{"id":163728,"date":"2026-02-04T16:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/163728\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:29:16","slug":"former-members-of-cult-like-group-in-california-detail-years-of-torture-starvation-and-alleged-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/163728\/","title":{"rendered":"Former members of cult-like group in California detail years of torture, starvation and alleged murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey were a church cult \u2013 whatever they called themselves. They kept me locked away because I knew what they were doing was wrong, like beating me every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brie Byrd said she was battered and bruised on a daily basis while growing up as a member of an Inland Empire secretive sect called His Way Spirit Led Assemblies. She tells KTLA\u2019s Mary Beth McDade she was often kept locked up and starved.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I was living off of one piece of bread and one glass of water for about two or three months, I was like 90 pounds and skin and bones,\u201d she remembered. \u201cI was sitting in my own like period pad for that long \u2013 just one pad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders and members of alleged cult-like California religious group charged with murder <\/a><\/p>\n

After years of torture, Byrd said she finally escaped at the age of 15. She told KTLA her captors were the heads of the ministry, including its two main leaders, Pastor Darryl \u201cMuzic\u201d Marin and Shelly \u201cKat\u201d Martin, who calls herself a prophetess.<\/p>\n

She said the Martins run the religious group like a cult.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement began investigating the group when a former longtime member, Emilio Ghanem, went missing in May of 2023, just days after parting ways with the ministry.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s leaders and three other members have now been charged with the murder of Ghanem<\/a> and the 2010 murder of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that they pay for the rest of their life for what they\u2019ve done to me and what they did to anyone else,\u201d Byrd said.<\/p>\n

\"Brie<\/p>\n

Brie Byrd is pictured in a childhood photograph. (Brie Byrd)<\/p>\n

\"Clarissa<\/p>\n

Clarissa Hernandez is pictured with Darryl Muzic Martin. (Clarissa Hernandez)<\/p>\n

She said the ministry robbed her of her childhood and her innocence.\u00a0\u201cI was raped by somebody. He was 18 at the time, and that happened from when I was 10 until I was 13.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrd said she told Prophetess Kat about the sexual abuse. \u201cShe punched, like punched me in my face and I got called a liar.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that children were often separated from their parents and raised by church elders.<\/p>\n

The group had several homes in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, with many members living together under one roof. Byrd said every time she tried to run away, she would be locked up in a room and severely punished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would just come in there and beat me with a belt. I had a blindfold on, and then, at one point, they\u2019d switch positions and have me lying down flat and my leg handcuffed to the bed and still continue beating me, had people come in and said horrible, horrible things to me, spit in my face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Inland<\/a><\/p>\n

Clockwise: Darryl \u201cMuzic\u201d Martin, Prophetess Shelly \u201cKat\u201d Martin, Ramon Duran, Andre Thomas and Rudy Moreno. (Colton Police Department)<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t allowed to watch TV or look at boys, and her hair was cut short as punishment. Byrd said her church services sometimes went all night long, with Prophetess Kat viewed as God on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying, \u2018God is speaking through me.\u2019 She would worship and do all these dances and stuff. It was weird.\u201d Former member Clarissa Hernandez recalled how Kat would act when claiming God was speaking through her. \u201cShe\u2019d go and like, start talking, like seizing, and then start talking in this weird accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members were taught that Kat could perform miracles. \u201cShe would say that she could impregnate women who couldn\u2019t be pregnant. She could heal the blind,\u201d Clarissa recalled.<\/p>\n

Clarissa also remembered years of abuse, especially for those who didn\u2019t follow the group\u2019s pressure to conform. \u201cYou would be either yelled at, you would be hit, you would be starved.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was forced to pray for hours on end in pitch-black rooms and claimed members were brainwashed into having unquestionable devotion. \u201cThe leaders didn\u2019t want you to have contact with outsiders. They would not have me talk to outside people, anybody not from the church, including my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Darryl<\/a><\/p>\n

Kathryn Martin, known as the \u201cProphetess\u201d and her husband, Pastor Darryl Muzic Martin, reportedly control His Way Spirit Led Assemblies in Hemet, California.<\/p>\n

Hernandez said young girls were forced to marry much older men. \u201cThey would always justify it, saying well, \u2018This is what God told us.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Members would train and prep for the end of the world and were told by Prophetess Kat that if they followed the rules, they would be saved when the end comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would say, \u2018Oh, God\u2019s going to take me, and anybody that has obeyed me and obeyed Him will go with me,\u2019\u201d Byrd recalled.<\/p>\n

A former member who was too afraid to be identified said members had to turn over all the money they made at the pest control company the group runs to the Martins.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody had income. They were allowed, like, an allowance, so the pastors got everything,\u201d the former member said.<\/p>\n

He believes the church leaders went after Ghanem when he tried to start a competing pest control company after he severed ties with the religious organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t like the fact that Emilio was going to take back his customers, which means the ministry wouldn\u2019t have, or the pastors, Pastor Muzic and Prophetess Kat, wouldn\u2019t have their money,\u201d the member said.<\/p>\n

\"Emilio<\/a><\/p>\n

Emilio Salem Ghanem, a Nashville resident, was reported missing on May 25, 2023, after he visited a Starbucks coffee shop on Redlands Boulevard in Redlands. (Redlands Police Department)<\/p>\n

The last time he saw Ghanem alive was at a Redlands Starbucks. Ghanem was on his way to meet with one of his now suspected killers, Rudy Moreno.<\/p>\n

He warned Ghanem not to go ans saud that Moreno couldn\u2019t be trusted. \u201cHe was lying to Emilio, saying he was going to, wanted to leave the Ministry. He wanted to get out and wanted Emilio\u2019s help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Martins are also facing murder charges for the 2010 death of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was in their care at the time. The boy\u2019s father has also been charged with his son\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw like, where his appendix erupted, and all the stuff on the floor,\u201d Byrd remembers.<\/p>\n

Byrd lived in the same Colton house as Thomas when she said the church leaders wouldn\u2019t allow the young boy to get medical treatment as he was suffering from appendicitis. <\/p>\n

\"Timothy<\/a><\/p>\n

Four-year-old Timothy Thomas is pictured in a photograph provided by the Colton Police Department. (Colton PD)<\/p>\n

\u201cI do remember him saying his stomach hurt, and they wouldn\u2019t take him to the doctor. They were like, \u2018No, God will heal him,\u2019\u201d Byrd said.<\/p>\n

Detectives suspected neglect played a role in his death and expressed concern that the boy was living in cult-like conditions. It was reportedly hard to prosecute the case back then because members weren\u2019t forthcoming. Many have since left the group and have now come forward to authorities.<\/p>\n

As for Hernandez and Byrd, they have their own children now and are grateful their kids\u2019 lives are filled with happiness \u2014 unlike the intense pain they endured while growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I come home from work and to see them go to bed happy, it just makes me happy,\u201d Byrd said tearfully. \u201cSo happy that they don\u2019t have to go through what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey were a church cult \u2013 whatever they called themselves. They kept me locked away because I knew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[79266,79265,7,9,8,79264,79263,53475,79262,79261,79267,79268,50952],"class_list":["post-163728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-andre-thomas","tag-brie-byrd","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-clarissa-hernandez","tag-darryl-muzic-martin","tag-emilio-ghanem","tag-pastor-darryl-muzic-martin","tag-prophetess-kat","tag-shelly-kat-martin","tag-the-martins","tag-timothy-thomas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}