Afoot. Brutal, and violence, and chaotic, they are vicious killers. It was a horrible betrayal. This wasnt supposed to happen ever. It was a chilly december morning, 2020. The high desert outside of los angeles. In there, behind barbed wire and secure blocks of thick concrete, a prisoner was placed in front of a camera. It was a parole hearing, for a life or who was not supposed to be set free. 50 miles away, nervous and worried, the sisters of the mans victim listen to a live broadcast. With her, historic l. A. Homicide detective, now retired. And rick jackson. Powerless to intervene, they waited for the boards decision. And it all came flooded back. As if decades had vanished. And the strange, terrible events had only just occurred. I worked homicide, but by the end of my career what it was 20 years. And you also think that you have seen everything, and this is one of those cases that, that just did not make any sense. No, it did not. Still does not. And maybe never well. It was just a few days after the Summer Solstice. That longest day of the year. It was june 24th, 1990. My supervisor called and said hey, ive got an interesting case for you and frank. So frank and i went right to the Coroners Office to view the body. Frank was detective frank garcia, jacksons partner. He had multiple stab wounds. And his throat was slit. It was a murder, all right, closeup. Personal. Bloody. Whoever did this wanted to make sure that it was done. No one was going to survive this. He looked to be in his early twenties, but he had no i. D. So they called him john doe 1 35. L. A. s 135th i unidentified victim of the year. He had a medallion. There were two. One was a pentagram, and there was also one that was a religious cross. Meaning, something . Possibly . John doe 1 35 had been found by hikers in an own train towel. That went through the rocky hills in suburban chatsworth. Went back up there. What was it like . Theyre strange paintings up there. Paintings of words involving drugs, lsd, acid. We were told that they would be Animal Sacrifices there. There was running in the inside of the tunnel. Things about hell, and fear. There were pentagrams. All indicating some kind of activity taking place in the tunnel. The pensive grounds are all gone now. Covered by new layers of graffiti. Hiding new secrets, perhaps horrors of the past. But even today it remains a dark and spooky place. Some of the locals calling it the mans internal because of that. And because Charles Manson once lived nearby. Whatever, it was catnip for media. The body was found in a Railroad Tunnel, above chatsworth farms. We do have in information about the case call lapd major crimes. One of the many assigned to the story was a young reporter for the l. A. Times, named michael connally. Yes, that, michael connelly, the best selling crime novelist. Who back then was just beginning to make a name for himself. Just in the beginning, it had so much mystery involved. What was this man doing in that tunnel . And i suppose it would just add to the allure of the idea . Following the mans internal . Yeah, it was a pretty horrible place to die. That is for sure. Did you actually go into that place . I went up there, once i didnt want to go in, i know reporters are supposed to go stick their nose into stuff so i went up to the entrance but i wasnt going to walk down into that tunnel, there were too many Unanswered Questions at that time. And no one knew just then, that they had entered a story already into chapter two. The San Fernando Valley is a vast, and crowded sprawl. More than one ministry here. It was midnight in the valley. A couple of hours before john doe 1 35 was found. In the manson tunnel. Gayle and kay bakers home. The phone rang. There is a strange voice, and it said. We have your son. Unless you give us 100,000 by 5 00 tomorrow, he will die. Their son, ron, was a student at ucla. So i called his apartment, and i was told that he had been dropped off at a bus stop. And he was going to meet at ucla. And he had his roommate telling me that. The next morning. Ron still had not returned home. And then the phone rang again. Same, strange voice. He said unless you give us 100,000 by 5 00, he will die. And at that time, i really did become worried. And i called the police. Rons older sister, patty, rushed over to her parents house. The police put a wire on the phone, nobody called back. The longer it went, the more worried that we got. Police got a picture of run from the family. They checked it with the Coroners Office. To see if it matched any outstanding cases that they were handling. It did. They called the bakers. Asking about if ron wouldve worn some earings. And a pendant. And he had done that. So then they came to see us. And tell us that his body had been found. Is there any way to understand what that is like . Its devastating. Then the bakers had to do the most difficult thing that they had ever done. We were asked to go to the Coroners Office to identify him. Ron baker, was just 21, their only son. Ron was not your average victim, and this . Not your average murder. When this thing first happened, we were just a few years past richard ramirez, the night stalker who is involved in pentagrams and things like that. And he had struck a couple of times in the valley. And that had gripped the town in fear. There was a little bit of, here we go again. Yes, and there was Something Else about it too. The date. It was the evening of the Summer Solstice. There were rumors going around at times, that this couldve been a sacrifice, due to the multiple stab wounds and the fact that bakers throat was slit. Did you think it wasnt a cult thing . We didnt know. We certainly didnt rule it out. Especially when they discovered what ron baker belonged to. It had a name. The Mystic Circle coming up cryptic clues in rons apartment. An altar, the candles, the pentagram. Good this killer be related to the dark out of the occult . Theres evidence of a cult activities havent taken place there before. Was there a lot of concern that maybe there were other people . Definitely. When dateline continues our clinically proven hydration beats the 500 cream. To strengthen my skin for smoother, brighter results. Your best skin yet. Olay. geri i have copd. Because i smoked. So i have to pace myself. My tip is, if youre having people over for thanksgiving, Start Cooking in october. announcer you can quit. For free help, call 1800quit now. Swords Clashing for free help, had enough . No. Arthritis. Here. Aspercreme arthritis. Full prescriptionstrength . Reduces inflammation . Thank the gods. Dont thank them too soon. Kick pain in the aspercreme. Trelegy for copd. Birds flyin high, you know how i feel. Breeze driftin on by. You know how i feel. You dont have to take. 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About oncedaily trelegy. The only trouble is knowing where to find them. Thats why i got xfinity. So, i can easily find and watch whatever sport im into all in one place without missing a thing. Even if its football, australian football, or football football. In a word its fitzcredible. I got to trademark that one. This season, eligible Xfinity Rewards Members can get up to 100 off Nfl Sunday Ticket from youtube. Sign up for Xfinity Rewards now. The question is, did the goli, taste your goals. Occult lead to his death . It was the word that got all the attention. A word that broad tv cruised to the notorious train tunnel under the hills. The word that conjured up all manner of dark arts. A cult. Holy terror, reads the graffiti over the tunnel where ron bakers body was found. Was 21 year old run baker the victim of a Ritual Killing and occult murder . Did you and your parents have any idea who couldve done this . No. Not at all. Or why. And while ron baker of all people . He was a compassionate, kind, coast churchgoing methodist. Not an envy in the world. My brother, he was a really positive person. A real gentle soul. He was very smart. He was majoring in astrophysics at ucla. Intellectually curious . Yes. Definitely. Which probably explained why, methodist or not, he joined a club at ucla called the Mystic Circle. Where he met fellow student, christine. We would meet, and here lectures and talks from people who practice a variety of different traditions, and alternative religion. Weve had people come in who studied with a. The pagan nature religion, ron was fascinated. I think as a physicist, there was something appealing about wicca being a nature religion. Because what do physicists that a . They study energy, and forces. And those were things that were part of everyday language in wicca. But, had he encountered something much darker . Ron shared an apartment with two roommates. Nathan and Duncan Martinez. The detectives drove over to talk to them. Nathan was out of town. So they talked to duncan about the murder. He was upset. How close was he to ron . They were pretty close. They were very different characters, ron was inward and naive a little bit. Duncan was more worldly, he had the energy. Charm. Yemen and yang. Duncan, a former marine reservist was bright and funny to rons quiet tried. Duncan got a job after high school, well run went to college. They both grew up in l. A. , and were best friends for years. Duncan stepfather was a professor at ucla where ron went to school. Nathan was from detroit. Ended up in l. A. After serving in the army. He had been a great athlete growing up. A football star. Runner up boxing champ as a teenager. He was the most recent member of the trio. Duncan told detectives that on the night of the murder, summer souls this, ron had planned to take the bus to ucla to visit his circle friends. He adds for a ride to the bus stop. So they dropped him off. And ron went where he went. And that, said duncan, was the last time he and nathan ever laid eyes on the roommate. So, the cops had a look at rons room. And . There it was. An altar. Candles. The pentagrams new. All the wicca stuff there. Large knives that were supposedly used in the ritual. Certainly, were not gonna rule out the possibility that bakers death was coach related. Coach related . Satanic ritual . Human sacrifice . This whole business about wicca, how seriously did you have to think about it . We had to take it seriously because it was the Summer Solstice, a holiday for wicca. It happened in the tunnel, there is evidence of a cult activities having taken place of their before. Understand, amid that some secret groups made their practicing dark arts, even harming children and others at a brief, unfortunate resurges around that time. So the idea that occultists may actually have sacrificed a man in a tunnel that was decorated with the signs of Devil Worship . The Media Fixation was hardly a surprise. I wrote some of these stories, i think we wrote them with reserve. Saying this is what the police have on their plate. As one of the things that theyre looking at. But theyre probably looking at many other things as well. But i know enough now, as a novelist, to know that certain words can really fire up the imagination of the reader. So i think these stories did that. In a big way. This whole occult story came out, and that was the dominant narrative for a long time. Where those in ucla and this group that knew him, was there a lot of worry and concern that there were other people who were injured . Definitely. It made us concerned that it was a hate crime. Despite their fears, some of rons Mystic Circle friends joined his family for a deeply memorial service. Rants friend, duncan, delivered the eulogy. He was the most friendliest and sweetest guy there. And i just hope that, its something i can get over. Because i love him. As for suspects, there were none. Except perhaps, the alcohol. It showed up at the autopsy. Bose, a lot of it. His alcohol was point to one. That was another thing that did not fit. Baker did not drink. But he fought his killer, that much was apparant in the traces of blood under his fingernails. So, dna . Well. Now. Not back then. All we could do is match the blood. It was a be positive. 4 of the population of a be positive. 4 . So that could narrow down the list of suspects. If they could never find one. Coming up dunk it was actually feeling pressured by the police. He felt like people were following him. Then, a mysterious phone call. In the middle of the night. They [inaudible] had another young man disappeared . When dateline continues rsv is in for a surprise. Meet arexvy. the first fdaapproved rsv vaccine. Arexvy is used to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. Arexvy is proven to be over 82 effective in preventing lower Respiratory Disease from rsv and over 94 effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. Those with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. Rsv can be serious. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about arexvy today. Rsv . Make it arexvy. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about arexvy today. [sirens] it was, in those days, like a curse had come to los angeles. A curse of murder. So many murders. Bestselling author, michael, was a journalist then. On the crime beat for the l. A. Times. I came here in 87. Which was the dawn of the highest murder rates ever. And the city, and a lot of it was fueled by the crack epidemic. And gang warfare, and all of that. But the murder of ron baker was different. A middle Class College student. And the questions that made the news, was this a Ritual Killing, an occult crime. Was it wicca related . The detectives had to know. We had to get an education real quick on wicca. We had interviewed one wicca lady that was very knowledgeable about the practice of wicca. That woman was christine. Rons friend from the Mystic Circle club. And an expert on everything big wicca. It is helpful to be able to talk to somebody who not only knows what is entailed in the occult, at least in the terms of wicca. But more importantly to know what ron himself believed, and practiced. Reyna gave the detectives a crash course on wicca, its history. Its peaceful rituals. Its spiritual traditions. And ron . She told them. He had absolutely no involvement in anything that would ever involve human sacrifices. I mean, he would never have meddled or even ventured into anything like that. He worried about that himself before all of this . Absolutely. That ripples him. And he certainly did not think that anyone who dabbled, or followed in those types of paths. Where the people that he would ever want to associate with. And i think that that was important for detectives to, know that this was not something that ron would have been attracted to. The more that detectives learned about wicca, the less likely it seemed to them related to rons death. I think through that process of just discovering and learning more things. They probably, quickly got off the occult trail. It was very clear. Not a ritual that all . There was no ritual. The wicca just faded away. And it became even more of non interest to us. So, while the media was focused on wicca, that detectives returned to more normal sources of police work. They talk to people who are with ron on the day that he died. Roommate nathan was back in town, and ready to talk. Not that he seem to know very much. And neither did duncan, for that matter. Though he was eager to help. The two told the same story. They dropped ron off at the bus stop the night of the Summer Solstice. And they never saw him again. , and then, after they heard that ron had been kidnapped. They went looking for him. But when duncan told the detectives, where they searched. Well. It seemed odd. He told us that he and nathan went to Chatsworth Park near the tunnel to look for baker. Why would anyone look for their friend at Chatsworth Park near the tunnel if he was kidnapped . Anyway, duncan kept talking. Offering information which, might be true. Or not. We asked dunkinto take a polygraph test. How do they do . He failed it, and all pertinent questions involving the murder. Oh. Soon after that, he lawyered up and stop talking. I thought we were going in the right direction because we had the right people. Now, the motive for the killing. Its still kind of tough. Yes, the motive. Why in the world would runs friends and roommates be mixed up somehow in the murder . It just did not make any sense. Especially to the bigger family. We were kind of shocked. What do you mean . Youre looking at duncan . Did you think that they were barking up the wrong tree . Yes. It seemed really farfetched. Why would he do that . We did not know nathan that well. But why would duncan, do something to his good