A Witness to Family Annihilation : Lauren Stuart

Season 22 : Family Annihilators Part 2

The Stuart family had been shunned by their Jehovah's Witness church and it caused an already depressed Lauren Stuart to spiral to a place she could never come back from.

Our Regular Merch Hosted by FourthWall! : https://thisismonsters.com/
GTFOH Doormats : https://this-is-monsters.printify.me/

Socials:
LinkTree : https://linktr.ee/thisismonsters
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thisis_monsters/
Threads : https://www.threads.net/@thisis_monsters

My other shows:
This is Monsters YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@thisisMONSTERS
Vlog : https://www.youtube.com/@jileswithaj
Somewhere Sinister Podcast : 
Somewhere Sinister YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@SomewhereSinister

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lauren Stewart had suffered trauma and mental health issues for
many years. She spent most of those years finding ways
to cope. Eventually, though, after losing one of her biggest
sources of support, Lauren could no longer handle her depression.
She wanted to leave the world, but she didn't want
to leave her family behind. This is monsters. Dan and

(00:49):
Lauren Stewart had worked hard to be able to put
their children through college. Their children, Stephen and Bethany, were
on track to have successful college careers. Stephen was going
to study computer science and Bethany had already received a
scholarship to art school. Unfortunately, the family happened to be
members of their local group of Jehovah's Witnesses and Keego Harbor, Michigan.

(01:13):
It's unclear how long they had been members, but one
source says that they were raised within the group. Despite that,
they didn't seem to know that the Jehovah's Witnesses frowned
upon higher education. When a church leader heard that the
kids were both planning to go to college, he called
a meeting with the family to carry out what the
organization calls education ironic. The leader told them that college

(01:39):
was unnecessary and that it would only expose them to
pernicious levels of immorality, which is true. College is a
place where many young people experience things for the first time,
but you have to develop some level of self control.
When I was younger, I had a problem with alcohol,
but I've never been a drug user. I've been around

(02:00):
people who had drugs, and even as a careless, impressionable
young adult, I still turned it down when it was offered.
And as an adult, I've been to many seedy areas
where I could have probably found a number of immoral
activities to take part in, but I didn't because I
have independent thought and can make that choice. Part of
being a young adult is experiencing the world and learning

(02:22):
how to deal with its realities. Sadly, many people who
are devout Jehovah's witnesses would just keep their kids from
going to college in order to stay on the church's
good side. Not the Stuarts, though, their children continued with
their pursuit of higher education, and it seems as though
the family continued to be discouraged from having their kids

(02:44):
in college. In twenty thirteen, Dan and Lauren decided that
they were tired of dealing with that and left the church.
That was when the family was shunned. Shunning is a
common practice in many groups that implement more cult like behavior,
and Jehovah's Witnesses are no different. If you leave the group,
either voluntarily or are forced out, the congregation will completely

(03:08):
cut you off. Jehovah's Witnesses also encourage their followers to
only associate with other followers, another questionable behavior that keeps
their members in a bubble where they only experience Jehovah's
witness teachings and helps keep those people from developing outside thought,
which is done under the guise of protecting them from immorality.

(03:31):
But we're not talking about just other people in the community.
If your family members aren't Jehovah's Witnesses, you don't talk
to them. If you have a family and her members
and your child turns eighteen and decides they don't want
to stay a member, say bye bye. You need to
shun that kid like everybody else. That's horrible enough, But
what also happens is that members end up with only

(03:53):
other members in their lives. So if something happens for
them to deserve a good old fashioned shunning, they have nobody.
Everyone they associated with was a member, and they will
no longer talk to them. It immediately cuts the person
who's being shunned off from everyone. They are essentially alone.
At least Dan and Lauren had each other and their children,

(04:16):
but even then, it's a horrific punishment. Joyce Taylor was
a friend of Laurence, who also eventually left the church.
She explained that even in public, none of the Jehovah's
witnesses would even look her in the eyes. People she
had known her whole life wouldn't even acknowledge her or
the Stuart's existence. Worse yet, Stephen and Bethany's friends refused

(04:39):
to return their calls. Children who had not made the
decision to become Jehovah's Witnesses had to stop seeing their friends.
For the Stewarts, it seemed that it created quite a
bit of turmoil for Lauren. It may have been easier
for Dan, as he worked in data solutions for the
University of Michigan and may have had more regular contact

(05:00):
with people outside of the church. He had been helping
develop a program at the university that would be able
to detect heart attacks, and it seems he was able
to move on a bit from the Jehovah's Witnesses. He
had found some other Christian teachings that he was following
and tried to maintain his faith outside of his previous church.
Lawn struggled, though. She picked up modeling and acting for

(05:23):
a short time and distracted herself with a number of
home improvement projects. She did some work as a personal
trainer and a house cleaner, but no matter what, she
couldn't get past her teachings from the Jehovah's Witnesses. She
started reading Jehovah's witness material on her own, focusing on
what the group believes will happen during the end of
the world. She began researching other teachings, having become obsessed

(05:47):
with doomsday conspiracy theories. Her mental health was spiraling, but
she kept it hidden from everyone around her. Records show
she started using her computer to research suicide methods. She
looked in information about pills, poisons, and cutting arteries, but
she seemed to settle on using a gun. From there,

(06:08):
she started researching guns and chose a glockhandgun for the deed.
Lauren posted a video on her YouTube channel where she
said she was on a path to destruction and that
sexual abuse she suffered as a child had driven her
to her current mental state. In another video, she said
she was broken and that she didn't want to be
a burden to her family. Those words were red flags

(06:31):
that someone was thinking about harming themselves, but Lauren wasn't
planning to go alone. On February sixth, twenty eighteen, Lauren
wrote two letters, which she left on the dining room table.
She sent Stephen a text message asking if he was
still on his way to their house, and he responded yes.
Lauren also texted her cousin and said, quote, I took

(06:54):
my husband and kids with me so they don't have
to feel my selfish act. They will sleep until Christ
resurrects them. I truly hope you do better where I failed.
Her cousin responded, quote, Lauren, you're scaring me. What are
you saying? Don't do it, Lauren. I'm not sure why
the cousin didn't call the authorities or go to the

(07:15):
house immediately, but nobody arrived to stop Lauren from carrying
out her plan. First, Lauren crept into Bethany's room, where
her daughter was napping, put a pillow, over her head
and fired two shots, killing her. When Stephen arrived, he
entered the house and Lauren told him something was wrong
with the computer. He walked to the desk and sat down,

(07:36):
only to have his mother shoot him in the head
as well. At some point Dan was in the basement.
It's unclear if he was already there and didn't hear
the previous shots, or he came home and went down there,
but he was Lauren's next target. Lauren went into the
basement and shot Dan. Then she walked around the house
and placed all of the pictures face down. She texted

(07:59):
her husband's bak and told him Dan had died and
she would give him more information soon. He responded to
her text but didn't hear back. Then Lauren shot and
killed the dog. The next morning, Lauren's cousin went to
her house, but when she got no answer at the door,
she called the police. Officers made entry into the house,

(08:19):
where they found the entire family, including the dog, shot
to death. Lauren had shot herself at the bottom of
the basement stairs. On the table, one of the letters
was a suicide note and the other was to the
medical examiner. The only part of either of the notes
that was released read quote, I allowed evil into my
heart when I chose not to accept God's free love,

(08:42):
and it made me sick inside. I killed my family
because I know my death would stumble them. At least
now they will not suffer and will be resurrected into
love forever in peace. This is another example of when
a religious belief clearly becomes mental illness to kill your
family because you believe they would be better off with

(09:02):
God than without you as insane. Jehovah's witnesses also believe
that if you're alive when the end of the world happens,
you don't go to heaven, but just get swept away
with the wicked. It's believed that that was one of
Lauren's worries regarding leaving her family alive. Lauren's parents and
siblings didn't seem like they had helped the situation much.

(09:25):
A detective said that one of her sisters showed no
sadness at the news and even said she wasn't surprised
by what Lauren had done. Multiple family members said that
Dan was the one who had pulled her away from them.
It seems that her family believed it was Dan's fault
that they left the church and they had no choice
but to shun her. Those family members knew that Laurence

(09:47):
suffered from depression, and they still shunned her. Two days
after the deaths, Lauren's friend Joyce Taylor, stormed into the
Jehovah's Witness meeting Hall, stood on a chair and yelled
at the leaders. She shouted, quote, two days ago, four
people died as a result of your shunning process. Five
years ago. You people pulled your support from this small family.

(10:10):
The only support they had was you people. You turned
them away, and you shunned them for what Because they
wanted to raise their children as they saw fit. Lauren
was not the first, and will likely not be the last,
person to commit suicide, at least partly due to having
been shunned by a religion or even a cult. Lauren
had suffered from depression for a long time, and of

(10:32):
course there were other factors, but if she had the
support of her friends and family, her problems might have
been a little bit more manageable. That little bit might
have been enough to keep her and her family alive.
At the end of the day, Lauren chose to end
her own life in order to be free of her depression,
but she also selfishly decided that her family wouldn't be

(10:53):
able to handle the pain of her loss. She made
that choice, but it's naive to think that it had
nothing to do the people who claim to love her
shunning her and treating her like a pariah for wanting
to send her kids to college without constant harassment from
the group's leaders. When a person is already depressed and
suffering from self doubt, good people don't push them away

(11:15):
and make them believe they are less of a person
worthy of love. At the same time, it's not right
for one person to decide whether someone else should live
or die, even if that one person believes it will
be better for them based on their religious beliefs. A
belief in God, or a claim that you're following their
words will never be a reason to act like a monster.

(11:39):
If you're the victim of domestic abuse, please reach out
to someone for help. Please talk to your local shelter,
call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at one eight hundred
seven nine nine safe that's one eight hundred seven nine
ninety seven two three three, or you can go to
the hotline dot org to chat with someone online. If
you're having feelings of harming yourself or someone else, or

(12:00):
even just need someone to talk to, please contact your
local mental health facility call nine one one, or call
the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by simply dialing nine eight
eight in the United States. They're available twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week, and we'll talk to
you about any mental health issue you might be facing.
If you're a member of the LGBTQ plus community and

(12:21):
suffering from discrimination, depression, or are in need of any support,
please contact the LGBT National Hotline at one eight eight
eight eight four three four five six four, or go
to LGBT Hotline dot org. Thanks so much for letting
me tell you this story. If you're a fan of
true crime, you can subscribe to this show so you
don't miss an episode. My other show, Somewhere Sinister is

(12:44):
no longer getting new episodes, but you can check it
out if you like interesting stories from history that aren't
necessarily true crime, but true crime adjacent. It's available anywhere
that you listen to podcasts. You can also check out
my personal vlog, Giles with a J which is sporadic
updated with stuff about my personal life, travel and music.
It's available on YouTube. If you'd like to support the show,

(13:07):
check out our merchandise at thisismonsters dot com. A link
is in the description. Thanks again and be safe.