. An app soundtrack to Cecilia's chaotic world. Cecilia
settles in for the interview. She centers herself on the couch,
a bit of a man spread. She looks quite at ease,
But the tell for us is that the whole time
(22:12):
she has a baseball cap pulled down low just over
her spectacled eyes. She is in the center of the frame.
The assessors sit directly across from Cecilia. The interviewer is
the one wearing the body cam, so his voice is
often louder than Cecilia's. His colleague is in the room
off camera. He does all the talking and cuts right
(22:33):
to the heart of the matter, Cecilia's relationship with Zach.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
Okay, you know him quite well. Okay, obviously that's why
you us beneficiary was still married to his wife.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So in case you miss that, she says, quote, I
was his beneficiary when he was still married to his wife.
It sounds like she's boasting here, and the interviewer calls
her on it.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
Any specific reason that just sounds odd.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Sorry, no, no, no, he had that before he got
married and.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
I never changed it.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Okay, strange that she felt the need to even mention
that fact. Right, of course, they continue to inquire about
Mikayla and his wife.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
WA's wife she died four years ago. Okay, and he
never got remarried.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
No, okay, alright?
Speaker 6 (23:28):
And did they have any children.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Cecilia mumbles something about Zach's diabetes and how he didn't
want kids because of his condition. The investigator presses on.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
Did something bad happen to his wife or something? Yeah,
and they broke into the house and.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
She got killed.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
F It's hard to hear, but she explains that Zach's
wife died during a home invasion. She also tells him
Michaela wasn't supposed to be home that day, which is
creepy because, if you remember correctly, Mikayla died on a Thursday,
the day she typically missed work to care for Cecilia.
(24:08):
After this strange exchange, the insurance examiner refocuses his line
of questioning.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Mister Valent Andymnifad just referred toim as Zach post On
the sixteenth of December last year in pietr Stein, in
the freestyle from a car accident to Corburnt.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
They go over what all happened on the day Zach died,
and ask about who Zach was in the eyes of
his apparent closest friend. The agent wonders about Zach's likes
and dislikes, his relationship to money, and even his mental
and physical health. At this point, LaRue had entered the room.
He sits perched on the arm of the couch almost
(24:48):
out a frame on the right side. The insurance examiner
asks if Zach ever had trouble with the law, any
conflict with the law.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
I'm using the one that gets.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Stuff I shouldn't be doing anything, LaRue says, quote, No,
I'm usually the one that gets caught by the law
doing stuff I shouldn't be doing. Then he tells about
how he was shot when someone tried to rob him
at gunpoint. Cecilia backs him up, saying, yeah, they tried
to rob him. Laru doesn't want to say where he
(25:24):
was wounded, but Cecilia is a bully about it. She's
poking fun at him. They both know the truth. Laru
accidentally shot himself in the groin while preparing the guns
(25:44):
for the Meyer murders. He boasted the mail insurance investigator
about how he had defended himself, and how he thought
the gun the robbers had was a toy, because get this,
his father has tons of big guns.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
I should die down to the floor.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
And as you wund to walk away because he's dumb
and he pulled out a gun.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
I'm used to my father having massive guns, wastefully full
of magnum.
Speaker 8 (26:10):
I mean, that's a massive of all gun.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Laru's father is not in the picture, and he hasn't
been for years. It's like Laru is living inside a
figment of his own imagination. He goes on about this
for like a full minute or two. Cecilia continues to laugh,
and oddly enough, so does the insurance guy. I guess
he's trying to keep some levity in the room.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
Yeah, that was that was don't tell your no no.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I really just feel for LaRue in this moment when
he sheepishly says that was actually bad as his response
to Cecilia making light of a very serious situation. He's
legally an adult at this point, twenty years old, and
yet you can hear the child in him, the one
who is morally abandoned, and this tall tale of his
(27:00):
own bravery sounds to me like a desperate cry for
help or a way out. The subtext here is a
big SOS written in the sand, soon to be swept
away by the rolling tide. That tide would arrive a
bit later in the form of a man Detective Ben Boysen,
when he was assigned to the case two months after
(27:22):
this interview, he would immediately notice the changes made to
Zach's insurance policy just before his death. The life insurance
agent had questions about this too.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
The reason why I'm asking about the finances is because
this policy was reasonably new at any started lock in November.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Zach's policy was purchased in November, just one month before
his death. But Cecilia had a defense in her pocket,
which was that when Zach left his job at Discovery
Life Insurance, he had to start all over purchasing a
new policy. A while. But it turns out that his
account had been delinquent for quite some time.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
He actually did not by a single premium.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Coincidentally, Cecilia made a payment a few days before the
fatal accident to bring the account current. The insurance investigator
attempts to confirm this payment.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Then there was a deposit mad a kesh deposit made
to bring the policy in.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
To Lafayat, she explains her way out of this. She
mumbles something vague about Zach's medical bills. His bank was closed,
she says, so she deposited the money for him. It
was like a bouquet of red flags. After some shuffling,
the interview changes direction again, moving on to the required paperwork.
(28:46):
Before a payout can be made, Discovery Life Insurance needs
an official police statement confirming that it is in fact
Zach beneath the charred remains. Now DRez enters the picture
literally in the video, he sits close to his wife
on the couch. He's practically on top of her. He's
a somewhat large man in a brown T shirt. The
(29:07):
couple explains that they are waiting on a second autopsy
and DNA results. They are apparently trying to match DNA
with Zach's parents. She says this is all far from
the truth. Then, just as the agent is getting up
to go, much like the TV detective Colombo, he says,
just one more thing.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Okay, there's something I'd like to ask you. This came
to my Deska BA two three weeks ago. One of
these clients locked the complaint against him. This client claims
that Zech was running Ponzi scheme pyramid scheme with his
clients that have complained that he took money from them.
(29:50):
If that thing wasn't.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
Against Zach, it is from Rhino.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
To clarify, she says, if that complaint was on Zach,
it's from Rena. Cecilia launches into a ran about someone
Zach worked with at Discovery of Life who had it
out for him. This person falsely accused him of cheating
his clients. All these details will come out in the
wash once detective Ben Boysen comes into the arena, so
(30:16):
we'll return to this in a bit. Keep in mind
this video was recorded in May of twenty sixteen, a
full six months after the car was found with Jared's
body inside. In the meantime, EPD resorted again to robbery
and murder. Cannis's reflection eight years after Jared's murder is
(30:37):
a reminder of just how cold and calculated Cecilia was.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I don't think she thought it all about Jared's life.
He was not a person. He was a means to
an end. I think that is the hottest part of
all of this, Even how it's been reported, there's been
a lack of his humanity.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Jared's humanity was lost on EPD, as was that of
all the victims, and the majority of the reporting that
was done very much focuses on the group and not
on who Jared was. By the time journalists started writing
about him, it was also being revealed that EPD had
murdered ten other people, so individual victims kind of got
(31:18):
lost in the mix. But Cannas's interview is a solid
example of how EPD was destroying lives. Cannas's baby was
born two months after her husband's disappearance. At this point,
(31:38):
if there was any humanity left, any hope for redemption
in the hearts of EPD, Cecilia made sure it was
obliterated by their belief in her. What was once a
Christian group bent on defeating Satan no longer needed a
good reason to kill the innocent. As long as it
pleased Cecilia, that was all that mattered. Now they were
(32:01):
living in the play, the one where Cecilia plays an invalid,
a bereaved friend, and a secret queen with loyal soldiers.
Her reality was now their identity. It's incredible the show
they put on. I mean, Cecilia's monologuing for Candace, forcing
tears in front of the woman whose life she just decimated,
(32:22):
Marenda's performance at the morgue and the funeral home, the
two of them in concert leading a search party was
Zac's parents. They even held a funeral for him that
his family and friends attended and pretended to weep. And
then there's this interview that happened while they were actively
planning to murder more innocent people. I mean, it's staggering
(32:44):
the lengths to which they would go to feel like
they belonged to something larger than themselves. While the inconsistencies
of this insurance fraud would be a sort of lynchpin
in breaking the case, there would unfortunately be a lot
more bloodshed before anyone would set foot in a courtroom,
(33:06):
and the citizens of Krugersdorp would continue to be terrorized.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
It was kind of like an attack on my community, Like,
who the hell is out there killing my people.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
On the next episode of Queen Havoc.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Queen Kevin was murdered. That was the turning point.
Speaker 8 (33:25):
The first turning.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Point, people thinking there's a serial murderer on the loose,
marching to the police station and they were demanding actions.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And so forth.
Speaker 9 (33:35):
Sometimes you need to watch what you wish for, because
it can come true.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
This man comes, isn't tears, and he says to me, Marisco,
thank goodness you are here?
Speaker 9 (33:46):
No right?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
How does this man know my name?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
That's why he was there when he was arrested.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Queen Havoc in Her Murder Cult is a production of
Schoolly Humans and iHeart Podcasts. Queen Havoc is hosted and
created by me Kurt Kupachick, produced and written by Jennifer Takeney,
Julia Chriscau, and Kirk Kupachick. Lead producer is Julia Chriskau.
Story editor is Saren Burnett. Senior producer is Amelia Brock.
(34:16):
Production manager is Daisy Church. Original music composed by Claire Campbell, Editing,
sound design and scoring by Jesse Niswanger, Additional editing by
Miranda Hawkins. Associated producers are DaShan Moodley and Jamaine Kriher.
Additional producing by Ben Melman, fact checking by Dennis Webster.
(34:40):
Recording engineers are Graham Gibson, Clay Hillenberg, and Josh Hook.
Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, L. C. Crowley, Brandon Barr
Jennifer to Kenney, and Kurt Kupachick. We want to thank
all of those who so generously welcomed us in South
Africa and shared their stories. We're incredibly grateful to you all.
(35:04):
We also want to acknowledge how traumatic these events are
for the victims and their families. Please respect their privacy.
If you or someone you know has been affected by
cult behaviors, there are resources available, including Voices for Dignity
at Christine Murray dot com
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