Religious murder in Kansas City (homeschooling and IHOP)

[mirele]

Basically, what we have here is a story that started out as an apparent suicide of a young woman, Bethany Leidlein Deaton, on October 30. What it has morphed into is a murder by one of her new husband's followers. The confessed murderer, Micah Moore, says he killed Bethany Deaton on the orders of her husband, Tyler Deaton.

The background of the story is that Tyler, Bethany and Tyler's followers went to Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. After graduation, they apparently migrated to Kansas City, where they became involved in the International House of Prayer (IHOP). In the middle of all that, Tyler apparently became quite controlling and there are allegations of sexual abuse and drugging of Bethany.

IHOP claims that Tyler Deaton was "not really involved" with them, but that's a load of horse puckey, because he graduated from the unaccredited IHOP University. As a part of participating in IHOPU, you have to take part in a lot of activities over at IHOP, including staffing their 24x7 prayer room. There was a lot of arguing on the blogs in the last several days about whether or not Tyler Deaton had a leadership position over a number of home groups. I won't bore you with it here, but it is noteworthy that IHOP scrubbed its website after the story came out.

Here's the link to the story in the Kansas City Star story, which I will warn you in advance is triggering:

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/17/39 ... merge.html

The Houston Press (weekly paper in Houston) reports the following:

According to her obituary, Bethany Deaton recently graduated from nursing school and planned to accompany her husband on a mission trip soon. The Star-Telegram noted that it had touched on her life twice when she was growing up; they had featured her twice in stories about the benefits of home-schooling.

The Houston Press story gives more details and is QUITE triggering:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs ... x_cult.php

So far, only Micah Moore is under arrest.

This blog has done a lot of background work (and, in fact, if you look at the comments, reporters show up asking for people to call them): http://truthspeaker.wordpress.com/ .

The blog owner operates from the position that IHOP is a cult based on beliefs that don't match up to "Christian Orthodoxy." I personally have a problem with that. IHOP's actions (e.g., the control it has over its "internees," the money involved in being in an internship, building your life around IHOP and the 24x7 prayer room and the required fasting) are all warning signs to me.

Edited to correct typos.

[AnnieC 305]

Okay, I'm sorry but I can't be the only one who thought some 'fundie' killed his wife in a pancake shop...

[ceg045]

Okay, I'm sorry but I can't be the only one who thought some 'fundie' killed his wife in a pancake shop...

You're not. On a similar note, I'd imagine there was a similar letdown for people who got dragged there, completely ignorant of what it was.

"Uh, Sam? This was not what I was expecting when you asked if I wanted to go to IHOP..."

[sissyintexas]

Okay, I'm sorry but I can't be the only one who thought some 'fundie' killed his wife in a pancake shop...

Nope! That was my first thought. I thought it was somehow going to be bad version of the recent Chik-Fil-A and Papa John's support efforts.

[sissyintexas]

Also, Southwestern is not known as a conservative school.

[Jana814]

Okay, I'm sorry but I can't be the only one who thought some 'fundie' killed his wife in a pancake shop...

I thought the same thing, I thought maybe this person was shot outside of an IHOP. But what a sad story!

[lilwriter85]

When I read the thread title, I also thought about the IHOP restaurant franchise chain. I have heard of the International House of Prayer before. A couple of years back I couldn't sleep one night and I was flipping channels and I stumbled onto some Christian ministry show. IHOP was being promoted there and I checked out their site. I also remember some Christian guy blogger promoting IHOP.

When I read those articles about Tyler, Bethany and IHOP, it reminded me of Mark Driscoll. I watched the 24/7 prayer room livecast and a guy with a mohawk is singng on stage accompanied by other musicians. In the audience, it seems there is 30 to 40 people in the prayer room. I'm checking out that truth blog right now.

[lilwriter85]

The comments on the kansascity.com article are pretty interesting. Some are defending IHOP and saying it isn't a cult. Others are saying that Mike Bickle has bought a lot of real estate where the IHOP people get housed.

[DrPusey]

I have a teenaged second cousin (I've never met her though) who "goes to college" at IHOP. That branch of the family is, um, kind of dominionist. So when my great-aunt says "She goes to IHOP," I just wrote it off in my head as just another unaccredited fundie-type wannabe-college. But damn! I hope impressionable fundie homeschooling parents are taking note of this and yanking their kids out of there. (especially my cousin and his wife)

And yeah, what's up with the origins of the cult at Southwestern? That's a solid SLAC; unremarkable for anything other than its generally good reputation. I

[lilwriter85]

I have a teenaged second cousin (I've never met her though) who "goes to college" at IHOP. That branch of the family is, um, kind of dominionist. So when my great-aunt says "She goes to IHOP," I just wrote it off in my head as just another unaccredited fundie-type wannabe-college. But damn! I hope impressionable fundie homeschooling parents are taking note of this and yanking their kids out of there. (especially my cousin and his wife)

And yeah, what's up with the origins of the cult at Southwestern? That's a solid SLAC; unremarkable for anything other than its generally good reputation. I

It seems when Deaton was at Southwestern he managed to charm other students and he managed to gain a lot of control over people and over time he had issues with other campu affliated groups. When I read about Deaton's college days, it reminded me a bit of how Jim Jones used to gain followers.

[bea]

This is a weird, weird story. Apparently this young man, Tyler Deaton, was the leader of an "International House of Prayer" group that started in college and eventually became something of a cult. The members of the group all lived together, and allegedly Deaton's wife Bethany was drugged and raped repeatedly by the male members of the group. When it became clear she was about to tell her therapist what was going on, she was killed. At first, it was assumed to be a suicide, but it later became clear (through the confession of the group member who'd killed her) that she had been murdered at her husband's order

The article is fascinating in that Deaton was apparently a charismatic speaker who had "struggled" with being gay, had a physical relationship with one or more of the men in the house, and preached a strict literalist approach to the bible.

More info here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/17/39 ... merge.html

[keeperrox]

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13938

[Austin]

OMG, the details of this that have come out so far are horrendous. . . wow.

[bea]

It sounds like he was running his own little cult inside of IHOP (mmm, pancakes). His own little sick sexual cult.

I mean good Lord, these nice fundie boys and girls, they're not going to think that "hmm, perhaps drugging and raping our leader's wife while he has sex with other men and says God wants this isn't quite right" because they've been taught to never question authority. That would require INDEPENDENT THOUGHT, something that they're not supposed to do. Just bow your head and go right along with what the leader tells you to do.

Like rape and murder.

An excellent argument for teaching kids to have a moral compass free from religious trappings.

[lilwriter85]

I'm going to follow this story. 20/20 or Dateline will probably do an episode on this story. I have read too much of that blog that the OP posted, I looked at one entry on that blog and it seems IHOP is tied to some kind of scandal from a few years back that involved a deceased infant.

[mirele]

I'm going to follow this story. 20/20 or Dateline will probably do an episode on this story. I have read too much of that blog that the OP posted, I looked at one entry on that blog and it seems IHOP is tied to some kind of scandal from a few years back that involved a deceased infant.

The owner of the blog is convinced the culture around IHOP led to the Chandler baby's death. And, as in the current case, IHOP did everything it could to tell people, "Nope, not part of us at all." The way IHOP is structured, this kind of plausible deniability is possible. Very few people are actually paid employees or members of IHOP, most are "interns" or "students" or some other kind of "volunteer." It's actually pretty slick if you think about it.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

Driving around the IHOP-controlled parts of Grandview (which is...quite a lot of it) is actually kind of freaky. IHOP has security cars crawling around the most congested areas. My husband and I decided to take the scenic route one day from a nearby animal shelter in the area and we had a security car trailing us for several miles. My husband was like "If he turns his lights on, I'm not pulling over!"

It seems like the people who actually know that IHOP exists complain more about the financial stuff -- shifty tax practices, there was a huge kerfluffle r/t real estate issues before the bubble burst. They also tried to sue the restaurant chain to make them change their name. lulz.

We had a brief IHOP thread a few years ago centered around the blog of a woman who had adopted quite a few children, was IHOP, and then her husband died tragically in a car accident. I think at least one poster talked about escaping the IHOP cultist mentality.

[mirele]

Driving around the IHOP-controlled parts of Grandview (which is...quite a lot of it) is actually kind of freaky. IHOP has security cars crawling around the most congested areas. My husband and I decided to take the scenic route one day from a nearby animal shelter in the area and we had a security car trailing us for several miles. My husband was like "If he turns his lights on, I'm not pulling over!"

It seems like the people who actually know that IHOP exists complain more about the financial stuff -- shifty tax practices, there was a huge kerfluffle r/t real estate issues before the bubble burst. They also tried to sue the restaurant chain to make them change their name. lulz.

We had a brief IHOP thread a few years ago centered around the blog of a woman who had adopted quite a few children, was IHOP, and then her husband died tragically in a car accident. I think at least one poster talked about escaping the IHOP cultist mentality.

Security cars? Sounds like $cientology. I'm telling you, churches, acting like Scientology is going to get you compared to Scientology. You really, really, really don't want that. Really.

[Sprocket]

Okay, I'm sorry but I can't be the only one who thought some 'fundie' killed his wife in a pancake shop...

Nope. I thought there had been a murder of a homeschool group while they were enjoying banana split crepes. :oops:

[Just_Jane]

I thought someone had made an idol of the pancake restaurant and flipped out when their server said they were out of butter pecan syrup.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

Security cars? Sounds like $cientology. I'm telling you, churches, acting like Scientology is going to get you compared to Scientology. You really, really, really don't want that. Really.

I think IHOP is a lot like $$$Scientology. Apparently Deaton was trained as a nurse at a private, unaccredited nursing college that is affiliated with IHOP that, from talking with other RNs that I know, is very expensive. That's an easy way for the church to rake in some money. (Interesting, it doesn't look like she was registered to practice in either MO or KS.)

[Alecto]

Here is the thread from Yuku

http://freejinger.yuku.com/topic/7804#.UKvR08XA_-0

Btw, searching IHOP here lead to Josh Instagram threads.

[lilwriter85]

I found this article from the Austin American Statesman. A guy who knew Micah Moore from Southwestern said that Micach was a bit naive. He was probably an easy target for Tyler to manipulate.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crim ... ath/nTBDW/

[Austin]

Security cars? Sounds like $cientology. I'm telling you, churches, acting like Scientology is going to get you compared to Scientology. You really, really, really don't want that. Really.

I was thinking it sounds a lot like Scientology, too. :shock:

[FrauGringa]

This story sends chills up my spine. Extra creep factors include:

1) I graduated from high school in 2005, like Tyler, and seriously considered attending Southwestern for college.

2) Some of my in-laws have been/are currently involved in IHOP. Second/third-hand knowledge, but here goes…In the 90s, my husband's grandfather remarried to a woman who as far as I can tell, has not met a conspiracy theory she didn't like. She was really into astrology when they first met, then went gung-ho on fundamentalist Christianity. Fast forward about 20 years and three kids later, the two oldest kids have attended private Christian schools, Bob Jones University and one has worked as an IHOP youth counselor. They are now both staunch atheists. The one who had volunteered with IHOP had a sudden realization one summer that they were essentially brainwashing the children and no longer wanted any part of it. In addition to these two kids, there is still an elementary-aged child at home with my husband's grandparents. My mother-in-law was going to go visit them a few months back, but step-grandma suddenly decided that she was not welcome to stay in their home because my MIL worked for the government and would spy on them or something. This type of thinking seems to be encouraged among the IHOP crowd. Step-grandma also once anointed my MIL with holy oil without her permission and covered up a Harry Potter poster at my MIL's house because she believed the Latin on the poster was a satanic incantation. She semi-recently decided that she wants to become a professional faith healer. :shock: I'm glad the oldest kids got out, but I am worried about the youngest. Thankfully, my grandfather-in-law doesn't seem to be as into the religious craziness as his wife is, so maybe he'll grow some cojones and put his foot down if things get out of hand.

TL;DR? IHOP be CRAZY. I also want to go check in on my little half-aunt in-law (don't bother trying to keep up with this family tree, haha…)