March 6, 2025 • 36 mins
Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a lesser-known but deeply disturbing figure in criminal history, demonstrated the darker aspects of human nature. Bar-Jonah had a troubling behavior from childhood, which escalated to horrific abductions, assaults, and possibly even cannibalism until his arrest in Montana. After his arrest, terrifying secrets were discovered which revealed unsettling details about his suspected involvement in numerous child disappearances and the horror he inflicted on his victims. Bar-Jonah's crimes went far beyond what was ever fully discovered.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Elena (00:00):
Hey guys.
Welcome to the Eerie Sidepodcast with your hosts, Elena,
Sophia, and D.
We appreciate you guys listeningand I hope you're ready to get
on the Eerie Side.
(00:45):
it if you guys could just givethe podcast a follow and make
sure that the bell notificationis turned on.
Just so you guys will benotified whenever we drop an
episode.
And if you guys are enjoying theshow, we'd love to hear you from
you and for you guys to leave areview.
And if there's any casesuggestions or any feedback
you'd like to share, just feelfree to send us a message in the
(01:06):
text box below and share thepodcast with family, friends,
co-workers, or really anyonethat you think will enjoy it.
And follow us on Instagram,TikTok, and Facebook at the
Eerie Side Podcast.
Now before we get into the case,I just want say listener
discretion is strongly advised,especially for those sensitive
to topics involving sexualassault, possible cannibalism,
(01:29):
and attempted murder and murderof children.
So if these topics regardingchildren are too disturbing for
anyone, we understand if youneed to take a moment or just
not listen.
With that being said, if youexperience any difficulties
during this episode, just knowthat there are resources
available for you if you needthem.
Okay, so before we get into thiscase, I would just like to say
(01:52):
that this is a case that I foundprobably one of the most
frustrating cases to listen to,knowing that all this stuff
could have been prevented somuch earlier, had things been
done properly, I guess withinvestigation or connections
been made.
I guess it was maybe just a signof the times and how things were
(02:16):
done back then.
As I let you guys know, mom andSophia, that this is the kind of
case that you guys wanna haveglass of wine ready with you.
If there's any 21 and uplisteners at home, and then
you're not driving.
I highly recommend just poppingopen a glass of wine or
honestly, maybe even a shot oftequila at this point.
Sophia (02:35):
I've already got my wine ready.
Elena (02:37):
Okay.
Today we're talking aboutNathaniel Bar-Jonah, a name that
might not be as infamous asJeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy, but
the crime he committed and thosehe is suspected of are just as
heinous.
This is the case of a man whosedepravity knew no bounds and
whose past was filled withwarning signs that went unheated
(02:59):
for far too long.
Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was bornDavid Paul Brown on February
15th, 1957.
In Worchester, Massachusetts.
From a young age, he exhibiteddeeply troubling behavior.
Behavior that should have servedas a glaring warning sign of the
kind of predator he would laterbecome.
(03:20):
He was the youngest of threechildren to Philip and Tyra
Brown.
When his mother was three monthspregnant, she was involved in a
serious car accident.
When another driver hit the backof her car while she was stopped
at a light, she had to wear aneck brace for the remainder of
the pregnancy.
While he was an infant, DavidPaul Brown, was inactive and had
a big hunger that resulted inhim crying nonstop until he was
(03:44):
fed.
Which led to excessive weightgain.
It got so bad that he basicallybecame immobile and his parents
had difficulties carrying himaround.
He also did not like beingtouched, and according to
Bar-Jonah, his father woulddiscipline him by beating him
with a leather belt, out of fearthat Bar-Jonah would grow up to
be"a homosexual".
Sophia (04:05):
Did you say he did not like to be touched?
Elena (04:07):
Yeah.
Sophia (04:09):
In what kind of way?
Elena (04:11):
I just think he didn't like any physical touch from
anyone.
D (04:14):
Was he autistic?
Elena (04:16):
I'm not sure.
Sophia (04:17):
Weird correlation that his father was beating him,'
cause he didn't wanna betouched.
Elena (04:21):
His father was beating him'cause he was afraid that he
was gay or that he would becomegay.
I guess he assumed that somehowbeating him would prevent that
even though it's not somethingyou can control.
Sophia (04:32):
When you said that he was beating him, I somehow
thought it was related to himnot wanting to be touched.
Elena (04:37):
No, that was just another side bit of information that I
included, that's unrelated.
Sophia (04:42):
And he was overweight as a baby.
Elena (04:44):
Mm-hmm.
Sophia (04:45):
That's so interesting because I feel like, all babies
are chubby, right?
I don't think I've ever heard ofa baby being overweight unless
there's something medicallygoing on.
D (04:53):
It was just like, he just wouldn't always wanted to be fed
all the time, is what Igathered.
And he would not stop cryinguntil he was fed.
And it got so bad that I guesshis like muscle mass didn't
catch up.
So, he was, in a sense,immobile.
And his parents couldn't evenreally carry him because of how
(05:14):
heavy he got.
Sophia (05:15):
I wonder what was happening to him psychologically
as a baby to go through that.
Elena (05:20):
I don't know.
It could have been somethingregarding the accident.
The car, maybe it affected himand you'll see that he was just
born off, for lack of a betterword.
But at only age seven, thingsstarted to take a dark turn for
Bar-Jonah when he lured afive-year-old girl into his
(05:42):
basement with the promise ofplaying in a Ouija board where
he attempted to choke her.
Her screams alerted Bar-Jonah'smother, who saved the little
girl, but of course, Bar-Jonahwasn't punished and the string
of childhood violence would onlycontinue for him.
Sophia (05:58):
His parents didn't think he should be punished.
Elena (06:01):
I think the mother thought that he didn't
understand what he was doing,and maybe he just thought he was
playing with her.
As we continue, you'llunderstand that I think he knew
what he was doing.
Sophia (06:13):
Wow.
Seven is a very young age.
Mm-hmm.
To be demonstrating potentiallypsychopathic and such violent
behaviors.
Elena (06:23):
Yeah, it definitely is very strange given how young he
was.
At 15, he would attempt to luretwo boys with cutout letters and
words from magazines to get theminto a cemetery and Webster.
I'm not sure what happened ifthe boys even went or not, but
the mother of the boys decidednot to press charges and thought
psychiatric treatment would bebest for Bar-Jonah.
(06:45):
I am assuming he didn't get any,either there's no record that he
did or didn't, but I'm gonnatake a guess that he did not.
Sophia (06:51):
Wait.
We don't know what happenedhere.
Elena (06:53):
I couldn't find any info.
I'm assuming he lured them outand attempted to assault them or
harmed them in some way and theyescaped, but I am not sure I.
The next year in May, 1974, sohe'd be about 16.
He tried to abduct anine-year-old girl Mary, in
Connecticut, but let her go whenshe screamed and fought back.
(07:17):
Almost a year later in March,1975, Bar-Jonah posed as a
police officer and lured an8-year-old boy named Richard
O'Connor into his car.
D (07:28):
How old is he at this moment?
Elena (07:29):
He was 16 when he tried to abduct the 9-year-old girl,
and then he was 16-17 when he,abducted the 8-year-old boy,
Richard O'Connor.
D (07:41):
Pretending to be a policeman?
Elena (07:42):
Mm-hmm.
D (07:43):
He did it to a child.
Elena (07:44):
Yeah.
D (07:45):
Not to an adult.
Elena (07:47):
Right.
He then drove the child to asecluded area, brutally sexually
assaulted him, then proceeded tochoke him.
However, when Richard was takenon his way to school, a neighbor
had seen the abduction andalerted authority.
So the police were alreadylooking for Richard.
A patrol car spotted a vehiclethat matched the description in
the abduction, and Bar-Jonah wasordered out of the car and a
(08:10):
bloodied Richard was found.
He had defecated and urinated onhimself due to the sexual
assault and was near death.
This should have been the end tohis reign of terror, but since
Bar-Jonah was still underage, henever faced any jail or prison
time, and was only sentenced toprobation for an unknown number
of months.
(08:30):
The system failed once again.
Then a few days before his highschool graduation, he drove to
Connecticut to impersonate apolice officer again and abduct
a 9-year-old girl.
D (08:43):
So he's just a pure pedophile.
Elena (08:47):
Basically.
Yeah.
However, the little girl beganvomiting and convulsing because
of the assault.
So he ended up throwing her outof the car, but a witness nearby
saw what happened and got thelicense plate.
He was arrested but nothing everhappened and the news never got
back to his probation officer.
And he was eventually releasedfrom probation in May of 1976.
(09:10):
When the period was over he evengot a letter thanking him for
his cooperation while onprobation.
Sophia (09:17):
I don't understand how this never got back to his
probation officer.
Elena (09:21):
I'm guessing it's just a lack of communication.
It is all paperwork, at thatpoint in the seventies, there's
no technology that would connectthem.
I'm guessing it's'cause he droveto Connecticut for what happened
to the 9-year-old girl.
Maybe there wasn't a connectionbetween where he was and that.
Sophia (09:39):
Even today crossing county, state lines, all of that
makes it worse.
And so back then, when therewasn't even the technology that
we have today, I can see itbeing possible.
Elena (09:53):
On September 24th, in 1977, Bar-Jonah abducted two
boys leaving a movie theater bypretending to be an FBI agent.
He drove them to a secondlocation where he locked one of
the boys in a trunk and took theother one and attempted to
suffocate him by putting all ofhis weight on the boy.
Sophia (10:14):
Oh my God.
Elena (10:15):
He weighed 375 pounds at this point.
Because I think that boy, thathe tried to suffocate was being
too loud and like fighting back,so that's why he tried to kill
him.
Sophia (10:26):
How tall is Nathaniel?
Elena (10:28):
He's 5'10'.
D (10:29):
How old is he at this point?
Elena (10:32):
I think he's 20.
D (10:34):
He's 20.
He's like 300 pounds.
He's a pedophile and now it'sescalating to killing someone.
Elena (10:41):
The boy either passed out or pretended to be dead and
Bar-Jonah left thinking he hadkilled him.
The boy was able to run away,and alert authorities about what
happened.
Bar-Jonah was eventually foundand arrested and the other boy
was found alive in the trunk.
Finally Bar-Jonahnah wasconvicted of attempted murder
and sentenced to 18 to 22 yearsin prison.
(11:04):
Now, you would think this wouldbe the end of his terror, but
unfortunately that wasn't thecase.
He ended up tellingpsychiatrists about having
sexual fantasies involvingmurder, torture, and
cannibalism.
So he was transferred toBridgewater State Hospital for
an indefinite term.
On March 22nd, 1984, he legallychanged his name to Nathaniel
(11:27):
Benjamin Levy Bar-Jonah,claiming he wanted to know what
it was like to be discriminatedagainst as a Jewish person.
He and his family were notJewish in any way.
In July of 1991, he was releasedfrom the hospital deeming that
he was not a danger to anyone;even though, he confided in his
psychiatrist, that he was havingall these dark, twisted thoughts
(11:51):
about harming people.
D (11:53):
It's interesting how they obviously don't take his word
seriously.
Elena (11:59):
It's just shocking that a judge can, still release him.
On August 9th, 1991, only amonth after being released, he
saw a boy in a car outside apost office in Oxford,
Massachusetts where Bar-Jonahentered and sat on the boy
Sophia (12:17):
Sat on the boy?
Elena (12:18):
Sat on the boy.
Sophia (12:19):
Why does his mind go there?
How was this boy?
Is he lying down?
Elena (12:23):
He was in the car.
At this point, he weighs 275pounds.
I think he had some weird sexualsadistic fantasy about
suffocation, and he just usedhis weight for that.
Sophia (12:36):
So, he's lost weight.
Elena (12:38):
According to the research, yeah.
That he was now like 275 pounds.
Sophia (12:42):
I never thought that weight could be used as a
weapon, but this story is takingus to new places we've never
been before.
Elena (12:48):
Oh yeah.
Just you wait.
However, witnesses saw this andBar-Jonah fled.
The description that was givenof Bar-Jonah was recognized by
an officer that arrested him 15years earlier.
He was eventually found andarrested, but claimed he didn't
know the boy was there and justentered the car to get out of
the rain.
Sophia (13:06):
Oh yeah.
He just casually sat in the onthe boy when he's getting in the
car.
Elena (13:11):
Yeah.
I find that very hard tobelieve.
And there's a report that he didlater on go on confessed that he
was trying to kill the boy.
But he claimed originally thathe didn't know he was there.
It was a stupid excuse that I'massuming no one believed.
He was given only two yearsprobation for this if he agreed
to move to Great Falls, Montanaand never returned to
(13:35):
Massachusetts.
D (13:37):
So let me understand.
The way Massachusetts is solvingthe problem is by telling him to
go to another state.
So he is someone else's problem?
Elena (13:44):
From what I saw in one article.
Yeah.
D (13:48):
Okay.
Sophia (13:49):
Mama loves the logic of that one.
Elena (13:51):
And also the reason that he was released from the
hospital was in agreement thathe would live with his mother,
in Massachusetts.
So now he can't even do thatsince he's moving to Montana.
But in December of 1993, he wasaccused of molesting an
8-year-old boy that he wasbabysitting, but claimed that if
(14:12):
he had actually done that, hewould've killed the boy.
And the case was dropped becausehis lawyer claimed that a right
to a speedy trial was violated.
Yeah.
So his logic was, if I did that,I would've killed him, and I
didn't.
Sophia (14:25):
So far he hasn't killed any though, it seems like.
Elena (14:28):
That we know of.
It's just hard to tell who hehas killed and who he hasn't.
I'm assuming he probably has atthis point, but we just don't
know.
But there's really no evidenceas of right now.
D (14:39):
Unless, he's flimsy and hasn't figured out how to do
things.
Elena (14:44):
Yeah.
It seems like he's tried to killchildren, but hasn't done it.
I hate to use the wordsuccessfully, but he hasn't
successfully done it yet.
And we'll get into when thatkind of all changes right now.
So on February 10th, 1996,10-year-old Zachary Ramsey
vanished while walking toschool.
Despite an extensive search, notrace of him was found.
(15:07):
Witnesses reported seeing anoff-white four-door vehicle
almost running Ramsey over.
It was also later reported thatthe little boy was crying and
looked like he was beingfollowed by an obese man by
another witness.
Detective Bill Bellusci receiveda list of local registered sex
offenders from the FBI, butimmediately focused his
(15:29):
suspicion on Bar-Jonah.
Who was not included on thelist, but Bellusci had
investigated the December, 1993case.
So, Bellusci saught a searchwarrant for the residence where
Bar-Jonah lived with his mother,after police were denied access
to the property.
However, his request was denied.
(15:50):
And despite his efforts toobtain a new warrant, Bellusci
was unsuccessful.
Not long after Bar-Jonah movedout of his mother's house.
On December 13th, 1999,Bar-Jonah was spotted outside at
elementary school for the thirdtime in a week.
He was wearing a dark bluejacket and knit cap and carrying
(16:10):
two cans of pepper spray, abadge, and I've heard reports of
a toy gun or a real gun.
Sophia (16:17):
Oh my gosh.
He is so much bigger than achild.
He does not need pepper spray tosubdue them.
Elena (16:24):
Especially two cans of pepper is crazy.
Sophia (16:27):
I know.
And to think of him using thaton a child as just
disheartening.
At this point, if they want tofind him, all they have to do is
go to the nearest elementaryschool, and he will be there.
Elena (16:35):
Yeah.
And it was also reported thathis apartment was like near a
bunch of elementary school andplaces where kids would
frequent.
Sophia (16:42):
That's wrong.
Elena (16:43):
Yeah.
Bellusci along with the MontanaAttorney General charged
Bar-Jonah with impersonating anofficer and carrying a concealed
weapon.
A judge approved a searchwarrant on December 15th,
allowing law enforcement tosearch both Bar-Jonah's new
apartment and his mother's homefor objects related to
impersonation.
(17:04):
During the search, policediscovered two coats, one
containing a toy badge in thepocket, and a second one
containing toy badge, and a stungun, and a baseball cap labeled
security enforcement.
Additionally evidence included apulley system on
Bar-Jonah-Jonas's, kitchenceiling, two albums filled with
(17:25):
images of children with sectionscut out, and document dealing
knots and bondage in an articleon Autoerotic Asphyxiation.
D (17:36):
What does he need a pulley system in his house?
Elena (17:40):
I'll briefly get into that a little bit later, but he
would hang children from it.
Yeah.
It's crazy that this is not amore well-known case giving how
horrific this case is.
Sophia (17:54):
I think this is the most horrific case.
Almost.
Elena (17:56):
I was gonna say the case of Louis Garavito the Beast.
Sophia (17:59):
Oh.
Oh my God, that one's up there.
Yeah.
One.
Oh my God, that one was awful.
Oh my gosh.
It's so awful that it's hard toeven conceive.
It's possible because he didthat horrific act so many times
to so many kids.
Yep.
What's so bad about this is likehe is the worst criminal
possible because not only doeshe target and hurt children by
(18:22):
sexually assaulting them, but hejust adds this torture, bondage.
Elena (18:29):
Mm-hmm.
Sophia (18:30):
Part of it that makes it so much more haunting.
Elena (18:35):
Yeah, exactly.
Years after Zachary Ramsey'sdisappearance, police
investigations determined thatBar-Jonah had access to his
mother's off-white four door,1978 Toyota Corolla on the day,
Ramsey vanished.
At that time, his mother andbrother were out of town
attending a funeral.
Furthermore, it was discoveredthat Bar-Jonah had not been
(18:57):
working on the day of thedisappearance.
Nor are the days leading up toit.
Two days following the initialsearches, Bellusci secured a
second warrant for any documentsor photographic evidence.
While searching Bar-Jonah'sapartment, detectives uncovered
a list titled Lake Webstercontaining 54 boy's names.
(19:17):
Many of the names were linked toBar-Jonah's youth in
Massachusetts, including threeboys he had been convicted of
abducting in the 1970s.
The name Zachary Ramsey appearedon the list, followed by the
word died.
Additionally, police founddozens of newspaper clippings
about Ramsey's case, hundreds ofthousands of photographs of
children and undeveloped filmcontaining sexually explicit
(19:40):
images of Bar-Jonah with threeunidentified boys.
A former roommate, of Bar-Jonah,reported finding clothing in his
apartment that closely resembledwhat Ramsey was wearing on the
day he disappeared along with apair of bloody gloves.
Sophia (19:53):
So you mentioned that there is a boy that he wrote as
died.
How do we know if that boy wasdead?
Because of his doing?
Elena (20:05):
That was the kid that had disappeared a few years earlier,
and there was a report of awhite car.
Oh.
Yeah, that's the one I wastalking about where another
witness saw an obese manfollowing after him.
Sophia (20:21):
And how old is he at this point that you're
describing him?
Elena (20:26):
He's at least in his forties by now.
D (20:30):
Oh, we're at that point.
Elena (20:31):
Yeah, we're in the 1990s.
1996 is when Zachary Ramseydisappeared.
And he got out of the hospitalin 91, and he was born in 57.
Another roommate recounted thatBar-Jonah had mentioned Ramsey
in conversations once, just daysbefore his disappearance.
(20:51):
In another time, a chillingremarks sitting there.
Ramsey would never be foundbecause he had been chopped up
and scattered in differentlocations.
D (21:01):
Oh wow.
Yeah, just it gets even worse,believe it or not.
Elena (21:06):
Investigators also discovered notebooks filled with
what initially appeared to bearbitrary symbols, but were
later determined to be a codedsystem.
With assistance of the FBI, thewritings were eventually
deciphered, revealing detaileddescriptions of child torture
and cannibalism, as well asrecipes referencing human body
(21:27):
parts.
On July 5th, 2000, MontanaPolice, formally charged
Bar-Jonah with kidnapping andsexual assault.
In addition to the kidnappingand sexual assault of three
other boys and the murder ofZachary Ramsey.
He was held in the CascadeCounty Jail in great falls and
pleaded not guilty to allcharges.
(21:47):
Prosecutors announced theirintention to seek the death
penalty.
Bar-Jonah was charged with theabduction and sexual assault of
three boys and was convicted ofkidnapping, aggravated assault,
and sexual assault, includingallegations that he had tortured
a boy and hung him from theceiling.
Ramsey's mother was influencedby Bar-Jonah's defense team and
(22:09):
to testify that she believed herson was still alive, which led
to the jury not convicting himfor the murder.
And this is the murder ofZachary Ramsey.
D (22:19):
Let me see if I understand this.
The jury did not find him guiltyof murder'cause Zachary's mom
didn't believe her son was dead.
Elena (22:27):
Yeah.
That was one of the reasons.
There was also justcircumstantial evidence.
There was no hardcore forensicevidence that linked him to the
murder.
So I think it was a combinationof both of those things.
D (22:38):
There were three other boys that he did not kill.
Correct.
Elena (22:42):
Right.
D (22:43):
And when these boys left this guy's place, they did not go to
the police and say they wereabused/
Elena (22:49):
I'm not a hundred percent certain as how it all went down.
I think a lot of this is keptquiet'cause they were under age.
So I'm assuming, it is possiblethat maybe they came forward and
that's what led to the policeinvestigating.
Sophia (23:08):
Not everyone reports a sexual assault or even reports
it right away.
Mm-hmm.
D (23:13):
I understand.
But it's three boys.
You would hope that since therewere three boys, that one of the
three would say something.
Sophia (23:20):
I think that would probably be the most likely.
But it's possible that all threeof them chose not to.
Elena (23:26):
It could also be that cause they discovered him
outside of the school and that'swhat led to all the searches in
the house.
It's possible that they wereable to identify the three boys
from pictures or something likethat.
And then they reached out tothem It's not certain, but it
seems that they had enoughevidence that they found in that
(23:46):
house to at least convict him ofassault.
D (23:50):
Okay.
So it looks like if they hadn'tfound him outside the school,
they may not have known that hewas a predator.
Elena (24:00):
I think at some point someone would've come forward.
But yeah, it seems like that'swhat was like the nail in the
coffin for him.
D (24:07):
How long was he living in this area now?
Elena (24:09):
I'm not too sure.
I think he moved out of themother's house sometime after
93.
So like 94, 95, somewhere aroundthere;'cause by 99 he was in
Montana.
D (24:25):
Where is his father in all of this?
Elena (24:28):
I don't know.
I am assuming he's dead
D (24:33):
Was wondering if the father was seeing something, didn't
understand it.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not saying the father didthe right thing.
Right, yeah.
Didn't understand it and thoughthe was a homosexual.
Instead he was a pedophile andhe ended up being a killer.
So I'm wondering if there wassome mental issue there the
father was seeing, didn'tunderstand it and thought, one,
(24:55):
that he was homosexual second bybeating him, he'd get it out of
him.
Elena (24:59):
It's possible.
I truthfully don't know.
He was doing some weird thingsas a kid and maybe he just
misinterpreted that as himpossibly being gay.
I'm not sure.
D (25:08):
And if he's starring at a very young age.
I'm not sure if it was nature ornurture.
Elena (25:13):
It doesn't seem like he had that rough as a childhood.
D (25:18):
Oh, just what he just mentioned about his dad.
Right.
Which you didn't think it wasthat big of a deal.
It wasn't like excessive oranything.
Elena (25:24):
It's definitely like a deal in the sense I left a mark
on him, or it would for anychild.
It's definitely a big deal, butbecause I've seen kids who have
had far worse abuse and havecome out just fine with, not
hurting anyone.
It didn't seem like it was anexcessive amount.
It seemed like he was hittinghim in the same way as people
would do for that time.
(25:44):
Now, is it still wrong?
Yes, his reasoning for it wasdefinitely very wrong, but it
didn't seem like he was abusinghim a lot.
D (25:53):
The other thing I'm wondering is he had gone to therapy?
Elena (25:58):
No.
D (25:59):
Didn't the therapist let him go from the mental institution?
Elena (26:01):
Oh, yeah When he was in the mental institution, right.
D (26:04):
He was in there, had therapy and yet they thought they could
let him go.
Which I'm wondering if he hadsome form of narcissism or
something where he knew how toplay them.
Elena (26:16):
It's possible, but it also seemed like he was pretty
upfront with what was going onin his head, like it didn't seem
like he was hiding.
Sophia (26:24):
That's true.
A narcissist, unless they'remanipulative, they probably
wouldn't say, oh yeah, I'm intoall of these dark stuff like
pedophilia and the cannibalismand all of that.
Yeah.
D (26:36):
But he did tell the therapist this is what is in it.
Mm-hmm.
And they didn't believe him.
So why is that?
Elena (26:42):
I have no idea.
I don't know.
I have no idea why that wasn'taddressed or if it was
addressed, why it didn't hold asmuch weight as it should have
when he was up for release.
Sophia (26:54):
Do you think some people just did not believe that a
human could be that dark?
Maybe the people he was dealingwith were like, okay, there's no
way he's into all of that.
Elena (27:02):
I am not sure.
I do have a quote a little bitfurther down from one of his
therapists.
Seemed to me like they believedhim.
Definitely very interesting.
To move on, during the trial,36-year-old Mary, remember Mary
was one of the girls that he hadassaulted and attempted to
abduct her and ended upreleasing her, cause she was
(27:24):
fighting back too much.
D (27:25):
When she was younger.
Elena (27:26):
Right.
Sophia (27:27):
She was the one who vomited?
Elena (27:28):
No.
That was a different one.
D (27:29):
So, she's 36 at this point.
Elena (27:31):
Yeah.
So during the trial, 36-year-oldMary identified Bar-Jonah as the
man who had assaulted andattempted to abduct her in 74.
However, due to the statute oflimitations, Bar-Jonah, could
not be prosecuted for thiscrime.
He was sentenced to 130 years inprison and maintained his
innocence until his death.
(27:52):
Despite Ramsey's mother'sobjections, a judge declared
Zachary Ramsey, legally dead.
In 2011.
Montana authorities were unawareof Bar-Jonah's previous criminal
history in Massachusetts, and anissue raised by activists who
campaigned for mandatoryregistration of former sex
offenders.
In December, 2004, the MontanaSupreme Court denied Bar-Jonah's
(28:16):
appeal and upheld his 130 yearsentence.
On April 13th 2008, Bar-Jonahwas found unresponsive in his
prison cell.
He had been in poor health andthe postmortem revealed high
levels of LDL in his arterieswith heart attack being the
cause of death.
Sophia (28:36):
Did you ever say that he ever ate anyone?
Was he ever actually eatingpeople?
Elena (28:43):
I'm gonna get to that right now actually.
All right.
So it's also important to notethat there are many more victims
that could possibly be relatedto Bar-Jonah, but there was not
enough evidence to confirm that.
Cannibalism can be traced to hischildhood when he would pick and
suck on the blood from wounds.
Meaning he would pick off scabsand suck on the Yeah.
(29:06):
This was also reported by thestaff in the Montana State
Prison.
And when he was a kid, like histeachers would talk to his
mother, and I'm assuming hisfather, saying he is picking off
these scabs and sucking theblood and it is disturbing the
children and the teachers.
He was doing that even when hewas a kid.
While in Bridgewater StateHospital, he confided in
(29:27):
psychiatrists about hismurderous and cannibalistic
ideations.
One therapist stated that his"sexual fantasies, bizarre in
nature, outlined methods oftorture and extend to the
dissection and cannibalism." Andthat he"expressed a curiosity
(29:47):
about the taste of human flesh."Yeah, very, very disturbing.
It was also reported thatfollowing Ramsey's
disappearance, Bar-Jonah did notmake any grocery store purchases
for about a month.
However, he could have also paidfor groceries using cash.
He also held cookouts where heserved a variety of different
(30:07):
foods such as burgers, chili,meat, pies, et cetera.
Many people at these cookoutsreported that the meat had a
weird taste.
But Bar-Jonahs said he had gonehunting and used venison.
However, he did not own a rifleor a hunting license, and there
was no report that he had everbeen deer hunting at any point.
Sophia (30:28):
Okay.
I'm sorry, but if I'm eatingmeat and it has a weird taste,
I'm stopping.
Elena (30:31):
Yeah.
Sophia (30:33):
Mom and I once ate at this place that served different
kinds of meat.
Like supposedly it had likealligator and a whole bunch of I
wanna say snake too.
We didn't get that.
We just had the normal like cowburger.
But it tasted so weird that Iwas like, I don't know what this
meat is, but I'm stopping eatingit.
Elena (30:52):
They definitely reported that the meat had a very weird,
distinct taste to it that madethem pretty uncomfortable.
He also worked at a kitchen atMalmstrom Air Force Base, and at
a Hardee's fast food restaurant,in Great Falls.
It speculated that he could havegotten rid of the remaining meat
by giving it to unsuspectingmilitary personnel and
(31:13):
customers.
However, there was not enoughevidence to prove this.
It's also important to note thatwhen detectives were looking
through his apartment, theyfound recipes titled"Little Boy
Pot Pie, French Fried Kid," andstuff like"Lunch Served on the
Patio with Roasted Child".
Sophia (31:33):
Oh my God.
Elena (31:34):
Really, really disturbing recipes that all included human.
Sophia (31:40):
This man is sick.
He's just sick.
D (31:42):
But there's no proof he did it.
It could have been him livingout his fantasy.
Elena (31:46):
Exactly.
Sophia (31:47):
I hope it was.
D (31:48):
But it is sick.
Elena (31:49):
It is.
It's definitely very disturbingand disgusting.
And in Bar-Jonah's journalsfound that he mentioned serving
these recipes to his neighbors.
The case of Nathaniel Bar-Jonahremains one of the most
disturbing true crime stories inMontana and Massachusetts
history.
His monstrous acts hidden inplain sight for so long leave us
(32:13):
with more questions thananswers.
Who else might have fallenvictim to him?
And what do we truly know aboutthe depths of his depravity?
One thing is certain,Bar-Jonah's legacy is one of
horror and heartbreak.
And this story serves as achilling reminder that monsters
can lurk where we least expectthem.
Sophia (32:32):
This is one of the worst cases we've ever covered.
And it was, like you said, very,very heavy.
Elena (32:39):
It's heavy and it's frustrating'cause there were so
many signs, and so many attemptsto lock him away and throw away
the key.
And even when they did lock himaway, he still got out.
And I don't even think hecompleted his whole sentence.
Sophia (32:53):
What year was it when he died?
Elena (32:56):
2008.
So he would've been about 51,somewhere around there.
50, 51, 52.
D (33:02):
It's interesting.
I'm wondering if it's because ofthe times that he got away with
it.
If they just didn't believeeverything he said or what was
behind that.
They did put him in a mentalinstitution, so they had him in
the right place, but they feltit was okay to release him and
not to find what he was tellingthem serious.
Elena (33:25):
I just don't understand how he could confide in all that
to his therapist andpsychiatrist and yet still get
out.
D (33:34):
Yeah.
That is interesting.
Elena (33:37):
I don't know if there's just overcrowding in the
hospital, but even so there'sgotta be more stable patients
that they could release beforehim.
Sophia (33:46):
What's the point of even having him there if they're not
even gonna keep him there?
The whole point is to make surethat unsafe people are not
released.
Elena (33:54):
Also, it seems like he knew what he was doing was
wrong, so I don't understand whythey put him in the hospital in
the first place.
D (34:03):
They should just put him in jail?
Elena (34:05):
Yeah, to me.
There's nothing that thehospital can do Usually,
nowadays, if you're a pedophileor rapist a murderer, you go to
prison, it's normally when youplead not guilty by reason of
insanity that you go to a mentalhospital or some sort of like
hospital.
So, I'm shocked that they puthim there in the first place
because he, to me, it seems likehe knew what he was doing.
(34:26):
He was hiding his tracks tryingto avoid getting caught, all
that stuff.
D (34:32):
Let's look at this though.
There is something mentallywrong with him.
Mm-hmm.
That doesn't mean he doesn'tunderstand right or wrong.
Elena (34:40):
Right.
D (34:40):
And I'm not saying he should be put into a mental institution
and left there.
I mean maybe jail is the rightplace for someone like that.
But it's interesting; he's notthere with a normal mind and
decides to do crime.
He's there because there issomething wrong there with the
way he foresees things.
Elena (34:57):
Oh, for sure.
D (34:57):
And he's, wrong.
But he's very sick.
Sophia (34:59):
Honestly, what is it that makes certain individuals
pedophiles?
I don't even understand whythat's something that has to
happen in this world?
What, what makes peopleinterested in that?
Elena (35:13):
I think from what I gathered from this research,
it's multifactorial, so itincludes genetics, stressful
events, learning processes andit seems to be like there's not
a clear answer.
But it seems like it's acombination between nature and
nurture.
D (35:34):
It doesn't seem like they really understand it completely.
Elena (35:36):
Yeah.
Well, I wanna thank you guys forlistening to us this week.
I know it was a tough episode,but we appreciate you guys
sticking to the end.
We love our listeners and it'sbecause of each and every one of
you that we do this podcast.
Your help and engagement reallyhelps this podcast grow.
And if you enjoy this episode,please text a friend, family
(35:57):
member, or anyone to listen toour podcast.
And until next time, make sureyou stay on the Eerie Side.
Bye guys.
Bye, bye and be safe.
Hey guys.
Welcome to the Eerie Sidepodcast with your hosts, Elena,
Sophia, and D.
We appreciate you guys listeningand I hope you're ready to get
on the Eerie Side.
(00:45):
it if you guys could just givethe podcast a follow and make
sure that the bell notificationis turned on.
Just so you guys will benotified whenever we drop an
episode.
And if you guys are enjoying theshow, we'd love to hear you from
you and for you guys to leave areview.
And if there's any casesuggestions or any feedback
you'd like to share, just feelfree to send us a message in the
(01:06):
text box below and share thepodcast with family, friends,
co-workers, or really anyonethat you think will enjoy it.
And follow us on Instagram,TikTok, and Facebook at the
Eerie Side Podcast.
Now before we get into the case,I just want say listener
discretion is strongly advised,especially for those sensitive
to topics involving sexualassault, possible cannibalism,
(01:29):
and attempted murder and murderof children.
So if these topics regardingchildren are too disturbing for
anyone, we understand if youneed to take a moment or just
not listen.
With that being said, if youexperience any difficulties
during this episode, just knowthat there are resources
available for you if you needthem.
Okay, so before we get into thiscase, I would just like to say
(01:52):
that this is a case that I foundprobably one of the most
frustrating cases to listen to,knowing that all this stuff
could have been prevented somuch earlier, had things been
done properly, I guess withinvestigation or connections
been made.
I guess it was maybe just a signof the times and how things were
(02:16):
done back then.
As I let you guys know, mom andSophia, that this is the kind of
case that you guys wanna haveglass of wine ready with you.
If there's any 21 and uplisteners at home, and then
you're not driving.
I highly recommend just poppingopen a glass of wine or
honestly, maybe even a shot oftequila at this point.
Sophia (02:35):
I've already got my wine ready.
Elena (02:37):
Okay.
Today we're talking aboutNathaniel Bar-Jonah, a name that
might not be as infamous asJeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy, but
the crime he committed and thosehe is suspected of are just as
heinous.
This is the case of a man whosedepravity knew no bounds and
whose past was filled withwarning signs that went unheated
(02:59):
for far too long.
Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was bornDavid Paul Brown on February
15th, 1957.
In Worchester, Massachusetts.
From a young age, he exhibiteddeeply troubling behavior.
Behavior that should have servedas a glaring warning sign of the
kind of predator he would laterbecome.
(03:20):
He was the youngest of threechildren to Philip and Tyra
Brown.
When his mother was three monthspregnant, she was involved in a
serious car accident.
When another driver hit the backof her car while she was stopped
at a light, she had to wear aneck brace for the remainder of
the pregnancy.
While he was an infant, DavidPaul Brown, was inactive and had
a big hunger that resulted inhim crying nonstop until he was
(03:44):
fed.
Which led to excessive weightgain.
It got so bad that he basicallybecame immobile and his parents
had difficulties carrying himaround.
He also did not like beingtouched, and according to
Bar-Jonah, his father woulddiscipline him by beating him
with a leather belt, out of fearthat Bar-Jonah would grow up to
be"a homosexual".
Sophia (04:05):
Did you say he did not like to be touched?
Elena (04:07):
Yeah.
Sophia (04:09):
In what kind of way?
Elena (04:11):
I just think he didn't like any physical touch from
anyone.
D (04:14):
Was he autistic?
Elena (04:16):
I'm not sure.
Sophia (04:17):
Weird correlation that his father was beating him,'
cause he didn't wanna betouched.
Elena (04:21):
His father was beating him'cause he was afraid that he
was gay or that he would becomegay.
I guess he assumed that somehowbeating him would prevent that
even though it's not somethingyou can control.
Sophia (04:32):
When you said that he was beating him, I somehow
thought it was related to himnot wanting to be touched.
Elena (04:37):
No, that was just another side bit of information that I
included, that's unrelated.
Sophia (04:42):
And he was overweight as a baby.
Elena (04:44):
Mm-hmm.
Sophia (04:45):
That's so interesting because I feel like, all babies
are chubby, right?
I don't think I've ever heard ofa baby being overweight unless
there's something medicallygoing on.
D (04:53):
It was just like, he just wouldn't always wanted to be fed
all the time, is what Igathered.
And he would not stop cryinguntil he was fed.
And it got so bad that I guesshis like muscle mass didn't
catch up.
So, he was, in a sense,immobile.
And his parents couldn't evenreally carry him because of how
(05:14):
heavy he got.
Sophia (05:15):
I wonder what was happening to him psychologically
as a baby to go through that.
Elena (05:20):
I don't know.
It could have been somethingregarding the accident.
The car, maybe it affected himand you'll see that he was just
born off, for lack of a betterword.
But at only age seven, thingsstarted to take a dark turn for
Bar-Jonah when he lured afive-year-old girl into his
(05:42):
basement with the promise ofplaying in a Ouija board where
he attempted to choke her.
Her screams alerted Bar-Jonah'smother, who saved the little
girl, but of course, Bar-Jonahwasn't punished and the string
of childhood violence would onlycontinue for him.
Sophia (05:58):
His parents didn't think he should be punished.
Elena (06:01):
I think the mother thought that he didn't
understand what he was doing,and maybe he just thought he was
playing with her.
As we continue, you'llunderstand that I think he knew
what he was doing.
Sophia (06:13):
Wow.
Seven is a very young age.
Mm-hmm.
To be demonstrating potentiallypsychopathic and such violent
behaviors.
Elena (06:23):
Yeah, it definitely is very strange given how young he
was.
At 15, he would attempt to luretwo boys with cutout letters and
words from magazines to get theminto a cemetery and Webster.
I'm not sure what happened ifthe boys even went or not, but
the mother of the boys decidednot to press charges and thought
psychiatric treatment would bebest for Bar-Jonah.
(06:45):
I am assuming he didn't get any,either there's no record that he
did or didn't, but I'm gonnatake a guess that he did not.
Sophia (06:51):
Wait.
We don't know what happenedhere.
Elena (06:53):
I couldn't find any info.
I'm assuming he lured them outand attempted to assault them or
harmed them in some way and theyescaped, but I am not sure I.
The next year in May, 1974, sohe'd be about 16.
He tried to abduct anine-year-old girl Mary, in
Connecticut, but let her go whenshe screamed and fought back.
(07:17):
Almost a year later in March,1975, Bar-Jonah posed as a
police officer and lured an8-year-old boy named Richard
O'Connor into his car.
D (07:28):
How old is he at this moment?
Elena (07:29):
He was 16 when he tried to abduct the 9-year-old girl,
and then he was 16-17 when he,abducted the 8-year-old boy,
Richard O'Connor.
D (07:41):
Pretending to be a policeman?
Elena (07:42):
Mm-hmm.
D (07:43):
He did it to a child.
Elena (07:44):
Yeah.
D (07:45):
Not to an adult.
Elena (07:47):
Right.
He then drove the child to asecluded area, brutally sexually
assaulted him, then proceeded tochoke him.
However, when Richard was takenon his way to school, a neighbor
had seen the abduction andalerted authority.
So the police were alreadylooking for Richard.
A patrol car spotted a vehiclethat matched the description in
the abduction, and Bar-Jonah wasordered out of the car and a
(08:10):
bloodied Richard was found.
He had defecated and urinated onhimself due to the sexual
assault and was near death.
This should have been the end tohis reign of terror, but since
Bar-Jonah was still underage, henever faced any jail or prison
time, and was only sentenced toprobation for an unknown number
of months.
(08:30):
The system failed once again.
Then a few days before his highschool graduation, he drove to
Connecticut to impersonate apolice officer again and abduct
a 9-year-old girl.
D (08:43):
So he's just a pure pedophile.
Elena (08:47):
Basically.
Yeah.
However, the little girl beganvomiting and convulsing because
of the assault.
So he ended up throwing her outof the car, but a witness nearby
saw what happened and got thelicense plate.
He was arrested but nothing everhappened and the news never got
back to his probation officer.
And he was eventually releasedfrom probation in May of 1976.
(09:10):
When the period was over he evengot a letter thanking him for
his cooperation while onprobation.
Sophia (09:17):
I don't understand how this never got back to his
probation officer.
Elena (09:21):
I'm guessing it's just a lack of communication.
It is all paperwork, at thatpoint in the seventies, there's
no technology that would connectthem.
I'm guessing it's'cause he droveto Connecticut for what happened
to the 9-year-old girl.
Maybe there wasn't a connectionbetween where he was and that.
Sophia (09:39):
Even today crossing county, state lines, all of that
makes it worse.
And so back then, when therewasn't even the technology that
we have today, I can see itbeing possible.
Elena (09:53):
On September 24th, in 1977, Bar-Jonah abducted two
boys leaving a movie theater bypretending to be an FBI agent.
He drove them to a secondlocation where he locked one of
the boys in a trunk and took theother one and attempted to
suffocate him by putting all ofhis weight on the boy.
Sophia (10:14):
Oh my God.
Elena (10:15):
He weighed 375 pounds at this point.
Because I think that boy, thathe tried to suffocate was being
too loud and like fighting back,so that's why he tried to kill
him.
Sophia (10:26):
How tall is Nathaniel?
Elena (10:28):
He's 5'10'.
D (10:29):
How old is he at this point?
Elena (10:32):
I think he's 20.
D (10:34):
He's 20.
He's like 300 pounds.
He's a pedophile and now it'sescalating to killing someone.
Elena (10:41):
The boy either passed out or pretended to be dead and
Bar-Jonah left thinking he hadkilled him.
The boy was able to run away,and alert authorities about what
happened.
Bar-Jonah was eventually foundand arrested and the other boy
was found alive in the trunk.
Finally Bar-Jonahnah wasconvicted of attempted murder
and sentenced to 18 to 22 yearsin prison.
(11:04):
Now, you would think this wouldbe the end of his terror, but
unfortunately that wasn't thecase.
He ended up tellingpsychiatrists about having
sexual fantasies involvingmurder, torture, and
cannibalism.
So he was transferred toBridgewater State Hospital for
an indefinite term.
On March 22nd, 1984, he legallychanged his name to Nathaniel
(11:27):
Benjamin Levy Bar-Jonah,claiming he wanted to know what
it was like to be discriminatedagainst as a Jewish person.
He and his family were notJewish in any way.
In July of 1991, he was releasedfrom the hospital deeming that
he was not a danger to anyone;even though, he confided in his
psychiatrist, that he was havingall these dark, twisted thoughts
(11:51):
about harming people.
D (11:53):
It's interesting how they obviously don't take his word
seriously.
Elena (11:59):
It's just shocking that a judge can, still release him.
On August 9th, 1991, only amonth after being released, he
saw a boy in a car outside apost office in Oxford,
Massachusetts where Bar-Jonahentered and sat on the boy
Sophia (12:17):
Sat on the boy?
Elena (12:18):
Sat on the boy.
Sophia (12:19):
Why does his mind go there?
How was this boy?
Is he lying down?
Elena (12:23):
He was in the car.
At this point, he weighs 275pounds.
I think he had some weird sexualsadistic fantasy about
suffocation, and he just usedhis weight for that.
Sophia (12:36):
So, he's lost weight.
Elena (12:38):
According to the research, yeah.
That he was now like 275 pounds.
Sophia (12:42):
I never thought that weight could be used as a
weapon, but this story is takingus to new places we've never
been before.
Elena (12:48):
Oh yeah.
Just you wait.
However, witnesses saw this andBar-Jonah fled.
The description that was givenof Bar-Jonah was recognized by
an officer that arrested him 15years earlier.
He was eventually found andarrested, but claimed he didn't
know the boy was there and justentered the car to get out of
the rain.
Sophia (13:06):
Oh yeah.
He just casually sat in the onthe boy when he's getting in the
car.
Elena (13:11):
Yeah.
I find that very hard tobelieve.
And there's a report that he didlater on go on confessed that he
was trying to kill the boy.
But he claimed originally thathe didn't know he was there.
It was a stupid excuse that I'massuming no one believed.
He was given only two yearsprobation for this if he agreed
to move to Great Falls, Montanaand never returned to
(13:35):
Massachusetts.
D (13:37):
So let me understand.
The way Massachusetts is solvingthe problem is by telling him to
go to another state.
So he is someone else's problem?
Elena (13:44):
From what I saw in one article.
Yeah.
D (13:48):
Okay.
Sophia (13:49):
Mama loves the logic of that one.
Elena (13:51):
And also the reason that he was released from the
hospital was in agreement thathe would live with his mother,
in Massachusetts.
So now he can't even do thatsince he's moving to Montana.
But in December of 1993, he wasaccused of molesting an
8-year-old boy that he wasbabysitting, but claimed that if
(14:12):
he had actually done that, hewould've killed the boy.
And the case was dropped becausehis lawyer claimed that a right
to a speedy trial was violated.
Yeah.
So his logic was, if I did that,I would've killed him, and I
didn't.
Sophia (14:25):
So far he hasn't killed any though, it seems like.
Elena (14:28):
That we know of.
It's just hard to tell who hehas killed and who he hasn't.
I'm assuming he probably has atthis point, but we just don't
know.
But there's really no evidenceas of right now.
D (14:39):
Unless, he's flimsy and hasn't figured out how to do
things.
Elena (14:44):
Yeah.
It seems like he's tried to killchildren, but hasn't done it.
I hate to use the wordsuccessfully, but he hasn't
successfully done it yet.
And we'll get into when thatkind of all changes right now.
So on February 10th, 1996,10-year-old Zachary Ramsey
vanished while walking toschool.
Despite an extensive search, notrace of him was found.
(15:07):
Witnesses reported seeing anoff-white four-door vehicle
almost running Ramsey over.
It was also later reported thatthe little boy was crying and
looked like he was beingfollowed by an obese man by
another witness.
Detective Bill Bellusci receiveda list of local registered sex
offenders from the FBI, butimmediately focused his
(15:29):
suspicion on Bar-Jonah.
Who was not included on thelist, but Bellusci had
investigated the December, 1993case.
So, Bellusci saught a searchwarrant for the residence where
Bar-Jonah lived with his mother,after police were denied access
to the property.
However, his request was denied.
(15:50):
And despite his efforts toobtain a new warrant, Bellusci
was unsuccessful.
Not long after Bar-Jonah movedout of his mother's house.
On December 13th, 1999,Bar-Jonah was spotted outside at
elementary school for the thirdtime in a week.
He was wearing a dark bluejacket and knit cap and carrying
(16:10):
two cans of pepper spray, abadge, and I've heard reports of
a toy gun or a real gun.
Sophia (16:17):
Oh my gosh.
He is so much bigger than achild.
He does not need pepper spray tosubdue them.
Elena (16:24):
Especially two cans of pepper is crazy.
Sophia (16:27):
I know.
And to think of him using thaton a child as just
disheartening.
At this point, if they want tofind him, all they have to do is
go to the nearest elementaryschool, and he will be there.
Elena (16:35):
Yeah.
And it was also reported thathis apartment was like near a
bunch of elementary school andplaces where kids would
frequent.
Sophia (16:42):
That's wrong.
Elena (16:43):
Yeah.
Bellusci along with the MontanaAttorney General charged
Bar-Jonah with impersonating anofficer and carrying a concealed
weapon.
A judge approved a searchwarrant on December 15th,
allowing law enforcement tosearch both Bar-Jonah's new
apartment and his mother's homefor objects related to
impersonation.
(17:04):
During the search, policediscovered two coats, one
containing a toy badge in thepocket, and a second one
containing toy badge, and a stungun, and a baseball cap labeled
security enforcement.
Additionally evidence included apulley system on
Bar-Jonah-Jonas's, kitchenceiling, two albums filled with
(17:25):
images of children with sectionscut out, and document dealing
knots and bondage in an articleon Autoerotic Asphyxiation.
D (17:36):
What does he need a pulley system in his house?
Elena (17:40):
I'll briefly get into that a little bit later, but he
would hang children from it.
Yeah.
It's crazy that this is not amore well-known case giving how
horrific this case is.
Sophia (17:54):
I think this is the most horrific case.
Almost.
Elena (17:56):
I was gonna say the case of Louis Garavito the Beast.
Sophia (17:59):
Oh.
Oh my God, that one's up there.
Yeah.
One.
Oh my God, that one was awful.
Oh my gosh.
It's so awful that it's hard toeven conceive.
It's possible because he didthat horrific act so many times
to so many kids.
Yep.
What's so bad about this is likehe is the worst criminal
possible because not only doeshe target and hurt children by
(18:22):
sexually assaulting them, but hejust adds this torture, bondage.
Elena (18:29):
Mm-hmm.
Sophia (18:30):
Part of it that makes it so much more haunting.
Elena (18:35):
Yeah, exactly.
Years after Zachary Ramsey'sdisappearance, police
investigations determined thatBar-Jonah had access to his
mother's off-white four door,1978 Toyota Corolla on the day,
Ramsey vanished.
At that time, his mother andbrother were out of town
attending a funeral.
Furthermore, it was discoveredthat Bar-Jonah had not been
(18:57):
working on the day of thedisappearance.
Nor are the days leading up toit.
Two days following the initialsearches, Bellusci secured a
second warrant for any documentsor photographic evidence.
While searching Bar-Jonah'sapartment, detectives uncovered
a list titled Lake Webstercontaining 54 boy's names.
(19:17):
Many of the names were linked toBar-Jonah's youth in
Massachusetts, including threeboys he had been convicted of
abducting in the 1970s.
The name Zachary Ramsey appearedon the list, followed by the
word died.
Additionally, police founddozens of newspaper clippings
about Ramsey's case, hundreds ofthousands of photographs of
children and undeveloped filmcontaining sexually explicit
(19:40):
images of Bar-Jonah with threeunidentified boys.
A former roommate, of Bar-Jonah,reported finding clothing in his
apartment that closely resembledwhat Ramsey was wearing on the
day he disappeared along with apair of bloody gloves.
Sophia (19:53):
So you mentioned that there is a boy that he wrote as
died.
How do we know if that boy wasdead?
Because of his doing?
Elena (20:05):
That was the kid that had disappeared a few years earlier,
and there was a report of awhite car.
Oh.
Yeah, that's the one I wastalking about where another
witness saw an obese manfollowing after him.
Sophia (20:21):
And how old is he at this point that you're
describing him?
Elena (20:26):
He's at least in his forties by now.
D (20:30):
Oh, we're at that point.
Elena (20:31):
Yeah, we're in the 1990s.
1996 is when Zachary Ramseydisappeared.
And he got out of the hospitalin 91, and he was born in 57.
Another roommate recounted thatBar-Jonah had mentioned Ramsey
in conversations once, just daysbefore his disappearance.
(20:51):
In another time, a chillingremarks sitting there.
Ramsey would never be foundbecause he had been chopped up
and scattered in differentlocations.
D (21:01):
Oh wow.
Yeah, just it gets even worse,believe it or not.
Elena (21:06):
Investigators also discovered notebooks filled with
what initially appeared to bearbitrary symbols, but were
later determined to be a codedsystem.
With assistance of the FBI, thewritings were eventually
deciphered, revealing detaileddescriptions of child torture
and cannibalism, as well asrecipes referencing human body
(21:27):
parts.
On July 5th, 2000, MontanaPolice, formally charged
Bar-Jonah with kidnapping andsexual assault.
In addition to the kidnappingand sexual assault of three
other boys and the murder ofZachary Ramsey.
He was held in the CascadeCounty Jail in great falls and
pleaded not guilty to allcharges.
(21:47):
Prosecutors announced theirintention to seek the death
penalty.
Bar-Jonah was charged with theabduction and sexual assault of
three boys and was convicted ofkidnapping, aggravated assault,
and sexual assault, includingallegations that he had tortured
a boy and hung him from theceiling.
Ramsey's mother was influencedby Bar-Jonah's defense team and
(22:09):
to testify that she believed herson was still alive, which led
to the jury not convicting himfor the murder.
And this is the murder ofZachary Ramsey.
D (22:19):
Let me see if I understand this.
The jury did not find him guiltyof murder'cause Zachary's mom
didn't believe her son was dead.
Elena (22:27):
Yeah.
That was one of the reasons.
There was also justcircumstantial evidence.
There was no hardcore forensicevidence that linked him to the
murder.
So I think it was a combinationof both of those things.
D (22:38):
There were three other boys that he did not kill.
Correct.
Elena (22:42):
Right.
D (22:43):
And when these boys left this guy's place, they did not go to
the police and say they wereabused/
Elena (22:49):
I'm not a hundred percent certain as how it all went down.
I think a lot of this is keptquiet'cause they were under age.
So I'm assuming, it is possiblethat maybe they came forward and
that's what led to the policeinvestigating.
Sophia (23:08):
Not everyone reports a sexual assault or even reports
it right away.
Mm-hmm.
D (23:13):
I understand.
But it's three boys.
You would hope that since therewere three boys, that one of the
three would say something.
Sophia (23:20):
I think that would probably be the most likely.
But it's possible that all threeof them chose not to.
Elena (23:26):
It could also be that cause they discovered him
outside of the school and that'swhat led to all the searches in
the house.
It's possible that they wereable to identify the three boys
from pictures or something likethat.
And then they reached out tothem It's not certain, but it
seems that they had enoughevidence that they found in that
(23:46):
house to at least convict him ofassault.
D (23:50):
Okay.
So it looks like if they hadn'tfound him outside the school,
they may not have known that hewas a predator.
Elena (24:00):
I think at some point someone would've come forward.
But yeah, it seems like that'swhat was like the nail in the
coffin for him.
D (24:07):
How long was he living in this area now?
Elena (24:09):
I'm not too sure.
I think he moved out of themother's house sometime after
93.
So like 94, 95, somewhere aroundthere;'cause by 99 he was in
Montana.
D (24:25):
Where is his father in all of this?
Elena (24:28):
I don't know.
I am assuming he's dead
D (24:33):
Was wondering if the father was seeing something, didn't
understand it.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not saying the father didthe right thing.
Right, yeah.
Didn't understand it and thoughthe was a homosexual.
Instead he was a pedophile andhe ended up being a killer.
So I'm wondering if there wassome mental issue there the
father was seeing, didn'tunderstand it and thought, one,
(24:55):
that he was homosexual second bybeating him, he'd get it out of
him.
Elena (24:59):
It's possible.
I truthfully don't know.
He was doing some weird thingsas a kid and maybe he just
misinterpreted that as himpossibly being gay.
I'm not sure.
D (25:08):
And if he's starring at a very young age.
I'm not sure if it was nature ornurture.
Elena (25:13):
It doesn't seem like he had that rough as a childhood.
D (25:18):
Oh, just what he just mentioned about his dad.
Right.
Which you didn't think it wasthat big of a deal.
It wasn't like excessive oranything.
Elena (25:24):
It's definitely like a deal in the sense I left a mark
on him, or it would for anychild.
It's definitely a big deal, butbecause I've seen kids who have
had far worse abuse and havecome out just fine with, not
hurting anyone.
It didn't seem like it was anexcessive amount.
It seemed like he was hittinghim in the same way as people
would do for that time.
(25:44):
Now, is it still wrong?
Yes, his reasoning for it wasdefinitely very wrong, but it
didn't seem like he was abusinghim a lot.
D (25:53):
The other thing I'm wondering is he had gone to therapy?
Elena (25:58):
No.
D (25:59):
Didn't the therapist let him go from the mental institution?
Elena (26:01):
Oh, yeah When he was in the mental institution, right.
D (26:04):
He was in there, had therapy and yet they thought they could
let him go.
Which I'm wondering if he hadsome form of narcissism or
something where he knew how toplay them.
Elena (26:16):
It's possible, but it also seemed like he was pretty
upfront with what was going onin his head, like it didn't seem
like he was hiding.
Sophia (26:24):
That's true.
A narcissist, unless they'remanipulative, they probably
wouldn't say, oh yeah, I'm intoall of these dark stuff like
pedophilia and the cannibalismand all of that.
Yeah.
D (26:36):
But he did tell the therapist this is what is in it.
Mm-hmm.
And they didn't believe him.
So why is that?
Elena (26:42):
I have no idea.
I don't know.
I have no idea why that wasn'taddressed or if it was
addressed, why it didn't hold asmuch weight as it should have
when he was up for release.
Sophia (26:54):
Do you think some people just did not believe that a
human could be that dark?
Maybe the people he was dealingwith were like, okay, there's no
way he's into all of that.
Elena (27:02):
I am not sure.
I do have a quote a little bitfurther down from one of his
therapists.
Seemed to me like they believedhim.
Definitely very interesting.
To move on, during the trial,36-year-old Mary, remember Mary
was one of the girls that he hadassaulted and attempted to
abduct her and ended upreleasing her, cause she was
(27:24):
fighting back too much.
D (27:25):
When she was younger.
Elena (27:26):
Right.
Sophia (27:27):
She was the one who vomited?
Elena (27:28):
No.
That was a different one.
D (27:29):
So, she's 36 at this point.
Elena (27:31):
Yeah.
So during the trial, 36-year-oldMary identified Bar-Jonah as the
man who had assaulted andattempted to abduct her in 74.
However, due to the statute oflimitations, Bar-Jonah, could
not be prosecuted for thiscrime.
He was sentenced to 130 years inprison and maintained his
innocence until his death.
(27:52):
Despite Ramsey's mother'sobjections, a judge declared
Zachary Ramsey, legally dead.
In 2011.
Montana authorities were unawareof Bar-Jonah's previous criminal
history in Massachusetts, and anissue raised by activists who
campaigned for mandatoryregistration of former sex
offenders.
In December, 2004, the MontanaSupreme Court denied Bar-Jonah's
(28:16):
appeal and upheld his 130 yearsentence.
On April 13th 2008, Bar-Jonahwas found unresponsive in his
prison cell.
He had been in poor health andthe postmortem revealed high
levels of LDL in his arterieswith heart attack being the
cause of death.
Sophia (28:36):
Did you ever say that he ever ate anyone?
Was he ever actually eatingpeople?
Elena (28:43):
I'm gonna get to that right now actually.
All right.
So it's also important to notethat there are many more victims
that could possibly be relatedto Bar-Jonah, but there was not
enough evidence to confirm that.
Cannibalism can be traced to hischildhood when he would pick and
suck on the blood from wounds.
Meaning he would pick off scabsand suck on the Yeah.
(29:06):
This was also reported by thestaff in the Montana State
Prison.
And when he was a kid, like histeachers would talk to his
mother, and I'm assuming hisfather, saying he is picking off
these scabs and sucking theblood and it is disturbing the
children and the teachers.
He was doing that even when hewas a kid.
While in Bridgewater StateHospital, he confided in
(29:27):
psychiatrists about hismurderous and cannibalistic
ideations.
One therapist stated that his"sexual fantasies, bizarre in
nature, outlined methods oftorture and extend to the
dissection and cannibalism." Andthat he"expressed a curiosity
(29:47):
about the taste of human flesh."Yeah, very, very disturbing.
It was also reported thatfollowing Ramsey's
disappearance, Bar-Jonah did notmake any grocery store purchases
for about a month.
However, he could have also paidfor groceries using cash.
He also held cookouts where heserved a variety of different
(30:07):
foods such as burgers, chili,meat, pies, et cetera.
Many people at these cookoutsreported that the meat had a
weird taste.
But Bar-Jonahs said he had gonehunting and used venison.
However, he did not own a rifleor a hunting license, and there
was no report that he had everbeen deer hunting at any point.
Sophia (30:28):
Okay.
I'm sorry, but if I'm eatingmeat and it has a weird taste,
I'm stopping.
Elena (30:31):
Yeah.
Sophia (30:33):
Mom and I once ate at this place that served different
kinds of meat.
Like supposedly it had likealligator and a whole bunch of I
wanna say snake too.
We didn't get that.
We just had the normal like cowburger.
But it tasted so weird that Iwas like, I don't know what this
meat is, but I'm stopping eatingit.
Elena (30:52):
They definitely reported that the meat had a very weird,
distinct taste to it that madethem pretty uncomfortable.
He also worked at a kitchen atMalmstrom Air Force Base, and at
a Hardee's fast food restaurant,in Great Falls.
It speculated that he could havegotten rid of the remaining meat
by giving it to unsuspectingmilitary personnel and
(31:13):
customers.
However, there was not enoughevidence to prove this.
It's also important to note thatwhen detectives were looking
through his apartment, theyfound recipes titled"Little Boy
Pot Pie, French Fried Kid," andstuff like"Lunch Served on the
Patio with Roasted Child".
Sophia (31:33):
Oh my God.
Elena (31:34):
Really, really disturbing recipes that all included human.
Sophia (31:40):
This man is sick.
He's just sick.
D (31:42):
But there's no proof he did it.
It could have been him livingout his fantasy.
Elena (31:46):
Exactly.
Sophia (31:47):
I hope it was.
D (31:48):
But it is sick.
Elena (31:49):
It is.
It's definitely very disturbingand disgusting.
And in Bar-Jonah's journalsfound that he mentioned serving
these recipes to his neighbors.
The case of Nathaniel Bar-Jonahremains one of the most
disturbing true crime stories inMontana and Massachusetts
history.
His monstrous acts hidden inplain sight for so long leave us
(32:13):
with more questions thananswers.
Who else might have fallenvictim to him?
And what do we truly know aboutthe depths of his depravity?
One thing is certain,Bar-Jonah's legacy is one of
horror and heartbreak.
And this story serves as achilling reminder that monsters
can lurk where we least expectthem.
Sophia (32:32):
This is one of the worst cases we've ever covered.
And it was, like you said, very,very heavy.
Elena (32:39):
It's heavy and it's frustrating'cause there were so
many signs, and so many attemptsto lock him away and throw away
the key.
And even when they did lock himaway, he still got out.
And I don't even think hecompleted his whole sentence.
Sophia (32:53):
What year was it when he died?
Elena (32:56):
2008.
So he would've been about 51,somewhere around there.
50, 51, 52.
D (33:02):
It's interesting.
I'm wondering if it's because ofthe times that he got away with
it.
If they just didn't believeeverything he said or what was
behind that.
They did put him in a mentalinstitution, so they had him in
the right place, but they feltit was okay to release him and
not to find what he was tellingthem serious.
Elena (33:25):
I just don't understand how he could confide in all that
to his therapist andpsychiatrist and yet still get
out.
D (33:34):
Yeah.
That is interesting.
Elena (33:37):
I don't know if there's just overcrowding in the
hospital, but even so there'sgotta be more stable patients
that they could release beforehim.
Sophia (33:46):
What's the point of even having him there if they're not
even gonna keep him there?
The whole point is to make surethat unsafe people are not
released.
Elena (33:54):
Also, it seems like he knew what he was doing was
wrong, so I don't understand whythey put him in the hospital in
the first place.
D (34:03):
They should just put him in jail?
Elena (34:05):
Yeah, to me.
There's nothing that thehospital can do Usually,
nowadays, if you're a pedophileor rapist a murderer, you go to
prison, it's normally when youplead not guilty by reason of
insanity that you go to a mentalhospital or some sort of like
hospital.
So, I'm shocked that they puthim there in the first place
because he, to me, it seems likehe knew what he was doing.
(34:26):
He was hiding his tracks tryingto avoid getting caught, all
that stuff.
D (34:32):
Let's look at this though.
There is something mentallywrong with him.
Mm-hmm.
That doesn't mean he doesn'tunderstand right or wrong.
Elena (34:40):
Right.
D (34:40):
And I'm not saying he should be put into a mental institution
and left there.
I mean maybe jail is the rightplace for someone like that.
But it's interesting; he's notthere with a normal mind and
decides to do crime.
He's there because there issomething wrong there with the
way he foresees things.
Elena (34:57):
Oh, for sure.
D (34:57):
And he's, wrong.
But he's very sick.
Sophia (34:59):
Honestly, what is it that makes certain individuals
pedophiles?
I don't even understand whythat's something that has to
happen in this world?
What, what makes peopleinterested in that?
Elena (35:13):
I think from what I gathered from this research,
it's multifactorial, so itincludes genetics, stressful
events, learning processes andit seems to be like there's not
a clear answer.
But it seems like it's acombination between nature and
nurture.
D (35:34):
It doesn't seem like they really understand it completely.
Elena (35:36):
Yeah.
Well, I wanna thank you guys forlistening to us this week.
I know it was a tough episode,but we appreciate you guys
sticking to the end.
We love our listeners and it'sbecause of each and every one of
you that we do this podcast.
Your help and engagement reallyhelps this podcast grow.
And if you enjoy this episode,please text a friend, family
(35:57):
member, or anyone to listen toour podcast.
And until next time, make sureyou stay on the Eerie Side.
Bye guys.
Bye, bye and be safe.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!