Latest news with #Satanism
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Detectives investigating UCLA student's murder uncovered a stunningly personal betrayal
The railroad tunnel in which John Doe #135 was found had spooky graffiti and a dark mystique, the kind of place kids dared each other to walk through at night. People called it the Manson Tunnel — the cult leader and his disciples had lived nearby at the Spahn Movie Ranch — and someone had spray-painted HOLY TERROR over the entrance. By June 1990, occult-inspired mayhem had become a common theme in the Los Angeles mediasphere. The serial killer known as the Night Stalker, a professed Satanist, had been sentenced to death a year before, and the McMartin Preschool molestation case, with its wild claims of ritual abuse of children, was still slogging through the courts. So when venturesome local teenagers discovered a young man's body in the pitch-black tunnel above Chatsworth Park, the LAPD considered the possibility of occult motives. The victim was soon identified as Ronald Baker, a 21-year-old UCLA student majoring in astrophysics. He had been killed on June 21, a day considered holy by occultists, at a site where they were known to congregate. Baker was skinny and physically unimposing, with a mop of curly blond hair. He had been to the tunnel before, and was known to meditate in the area. He had 18 stab wounds, and his throat had been slashed. On his necklace: a pentagram pendant. In the bedroom of his Van Nuys apartment: witchcraft books, a pentagram-decorated candle and a flier for Mystic's Circle, a group devoted to "shamanism' and "magick.' Headline writers leaned into the angle. "Student killed on solstice may have been sacrificed,' read the Daily News. "Slain man frequently visited site of occultists,' declared The Times. Baker, detectives learned, had been a sweet-tempered practitioner of Wicca, a form of nature worship that shunned violence. He was shy, introverted and "adamantly against Satanism," a friend said. But as one detective speculated to reporters, "We don't know if at some point he graduated from the light to the dark side of that.' People said he had no enemies. He loved "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" singalongs, and worked a candle-making booth at Renaissance faires. He had written his sister a birthday card in Elizabethan English. Had he gone into the hills to meditate and stumbled across practitioners of more malignant magic? He was known as a light drinker, but toxicology results showed he was heavily drunk when he died. Had someone he trusted lured him to the tunnel? How was his death connected to the raspy-voiced man who placed calls to Baker's father around that time, demanding a $100,000 ransom in exchange for his son's life? Baker's housemates, Duncan Martinez and Nathan Blalock, both military veterans in their early 20s, had been the last known people to see him alive, and served as each other's alibis. They said they had dropped him off at a Van Nuys bus stop, and that he had planned to join his Mystic's Circle friends for the solstice. There had been no sign of animosity between the roommates, and Baker considered Martinez, an ex-Marine, one of his best friends. They had met working at Sears, years earlier. Martinez helped to carry Baker's casket and spoke movingly at his memorial service at Woodland Hills United Methodist Church. His friend was 'never real physically strong, like a lot of the guys I know,' Martinez said, but was the 'friendliest, sweetest guy.' His voice filled with emotion. 'He would talk to anybody and be there for anybody at the drop of a dime,' Martinez continued. 'And I just hope that it's something I can get over, because I love him. It's just hard to think of a time without Ron." But something about the roommates' story strained logic. When Baker's father had alerted them to the ransom calls, the roommates said they had looked for him at Chatsworth Park, knowing it was one of Baker's favorite haunts. Why would they assume a kidnapper had taken him there? There was another troubling detail: Martinez had cashed a $109 check he said Baker had given him, but a handwriting expert determined that Baker's signature was forged. Martinez agreed to a polygraph test, described his friend's murder as 'a pretty unsensible crime' and insisted he had nothing to do with it. 'I've never known anybody to carry a grudge or even dislike Ron for more than a minute, you know,' Martinez said. The test showed deception, and he fled the state. He was gone for nearly 18 months. He turned up in Utah, where he was arrested on a warrant for lying on a passport application. He had been hoping to reinvent himself as 'Jonathan Wayne Miller,' an identity he had stolen from a toddler who died after accidentally drinking Drano in 1974, said LAPD Det. Rick Jackson, now retired. Jackson said Martinez sliced the child's death certificate out of a Massachusetts state archive, hoping to disguise his fraud. In February 1992, after being assured his statement could not be used against him, Martinez finally talked. He said it had been Blalock's idea. They had been watching an old episode of 'Dragnet' about a botched kidnapping. Martinez was an ex-Marine, and Blalock was ex-Army. With their military know-how, they believed they could do a better job. They lured Baker to the park with a case of beer and the promise of meeting girls, and Blalock stabbed him with a Marine Corps Ka-Bar knife Martinez had lent him. Baker begged Martinez for help, and Martinez responded by telling his knife-wielding friend to finish the job. 'I told him to make sure that it was over, because I didn't want Ron to suffer,' Martinez said. 'I believe Nathan slit his throat a couple of times.' He admitted to disguising his voice while making ransom calls to Baker's father. But he never provided a location to deliver the ransom money. The scheme seemed as harebrained as it was cruel, and Martinez offered little to lend clarity. He sounded as clueless as anyone else, or pretended to be. 'You know, it doesn't completely click with me either,' he said. "They ruined their lives, and all of the families' lives, with the stupidest crime,' Patty Baker Elliott, the victim's elder sister, told The Times in a recent interview. In the end, the occult trappings were a red herring, apparently intended to throw police off the scent of the real culprits and the real motive. The killers "set this thing up for the summer solstice, because they knew he wanted to be out, hopefully celebrating the solstice,' Jackson said in a recent interview. "What are the chances, of all the days, this is the one they choose to do it on?' Jackson, one of the two chief detectives on the case, recounts the investigation in his book "Black Tunnel White Magic: A Murder, a Detective's Obsession, and '90s Los Angeles at the Brink,' which he wrote with author and journalist Matthew McGough. Blalock was charged with murder. To the frustration of detectives, who believed him equally guilty, Martinez remained free. His statements, given under a grant of immunity, could not be used against him. 'I almost blame Duncan more, because he was in the position, as Ron's best friend, to stop this whole thing and say, 'Wait a minute, Nathan, what the hell are we talking about here?'' Jackson said. 'He didn't, and he let it go through, and what happened, happened.' Martinez might have escaped justice, but he blundered. Arrested for burglarizing a Utah sporting goods store, he claimed a man had coerced him into stealing a mountain bike by threatening to expose his role in the California murder. As a Salt Lake City detective recorded him, Martinez put himself at the scene of his roommate's death while downplaying his guilt — an admission made with no promise of immunity, and therefore enough to charge him. "That's the first time we could legally put him in the tunnel," Jackson said. Jurors found both men guilty of first-degree murder, and they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In June 2020, Baker's sister was startled to come across a news site reporting that Gov. Gavin Newsom had intervened to commute Martinez's sentence, making him eligible for parole. No one had told her. The governor's office said at the time that Martinez had "committed himself to self-improvement' during his quarter-century in prison. The news was no less a shock to Jackson, who thought the language of the commutation minimized Martinez's role in concocting the kidnapping plan that led to the murder. He said he regarded Martinez as a "pathological liar,' and one of the most manipulative people he'd met in his long career. Martinez had not only failed to help Baker, but had urged Blalock to 'finish him off' and then posed as a consoling friend to the grieving family. The victim's sister remembers how skillfully Martinez counterfeited compassion. 'He hugged everybody and talked to everybody at the service,' she said. 'He cried. He got choked up and cried during his eulogy.' A prosecutor intended to argue against Martinez's release at the parole hearing, but then-newly elected L.A. Dist. Atty. George Gascon instituted a policy forbidding his office from sending advocates. The victim's sister spoke of her loss. Jackson spoke of Martinez's gift for deception. 'It was like spitting into the wind,' Jackson said. The parole board sided with Martinez, and he left prison in April 2021. Blalock remains behind bars. For 35 years now, the retired detective has been reflecting on the case, and the senselessness at its core. Jackson came to think of it as a 'folie à deux' murder, a term that means 'madness of two' and refers to criminal duos whose members probably would not have done it solo. He regarded it as 'my blue-collar Leopold and Loeb case,' comparing it to the wealthy Chicago teenagers who murdered a boy in 1924 with the motive of committing the perfect crime. An old cop show about a kidnapping had provoked the two young vets to start bouncing ideas off each other, until a plan took shape to try it themselves. They weighed possible targets. The student they shared an apartment with, the Wiccan pacifist without enemies, somehow seemed a convenient one. 'You have to understand their personalities, especially together," Jackson said. "It's kind of like, 'I'm gonna one-up you, and make it even better.' One of them would say, 'Yeah, we could do this instead.' And, 'Yeah, that sounds cool, but I think we should do this, too.'" Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Detectives investigating UCLA student's murder uncovered a stunningly personal betrayal
The railroad tunnel in which John Doe #135 was found had spooky graffiti and a dark mystique, the kind of place kids dared each other to walk through at night. People called it the Manson Tunnel — the cult leader and his disciples had lived nearby at the Spahn Movie Ranch — and someone had spray-painted HOLY TERROR over the entrance. By June 1990, occult-inspired mayhem had become a common theme in the Los Angeles mediasphere. The serial killer known as the Night Stalker, a professed Satanist, had been sentenced to death a year before, and the McMartin Preschool molestation case, with its wild claims of ritual abuse of children, was still slogging through the courts. So when venturesome local teenagers discovered a young man's body in the pitch-black tunnel above Chatsworth Park, the LAPD considered the possibility of occult motives. The victim was soon identified as Ronald Baker, a 21-year-old UCLA student majoring in astrophysics. He had been killed on June 21, a day considered holy by occultists, at a site where they were known to congregate. Baker was skinny and physically unimposing, with a mop of curly blond hair. He had been to the tunnel before, and was known to meditate in the area. He had 18 stab wounds, and his throat had been slashed. On his necklace: a pentagram pendant. In the bedroom of his Van Nuys apartment: witchcraft books, a pentagram-decorated candle and a flier for Mystic's Circle, a group devoted to 'shamanism' and 'magick.' Headline writers leaned into the angle. 'Student killed on solstice may have been sacrificed,' read the Daily News. 'Slain man frequently visited site of occultists,' declared The Times. Baker, detectives learned, had been a sweet-tempered practitioner of Wicca, a form of nature worship that shunned violence. He was shy, introverted and 'adamantly against Satanism,' a friend said. But as one detective speculated to reporters, 'We don't know if at some point he graduated from the light to the dark side of that.' People said he had no enemies. He loved 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' singalongs, and worked a candle-making booth at Renaissance faires. He had written his sister a birthday card in Elizabethan English. Had he gone into the hills to meditate and stumbled across practitioners of more malignant magic? He was known as a light drinker, but toxicology results showed he was heavily drunk when he died. Had someone he trusted lured him to the tunnel? How was his death connected to the raspy-voiced man who placed calls to Baker's father around that time, demanding a $100,000 ransom in exchange for his son's life? Baker's housemates, Duncan Martinez and Nathan Blalock, both military veterans in their early 20s, had been the last known people to see him alive, and served as each other's alibis. They said they had dropped him off at a Van Nuys bus stop, and that he had planned to join his Mystic's Circle friends for the solstice. There had been no sign of animosity between the roommates, and Baker considered Martinez, an ex-Marine, one of his best friends. They had met working at Sears, years earlier. Martinez helped to carry Baker's casket and spoke movingly at his memorial service at Woodland Hills United Methodist Church. His friend was 'never real physically strong, like a lot of the guys I know,' Martinez said, but was the 'friendliest, sweetest guy.' His voice filled with emotion. 'He would talk to anybody and be there for anybody at the drop of a dime,' Martinez continued. 'And I just hope that it's something I can get over, because I love him. It's just hard to think of a time without Ron.' But something about the roommates' story strained logic. When Baker's father had alerted them to the ransom calls, the roommates said they had looked for him at Chatsworth Park, knowing it was one of Baker's favorite haunts. Why would they assume a kidnapper had taken him there? There was another troubling detail: Martinez had cashed a $109 check he said Baker had given him, but a handwriting expert determined that Baker's signature was forged. Martinez agreed to a polygraph test, described his friend's murder as 'a pretty unsensible crime' and insisted he had nothing to do with it. 'I've never known anybody to carry a grudge or even dislike Ron for more than a minute, you know,' Martinez said. The test showed deception, and he fled the state. He was gone for nearly 18 months. He turned up in Utah, where he was arrested on a warrant for lying on a passport application. He had been hoping to reinvent himself as 'Jonathan Wayne Miller,' an identity he had stolen from a toddler who died after accidentally drinking Drano in 1974, said LAPD Det. Rick Jackson, now retired. Jackson said Martinez sliced the child's death certificate out of a Massachusetts state archive, hoping to disguise his fraud. In February 1992, after being assured his statement could not be used against him, Martinez finally talked. He said it had been Blalock's idea. They had been watching an old episode of 'Dragnet' about a botched kidnapping. Martinez was an ex-Marine, and Blalock was ex-Army. With their military know-how, they believed they could do a better job. They lured Baker to the park with a case of beer and the promise of meeting girls, and Blalock stabbed him with a Marine Corps Ka-Bar knife Martinez had lent him. Baker begged Martinez for help, and Martinez responded by telling his knife-wielding friend to finish the job. 'I told him to make sure that it was over, because I didn't want Ron to suffer,' Martinez said. 'I believe Nathan slit his throat a couple of times.' He admitted to disguising his voice while making ransom calls to Baker's father. But he never provided a location to deliver the ransom money. The scheme seemed as harebrained as it was cruel, and Martinez offered little to lend clarity. He sounded as clueless as anyone else, or pretended to be. 'You know, it doesn't completely click with me either,' he said. 'They ruined their lives, and all of the families' lives, with the stupidest crime,' Patty Baker Elliott, the victim's elder sister, told The Times in a recent interview. In the end, the occult trappings were a red herring, apparently intended to throw police off the scent of the real culprits and the real motive. The killers 'set this thing up for the summer solstice, because they knew he wanted to be out, hopefully celebrating the solstice,' Jackson said in a recent interview. 'What are the chances, of all the days, this is the one they choose to do it on?' Jackson, one of the two chief detectives on the case, recounts the investigation in his book 'Black Tunnel White Magic: A Murder, a Detective's Obsession, and '90s Los Angeles at the Brink,' which he wrote with author and journalist Matthew McGough. Blalock was charged with murder. To the frustration of detectives, who believed him equally guilty, Martinez remained free. His statements, given under a grant of immunity, could not be used against him. 'I almost blame Duncan more, because he was in the position, as Ron's best friend, to stop this whole thing and say, 'Wait a minute, Nathan, what the hell are we talking about here?'' Jackson said. 'He didn't, and he let it go through, and what happened, happened.' Martinez might have escaped justice, but he blundered. Arrested for burglarizing a Utah sporting goods store, he claimed a man had coerced him into stealing a mountain bike by threatening to expose his role in the California murder. As a Salt Lake City detective recorded him, Martinez put himself at the scene of his roommate's death while downplaying his guilt — an admission made with no promise of immunity, and therefore enough to charge him. 'That's the first time we could legally put him in the tunnel,' Jackson said. Jurors found both men guilty of first-degree murder, and they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In June 2020, Baker's sister was startled to come across a news site reporting that Gov. Gavin Newsom had intervened to commute Martinez's sentence, making him eligible for parole. No one had told her. The governor's office said at the time that Martinez had 'committed himself to self-improvement' during his quarter-century in prison. The news was no less a shock to Jackson, who thought the language of the commutation minimized Martinez's role in concocting the kidnapping plan that led to the murder. He said he regarded Martinez as a 'pathological liar,' and one of the most manipulative people he'd met in his long career. Martinez had not only failed to help Baker, but had urged Blalock to 'finish him off' and then posed as a consoling friend to the grieving family. The victim's sister remembers how skillfully Martinez counterfeited compassion. 'He hugged everybody and talked to everybody at the service,' she said. 'He cried. He got choked up and cried during his eulogy.' A prosecutor intended to argue against Martinez's release at the parole hearing, but then-newly elected L.A. Dist. Atty. George Gascon instituted a policy forbidding his office from sending advocates. The victim's sister spoke of her loss. Jackson spoke of Martinez's gift for deception. 'It was like spitting into the wind,' Jackson said. The parole board sided with Martinez, and he left prison in April 2021. Blalock remains behind bars. For 35 years now, the retired detective has been reflecting on the case, and the senselessness at its core. Jackson came to think of it as a 'folie à deux' murder, a term that means 'madness of two' and refers to criminal duos whose members probably would not have done it solo. He regarded it as 'my blue-collar Leopold and Loeb case,' comparing it to the wealthy Chicago teenagers who murdered a boy in 1924 with the motive of committing the perfect crime. An old cop show about a kidnapping had provoked the two young vets to start bouncing ideas off each other, until a plan took shape to try it themselves. They weighed possible targets. The student they shared an apartment with, the Wiccan pacifist without enemies, somehow seemed a convenient one. 'You have to understand their personalities, especially together,' Jackson said. 'It's kind of like, 'I'm gonna one-up you, and make it even better.' One of them would say, 'Yeah, we could do this instead.' And, 'Yeah, that sounds cool, but I think we should do this, too.''
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Time of India
Signs your child is being targeted by a child predator cult, warns FBI
Image credits: Getty Images The FBI is warning parents about a disturbing online threat targeting children. A neo-Nazi sextortion group known as '764' is being investigated in hundreds of active cases across the U.S. According to the bureau, the group targets children as young as 9 years old, coercing them into creating explicit and harmful content. To help parents protect their kids, the FBI has released key warning signs and safety tips to spot potential grooming or exploitation early. The cult-like group is spreading quickly in the United States and has ties with connections to neo-Nazis and Satanism. The members of this group contact children through gaming chat rooms, social media and phone apps and then 'methodically target and exploit minors.' Discord and Telegram have been their targeted channels of contacting youngsters, as per CBC. Operation Sindoor 'Did not want to...': Pak def min gives absurd excuse for army's failure to withstand Op Sindoor Blackouts, sirens & Pak's failed attacks: 10 things that happened in the last 36 hrs '1971 war was not remotely as terrifying': Residents of border areas shell-shocked According to ABC News, 764 is the largest network with 250 open cases, at least one in every FBI office. What does the FBI say? Image credits: X/@AlexkennedyIran The bureau issued a public service announcement on Tuesday saying, 'These networks use threats, blackmail, and manipulation to coerce or extort victims into producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide.' Members circulate the photos with each other and threaten the victim about posting them publicly to keep them under their control. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Download Chrome Symptomdepot Undo The FBI has described the members as 'nihilistic violent extremists … seeking to destroy civilized society.' 'Some threat actors may be engaging in criminal activity solely for sexual gratification, social status, or a sense of belonging, or for a mix of other reasons that may not be ideologically motivated,' said the agency. Warning signs your child is being targeted by 764 Image credits: X/@AlexkennedyIran The FBI has issued some warning signs to look out for in order to figure out if your child is being targeted by the gang. These are: Kids engaging in self-harm or expressing suicidal thoughts Suddenly acting withdrawn or moody Sudden changes in eating, sleeping and dressing habits Pets being injured or dying under mysterious circumstances Kids carving words or symbols into their skin Kids writing in blood or similar-looking liquids What is the 764 cult ? Image credits: X/@AlexkennedyIran The 764 cult is an outgrowth of a much larger and older organization called the Order of Nine Angles , which has ties in neo-Nazism and Satanism. The gang was founded by Bradley Cadenhead when he was 15 years old, in 2020 and named it after his own zip code. Recently, "Trippy" and "War" , two 20 and 21-year-old members of the gang, were arrested by the police in Greece. The two allegedly led a core subgroup called the 764 Inferno, which was a core members, invite-only group, and had exploited at least eight minors as young as 13 years old. Trippy later went on to become the head of the gang in August 2021, after the founder was arrested by the FBI. The results of the activities of the gang have been fatal to the extent that a Canadian father recently lost his 15-year-old daughter to suicide after she was exploited by the gang for at least two years. He said to The Fifth Estate that he missed the early signs of his daughter's exploitation, which included self-harm. "That's the part that I hate," he said, "It was happening right in front of me and I didn't recognize it," he added. One needs to be really aware of and monitor one's child's digital footprints and activity to ensure that they are protected from such digital threats that have proved to be fatal in many cases. Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
New York Post
07-05-2025
- New York Post
The neo-Nazi 764 cult is targeting kids as young as 9. Here are the warning signs your child is a victim, according to the FBI
A twisted neo-Nazi sextortion ring that targets kids as young as 9 and blackmails them into making sick photos and videos is spreading to every corner of the United States — and the FBI has tips for parents on how to spot if their children are being groomed. The Bureau has hundreds of open cases against the group known as '764' – a cult-like network with ties to neo-Nazis and Satanism whose members 'methodically target and exploit minors' after contacting them on gaming chatrooms, social media and phone apps. 764 is the largest network — with 250 active cases, at least one in every single FBI field office, ABC News reported. But there are others, as well. 8 A photo of a nude barbie with '764' on its forehead taken by a teen victim of the sextortion network. Vernon Police Department) 8 764 propaganda that was shared on Telegram 8 Bradley Cadenhead, who went by Felix and Brad764 online, created 764 in 2020. Erath County Jail 'These networks use threats, blackmail, and manipulation to coerce or extort victims into producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide,' the FBI said Tuesday in a public service announcement. Members then circulate the disgusting photos and videos amongst themselves and threaten to post them publicly to keep their victims under control. Some warnings signs could be associated with regular teenage angst — while others are more disturbing. Here's what the FBI is warning parents to watch out for. Kids engaging in self-harm or expressing suicidal thoughts Suddenly becoming more withdrawn and moody Sudden changes in eating, sleeping and dressing habits Pets being harmed or dying under mysterious circumstances Kids mutilating themselves by carving words or symbols into their skin Writing in blood, or anything that looks like blood The 764 cult is an outgrowth of an older, larger organization known as the Order of Nine Angles, which has ties to neo-Nazism and Satanism. Its founder, Bradley Cadenhead, was just 15 when he formed the group in 2020, naming it after part of his own zip code. 8 764 propaganda that was shared on Telegram. 8 Mugshot of Prasan Nepa Leonidas Varagiannis, an accused 764 ringleader arrested last month. U.S. Department of Justice The FBI has described them as 'nihilistic violent extremists … seeking to destroy civilized society,' yet their actual ideology seems to be all over the place. 'Some threat actors may be engaging in criminal activity solely for sexual gratification, social status, or a sense of belonging, or for a mix of other reasons that may not be ideologically motivated,' the agency said. The widespread targeting of kids have become a huge focus for cops who focus on online activity, Rebecca Weiner, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism, told The Post. Weiner said the number of active cases will only rise as arrests and the seizures of computers and phones provide officers with more leads on the activities of these demented predators. 8 A later mugshot of Bradley Cadenhead. Texas Department of Criminal Justice 8 A general view of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building or FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. Christopher Sadowski 8 A vehicle outside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building or FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. Christopher Sadowski Last year, police in Vernon, Connecticut, arrested a 17-year-old girl for allegedly calling in bomb threats and 'swatting' pranks against schools and places of worship, NBC Connecticut reported. Investigators discovered photos of her posing nude, mutilating herself, and a shot of a nude Barbie doll with '764' written on its face. Authorities arrested two suspected 764 members last month: Prasan Nepa Leonidas Varagiannis, a.k.a. 'War,' 21, and Prasan Nepal, a.k.a. 'Trippy,' 20. The pair are accused of targeting children as young as 13 years old online, intimidating them into making explicit videos. 'This content includes 'cut signs' and 'blood signs' through which young girls would cut symbols into their bodies,' the FBI said in a statement.
New York Post
06-05-2025
- New York Post
Neo-Nazi sextortion ring that blackmails teens into making sick videos has become so prevalent every FBI office in the US has open cases
A sick neo-Nazi sextortion ring that blackmails teens into making sick videos has become so prevalent across the US that every FBI field office in the country has at least one open case on the group, according to a shocking new report. The FBI currently has more than 250 open investigations into the group, known as '764,' among other aliases, the agency told ABC. This cult-like network has ties to neo-Nazis and Satanism, officials said. Its members target young teens on platforms like Discord and Roblox and intimidate them into filming themselves posing nude, torturing family pets, cutting symbols into their own bodies and other acts of 'psychological torment and extreme violence,' the FBI said. 6 A photo of a nude Barbie doll taken by a 17-year-old girl targeted by the 764 group. Vernon Police Department) 6 764 propaganda that was shared on Telegram. 6 Bradley Cadenhead, who went by Felix and Brad764 online, created 764 in 2020 when he was 15 and named it after his zip code. Erath County Jail '764 is a network of nihilistic violent extremists … seeking to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors,' the agency said. Bradley Cadenhead founded the group in 2020 and named it after part of his own zip code. Since then, its reach has spread throughout the United States and beyond. All of the agency's 55 field offices have at least one 764-related case, FBI assistant director David Scott, who leads the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, told ABC. 6 A general view of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building or FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC Christopher Sadowski Auhtorities arrested two suspected members last month: Prasan Nepa Leonidas Varagiannis, a.k.a. 'War,' 21, and Prasan Nepal, a.k.a. 'Trippy,' 20. The pair are accused of targeting as children young as 13 years old online, intimidating them into making explicit videos. 'This content includes 'cut signs' and 'blood signs' through which young girls would cut symbols into their bodies,' the FBI said in a statement. Members share these videos among themselves and use them to blackmail victims into increasingly disgusting acts, the FBI said. 6 Mugshot of Prasan Nepa Leonidas Varagiannis, a.k.a. 'War,' 21, arrested in Greece and accused to orchestrating 764 attacks. U.S. Department of Justice 6 764 propaganda that was shared on Telegram. Among the renderings were images with both the monikers 'Trippy' and War. Police arrested a 17-year-old girl in Vernon, Connecticut, last year for allegedly calling in bomb and 'swatting' schools and places of worship, NBC Connecticut reported. Investigators discovered photos of her posing nude, mutilating herself, and a shot of a nude Barbie doll with '764' written on its face. The FBI caught wind of the network in 2021, after arresting one of its members in Queens on gun charges. Sources told The Guardian that 764 is an outgrowth of an older, larger organization known as the Order of Nine Angles — which the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) called a 'decentralized, Satanic, neo-Nazi organization' bent on the overthrow of Western governments.
