69传媒

PRESCOTT, ARIZ. 鈥� Light peeks through leaves as Deborah Daulton-Thibodeau wanders the streets and sidewalks of her childhood. She鈥檚 flanked by trailer homes and trees that cast long, harsh shadows.

Daulton-Thibodeau climbs through overgrown brush, touches the bark of a beloved tree and points out the trailers where her neighbors used to live. She finds a Bible verse written in a cracked piece of stone, a vestige of the oppressive, pseudo-Christian commune she was part of from late 1962 to 1975, most of her first 14 years.

It was a simple life. No telephones, no radio, no TV. A family of nine in one small trailer. A small community tucked away from the world along a quiet stream, following the orders of their leader, Leo Mercier.

Daulton-Thibodeau and about 100 other children would sweep sidewalks, lay patio bricks and weed the creek bed from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day in the summer. After chores, they would find refuge playing in a group of boulders scattered along a small ridge. Big rock, flat rock, alligator rock, they named them.

The children would sit on the boulders and compare the bruises that covered their small bodies, Daulton-Thibodeau explained. Blood would well up just beneath the surface of their skin after they were routinely whipped with belts and sometimes electrical cords, she said.

鈥淲e鈥檇 all just be up in the rocks playing, and we鈥檇 all be showing off our bruises and our blood,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said. 鈥淚t was just what we did. We thought it was normal. And how do you know that it isn鈥檛?鈥�

鈥淚 just thought it was normal to beat kids.鈥�

Daulton-Thibodeau, 63, is one of the first to speak out about the egregious forms of sexual and physical abuse that she says she and other children endured at the trailer park commune at 910 West Gurley Street, known by its residents as 鈥淭he Park.鈥�

Some of the tortures were exposed in a trial for 1991 murders years after the commune dissolved. But Daulton-Thibodeau said former members have been largely silent about The Park in the decades since.

She broke that pattern in 2022 when she that chronicled her upbringing in the cult.

The trailer-park community is a little-known piece of history for a religion called 鈥淭he Message,鈥� or 鈥淭he Message of the Hour,鈥� an offshoot of Pentecostalism that was started by William Branham, a faith healer who gained fame in the 1950s. Though Branham died in 1965, he has millions of followers worldwide who believe him to be a prophet, according to an estimate from a nonprofit called Voice of God Recordings.

The Arizona Daily Star and Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team started investigating The Message and its global influence in 2023 after receiving reports of a Tucson Message church that former members say has devolved into a 鈥渃ult鈥� in recent years.

It is only the latest example of a Message community where a powerful, Branham-influenced leader seized authoritarian control of his congregation.聽The Park was one of the first.

Mercier was a part of Branham鈥檚 inner circle. He and another man, Gene Goad, were known as Branham鈥檚 鈥渢ape boys鈥� because they traveled the country recording their prophet鈥檚 sermons.

When Branham visited The Park in 1964 and 1965, he blessed Mercier鈥檚 work leading the commune and said he always knew Mercier was made for 鈥渟omething greater in life鈥� than making the tapes. Branham praised the commune as an idyllic community 鈥� a Promised Land. But Mercier had allegedly already started to molest children, according to one survivor.

Mercier used Branham鈥檚 endorsement to become a sort of 鈥渒ing鈥� or 鈥渄emi-prophet鈥� over his roughly 130 followers, Daulton-Thibodeau said. Mercier called himself 鈥淭he Servant of the Lord.鈥� Branham鈥檚 religious framework of unaccountable, independent churches with individual pastors as the highest authority over their congregations gave Mercier absolute power.

Like Branham, Mercier taught his followers he could speak directly to God 鈥� and sometimes spoke directly for God. Mercier claimed that Branham鈥檚 gifts of prophecy and revelation were passed onto him in 鈥渄ouble portion,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said. Commune members believed Mercier was the next prophet after Branham. When parents followed Mercier鈥檚 orders, they thought they were taking orders from God.

When Branham died, Mercier鈥檚 draconian grip on the community tightened. He ordered his followers to subject the children to brutal punishments for minor rule infractions, according to Daulton-Thibodeau, another former member and court testimony from other victims.

On Mercier鈥檚 orders, Goad and other men whipped children with belts, burnt their fingertips, separated them from their families, killed their pets, forced them to run naked through the commune and locked them in a dark cellar for days with limited food, Daulton-Thibodeau said.

鈥淐hildhood memories flicker in my brain like freeze frames,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau wrote in her memoir. 鈥淪ometimes when I sleep, they emerge, and I relive the terror and desolation I felt when I realized no one would protect me from a sadistic madman, Brother Leo Mercier.鈥�

Daulton-Thibodeau described Mercier as 鈥渁 deviant mind that鈥檚 given a playground of 100 children.鈥�

Atrocities

Lynne Daulton, 67, who is speaking publicly for the first time about the abuse she suffered at The Park, said she was subjected to perhaps the worst of Mercier鈥檚 deviance. Although a few years older, she is Daulton-Thibodeau鈥檚 niece.

鈥淟eo Mercier molested me that day in bed with two other little girls and the teenage boy that he forced there,鈥� Daulton said of an incident that happened when she was 6. She said it was the first time she was abused.

She told her father,聽and his response was to beat her 鈥� a 6-year-old 鈥� 鈥渨ithin an inch of my life,鈥� Daulton said. He told her to never speak such lies about 鈥淭he Servant of the Lord,鈥� she said. She never brought it up again.

鈥淎 pedophile was given permission by my father to do whatever he wanted to do (to) me for the next 13 years of my life,鈥� Daulton said.

Daulton said Mercier repeatedly molested her for more than five years and insisted on calling her "Miriam" after the Old Testament prophetess. She ran away from The Park multiple times, but someone always brought her back to her life of 鈥渁trocities,鈥� she said.

Mercier would have Daulton鈥檚 hair curled into tight ringlets and call her his 鈥渓ittle Goldilocks whore,鈥� Daulton said. He lived a few doors down from Daulton and would come into her trailer home at night, take her out of her bed and bring her into his trailer to abuse her, Daulton said.

One night, Daulton said Mercier brought her into the root cellar and used a wooden bar stool to molest her. Then Mercier whipped her, she said.

鈥淚 was raped repeatedly,鈥� Daulton said. 鈥淚 was beaten. I was stripped naked and left in that root cellar with nothing but dirt and my bruised bloody body for three days.鈥�

Daulton-Thibodeau said many other children, including herself, were locked in the pitch-black root cellar for hours and sometimes days for punishment. Sometimes they were given bread and water to eat, but Daulton said she was given nothing.

Daulton later found out her mother sat outside the cellar and cried for her. Her mother was distraught but felt trapped herself, Daulton said.

Adults also experienced abuse in The Park. One woman was beaten with a willow switch when she refused to give up her trailer, Daulton-Thibodeau said. Another day, Mercier had his men line the women up in the dining hall and slap them in the face to 鈥渒eep them all in line,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said. Branham has been criticized for misogynistic teachings, including that women should stay in the kitchen and that 鈥渁n immoral woman鈥� is a 鈥渉uman sexual garbage can.鈥�

That鈥檚 how Daulton slowly came to view herself. Daulton said Mercier 鈥減ut her with鈥� a man who raped her repeatedly when she was a teenager. The night before her wedding, Daulton said Mercier鈥檚 followers put her into bed with Goad and his wife, and Goad forcibly penetrated her anus.

She also never consented to getting married at 17. She said she begged multiple adults in The Park: 鈥淧lease don鈥檛 make me get married. I鈥檓 not in love. I just want to go to college.鈥� Her father beat her two days before the wedding for her resistance.

On her wedding day, she was so exhausted from the abuse that she passed out while walking into the ceremony. Daulton鈥檚 father picked her up, twisted her arm behind her back and pushed her down the aisle to meet a teenage boy at the altar, she said. The boy didn鈥檛 want the marriage either.

鈥淚 will not,鈥� Daulton remembers telling her father. But her parents signed her marriage papers for her.

When she returned from her honeymoon and hadn鈥檛 consummated her marriage, leaders at The Park coached her young husband on how to rape her, Daulton said.

Daulton was molested at least 13 times at The Park, she said. She said she remembers because her primary perpetrators, Mercier and Goad, would rebaptize her each time to make her pure again.

鈥淓very time they molested me, I had to get rebaptized 鈥� to get cleaned again inside. I was baptized 13 times,鈥� Daulton said. 鈥淎nd that was because I was so dirty after the exploitations.鈥�

Sexual abuses

Daulton isn't the only one describing abuse.

Former commune member Doris Scott testified in 1994 that Mercier molested one of her sons when he was just 5 years old, according to a court transcript. Scott said she attempted suicide twice while living in The Park because of the guilt she felt for not protecting her children.

鈥淚 have been so afraid that I got tired of being afraid,鈥� Scott said in court. 鈥淗ave you ever been so scared that you decided, I can鈥檛 live this way? 鈥� I would get very violent. My violence would turn on myself. I tried to take my life.鈥�

鈥淲e were the adults,鈥� Scott said later. 鈥淲e should have protected our children. We have to bear that guilt.鈥�

Scott was one of the witnesses who testified during the sentencing phase for Keith Loker鈥檚 murder trial. Loker, who lived in The Park until he was about 4, was convicted of murdering two men in an adult bookstore, committing multiple robberies, raping a woman and attempting to kill the woman鈥檚 husband during a three-day crime spree in California and Arizona in 1991. Loker was 20 at the time. He remains on death row in California.

His defense called 36 witnesses, including many former Park members, to argue that Loker did not deserve the death penalty because his abusive upbringing contributed to his violent behavior.聽At least seven former commune members, including Daulton-Thibodeau, testified to the physical abuse of children in The Park, according to Loker鈥檚 appeal and partial court transcripts obtained by Lee Enterprises.

The California Supreme Court concluded that children were subjected to arbitrary beatings and said it also found 鈥渆vidence that Mercier sexually abused children.鈥�

Daulton-Thibodeau said in an interview that she saw her brother come home after Mercier allegedly took him down by the creek, stripped him naked and shoved sand and dirt in his anus, mouth and ears, she said. Mercier forced her brother and other children to run home naked, even though modesty was a central tenet of their faith, Daulton-Thibodeau said.

When Daulton-Thibodeau was聽7, Mercier brought her into a room under the guise of needing to be 鈥渃hecked for worms,鈥� she testified. A retired woman pushed her dress up, pulled her underwear down and conducted an 鈥渋nvasive inspection鈥� of her genitals, Daulton-Thibodeau said. 鈥淚 felt violated,鈥� she said.

After the inspection, Mercier聽brought Daulton-Thibodeau to the dining hall and shamed her in front of the adults with false accusations. He told them God revealed to him that Daulton-Thibodeau was a 鈥渟exual deviant鈥� and had been molesting other girls, she said.

Daulton-Thibodeau thought the inspection and public humiliation were punishment for a few days prior when Mercier gathered the children in the Chapel. They took turns sitting on his lap to confess their sins.

When it was Daulton-Thibodeau鈥檚 turn, he asked her to admit to sexual acts she had never heard of, such as putting her mouth on her brother鈥檚 鈥減rivates,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said.

鈥溾�楪od has spoken to me and he has shown me the nasty things you have done with your brothers,鈥欌�� she remembers Mercier telling her. 鈥淲e will pray together. You will be pure and clean as driven snow.鈥欌��

She refused to confess, and Mercier shoved her off his lap, she said.

Indiscriminate lashings

Most of Daulton-Thibodeau鈥檚 abuse was not sexual in nature. She more often endured physical and psychological tortures, she said.

Her first severe punishment came when she and her twin sister Esther were 6. They were playing in their front yard when their dog Fritz bit a young neighbor girl, leaving her crying.

Men sent by 鈥淭he Servant of the Lord鈥� swiftly came to their yard and shot their dog in the head in front of them, Daulton-Thibodeau said. Killing pets was not an uncommon punishment in The Park. Daulton said Mercier killed her bird.

After Fritz鈥檚 death, the men whipped Daulton-Thibodeau and her sister, she said.

鈥淲e had had our hair cut off, and we had this terrible beating,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said. 鈥淭hat, to me, was the first time that I recognized that our parents have no control here.鈥�

Short hair made Daulton-Thibodeau an 鈥渁bomination鈥� to her community, she said.聽Women in The Message never cut their hair because Branham preached against it.

Elisabeth Jones testified that her hair was also cut short as punishment when she was a child in The Park. Jones said she was 鈥渄evastated.鈥� She wanted to glue her hair back on.

Men would periodically show up at Daulton-Thibodeau鈥檚 trailer to take her and her siblings for beatings, most frequently when she was between ages 7 and 9, she said.

She and Esther were the youngest of 12 siblings, many of whom were adults during their time in The Park. Some of Daulton-Thibodeau鈥檚 nieces and nephews, like Daulton, were closer to her age than her siblings.

Sometimes Daulton-Thibodeau was punished for lying. But other times, she was beaten for innocuous things like playing with pinecones on her porch, she said.

Loker鈥檚 older sister Hannah Lunsford testified that her punishments were also arbitrary. She said she got 鈥�25 licks for crossing a bridge鈥� when she wasn鈥檛 supposed to. When she was 4, she was spanked because her underwear showed while swinging on a swing. Once she was put on a diet of only bread and water for two days because she tried on clothes she wasn鈥檛 allowed to wear. Jones said children were slapped in the face for not eating their food.

Hugh Scott testified that when he was 8, he got 鈥�50 licks with a razor strap on my bare butt鈥� for talking with another child while they were forced to march around The Park. Scott said he lived in 鈥渃onstant fear鈥� of being brutalized. The children were also beaten with willow switches and electrical cords, according to Daulton-Thibodeau and Jones.

During her worst beating, Daulton-Thibodeau said two men gave her 150 lashes with a belt for no reason at all. Mercier鈥檚 men came down to the creek with a list of children鈥檚 names and the number of lashes they would receive: anywhere from 50 to 150 lashes each, she said.

A group of children watched and counted each of Daulton-Thibodeau鈥檚 lashes aloud in the lunch hall to ensure she didn鈥檛 receive any extra licks beyond the 150 she had been assigned, she said. Daulton-Thibodeau said the pain was 鈥渟earing.鈥� After, she sat on the linoleum floor and helped count as she watched her friends get beaten.

One boy tried to escape the whipping session, and a man picked him up and smashed his head through the drywall, Daulton-Thibodeau said.

Daulton-Thibodeau said the number of lashes that day was unusually high, but she knows of boys who received 400 licks in one day. Daulton said her brother got 200 licks.

Disfellowshipped

When Daulton-Thibodeau was 9, her mother caught her in a lie about scribbling on a folder. Her mother dragged her across the commune by her hair and threw her on the floor of the dining hall before Mercier, Daulton-Thibodeau said.

Mercier ordered her older brother to hold her fingertips on a stove so she would 鈥渒now what Hell feels like,鈥� she said. Her brother complied. Mercier then told her that God demanded she sit in her pain in a metal chair overnight. She was so scared that she stayed put, even when she urinated herself, she said.

A few days later, Mercier had a man cut off her hair for a second time, Daulton-Thibodeau said. Mercier then separated her from her family 鈥� even her twin sister 鈥� and moved her into the trailer of a couple who did not have children.

Daulton-Thibodeau was 鈥渄isfellowshipped鈥� from the community for two years, she said. The other children no longer spoke with her. She was forced to walk around the commune until dark with a sandwich board that read 鈥淚鈥檓 a dirty liar鈥� and 鈥淚鈥檓 as stubborn as a mule.鈥�

The only blessing was that the couple, Herb and Grace, were kind and loving. They allowed her to read secular books, drink tea and celebrate Christmas, a holiday the commune never observed. They got her a little dog named Panda and protected him.

鈥淲e were in the garden, and a couple of men came to kill Panda,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said. 鈥淗erb picked the dog up in his arms, and he said, 鈥極K, go ahead shoot.鈥� And of course, they couldn鈥檛.

鈥淗e did something for me my own parents didn鈥檛 do. He wouldn鈥檛 let them kill that dog.鈥�

End of The Park

The Park dissolved by early 1975. Daulton-Thibodeau said it was because some of Mercier鈥檚 sexual proclivities spilled over onto the adults.聽

Indiana Message pastor Nathan Bryant said the group disbanded because park rangers caught them poaching.

Former Park member Jim Ed Daulton that the commune broke up because 鈥渄ifferent things happened鈥� and 鈥済reed got in.鈥� In the spring of 1975, former members filed a lawsuit alleging that $11,800 from their drywall company was used illegally to buy Mercier and his wife a new Cadillac, according to an Arizona Republic article. Jim Ed was a partner in the business, the Republic reported.

Daulton-Thibodeau said Mercier lived out the rest of his life in Arizona as an openly gay man. Pastor Lee Vayle, a close friend of Branham鈥檚, claimed in a July 2000 sermon that both Mercier and Goad were gay, a major sin in The Message.

Mercier and the men who did his bidding at The Park never faced criminal charges. Mercier died in 1987, according to U.S. Social Security and Census records.

Goad died at 66 in his Indiana home from a gunshot wound to the head on June 14, 1995, according to his death certificate. That was less than a year after former Park members testified during Loker鈥檚 trial.

Although the commune had about 130 members, relatively few agreed to come forward for Loker鈥檚 trial. Multiple witnesses said they were reluctant to testify and that family members across the country were calling each other, worried about what would be uncovered. Gershom Salisbury, born in The Park, said his grandmother told him: 鈥淒on鈥檛 say nothing about The Park.鈥�

鈥淪ome of them are scared they might go to jail,鈥� former Park member Danny Johnson testified about his family members. 鈥淎nd some of them maybe should be in jail.鈥�

Branham鈥檚 role

Present-day Message leaders acknowledged that the abuses that happened in The Park were horrific. But they stress it鈥檚 something Branham never would have supported.

Jeremy Evans, spokesperson for Voice of God Recordings, which distributes Branham鈥檚 sermons worldwide, said 鈥渋t鈥檚 a shame鈥� that men like Mercier have created communities that 鈥渇alsely represent the Message of the Hour.鈥�

Michigan Message pastor Paul LaFontaine said Mercier鈥檚 actions were 鈥減athetic.鈥� He said there鈥檚 no justification for them in The Bible or in Branham鈥檚 more than 1,200 sermons. LaFontaine noted that the 鈥渢ragic鈥� abuse intensified after Branham died.

鈥淚 don't know why the enemy, Satan, takes over something after a man is gone,鈥� LaFontaine said.

Bryant said that to his knowledge, the beatings and abuse in The Park started after Branham died. He said Branham would have been "100% against" that.

But both Lynne Daulton and Daulton-Thibodeau said Branham bears at least partial responsibility for their traumatic upbringing.

Branham paid special attention to Daulton and pulled her onto his lap during one of his visits, she said. She believes that鈥檚 why Mercier continued to single her out.

Daulton said she wanted to ask Branham if he would rescue her and other children from The Park, but she didn鈥檛 get the chance. Branham interrupted her before she could ask her question.

Daulton-Thibodeau said her聽parents never would have stayed had it not been for Branham鈥檚 blessing of their commune. Parents believed they were living according to Branham鈥檚 will, and therefore God鈥檚 will. They hoped the beatings would help their children learn to be less sinful so they could get into heaven, Daulton-Thibodeau said.

Daulton-Thibodeau was 36, sitting with her father at her home in Washington when she finally confronted him.

鈥淗ow could you let these things happen to us?鈥� she remembers asking him. Her father started to cry.

鈥溾�楤ecause Brother Branham told me it would be OK,鈥欌�� he responded. 鈥溾�楬e told me it would all be OK.鈥欌��

Ripple effects

Loker鈥檚 trial showed the far-reaching effects of the child abuse in The Park. Multiple children who grew up in the commune had run-ins with the law or struggled with violent outbursts as adults, witnesses said.

Scott testified that he became an abusive husband. He said he once pulled a gun on his cousin for annoying him. Scott said he believed his behavior stemmed from the lack of control he had in his life as a child.

鈥淚 have such an anger and such a violent temper,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淲hen I get into a situation, I can鈥檛鈥� if I can鈥檛 control it, and I don鈥檛 understand it, I get violent.鈥�

Lunsford, Loker鈥檚 older sister, said she was normally the peacemaker in her family, but aggression came out in her too. She testified that she once beat Loker鈥檚 head against the ground because their father wouldn鈥檛 let her out of the house alone and Loker wouldn鈥檛 come with her.

鈥淭he dysfunctionality coming from The Park, it鈥檚 a ripple effect,鈥� Loker鈥檚 defense attorney Arthur Katz said in court. 鈥淚t affected Keith.鈥�

Loker said in a brief interview with Lee Enterprises in 2024 that he doesn鈥檛 remember much from his upbringing in The Park. Loker said his mother left him alone in his crib for hours at a time, but he鈥檚 not sure if he actually remembers that or if it鈥檚 something his mom told him. Loker said he doesn鈥檛 have any other memories of abuse or neglect from his four years in the commune.

His mother, Marietta Loker, testified that she followed Mercier鈥檚 orders to physically abuse Keith when he was 3 because he hadn鈥檛 started talking yet. She said she whipped Keith and slapped him in the face for hours to try to get him to speak. Lunsford said her brother was poisoned after he drank Lysol in the trailer park, but their father refused to take him to the hospital.

Keith said he thinks The Park affected him because it traumatized his family, which created an unhealthy environment at home throughout the rest of his childhood and teenage years.

鈥淢y mom and dad were two聽people who came out of there who were emotionally not stable,鈥� he said.

Marietta testified that her husband, Roger Loker, was attracted to men. She said Park leaders would beat him up so he would have sex with her. His father鈥檚 sexuality distressed Keith later in life.

Lunsford testified that their home life was characterized by 鈥渃onstant turmoil.鈥� Lunsford said her mother often screamed and threw things, including dishes. Marietta said she and Roger would slap each other until exhaustion in front of their children.

Roger once fired a gun in their home after an argument, Marietta said. Keith, who was in third grade, and his sister thought one of their parents had been shot.

When Keith was 12, his father Roger beat him severely after discovering that another boy, about 14 or 15, had fondled Keith, according to a psychologist鈥檚 report. Keith鈥檚 parents never explained why he was being punished.

Eventually, Roger kicked Keith and his mother out of the home and filed for divorce. Marietta said Roger blamed the divorce on Keith, a fact she regrets sharing with her son. Keith was 17 at the time.

Asked how Keith鈥檚 execution would affect her, Lunsford said: 鈥淚t would absolutely devastate me.鈥�

A jury sentenced Keith Loker to death in November 1994. He was 23. His execution is unlikely because .

Fight continues

The abuse Lynne Daulton suffered has haunted her.

She鈥檚 struggled with emotional outbursts throughout her life. She often got drunk or high to numb her pain. Daulton said she attempted suicide three times.

Daulton said she was not a good mother, especially not to her sons. She didn鈥檛 know how to be. So she gave her sons to their father.

Daulton has been in therapy for nearly 20 years. She was so traumatized by what happened to her that she blocked the abuse from her mind for decades. She had forgotten her name and her family. Three years into therapy, Daulton鈥檚 memories came back to her during a session when she remembered being called 鈥淢iriam鈥� in the root cellar.

After Mercier abused her that day, Daulton said, she was told to write the name 鈥淢iriam鈥� over and over and over again. It鈥檚 the name Branham gave her when he visited the commune. It was the name everyone called her in The Park. But as she was abused again and again, it became the name of her torment.

鈥淚 had totally accepted that I was the scum of the earth,鈥� Daulton said. 鈥淭his 鈥楳iriam鈥� that they defiled and used. I was worth nothing. And I had accepted that.鈥�

To this day, Daulton has to fight the urge to think of herself as 鈥渢hat nasty little girl from 910 West Gurley Street who was just somebody鈥檚 dumping spot,鈥� she said. As she sat in 2023 with a reporter and her aunt Daulton-Thibodeau, she looked at a picture of herself as a child with ringlets in her hair and said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the Goldilocks whore.鈥�

鈥淵ou鈥檇 think getting baptized 13 times would work,鈥� Daulton said. 鈥淚 always fought that filthiness. I fought that filthiness last night before you walked in my door, I fought it. How could I not fight it? I still have to fight it.鈥�

鈥淯ntil you take your last breath, honey,鈥� Daulton-Thibodeau said to her. 鈥淏ut you鈥檙e still alive, and you鈥檙e breathing, and you鈥檙e speaking.鈥�