Post by marionumber1 on Sept 10, 2020 18:38:38 GMT -6
This is a particularly strange serial killer case that was mentioned in The Ultimate Evil (p.354-355 of the 1999 edition) and summarized quite well in Michael Newton's encyclopedia. I also compiled many of the contemporaneous news articles about the case on my wiki: cavdef.org/w/index.php?title=Serial_killers#Stanley_Baker
Stanley Dean Baker and his companion Harry Allen Stroup, two friends from Wyoming, were arrested on July 13, 1970 in California after getting into a car accident. Upon his arrest, Baker pulled out a gnawed human finger bone and told the officers "I have a problem. I am a cannibal." Baker said he had gotten it from a victim he murdered in Montana, who he confessed to shooting and eating the heart of. His description of the crime and its location matched a man named James Schlosser who had been found murdered in Park County MT, his body brutally dismembered. Baker pleaded guilty and insisted Stroup had nothing to do with the murder. However, Harry Stroup was charged with complicity in the murder and was convicted. Stroup was let out after 9 years, while Baker was let out after 15 years despite having weapons confiscated from him 11 times and organizing a satanic coven in prison. Additionally, it appears that Baker had also confessed to the April 19, 1970 murder of prominent San Francisco lamp designer Robert Salem (he was asked about it at trial), and even had left a fingerprint at the scene, but was never charged for whatever reason.
Early news reports discussed how Baker openly talked of involvement in witchcraft and the occult. At Stroup's trial, he was slated to testify to his involvement in the Church of Satan. He also testified that studying the "bible of the satanic faith" gave him supernatural powers, including having brought good weather to a Toronto rock festival in June 1970 (the Festival Express?) and caused the death of Jimi Hendrix from afar. Baker indeed fit the Programmed to Kill profile in numerous ways: he experienced a devastating childhood accident that changed his behavior, was very into LSD, claimed an ability to perform self-hypnosis, and described having blackouts, including during Schlosser's murder, which weren't always caused by LSD. For an unknown reason, he had briefly transferred out of Wyoming into Evergreen CO (near Denver) while in high school back in 1964.
Maury Terry, likely citing Ed Sanders, went further, asserting that Baker confessed to being in a California-based satanic cult:
This was the Four Pi or Four P cult that Ed Sanders had first discussed in the 1971 edition of his book The Family (see p.132-133):
It is especially interesting that Manson's followers called him the Grand Chingon, as it suggests that Manson's group had at least some interaction with this murderous satanic cult spun off from the Process.
This Four Pi cult is believed to be the same nationwide entity connected to the Manson, Arlis Perry, and Son of Sam murders, at least the Los Angeles branch of it. Hence my posting it in this forum about the cult that Berkowitz called "the Children".
Speaking of the Grand Chingon, the cult leader who was a "large man" and prominent Los Angeles businessman or doctor (note that the leader of the California branch is described as holding similar social status to New York leader Alfred Hunt Howell), one blogger speculated that his identity was famous LSD dealer Ronald Stark. Stark was a flamboyant CIA operative who assumed control of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love in 1969, allowing him to dominate the LSD market; in doing so, he relocated from Northern to Southern California, coincidentally right at the same time that the Four Pi movement relocated from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles.
Stark even fits the description of the LSD kingpin whose subordinate owned a black car that Manson was reportedly seen driving a couple days after the Tate/LaBianca murders (see p.987-988 of the 1999 edition of The Ultimate Evil):
Going back to Stanley Baker for a second, there is something interesting about his involvement in the Bobby Salem murder. On the wall of the murder scene, the word "Zodiac" was written in Salem's blood. It appears that there was some effort to create a link, even a weak one, between Baker and the series of purported Zodiac murders; which Professor Horan has of course demonstrated were not really connected. I don't think Baker is actually a perpetrator in any of these cases, but there are a couple odd coincidences:
Which come together to make me wonder if there was some half-hearted effort to set up Baker as a patsy in the Zodiac case.
The study of this Four P / Four Pi cult may well prove useful to understanding the Manson, Zodiac, Son of Sam, and related cases.
Stanley Dean Baker and his companion Harry Allen Stroup, two friends from Wyoming, were arrested on July 13, 1970 in California after getting into a car accident. Upon his arrest, Baker pulled out a gnawed human finger bone and told the officers "I have a problem. I am a cannibal." Baker said he had gotten it from a victim he murdered in Montana, who he confessed to shooting and eating the heart of. His description of the crime and its location matched a man named James Schlosser who had been found murdered in Park County MT, his body brutally dismembered. Baker pleaded guilty and insisted Stroup had nothing to do with the murder. However, Harry Stroup was charged with complicity in the murder and was convicted. Stroup was let out after 9 years, while Baker was let out after 15 years despite having weapons confiscated from him 11 times and organizing a satanic coven in prison. Additionally, it appears that Baker had also confessed to the April 19, 1970 murder of prominent San Francisco lamp designer Robert Salem (he was asked about it at trial), and even had left a fingerprint at the scene, but was never charged for whatever reason.
Early news reports discussed how Baker openly talked of involvement in witchcraft and the occult. At Stroup's trial, he was slated to testify to his involvement in the Church of Satan. He also testified that studying the "bible of the satanic faith" gave him supernatural powers, including having brought good weather to a Toronto rock festival in June 1970 (the Festival Express?) and caused the death of Jimi Hendrix from afar. Baker indeed fit the Programmed to Kill profile in numerous ways: he experienced a devastating childhood accident that changed his behavior, was very into LSD, claimed an ability to perform self-hypnosis, and described having blackouts, including during Schlosser's murder, which weren't always caused by LSD. For an unknown reason, he had briefly transferred out of Wyoming into Evergreen CO (near Denver) while in high school back in 1964.
Maury Terry, likely citing Ed Sanders, went further, asserting that Baker confessed to being in a California-based satanic cult:
Reports of human sacrifice were also relayed to the police, including one from a gentleman named Stanley Baker, who was himself arrested for an out-of-state murder. Baker, who said he was a member of the Santa Cruz cult, carried a finger bone from his recent unfortunate victim in a leather pouch.
Upon his arrest, he delivered one of criminal history's epic comments to authorities: "I have a problem. I am a cannibal."
Baker, who sported a swastika tattoo and other occult emblems, said he was recruited from a campus setting in Wyoming. He participated in blood-drinking rituals there, was further programmed and then joined the California activities.
Concerning this particular victim, Baker told the police he murdered the man, cut out his heart—and ate it.
Baker, and at least one other witness, told authorities the Santa Cruz group later headed back downstate, where they resumed their obnoxious rituals— including murder— in the O'Neill Park area of the Santa Ana Mountains, south of Los Angeles.
This cult, a Process splinter group, was said by the witnesses to call itself the Four P Movement, or "Four Pi." Its leader, alleged to be a prosperous L.A. businessman or doctor, was known as the Grand Chingon. Interestingly, Ed Sanders stated that on several occasions — in his presence — Manson family members referred to Charlie as the Grand Chingon. However, Manson was under arrest at that time and the cult was still functioning, so he was not the Grand Chingon.
Upon his arrest, he delivered one of criminal history's epic comments to authorities: "I have a problem. I am a cannibal."
Baker, who sported a swastika tattoo and other occult emblems, said he was recruited from a campus setting in Wyoming. He participated in blood-drinking rituals there, was further programmed and then joined the California activities.
Concerning this particular victim, Baker told the police he murdered the man, cut out his heart—and ate it.
Baker, and at least one other witness, told authorities the Santa Cruz group later headed back downstate, where they resumed their obnoxious rituals— including murder— in the O'Neill Park area of the Santa Ana Mountains, south of Los Angeles.
This cult, a Process splinter group, was said by the witnesses to call itself the Four P Movement, or "Four Pi." Its leader, alleged to be a prosperous L.A. businessman or doctor, was known as the Grand Chingon. Interestingly, Ed Sanders stated that on several occasions — in his presence — Manson family members referred to Charlie as the Grand Chingon. However, Manson was under arrest at that time and the cult was still functioning, so he was not the Grand Chingon.
This was the Four Pi or Four P cult that Ed Sanders had first discussed in the 1971 edition of his book The Family (see p.132-133):
It is known that the Process had, among its “chapters" three closed chapters, the locations of which are kept secret. In California there were Process activities in Marin County, Santa Barbara, the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Ana Mountains.
It is regarding activities in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco beginning in late fall 1968, that ghastly reports of occult sacrifices have been received. The same people indicate that the Process stopped using the name Process and began to use other names.
Police beam reporting finding exsanguinated animals and decapitated animnals, in the remote Santa Cruz wilderness. One human has recounted witnessing ritual executions in a grove on Route 17 south of Santa Cruz. The ceremonies involved use of a portable crematorium to dispose of the bodies, a wooden altar adorned with dragons and a wooden morgue table. There were as many as forty people in attendance at these sacrifices. The instrument of sacrifice was a set of 6 knives welded into a football shaped holder. The heart was eaten.
The group was called the Four Pi movement, and was dedicated to the "worship of evil." Later, the group moved ceremonies to the Santa Ana Mountains south of Los Angeles where they continued their barbaric abhorrencies. The leader of this human sacrifice group, a large man, held the cult title Grand Chingon. It was not Manson.
However, at least five times in this writer's presence Manson has been called The Grand Chingon or the Head Chingon by members of his family.
It is regarding activities in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco beginning in late fall 1968, that ghastly reports of occult sacrifices have been received. The same people indicate that the Process stopped using the name Process and began to use other names.
Police beam reporting finding exsanguinated animals and decapitated animnals, in the remote Santa Cruz wilderness. One human has recounted witnessing ritual executions in a grove on Route 17 south of Santa Cruz. The ceremonies involved use of a portable crematorium to dispose of the bodies, a wooden altar adorned with dragons and a wooden morgue table. There were as many as forty people in attendance at these sacrifices. The instrument of sacrifice was a set of 6 knives welded into a football shaped holder. The heart was eaten.
The group was called the Four Pi movement, and was dedicated to the "worship of evil." Later, the group moved ceremonies to the Santa Ana Mountains south of Los Angeles where they continued their barbaric abhorrencies. The leader of this human sacrifice group, a large man, held the cult title Grand Chingon. It was not Manson.
However, at least five times in this writer's presence Manson has been called The Grand Chingon or the Head Chingon by members of his family.
It is especially interesting that Manson's followers called him the Grand Chingon, as it suggests that Manson's group had at least some interaction with this murderous satanic cult spun off from the Process.
This Four Pi cult is believed to be the same nationwide entity connected to the Manson, Arlis Perry, and Son of Sam murders, at least the Los Angeles branch of it. Hence my posting it in this forum about the cult that Berkowitz called "the Children".
Speaking of the Grand Chingon, the cult leader who was a "large man" and prominent Los Angeles businessman or doctor (note that the leader of the California branch is described as holding similar social status to New York leader Alfred Hunt Howell), one blogger speculated that his identity was famous LSD dealer Ronald Stark. Stark was a flamboyant CIA operative who assumed control of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love in 1969, allowing him to dominate the LSD market; in doing so, he relocated from Northern to Southern California, coincidentally right at the same time that the Four Pi movement relocated from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles.
Stark even fits the description of the LSD kingpin whose subordinate owned a black car that Manson was reportedly seen driving a couple days after the Tate/LaBianca murders (see p.987-988 of the 1999 edition of The Ultimate Evil):
However, the source confirmed the relevance of the black car Manson was seen driving two days after the murders. According to information we uncovered, the black car apparently was a Mercedes-Benz that was owned by a wealthy individual who lived part-time in Berkeley, California, during the Manson era. Sources say that the car owner, whom I will call Chris Jetz, was a narcotics "middleman" who distributed hallucinogenic drugs from secret LSD and MDA laboratories to drop-off points for pickup by elements of the Hell's Angels biker gang, who controlled most of the street-level distribution of chemical narcotics in the L.A. area at the time.
The source's name and Jetz's real name have been turned over to authorities. And the biker connection, from the Process and Manson to the New York prison statements, had now appeared several times during the overall investigation.
Sources also said that Jetz had ties, in the form of funding, to the upscale, self-awareness Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
The Los Angeles drug scene in 1969 could be likened to a field of pyramids which roughly divided the marketplace into various specialized segments. Near the top of one pyramid, the chemical dope edifice, was a man connected to Jetz; a superior, so to speak. This man was said to have been a former Israeli who had strong links to the international intelligence community. He wasn't employed by U.S. or Israeli intelligence, at least not at the time of the murders. Rather, he was regarded as a rogue who, in addition to his elevated narcotics ranking, was suspected by some of being an operative for the Soviet Union; perhaps free-lance.
The source's name and Jetz's real name have been turned over to authorities. And the biker connection, from the Process and Manson to the New York prison statements, had now appeared several times during the overall investigation.
Sources also said that Jetz had ties, in the form of funding, to the upscale, self-awareness Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
The Los Angeles drug scene in 1969 could be likened to a field of pyramids which roughly divided the marketplace into various specialized segments. Near the top of one pyramid, the chemical dope edifice, was a man connected to Jetz; a superior, so to speak. This man was said to have been a former Israeli who had strong links to the international intelligence community. He wasn't employed by U.S. or Israeli intelligence, at least not at the time of the murders. Rather, he was regarded as a rogue who, in addition to his elevated narcotics ranking, was suspected by some of being an operative for the Soviet Union; perhaps free-lance.
Going back to Stanley Baker for a second, there is something interesting about his involvement in the Bobby Salem murder. On the wall of the murder scene, the word "Zodiac" was written in Salem's blood. It appears that there was some effort to create a link, even a weak one, between Baker and the series of purported Zodiac murders; which Professor Horan has of course demonstrated were not really connected. I don't think Baker is actually a perpetrator in any of these cases, but there are a couple odd coincidences:
- Something weird about the Lake Berryessa murder: the perpetrator reportedly said he was an escaped convict from the Deer Lodge prison in Montana, which might appear to point towards Baker given Baker's presence nearby and commission of at least one murder in that state
- On April 20, 1970, one day after Salem's murder, "Zodiac" sent a letter which ended with "PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed". I am not currently sure whether Salem's murder had made the papers before the letter was sent out.
Which come together to make me wonder if there was some half-hearted effort to set up Baker as a patsy in the Zodiac case.
The study of this Four P / Four Pi cult may well prove useful to understanding the Manson, Zodiac, Son of Sam, and related cases.
