Boy In Suitcase Was Cult Victim, Police Say

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia in the spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after meals, police said.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said Monday that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder. Police and Ramkissoon's family said the group is a cult.

Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two children. He would have been about 19 months old when police say adults stopped feeding him in December 2006.

Ramkissoon, 21, was being held Monday in the psychiatric ward of Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center, and a bail review was postponed until Tuesday. Her public defender declined comment.

The three other people charged in Javon's death -- Queen Antoinette, 40, also known as Toni Ellsberry or Toni Sloan; Marcus Cobbs, 21; and Trevia Williams, who turns 21 Tuesday -- were already in custody. They were arrested in May in New York City on warrants charging them with failure to appear in court in Baltimore. Those charges stemmed from a scuffle with police in a child custody dispute.

No one answered the phone Monday afternoon in the office of a public defender assigned to Antoinette, Cobbs and Williams.

A fifth alleged cult member, Steven Bynum, has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and remains at large, police said Monday. He was believed to be in New York.

Ramkissoon's family said she should not be held responsible for her son's death.

"She had no control over that situation at all," her stepfather, Craig Newton, said Monday.

Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, told The (Baltimore) Sun on Sunday that it wasn't her daughter's decision not to feed the boy.

"My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson," Khadan-Newton said. "Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."

Members of 1 Mind Ministries wore all white, swore off medical care and referred to some members with titles including queen and princess, according to court documents. The group was also accused of insisting that a pregnant woman give birth without access to doctors.

Ramkissoon joined 1 Mind Ministries after Javon was born. Ramkissoon's mother last saw her in April 2006; she later sued for custody of her grandson, writing in a letter to a judge that "the cult leaders" were preventing her from contacting her daughter.

The documents show police interviewed two school-age children who had been part of the group but were taken away from members by Philadelphia police. The children told investigators that members stopped feeding Javon in December 2006, in part because the boy refused to say "amen" after dinner. Members also viewed Javon as "a demon."

Another unnamed informant told police that after Javon died, Antoinette left the boy's body in a room for more than a week, claiming "God was going to raise Javon from the dead," the documents show.

Afterward, Antoinette burned the boy's clothing and a mattress and placed his body in a green suitcase, which she would periodically open and spray with disinfectant to mask the odor, police said in the court documents.

In early 2007, the group members left Baltimore for Philadelphia. They left the green suitcase and other luggage inside a shed belonging to a man they befriended while there, police said, and then relocated to Brooklyn, New York.

Police recovered the suitcase in April after they got a tip from the confidential informant. The remains of a small child were inside. DNA tests are pending to confirm the boy's identity.

One Small Thought For Man

In my opinion, the best thing for the human race right now would be to discover alien life. The moment we finally have solid evidence of a species from another world out there, people will finally begin to see how full of shit religion is.

There's nothing I'd like better than to see this disgusting world of religion turned upside down. All these phony, power-hungry, hypocritical individuals trying to force-feed us more of their bullshit explainations. Explainations, no doubt, created merely to discourage us from anything resembling questioning or logical conversation. No free thought allowed.

I would love to hear the christian church (not capitalized on purpose) try to explain why, as it turns out, we are not the superior of God's children after all.

The moment of first contact; the discovery of, or communication with other life in the universe, will mark the beginning of religion's downfall. And I can think of no greater possible "giant leap" for mankind.

145 Die In India Temple Stampede

Mostly women, kids crushed at religious festival in Himachal Pradesh state

Stringer/india / Reuters
People stand near bodies outside the Naina Devi temple at Bilaspur, India, on Sunday.

updated 9:50 a.m. PT, Sun., Aug. 3, 2008

CHANDIGARH, India - At least 145 people, mostly women and children, were crushed to death under the feet of thousands of pilgrims in a stampede at a temple in northern India on Sunday, police said.

"We have confirmation now that 145 people have been killed," Daljit Singh Manhas, a senior police officer told Reuters by telephone.

Chanting and singing hymns, Hindu worshippers were snaking up a 2.5-mile trail, leading to a hill-top temple in Himachal Pradesh state, when part of iron railings on one side of the road broke, causing the stampede.

Thinking there was a landslide, the pilgrims panicked and started fleeing down the hillside, trampling falling women and children, police and witnesses said.

Earlier, The Associated Press quoted a policeman as saying that at least 68 people, including 30 children were killed at the mountaintop Hindu temple. But the figure changed quickly.

"The injured have been taken to two places and the toll could be more as we are awaiting news from other hospitals," Manhas added.

Thousands of worshippers had gathered at the temple in Bilaspur to pray to a Hindu goddess during an annual festival.

Witnesses said people jumped over broken railings and bodies to save themselves. Children lost their grip on their mothers' hands and were crushed under the feet of scared pilgrims.

"Many children and women were shouting for help and I saw people tumbling down the hillside," pilgrim Dev Swarup, 48, told Reuters by telephone from Bilaspur.

"There were rumors of boulders coming down on us and we all ran like the others," said Swarup, his voice choked with emotion.

Slippers, parts of torn clothes and bags with flowers and offerings lay along the narrow path winding up the hill, television pictures showed.

People crowded into hospitals looking for injured relatives.

A television channel showed a young women pilgrim pleading for water in a corner as rescuers brought more injured people on stretchers for treatment.

More than 10,000 people were trying to get into the temple and police had to struggle desperately to keep the situation under control.

"There were too many rumors, and we tried our best to keep things under control, but it went out of hand," one officer said.

Most of the worshippers were from the neighboring state of Punjab, with numbers rising sharply at the weekend.

Stampedes at temples are not uncommon in India where thousands of people gather to pray during festivals. In 2005, about 265 pilgrims were killed in a stampede near a temple in the western state of Maharashtra.

War, God, Stuff Like That

These anti-war demonstrators are really unimpressive people. They're against war? How groundbreaking; what a courageous stand. Listen, angry asshole, pick something difficult. Like religion. Why don't you get out on the street and start marching around against religion - something that's really harmful to mankind. War is simply nature's way of doing things; of keeping down the count. Religion is the problem. Get rid of religion and you've done the planet a favor. So how about getting out there next weekend and marching around with a sign that says HO HO HO! RELIGION MUST GO!? Come on, protesters, show some balls.

--- George Carlin
(from his third book, When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?)

Cult

These are actual definitions of the word "cult" according to the following sources:

*Webster's 21st Century

-- A religious practice or devotion.

*Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

-- A system of religious belief and worship.

*Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

-- A particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

*Wordnet by Princeton University

-- A system of religious beliefs and rituals.

-- Followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices.

*American Heritage Dictionary

-- A system or community of religious worship and ritual.

John & Elvis Are Dead

Today's Quote

"I think we all have obligations to be good, honest, hard-working, caring and compassionate. You have to try and it won't always be easy but you try your best. I do not believe that because you are not prepared to submit yourself to a god or a higher being, that when you get to the end of the road, you will be sent down. I'm not prepared to believe that."

---Lance Armstrong (February 28, 2004)