He would be beaten, yet again, until crying and shivering from the pain...........

From Days, Vol 2

Cast amongst the unbelievers, the long discussions with the priests had been excruciating. It had caused great concern in the family, particularly with his mother, that as he turned 13 he began to express doubts. Their family had been ridden with the deep fears and insecurities that came with fundamentalist Christianity; and had swallowed whole the propaganda from the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong. They had been blessed by God, and told the truth, here at the end time. The bottles of stored water mounted in the cupboards. And all was lost, lost, when he couldn't reconcile his own stirrings with the strict proscriptions being hailed down upon them.

Was he really going to go to hell? For what exactly? Why was God so unmerciful, so cruel. Why didn't he care about those he was condemning to death. He wrote his first major poem, about this fearful God and the queues of the condemned. They snaked out through stone pillars and under arching stone walls, they spilled down mythical steps and they kept on coming, hundreds, thousands. There was a strange, stifled chant, more evil than religious. Despair was everywhere. Darkness shrouded the masses. Oh if only they had been good, instead of being here, facing their destiny, their death, their judgement.

Was he really going to die, just like them, just because he had the precocity to doubt. Just because he demanded to be convinced. Just because God didn't make sense to him any more, in his young, adolescent, longing brain. He didn't want to go the church on Saturday's any more. Saturday was yet another point of difference with the mainstream churches. They had chosen Sunday, the Roman day for worshipping the Sun God, and had betrayed the Lord. All around them was corruption. Mini-skirts were creating headlines. The Rolling Stones really were of the devil, even worse than the Beatles. Licentiousness surrounded them.

He would be beaten, yet again, until crying and shivering from the pain, he would be forced into a suit. He would sit in the back of the car, silent, tearful, the welts stinging on his legs and on his back, inside a gale of tears and regret, unable to see any way out of this living nightmare that was his life. He hated the suit he had been forced to wear. He hated his parents, who kept beating him so badly, all because he didn't want to go to church. And he hated God, for being such a fascist, forcing him to believe when he just didn't want to. Why so cruel? What did he care whether he believed or not?

But the belts snaked out until he was forced, literally forced, to recant and don the suit and get in their Holden, and sit in the back with those storms of tears inside him, and watch sadly, sullenly, as the brick green and red colours of the suburbs flowed by, as they exited their narrow winding street with its demonic trees and eternal rusting, its sandstone caves and the heat filled secrets of the bush. The only time he began to rally was when the suburbs became the city, and his interest sparked up. What would it be like to live here, or here, what was it like behind that door, or that one, were they happy?

And after the beatings and the long drive and an insanely boring service, where Ezekiel and Isaiah and a thousand other ancient horrors thundered from the pulpit of the Petersham Town Hall, after the thunderous virtues and the neatly dressed families sitting ram rod strait, their hair combed and their ears clean, after it all his concerned mother would drag him around for a special conference with the priest. He was excruciatingly embarrassed. What business of anyone's were his own myriad doubts?

He sat there and had what he thought were relatively advanced theological discussions, where he set out to prove that God did not make sense, that he shouldn't be imposing all this suffering on mankind, that if he really was a kind and compassionate and all knowing being he wouldn't be inflicting all this pain. The priest quoted scripture, and together with the priest, in a back room of the town hall, the family knelt and prayed for his salvation, for him to be rescued from evil thoughts, from doubt, from the wider world.

He didn't want to be rescued from evil thoughts. He wanted to escape the nightmare that was his life; the beatings, the brutality, the overwhelming despair, the gusts of emotion that crippled him. It was here in these painful days that he developed the philosophy that was to live with him throughout much of his adult life: he didn't want to feel anything at all, because to feel anything was to be hurt.

PCG: God Wants To Make Your Children Sweat!

After hearing Michael Maynard's horror story with his children at Philadelphia Church of God summer camps, and the stories on Exit Support Network, you have to shake your head in disbelief that some so called minister in PCG would make such a statement as follows:

In five weeks, 144 teenagers from around the world will arrive on the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College for our annual youth camp. Our camp is designed to ensure these young people go home mentally charged and focused, their attitudes and spirits refreshed and renewed.
We also plan to send them home utterly exhausted.

For three weeks, these teens will spend their days mountain biking, canoeing and practicing archery, as well as playing basketball, water polo, soccer, softball, volleyball and flag football. They will walk, and sometimes jog, between activities, as well as to breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the evenings they will engage in other taxing activities, including a track and field event and camp dances. And if all that activity isn’t strenuous enough, much of it will occur in daytime temperatures hovering in the mid 90s.

If you’re like me, simply reading that paragraph is enough to make you sweat. As much as I love sports and the outdoors, the thought of spending six to seven hours a day out in the sizzling Oklahoma weather chasing balls, paddling across lakes and biking through ravines isn’t nearly as appealing as it once was. But to the teens who attend camp, God says this three-week display of physical strength and endurance is glorious and honorable!

 You can read His admiration in Proverbs 20:29: “The glory of young men is their strength.”

Obviously, good physical health is an important and praiseworthy quality that we all should be striving for. But isn’t it interesting that God identifies explicitly physical strength and energy as a defining and glorious quality of youth? In God’s mind, being a physically fit and healthy teenager—a young man (or woman) with strength and agility, someone who is robust and energetic—is a splendid and honorable accomplishment.

Parents, this is a state of being that God wants all children and teens to experience!

This is why, beyond merely seeking to make camp fun, we have our teens engage in so much physically demanding activity. Together with the high-quality meals and energy-replenishing snacks we feed them, the slew of sports and outdoor activities serve to improve the overall physical health and strength of the teens. It works, too. In virtually every case, teens depart camp stronger, fitter and healthier than when they arrived. Beyond the short-term goal of improving their health, though, our goal during the three-week camp is to encourage our teens to embrace healthy and active living as a way of life. (These words of 'wisdom' are by Brad McDonald)

 How could any sane minded parent allow their child to be abused by these fools?  But never fear, PCG will inculcate the 'word of god ' into their little minds so that they can become PCG zombies that turn their backs on parents, brothers and sisters and relatives that have left PCG.  Endless hours of PCG indoctrination of their weird beliefs.  Girls learning how to be proper wives who submit and clean house better than all those lazy laodicean women out there.

Of course, our effort to cultivate strong, healthy teens must be balanced, and must be complemented with similarly strenuous mental and spiritual exercises. This is why, in addition to all the physically demanding activities at our youth camps, teens take Bible classes, and classes on leadership and womanhood. It’s why we teach them public speaking and ballroom dance. It’s the reason we have them perform on stage and encourage them to play music and embrace art. And it’s why, particularly in this technology-ridden age of perpetual distractions, we encourage our teens to develop a love for reading, study and meditation.

This cult just get's sicker by the minute!

More to Philadelphia Church of God Family Horror Story

On November 18th, 2010 The Painful Truth web site posted a letter from a man who's niece had been thrown out on the street by her parents, members of Gerald Flurry's cult, The Philadelphia Church of God.

Philadelphia Church of God Parents Abandon Minor-Aged Daughter

When my 17 year-old niece told her parents she no longer wanted to participate in the Philadelphia Church of God, her cult-member parents abandoned her to the streets. “God’s Will,” her mother said.

For some time, my niece has been disillusioned by the Philadelphia Church of God. Her first awakening occurred when she asked her parents if she could stay with a non-cult member relative who lives on the East Coast, (that would be my wife and me), for two weeks, as part of her summer vacation. A boy her age, (a non cult member), who was enrolled in an accelerated program at school studying to become a doctor, was staying with us. My niece particularly wanted to meet this boy because she is also interested in studying medicine. The relative, that would be me and my wife, planned on taking the boy and my niece to see NYC and the NJ shore. My niece’s parents adamantly refused to let her visit the us. My niece’s “God ordained head of the household father,” who had been barred from practicing nursing in several States for violations, (I believe he showed up at the care facility in which he was employed, intoxicated. First, he was suspended for 2 years, then he had his license revoked permanently), especially wouldn’t even hear of the idea. My niece became distraught. Instead of letting their daughter enjoy her summer vacation with a like-minded teenager pursuing a career in medicine, her parents forced her to stay at home in the company of another girl from the Philadelphia Church of God. My niece says this cult member spent most of the time on her cell phone, bragging about having a three-way with two Mexican boys.

Another important event influencing my niece to leave the Philadelphia Church of God occurred while she was attending the Philadelphia Church of God youth camp in Edmonton, OK. Camp organizers forced my niece to play soccer in the heat, even though she had high fever. When she returned home, she had puss running out of her ears, and was deathly sick for two weeks afterwards. PCOG believes in relying on God’s faith to heal. Philadelphia Church of God “ministers,” camp organizers, and her parents refused to treat her medically.  The rest of the story is here: Horror Stories, How Bad Was It?

The follow up to this story is here: Wrecked Family: Part 1

After spending $2,000 on rescuing my niece from the streets after her PCOG parents abandoned her, she no longer talks to us, unless the topic of conversation is about money. I believe PCOG intimated her parents, threatening them with “disfellowship,” unless they stopped their daughter from telling us about PCOG. Perhaps PCOG read her story posted on this website.

As far as I know, my niece is back “dating” the younger, classmate boy referenced in my first story. Side note: According to my niece, her PCOG mother accused this non-cult member boy of statutory rape, confronting him in the hallway of her daughter’s public high school. My niece is actually almost a year older than him.

The Boy In The Box: Child Abuse in Armstrongism

I ran across this tonight.  I do not remember this story at all.  Sadly, this is just one of many hundreds of child abuse cases that went on in Armstrongism.  Just one more sad legacy of the church.

This is from what I assume is a UCG member's blog:  This Hurts You More Than It Hurts Me

Tim’s mother, Debra, wanted to make a better life. She’d had two children, Tim and Donna, in her teens and tried to raise them as a single mum in Washington, USA.

She decided to move state, seeking to reunite with the children’s father and try to have a proper family. Her step-mother, Retha Skyles, offered to help. She said she would look after Tim and Donna in Washington while Debra established a home interstate. She arranged for Debra to sign a document giving her temporary legal custody.

While Debra was away, Retha moved state and told Debra she had signed over all her parental rights to Retha. She wouldn’t tell Debra where her children were. Six years later, with Debra having given up any hope of getting her children back, Retha Skyles returned to Washington with Debra’s children, Tim and Donna, still in her care.

Donna was a child who, by her nature, tended to be obedient with little urging or discipline needed. Tim, however, was a boy who needed more explicit discipline to understand and accept boundaries on his behaviour. Unfortunately for Tim, his new “mother”, Retha, did not know how to discipline a child.

When Tim, now around six years old, disobeyed Retha this is what would happen: He would be made to bend over, bare-bottomed, and receive beatings administered with a wooden cutting board. If Tim cried, the beating would intensify to punish him for crying. This abuse didn’t stop until all crying and negative facial expressions had ceased and Tim was in silent submission.
Retha was confused when this approach didn’t seem to be working with Tim. It had “worked” with her own children, and it seemed to be effective with Donna. But Tim’s behaviour wasn’t improving. He was starting to behave oddly and have strange tantrums of inhuman screaming. Retha took her to a doctor, telling him that Tim was in her care because her daughter had used drugs. The doctor suggested Tim “might” have mild brain damage from the in utero exposure to drugs. Retha, knowing that she did not have legal custody of the children, didn’t dare seek any further professional advice. She determined to devise new methods of discipline on her own to manage this ostensibly brain-damaged child. She was determined to eradicate all roots of his evil, while keeping him protected from his “drug-abusing” mother.

When Tim was 8 year old, Retha moved in with her own mother. Retha’s son, Glen, was already living there. Glen recalls, “One would almost not know that Tim was there. Except for periodical screaming and butt-beating sessions, he’d be virtually invisible except [at church], where he sat quietly, and was always known as a remarkably “good little boy.’”

Retha had discovered isolation seemed to have some effect on Tim. She would seat him inside a circle of chairs draped with blankets. Tim’s behaviour came increasingly odd. He would bite his fingernails and chew holes in the blankets.

Tim had learned not to cry when punished, holding back with a grimace. However, his grimaces were seen by Retha as defiance, and he was beaten more severely for them. Retha asked her son Glen to build a box four feet by four feet by seven feet, with a bed on top. Glen built it, as asked, with one side open. Retha then closed the remaining side and kept Tim inside the box, only allowing him out to attend church and to defecate. He had a jar in the box with him to urinate in. Retha was calling him “the devil’s child.” He was occasionally cleaned with a wash-cloth, and wasn’t allowed to wear clothes. In his box there were no blankets or pillow – nothing for comfort. He would sleep curled in a tight ball.

To pass the time, Tim would imagine what it might be like to go outside. He thought all children lived in boxes, but imagined some mother’s were a little nicer than Retha. One day Glen gave him a stuffed toy dog. It was the first soft thing Tim can remember. “I used to talk to it,” says Tim. “I dreamed that it would come to life and break the lock. I thought maybe it would help me.” Later, Retha cut the toy to pieces with a knife.

Eventually Glen, who had been a victim himself of abusive “discipline”, realised the seriousness of what was happening to Tim. He went to his minister for advice. The minister, having heard his story, sat in silence for a moment. He then accused Glen of a variety of sins and warned him to stop speaking evil of his mother, threatening that there would be serious consequences if Glen told anyone else.

Glen finally went to Child Services, who within reasonably short time removed Tim and Donna from Retha’s care. The story of the “boy in the box” soon exploded in news reports around the world. It was 1987.

The above story was reconstructed from the following accounts:

• Poison Doctrine: the Dichotomy of Armstrongism by CW (contributing writer) on the blog As Bereans Did
• Years locked in boy spur boy’s search from The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, June 9, 1996
• Accusations about boy in box denied from The Daily Record, Ellensburg, Washington, October 12, 1987
• Woman claims boy-in-a-box story ‘twisted’ from the Spokane Chronicle, October 14, 1987.

Retha Skyles was a member of the Worldwide Church of God, a predecessor of my current church. The minister from whom Glen sought advice was a Worldwide Church of God minister in Tacoma, Washington.

Another Sad Legacy of Armstrongism: Flurry Cult (Philadelphia Church of God) Members Abandoning Their Children

The Painful Truth has a letter about a young teenager who was kicked out of her home because of Flurry's filthy teachings.  This is not an isolated case in Flurrydumb. This has happened to others.  If the child is older and does not believe in Flurry's filthy message then they are kicked out.  Flurry teaches parents to do this to their kids. He teaches them to cut  off all ties to family members who are not part of PCG.  Families have been destroyed, grandparents have been cut off from grandchildren, young adults from parents, and the list could go on and on.

Satan's Human Face

Philadelphia Church of God Parents

Abandon Minor-Aged Daughter

When my 17 year-old niece told her parents she no longer wanted to participate in the Philadelphia Church of God, her cult-member parents abandoned her to the streets. "God's Will," her mother said. For some time, my niece has been disillusioned by the Philadelphia Church of God. Her first awakening occurred when she asked her parents if she could stay with a non-cult-member relative who lives on the East Coast, (that would be my wife and me), for two weeks, as part of her summer vacation. A boy her age, (a non cult-member), who was enrolled in an accelerated program at school studying to become a doctor, was staying with us. My niece particularly wanted to meet this boy because she is also interested in studying medicine. The relative, that would be me and my wife, planned on taking the boy and my niece to see NYC and the NJ shore. My niece's parents adamantly refused to let her visit with us. My niece's "God ordained head of the household father," who had been barred from practicing nursing in several States for violations (I believe he showed up at the care facility in which he was employed, intoxicated. First, he was suspended for 2 years, then he had his license revoked permanently), especially wouldn't even hear of the idea. My niece became distraught. Instead of letting their daughter enjoy her summer vacation with a like-minded teenager pursuing a career in medicine, her parents forced her to stay at home in the company of another girl from the Philadelphia Church of God. My niece says this cult-member spent most of the time on her cell phone, bragging about having a three-way with two Mexican boys.

When my niece continued to press her parents to be released from the abuse of the Philadelphia Church of God, her mother said she was "dead to her," and turned her photo face down on her bureau top. Her parents told her to leave the house, as they wanted to concentrate their love and affection on their other daughters, who wanted to remain in the cult. My niece said her parents told her she was infecting the household with her "evil." While kicking her out of the house, they refused to drive her anywhere, and threatened anyone who helped her with legal action for harboring a minor. My niece was forced to walk a busy highway for over an hour alone, until a classmate saw her and gave her a ride.

 Read the rest of the story here:  PCG Parents Abandon Minor Daughter

Hat tip to Felix....Why We Don't Get Over It

Child Abuse in Armstrongism is NOT an Anomaly

Give the recent turn of events with Kevin Dean's arrest for child abuse, it just brings to light the fact that Armstrongism had lots of child molesters in its midst.  The sad part was that the ministry and various church leaders found ways to cover it all up.

One of Meathooks MerryDeath's right-hand men was well know in Pasadena for sexual advances on boys at Camp River Glenn.

Imperial Schools had its molester/sadists on staff who loved to beat kids after making them lower their pants or raise their dresses.  The sad part was that parents let them do it!

Another Pasadena member was jailed for molesting his infant daughter.

From the Yahoo Group LCG:

THIS IS PERMITTED?????

In 2002, a member of LCG was imprisoned for "sexual conduct with a minor" (he was in his 40's) His DAUGHTER was the victim!!!!!!!!!!!.

He was recently married to a member from the Minneapolis area, they never counseled for marriage, they were married by an LCG minister.

He actually broke PAROLE to come to Wisconsin. I am sure she knew about this situation and believed that he was framed, BUT does a person spend almost 3 years 6 months (indicted by a GRAND JURY) in prison if there is NO solid evidence???? He had 17 (SEVENTEEN) counts against him. He was plead guilty to FOUR. The ministers in his area (SOUTHWESTERN USA) were aware of this situation, I am certain DW knew about it and OKAYED the marriage, because the offender bragged how he knew DWinnail personally (I met the man months ago at a service in Wisconsin, before any of this came out) Very charming and sweet...(typical)

This all came to light ONE DAY before we left for the FEAST. How do I know all this?? Because the x husband of the lady the offender married...was sent AN ANOYONOUS letter with the offender's picture and REGISTRATION SHEET with 17 (SEVENTEEN) offenses listed!!!

We were floored to say the least. Our friend (Dave) stayed with us during the FEAST so this is NOT some RUMOR>>> I saw the paperwork with my own eyes.

LCG KNEW of this situation for MONTHS and never alerted the congregations and PERMITTED that marriage!!!

CHILD MOLESTERS (historically speaking) CANNOT be reformed!It is a perverted SICKNESS. Well, it is all on the heads of the ministry, that's about all I can say...BUT SHAME ON THEM! Are the shepherds PROTECTING their FLOCKS?????

Dave has a child who is a minor who was living with his mother after she was remarried to the offender. He's very upset and wonders HOW this could have happened...
There's something wrong with this picture..can you ALL SEE THIS???

They allowed that man to mingle with our children(in various
congregations) for MONTHS. This is SHAMEFUL.

News From The Past: Religion was key to slain Lessard family, relatives say

Armstrongism like many cults, always has had people pushed over the edge.  When your entire belief system continually makes you out to be a worthless, sinful and doomed human being; what hope is there?

Just take a look at a typical COG 'Passover' service.  You are made to feel like human excrement because you dared walk in the room.  You are unworthy to even be there.  They read those scriptures over and over.
And then the ministry rise up in all their pompous glory and pull the microphone down low over the tray of matzo's.  Then they start breaking the matzo's.  Making sure to go as slow and deliberate as possible.  They want to make sure you re-crucify Jesus over and over , year after year, decade after decade.  When you walk out of the room that evening you don't know Jesus any more than you did when you walked in the room. 

When you have no hope all joy has been taken from you because you are exhausted trying to measure up. You try to attend all services, Bible Study's, choir practices, spokesmen clubs, helping people move, painting the minsters home and cleaning his house then what fun is left? You don't have time to do anything away from church members.  And if you do, you feel guilty.

Here is story about a man in the WCG who killed his family and himself.  The relatives blame Armstrongism



------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Religion was key to slain Lessard family, relatives say

By DIANA COSTELLO
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: February 24, 2007)

Steven and Kathy Lessard of Lake Peekskill were quiet people who met at a church event as young adults and deepened their devotion to God as they traveled to religious festivals around the country.

Polite. Generous. Personable.

These are the qualities people who knew them -whether intimately or just in passing -attributed to the couple and their only child, Linda.

"If you're standing in line and somebody looks in your basket and sees you've got fewer things and lets you go by -that's the kind of kindness I'm talking about," said the Rev. Jeffrey Broadnax of the Worldwide Church of God, an evangelical Christian denomination. "They were always just really pleasant people, and you just enjoyed being around them."

But the family's final chapter ended in tragedy last week, authorities said, when Steven Lessard strangled his wife and 14-year-old daughter before thrusting a steak knife into his groin to kill himself.

The gruesome event has since taken a toll on family and friends, who say they are struggling to make sense of a fate they never imagined would befall what had seemed to be a lovely family.

Autopsies have led police to think that 51-year-old Steven Lessard strangled his 48-year-old wife with his bare hands the night of Feb. 15 or early Feb. 16. He then used a ligature to strangle his daughter when she returned from school the afternoon of Feb. 16, police told the wife's family.

He tucked them both into their beds once they were dead.

Lessard took his own life by cutting the femoral artery on the right side of his groin sometime after 3 p.m. Saturday, police said.

He had been receiving psychiatric treatment for emotional problems and was worried about losing his job at the Indian Point nuclear power station in Buchanan, where he had been put on leave this month for overreacting to a flat tire on his car.

In conversations, one aspect of the Lessards' lifestyle that has emerged as a sore spot with relatives was their involvement with the Worldwide Church of God.

The church was founded in Oregon in 1933 by Herbert W. Armstrong, who viewed himself as an apostle chosen by God.

Under his leadership, the church followed a strict interpretation of the Old Covenant. As such, members were forbidden to celebrate such traditional Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter.

Armstrong's death in 1986, however, was the beginning of the end for the church's restrictive philosophy.

His successor initiated a series of doctrinal changes and set forth a new proclamation in 1995 that transformed the movement into a mainstream evangelical denomination. The National Association of Evangelicals voted to accept the Worldwide Church of God into its membership in May 1997.

Steven and Kathy Lessard apparently met at a Church of God event in the Baltimore area, according to Kathy's family.

They had belonged to the Mount Kisco branch since at least 1993, according to Broadnax, who became pastor that year.

He described the family as active participants, frequently attending services and church events throughout the country.

But the family left the church about the same time it joined the evangelical association.

It was also around the time the Mount Kisco church relocated to Armonk and the family bought a home in Lake Peekskill after moving from Cortlandt.

Helen Beach, Steven Lessards' mother, said the family was upset about the church's new direction.

"I know they were very unhappy. I don't remember the specifics," Beach, 78, said by telephone from her Florida home.

After leaving, the family members apparently did not belong to any formal religious organization, but nevertheless continued to follow the same customs they had been living by, Beach said.

They read the Bible. They loved God. And they still shunned traditional Christian holidays.

That infuriated Lessard's mother, who had raised her son Methodist and said his family must have been brainwashed. She said her son had returned to a Methodist church within the past few months.

Kathy Lessard's family also was troubled by the couple's approach to the holidays. Kathy was raised in a Catholic tradition, attending church in South Baltimore, her family said.

"We were told very clearly that we could never send a Christmas gift or even a card at Easter time. They did not have a Christmas tree or house ornaments," said her nephew, Michael Aro, 38, of Glen Burnie, Md.

It particularly bothered Rosella Aro, who was married to Kathy Lessard's brother.

"I'd see something in a store and think of Linda, the same age as my granddaughter, and would want to get it for her, but then I remembered that they would not want me to," she said this week.

"I did send a holiday card for the New Year and was told that was all right. We never got one back."

Since the local church turned more mainstream, it has seen membership drop to about 70 families from about 250, mirroring declines and splits in the Worldwide Church. The church overall says it has 67,000 members in more than 100 countries.

Seeing Steven Lessard labeled as a "killer" and "family annihilator" in the newspapers has hurt Broadnax, who said he doesn't view him that way and trusts God will deal judgment appropriately.

"We do believe that in the afterlife all people will stand before God and will have to give account for themselves," said Broadnax, who lives in Peekskill. "We believe that God is a merciful God who judges what we can't see as human beings. He judges the heart, not always just the actions."

Staff writer Barbara Livingston Nackman contributed to this report.
Reach Diana Costello at dcostell@lohud.com or 845-228-2278.
Religion Key To Murder
--------------------------------

Family of murder victims shocked at the brutality of their deaths

By BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Related Articles:
Tragedy divides relatives of slain family
Mother of man who killed wife, daughter, self: Psychiatrist 'could have stopped it'



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(Original publication: February 23, 2007)

PUTNAM VALLEY - After Steven Lessard, a nuclear engineer battling emotional problems, strangled his wife and daughter, he tucked them neatly back into their beds. Much later -after shoveling snow off the end of his driveway - Lessard took a steak knife and killed himself, leaving behind two inches of blood in the bathtub.

The grim details and grisly remains of the drawn-out murder-suicide at the house on Maple Road are what the family of Kathy Aro Lessard has had to confront over the last several days as they prepare to take her and 14-year-old Linda back to Baltimore, Md. for burial.

The horror of what happened to the Lessards seemed beyond comprehension as Kathy Lessard's side of the family sat yesterday in her pink-and-beige living room surrounded by her needlecrafts. Above the front door a plaque read: "Home Sweet Home."

"Seeing the house tells you he provided for them and she took care of things," said Edward Aro, 69, a 30-year veteran of the Baltimore city police department who's seen more than his share of gruesome crime scenes. "It makes you think what was wrong that this happened?"

Although there was nothing to hint at the violence Steven Lessard visited on his own wife and child, there were other signs, family members said, that the marriage was unhappy.

"He controlled everything that went on in the house and to them," said Michael Aro, Kathy's 38-year-old nephew. "I did not really think about it, but looking back, it was bad. She smiled, but you can see in these photos it was a sort of plastic, fake smile."

The family described Steven Lessard, a 1977 Naval Academy graduate, as a manipulative man who kept Kathy and Linda Lessard away from the Aros. The Lessards visited Baltimore many summers, but always stayed in a hotel rather than relatives' homes.

Kathy never was in a room without Steven present, her nephew recalled. His mother, Rosella Aro, said when she called her niece, Kathy often gave clipped answers and it was clear that Steven was in the room too.

"I just can't believe, can't imagine, my husband or kids getting that mad to do something like this. Why didn't he pack up and get out, or tell her to get out?" Rosella Aro said.

The bodies of the Lessard family were discovered Monday after police received a call from Steven Lessard's mother concerned that she was unable to reach them.

Lessard was placed on leave Feb. 8 from his job at the Indian Point nuclear power plants in Buchanan for bizarre behavior. He had been seeing Sleepy Hollow psychiatrist Mark Russakoff and, according to his mother, had an appointment with Russakoff Thursday but the doctor was not there.

Sometime that night or the next morning, autopsies led police to conclude that Lessard strangled his wife with his bare hands. The next day, after his daughter came home from school, he strangled her with some kind of rope, police told the Aro family. Lessard did not take his own life until sometime after 3 p.m. Saturday. A neighbor said she nearly ran over Lessard with her car as he shoveled snow from the end of his driveway late that afternoon. He later bled to death on the staircase after stabbing himself in the groin.

The Aros arrived Tuesday night, finding what otherwise appeared to be an orderly house where the bills were paid on time and Kathy Lessard had recently redone the kitchen. It was their first visit to the house in Lake Peekskill although the Lessards had lived there for 10 years.

The Aros said there were more than 100 messages of support and condolence left on the answering machine. They unplugged the machine and said they would listen to every message and return the ones with phone numbers when they got back to Baltimore.

It was there at Martin's West, a popular Baltimore caterer, that Kathy Aro married Steven Lessard 18 years ago. Their wedding photo shows Kathy in a sweeping white dress embraced in the arms of her blond-haired, dark-suited groom.

Raised a Catholic, the youngest of five, Kathy grew up in South Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood and later worked as a clerk for the state of Maryland. She became involved in the Worldwide Church of God, an evangelical denomination with 67,000 members in more than 100 countries. She met Steven Lessard at a church event for young adults.

Family members said the Lessards often traveled on what they thought were church-sponsored trips. They did not celebrate holidays and while they could receive cards, as far as the Aros knew, there was never a Christmas tree in their house.

There will be a funeral Mass for Kathy and Linda Lessard on Tuesday and a wake sometime before that.

Yesterday, some 50 of Linda Lessard's classmates at Putnam Valley Middle School gathered for two counseling sessions.

"If only one person showed up it would have been worth all of our planning," said Principal Edward Hallisey, who opened the school during the winter break to help the community cope with the tragedy.

Linda Lessard was a talented artist, her cousin Michael recalled, sharing two sketches she drew in January showing emotionless faces of a boy and girl with careful details of spikey hair and proportional features. Linda often sang the 1970s tunes of Barry Manilow and the BeeGees that her mother loved.

The Aros said they did not want to pry when they heard less frequently from Kathy - the Lessards did not make the trip to Baltimore last summer - but figured that she knew her family was there if she needed them.

They had no inkling that she and her daughter were in danger from Steven Lessard.

"He wasn't a favorite character in the family," said Edward Aro, his clear blue eyes growing wet with tears. "Now we are just sad, very sad."

Staff writer Diana Costello contributed to this report.
Reach Barbara Livingston Nackman at bnackman@lohud.com or 845-228-2272.
Murder Article