Bones May Be Those of Brother in Abuse Probe

Investigators digging on a remote desert bluff Wednesday unearthed bones that may be the remains of a 6-year-old boy buried a decade ago, adding a grim twist to what seems a wrenching tale of child abuse, religious fanaticism and desert solitude.

Authorities were led to the foothills of Copper Mountain, northeast of Twentynine Palms, after rescuing two boys from a camouflaged compound 20 miles away. Two bones discovered there may belong to a third brother who died 10 years ago, investigators say.

Summoned by a call to 911 early Saturday, deputies found the boys malnourished and bearing the marks of whips and chains. The boys may have been tethered to a bed, and were fed only rice and bread. They were rarely allowed outdoors, and on one occasion when they were, neighbors said, they were so hungry they devoured wildflowers growing out front, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Gonzalez.

Their parents and aunt were charged Wednesday with torture, false imprisonment and cruelty to a child, and were being held in lieu of bail, set at $2 million each.

The brothers, ages 12 and 17, were raised on a 10-acre property by a domineering father who told a local minister he considers himself God’s surrogate.

They were so isolated from the civilized world that they stared in wonder at strip malls and movie theaters when they were being taken away by social workers. They did not know how to eat an apple, finishing off the core and the seeds before anyone could stop them, social workers said.

They had never been to school or a doctor, and were hosed off in the yard, not bathed. The 17-year-old, named Yahweh Lord by his father, has the appearance of a 10-year-old. His brother, Angel Lord, looks to be 5, Gonzalez said.

“They are not in good shape, but hopefully they will make it through this,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. This case is extremely--and I emphasize extremely--bizarre. It changes by the hour.”

No Questions Asked in Desert

But how did it happen in the first place? How could three boys vanish without anyone’s--schools, police, social workers, neighbors--noticing? The answer may lie in the desert sand that detectives sifted through Wednesday morning.

For at least 10 years, the boys’ parents, John “Rajohn Lord” Davis, 53, and Carrie Davis, 41, have hunkered down with their children in a jury-rigged Wonder Valley home, past San Bernardino, past the windmills of the San Gorgonio Pass.

People don’t live here by accident.

They live here, not in spite of the isolation, but because of it, because they like the elbow room and the cheap land of the desert--and, occasionally, because they have secrets.

Amid the tumbleweeds, pillbox bunkers and remote cabins of Wonder Valley, many live on roads named after themselves, or with no names at all. Many houses are surrounded by barbed wire, or posted with hand-painted signs that say, in no uncertain terms, “Keep Out.” Some roads are studded with nails, point-side up, so visitors will get flat tires.

Solitude is an ethic here: You don’t ask questions, and you don’t answer questions.

“There are so many secrets out here, so many throwaway lives,” said A. Grover Fletcher, pastor of the Wonder Valley Community Church, where the boys’ parents occasionally attended but were not members. “I figure my job is to open the door to anyone and everyone--and that’s exactly who I get.”

Ralph Hughes, a retiree who lives down the dirt road from the suspected grave site and was hitting golf balls through the desert while investigators were digging, said it wouldn’t be the first time a body has been uncovered in the area.

“Oh, they found people out here a few times. You hear people screaming and yelling in the middle of the night,” he said. “It’s a little crazy. But you just have to let people be. You keep to yourself.”

That’s how the Davis family lived, home-schooling their children in a compound surrounded by a chain-link fence and decorated with religious slogans, beads and a picture of John Lennon.

Apparently no one knew what went on inside until 1 a.m. Saturday, when the older brother called 911 to say he and his brother were imprisoned. Deputies found the boys with whip marks on their backs and marks on their wrists that suggested they had been tied down.

The relatives told authorities that their middle son died of natural causes. Investigators found two bone fragments at the suspected grave site near Copper Mountain, and anthropologists will look at the bones to determine their origin, officials said.

Authorities declined to reveal how they learned about the possible grave, and the relatives have not been charged in the middle son’s death.

On Wednesday, the family home was quiet. Flies, ignoring the flypaper hanging in the makeshift foyer, buzzed with impunity. Decorative green bottles surrounded bushes and cacti, and two punching bags hung from tree branches. Several cars were parked on the dirt nearby, including a timeworn van with a bumper sticker that read: “Don’t Steal. The Government Hates Competition.”

Family Sometimes Attended Church

The Davises, who lived with John Davis’ 46-year-old sister, Faye Potts, did not work and received government benefits for unknown disabilities, said neighbor Gary Mitchell, a 61-year-old retiree and part-time prospector.

Mitchell, a close friend of Potts who has known the family for four years, described John Davis as domineering and misogynistic.

“He had everybody very tightly under his thumb,” Mitchell said. “Everyone in the house is conditioned to listen and do.”

Fletcher said John Davis and Potts have come to the church on several occasions, often to play guitar and piano during “Christian jam sessions.”

Once, in September 1999, the entire family came to the church for Sunday services, he said. The boys were “very reserved,” and Fletcher said he was impressed that every time he began reading a Bible passage, the boys quickly flipped to the passage and read along with him. “They knew it like the back of their hands,” he said.

John Davis once considered formally becoming a church member, but did not want to abide by membership requirements. But the two had lengthy chats about theology, the pastor said. John Davis told the pastor that he had found salvation while fighting in Vietnam--and that he “had been saved from any more sinning.”

“That’s when I looked at him long and hard,” Fletcher said. “I said, ‘I thought we were all sinners.’ But he felt as close to God as you can get, and that was the problem: He thought it was impossible for him to sin.”

Others are more hesitant to condemn Potts and the Davises. Distrust of government and law enforcement is strong in the area, and many neighbors remain skeptical of the charges.

Mitchell pointed out that the boys reported to authorities that they had been forced to use an outdoor bathroom. That’s true, he said, but misleading. For months, the indoor plumbing was broken, so everyone in the house had to use the outdoor bathroom. Mitchell also pointed to pink-and-purple children’s bicycles in the front yard.

“There is some truth to it, but there are a lot of exaggerations meant for public appeal,” Mitchell said. “It almost reminds me of a witch hunt. There are two sides to every story, including this one.”