That conclusion contradicts charges made by children and
parents in a yearlong child molestation case in Pico Rivera,
according to Lt. Bill Stonich of the county's child abuse
detail. Parents had claimed their children were sexually
molested and forced to witness satanic sacrifices at the
former site of the Spiritual
Christian Dukh-i-zhiznik meeting hall
Old Molokan
Christian Spiritual Church on Flatbush Avenue here.
This Dukh-i-zhiznik
congregation is one of about eight in
east Los Angeles County, and about 100 world wide. This
meeting hall
(sobrainie in Russian) was
nicknamed "605" because it was
next to the new 605 Freeway. Before their former building on
Clarence Street near First Street (the Flats) in Boyle
Heights was burned, it was variously descriptively nicknamed
podval (basement in Russian), Shubin's, Klubnikin's
and Flats. By 1990 it moved to a building on Clark Ave. in
La Puente, and is now nicknamed "Clarkies."
None of the other seven congregations in Los Angeles had ground space to bury bones. Most used commercial rubbish bin service to dispose of food waste. Dukh-i-zhiznik congregations in rural central California, Arizona and Oregon typically bury uneaten food which they believe should not be given to non-kosher animals or non-members.
"We were told we would find bones of a human origin and/or bones of animals used in some type of ritualistic sacrifices," Stonich said. "We did not find any evidence of that. (We) determined that the bones were beef and lamb bones, apparently cut with a band saw, which is consistent with commercial meat-cutting practices."
Stonich said the bones were examined last week by David
Whistler of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
Whistler's conclusions, Stonich said, supported the earlier
explanation of an Spiritual
Christian Dukh-i-zhiznik congregation Old
Molokan Church
member that the bones represent the buried remains of dinners
served at the church. Members of the congregation buried their
leftover bones during several years they used the building church,
until it was torn down last year to make way for the Century
Freeway, church member Mike Treguboff said.
Charges Still Pending
The case began in April, 1984, with the arrest of four Planter Street residents on 19 counts of molestation and kidnapping. Their charges were dismissed at a preliminary hearing last July, but a fifth resident of the street was arrested in September. That suspect now faces trial on two counts of molestation and two counts of kidnapping.
Vicki Meyers, a parent who helped initiate the digging at the
former building church
site last month, said she found some blood in the bags in
which the bones were buried. She said the bones were stripped
too clean to be food bones and said children had been able to
predict where the bones would be found.
The bones were clean because meat on the bone was boiled for soup broth first, then the meat which is easily removed off the bone is roasted. This type of meat is so delicious that the few remaining bones are eaten until clean.
"I don't care what the bones are," Meyers said. "I want to
know why my kids know where they were buried. If they're
(leftover) dinners . . . where's the other garbage? There's no
food with them, no paper plates . . . nothing."
Dukh-i-zhizniki
don't use paper plates, cups or Styrofoam
for religious meals, which is a ritual "sacrifice" (zhertva).
All the dishes got washed and put into cupboards in the
kitchen. There is little waste of religious feast food (zhertva) because
it was "prayed for" and prepared kosher-like. Most of the
"other garbage", or leftover food (bread, vegetables, soup,
noodles, meat, fruit, etc.), was packaged (in jars, bags and
containers) and divided among members who worked in the
kitchen that day, and to deliver to their elderly and sick
members who could not attend. What remains is divided among
the elderly for their next meal, and then to younger
families.
Investigators found no blood and saw nothing odd about the bones, according to Stonich.
Church member Treguboff said Monday that the
congregation often used beef and lamb meat for soup and
discarded the raw bones, which may account for some blood. The
bones were buried to prevent flies and maggots, but other
trash was thrown in a rubbish bin, he said.
"I think they're getting down to nit-picking," Treguboff said angrily, denouncing the accusations.
Stonich said investigators unearthed more than 100 bones in the most recent dig, May 24, before turning them over for scientific study.
Parents, who began digging at the site May 18, had previously uncovered 300 to 500 bones, Meyers estimated. She said she turned over only a sampling of those bones to sheriff's deputies. Meyers said she intends to take some of the remaining bones to an independent cult specialist to determine whether they were used as part of satanic rituals.
No further reports in the LA Times
exist. The local papers associated with the Long Beach
Tribune, for Pico Rivera and Downey, published more
stories.
See previous story: Soup
Bones or Satanism? Churchyard
Dug Up in Molestation Case, May
30, 1985
Read a rational
explanation for Vicki Meyers confusion in A. A. Panchenko's
analysis of
how such myths are attributed to Russian sectarians and
"other alien faiths" throughout history:
"Stange
Faith"
and the Blood Libel (Archived.)