Investigators Told of Ritual Infant Killings

Statements from children have convinced investigators that a child molestation ring in the Bakersfield area engaged in ritualistic murders of infants, including cremations, cannibalism and the drinking of human blood, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.

Conceding that the physical evidence in the case is “very light . . . very minimal,” Sheriff’s Cmdr. Frank Drake said the department’s investigation thus far is based largely on the statements of children who were allegedly forced to witness the rituals--and engage in the cannibalism--but allowed to live.

“We believe those children,” he said. “We really do. . . . We have the statements of several kids who independently gave us the same stories. They named the same kids. They described the same type of acts. . . .

“We do not have any bodies. We do not have any reports of missing children. Primarily we have the statements of those kids. . . . If we can put together a prosecutable case, we will.”

The detective bureau commander declined to number or identify the suspects in the case other than to say that they include “parents, friends, relations and neighbors” of the young victims. Drake said several of the suspects currently are in custody in connection with other allegations, which he declined to describe.

Protective Custody

Drake also refused to number or identify any of the possible victims other than to say that the survivors who talked to police are now in foster homes or other protective custody.

And he declined to provide any details about when, where or how often the ritualistic murders are believed to have occurred.

Drake said the department had not intended to make the investigation public at all until “some reports made available to attorneys under rights of discovery” were leaked to the news media. He said detectives had sought to keep the case quiet “because we are still continuing our investigation.”

The investigation began in July, 1984, when detectives began looking into reports of what originally was thought to be a routine child molestation case, according to Drake.

Divulging Information

“We put some of the kids into protective custody,” he said. “After a few months they started divulging information that led us to believe that they had been involved in the ritualistic killing of infant children.”

As the children remained in protective custody for awhile, Drake said, they became less afraid and more willing to talk.

“They told us of being forced to eat (human) flesh and drink (human) blood,” he said. “They told us about the cremations. . . . They told how they had been sexually molested.”

At least two members of the local legal community have expressed doubts about the children’s stories and concern over the lack of physical evidence to back them up, according to published reports.

Express Concern

Stanley Simirin, president of the Kern County Bar Assn., and Glenn Cole, outgoing foreman of the 1984-85 Kern County Grand Jury, were said to have expressed concern over the way the young witnesses had been separated from their family and friends for questioning.

Both men were said to have called for a state or federal investigation of the way the case is being handled by Kern County authorities.

Neither Simirin nor Cole could be reached Thursday.