Grisly Warnings Related by Boy in McMartin Case

A 10-year-old boy testified Wednesday that he and fellow preschool students were taken to a cemetery where they were forced to dig up dead bodies, then watch them be “hacked to pieces” in a grisly warning not to divulge their sex secrets.

The testimony came on the boy’s first day on the witness stand in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case. He is the ninth child to take the stand in the case.

The young witness said key defendant Raymond Buckey, 26, his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 58, and his sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, 29, took about 10 students on several occasions to the cemetery, which he did not name.

“What did they do when they got the casket out?” defense attorney Dean Gits asked during cross-examination.

“They opened it and said this would happen to you if you told of the abuses. And they cut a few pieces of the body up,” the boy said. “They hacked them to pieces.”

The boy, who attended the Manhattan Beach school from 1977 to 1979, said the children were forced to dig up the bodies using tools that Raymond Buckey allegedly kept in his van.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin said she was not surprised by the boy’s testimony because, she said, he has mentioned the incident before to therapists and prosecutors.

Earlier in the day, the boy said the three teachers sexually molested him and slaughtered animals in front of children to keep them from talking about the alleged molestation.

He also said Raymond Buckey displayed a gun to the students and said “he would shoot our parents if we told about the abusing.”

The 9-month-long preliminary hearing is being held to determine whether the defendants should stand trial.

Also charged are the school’s founder, Virginia McMartin, 77; former teachers Babette Spitler, 37; Betty Raidor, 65, and Mary Ann Jackson, 57.

In his testimony Wednesday, the boy also said two teachers slaughtered turtles, rabbits, hamsters and mice in front of children to threaten them into silence about the alleged molestation.

“What did they do to the animals?” prosecutor Glenn Stevens asked the boy.

“They would slash them with knives and stab them,” he said.

“What did they say to you?” Stevens asked.

“They said they would do this to our parents if we told about the abusing,” the boy replied.