PRE-ROLL

March 12, 2004. Within a small blue house on 761 W. Hammond Ave. in Fresno,

California, Officer Eloy Escareno creeps down the dimly lit hallway, gun drawn,

calling out names. Closed doors opened into darkness, his flashlight beam cutting

through the dark areas, illuminating them slightly as the beam gradually grew

weaker. Colleagues searched in rooms behind him. Escareno panned the beam

across the room and saw an unknown mass on the floor. He felt along the wall,

finding a switch and flipped it on. Eloy had just stumbled onto the biggest mass

murder in Fresno's history.

INTRO

Before we begin, please be aware that our episodes deal with graphic and

intense violent actions that have been committed. This podcast will not be for

everyone, especially children. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

WARNING
 This episode deals with crimes committed against children. It won't be

appropriate or suitable for everyone.

SCRIPT

Kansas 1946. Marcus Delon Wesson is the first-born child to Benjamin and

Carrie Wesson. Over the next few years, he would be followed by three other

siblings. According to the Fresno Bee, Benjamin never held a steady job, was always

drinking, staying home, and flirting with his own children. The paper also reported

that he had homosexual inclinations. A childhood acquaintance would testify in court

that Benjamin had once paid him fifty US dollars ($50) to submit to oral sex. He

later abandoned his wife and kids to run off to San Jose with a teenager before

returning a decade later.

Not as much is known about his mother, Carrie. She was a member of the

Seventh-day Adventist Church and would force-feed her children daily Bible lessons

and whip them with an electrical cord.

Marcus' favorite game as child was playing preacher, something he would come

to perfect over time as he twisted the scriptures to his own perversive view. In the

1960s, the family moved to San Bernardino, California. Marcus dropped out of high

school and joined the Army where he was stationed in Europe during the Vietnam
school and joined the Army where he was stationed in Europe during the Vietnam

War as an army medic. He returned to the US with an honorable discharge and

moved to San Jose where he settled down.

His sexual life was a disaster and incestuous. In 1970, he began an affair with a

women named Rosemary Solorio. She broke up with her husband soon after and

moved in with Wesson with her children. During all of this, Wesson was grooming a

relationship with one of Solorio's daughters named Elizabeth, telling her that God

had chosen her to be his bride. In 1974, when Elizabeth was 8, they had a home

wedding ceremony. At age 12, he began sexually abusing her. Then at 15, they

married legally and she became pregnant. She gave birth four months later to her

first child. Eventually, the couple had 10 children together, although one died as an

infant, leaving them with five boys and four girls. Not a lot is known about

Rosemary in this part. Although Elizabeth's sister, also named Rosemary, dumped

off her seven children because of a drug addiction problem in her home the

prevented her from caring for them. The total amount of children now was 16. Court

records would later indicate that he had 18 children with 7 different women,

including the five girls.

Wesson, like his father, never held a steady job, living off welfare, and having

his adult children give all their earnings to him. They often lived in shacks, boats,

and empty houses before finally settling in Fresno. Although the children would dig

through trashcans for food, Wesson always had money for hamburgers and various

fast food items.

 During their time jumping between locations, they lived on a 23-foot sailboat

that was permanently moored in the Santa Cruz marina. The kids would collect

bottles and cans on the beach to turn in for recycling money and bathed in public

restrooms. Officials soon caught wind that a sailboat owner was living off public

generosity and in 1989, charged Wesson with welfare fraud and perjury. He pleaded

guilty and spent six months in the county jail. In the fall of 2003, the family moved

onto a 63-foot tugboat in Tomales Bay, an hour north of San Francisco. The

concrete-and-wood boat was rotting and did not have a bathroom. Although moored

in the tiny village of Marshall, the family stood out. The sight of the Wesson girls -

dressed in long black skirts and veils - rowing their father ashore in a dinghy turned

many heads. "They rowed him like they were slaves. ... I had [them] pegged as

some sort of Jonestown cult." That's what on resident told the Marin Independent

Journal. Soon after, sheriff's deputies ruled the tugboat unsafe and ordered it

vacated. The family moved to Fresno soon after and bought a 1,066-square-foot

converted office building and parked a yellow school bus in the driveway. City

officials did not like the school bus and said it was too big for the driveway. They

were given until March 12, 2004 to resolve these concerns.

Wesson's world-view was sinister. Describing it as vicious would be an

understatement. He believed and taught his children that society was full of sin and

peril and he was the only one who could shelter them from it. Child abuse was

extremely common in the household. When the children didn't do their homework or

Bible studies, he would hit them with a stick wrapped in duct tape or a small

baseball bat. They were not allowed friends and rarely left the house. The few short
baseball bat. They were not allowed friends and rarely left the house. The few short

times they did leave the house were interesting to them. When they'd cross paths

with other kids, they stayed silent, leaving the impression that they were polite and

well-behaved. That was obviously a facade. They were barely noticeable despite the

numerous amount of children. Many neighbors didn't know they existed. The

children were essentially brainwashed and believed and followed anything and

everything Wesson said. They called it "His Law". Wesson told the children that he

was Jesus Christ and demanded their unwavering obedience. He received it.

During some point, Wesson segregated the household, forbidding brothers and

sisters from associating with each other. His logic was that they would develop

sexual feelings for each other. During this, he cultivated his daughters and nieces to

embellish him by washing his dreadlocks, scratching his armpits and belly, and doing

whatever he told them to do. When the girls reached 8 or 9, Wesson would begin

molesting them. First he'd fondle their breasts and genitals. Then he'd teach them

oral sex until finally he was having full-on intercourse with them. He called this

routine rape sessions "loving" and told the girls that it was "[a] father's way to show

affection for his daughter." He justified this by reading Bible passages contained

references to men with multiple wives. Ruby Sanchez later recalled in court that she

agreed to "marry" Wesson when he was 44 and she was 13.

In late 1993, Wesson started breeding with daughters and nieces. He said he

wanted to have one child with each of them but them claimed he couldn't stop and

kept impregnating them. Some girls still had teenage inclinations and rebelled.

Wesson discovered Ruby Sanchez flirting with boys and beat her severely. She ran
Wesson discovered Ruby Sanchez flirting with boys and beat her severely. She ran

away three times but always returned for fear of her child and having no where else

to go. But when she turned 22, she left for good and got married. Her sister, Sofina

Solorio, also left. They became furious when hearing that Wesson was continuing to

impregnate their sisters and cousins and worried about the welfare of their small

children. Wesson declared his intentions to relocate his daughters and their children

to Washington state, where his parents lived. On that fateful day of March 12, 2004,

Ruby and Sofina drove to the Hammond Ave. house determined to rescue their kids.

It was going to be an uphill battle retrieving their children. Ruby and Sofina

knew this, Marcus had told them years ago. He also said in the event the Child

Services or government agency came to split the family that his daughters and

nieces should murder their offspring before murdering themselves. He would stay

alive to explain the situation. He held monthly meetings to discuss the details of the

suicide plot. Shortly after moving into the house, Wesson purchased 12 mahogany

coffins at an antique store. At around 2pm on March 12, Ruby and Sofina pulled up

to the Hammond Ave. house accompanied by several carloads of young people.

We'll be right back.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
 Welcome back.

At around 2pm on March 12, Ruby and Sofina pulled up to the Hammond Ave.

house accompanied by several carloads of young people.

"I came to get my son," Sofina said, rushing into the house to find 7-year-old

Jonathon. She had the boy by the hand when her sister Rosa snatched him away

and stuck him in the back bedroom with the other children. She would never see her

son again. She was pushed from the house and Wesson stuck his massive 300-

pound frame in the doorway. Wesson's supporters were calling the two sisters

"whores" and other derogatory names and ordered them to leave. Sebhrenah

Wesson pointed to her father's feet and told Ruby to "bow down to her master"

before running to the back bedroom.

At 2:30pm, a squad car pulled up. The police had only visited two times before,

once to take report on a missing license plate and another time to report on the

theft of a purse from a car. Officers spoke with Wesson but he did not invite them

inside, and since they didn't have probable cause, they couldn't enter. Wesson's

calm demeanor lead officers to think that this could be resolved rather quickly and

peacefully. However, he suddenly turned and ducked into the house, slamming the

door behind him.

"He's going to hurt the kids!" the two mothers shouted. One of Wesson's sons
 "He's going to hurt the kids!" the two mothers shouted. One of Wesson's sons

said that he owned a .22-caliber gun and they called for a SWAT team. Police

ordered the crowd to disperse and take cover. They didn't know what was going to

happen and didn't want civilians getting caught in any crossfire. An enraged women

punched the hood of a patrol car, denting it. During the standoff, multiple gunshots

were reported from inside the house. What makes this case all the more damning is

the fact that police didn't move to stop the massacre once it began. But all officers

on scene denied hearing gunshots, an assertion backed up by their police chief.

By the time SWAT arrived to evacuate the neighborhood, it was over. 80

minutes after Wesson had slammed the door, he appeared in the doorway rather

abruptly, his black shirt and pants splattered with blood. The blood soaking his

clothes was warrant enough to raid the house. It didn't take long to find the victims,

all piled in the back bedroom. Each victim had been shot in the eye, and had been

stacked from youngest to oldest. On top of the pile was Sebhrenah with a .22-

caliber pistol lodged under her arm. Eloy Escareno, the one who had discovered the

bodies, yelled for an ambulance as he began to check for pulses. There were none

but all the bodies were still warm. He howled in anger at this slaughter of innocents,

and his colleagues rushed to pull him from the room. It was a scene that remains

engraved in those officers brains.

Wesson was arrested and held at the Fresno County Jail on $9 million bail and

was charged with 9 counts of murder. DNA testing proved that he had sired all the

victims and was charged with an addition 14 counts of sexual abuse. He pleaded not

guilty to the charges.

 His wife Elizabeth, daughter Kaini, and niece Rosa Soloio voiced their support

for him, denying he'd done anything wrong. His mother Carrie was doubtful.

"If Marcus is guilty, I would really feel disappointed in my country if it didn't

make him face the penalty. But I'm a biblical person too, and I don't believe in

capital punishment ... what I would like for Marcus to do is sit in prison and think

about what he's done and read the Bible."

While incarcerated, Wesson wrote country-western songs, singing them for

visitors. Conversations with his family were secretly recorded. He stated in these

that he felt an electrical current in his head because God had given him an "angelic

brain".

The case came to trial in the Fresno County Superior Court in June 2005. Fifty

witnesses took the stand during the three-month trial. Wesson's lawyers argued that

Sebhrenah shot the children before turning the gun on herself. According to

testimony, the young woman was fond of guns and liked to play "Army", painting

her face green and black like camouflage. The defense claimed that Sebhrenah held

the .22-caliber Ruger Mark II pistol to the eye of each of the children before killing

her sister Elizabeth and then herself. The argument was bolstered by expert

testimonies saying the sisters died an hour or two after the younger victims.

Although fingerprints on the gun did not match Marcus or Sebhrenah, Sebhrenah's

DNA was found.

 The prosecution rebutted by arguing that Wesson was ultimately guilty for the

massacre because of teaching his children to kill and be killed. Prosecutor Lisa

Gamoian told the court "In this famil, he was Christ himself, the ultimate authority

figure who determined life and death. But for his suicide pact, for his teachings,

none of this would have happened."

Rosa Solorio, 23, wore the gold wedding ring Wesson gave her on the stand.

She stated that she still loved him. "I do love Marcus a lot. I understand what he did

and everything. But at the same time, it's just that to me, he's my father, and I do

not want to be responsible for putting him away. I just don't feel it's right for me to

do it." She told the court that Wesson bought the caskets for their mahogany wood,

which he planned to use on a renovation project. They could also be used as beds in

a pinch. She said that line with a straight face.

Elizabeth Wesson denied every having knowledge of her husband's sexual

relations. "How can I protect them if they didn't tell me? They never told me

anything." When the girls' bellies started to swell, she claimed to not ask who the

fathers were. Her excuse? It was considered mean and rude to ask. While on the

witness stand, Elizabeth looked to her husband as if for direction and was scolded

for it by Gamoian. She covered her face, sobbing under the persecution's rapid fire

questions. Several breaks were called to allow her to regain her composure. The

publicity from the case tore her family apart; she often slept in her car. Several

other witnesses also testified.

 After a little more than two days of deliberation, the jury found Wesson guilty of

nine counts of first-degree murder and 14 counts of raping and molesting his

underage nieces and daughters. As the clerk read the verdicts, many of Wesson's

surviving family members stifled sobs while Wesson himself remained quiet. He

wore the same short-sleeved black shirt he wore throughout the trial, and appeared

to have lost at least 150 pounds since his arrest. A month later, Judge R.L. Putnam

accepted the jury's recommendation for the death penalty. The judge also

sentenced him to 102 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughters and nieces.

Kaini Wesson continued to defend her father, blaming her cousins for the deaths

because they tried to break up the family be retrieving their children.

"I am proud of all my family, of the way we were raised." Her voice broke as

she told the court. Immediately after the conviction, Wesson's defense team filed a

motion asking for a new trial, or to reduce his sentences to life in prison. The court

denied both requests, stating that the "continued love of him by some family

members." As of recording this episode, there is no indication whether or not he has

been put to death.

OUTRO

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