"Shelley Kat Martin, leader of the Inland Empire-based His Way Spirit Led Assemblies, concocted a cover story after a 4-year-old boy whose ruptured appendix was treated with nothing more than prayer died in 2010, a former congregant testified on Monday, Feb. 9. That ex-congregant, Kelli Byrd, also testified in Superior Court in San Bernardino about 40-year-old Emilio Ghanem, who departed the church and formed his own pest control company in competition with one operated by the church and hasn't been seen since 2023,"
"Prosecutors say they believe he is dead. He was scared they were going to come after him, Byrd said. He was scared Kat was going to send someone after him for coming after the ministry. Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker told Judge Colin J. Bilash: The motive for the murder of Emilio Ghanem is directly related to the business he started."
Kelli Byrd, a former congregant, testified that Shelley Kat Martin concocted a cover story after a 4-year-old boy with a ruptured appendix died in 2010 after receiving prayer. Byrd also testified about 40-year-old Emilio Ghanem, who left the church, started a competing pest control business, and vanished from a Starbucks in Redlands in 2023; prosecutors say they believe he is dead. Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker said the motive for Ghanem’s murder is directly related to the business he started. Shelley Martin, Darryl Martin, Rudy Moreno, Ramon Duran and Andre Thomas face murder and conspiracy charges and have pleaded not guilty. A judge will decide whether to hold them for trial; testimony continues.
Read at www.sbsun.com
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