Jun 15, 2018

Inside the Church Cult That Eventually Drove Parents to Join a 12-Hour Beating of Their Sons

CHRIS HARRIS
PEOPLE
June 14, 2018


VIDEO

Residents of rural Chadwicks, New York, had long thought there might be something wrong with the Word of Life Christian Church. Those suspicions were confirmed on the night of Oct. 11, 2015, when two teenage brothers were savagely beaten for a dozen hours inside the church’s sanctuary room after trying to defect.

The vicious attack — at times carried out by the boys’ parents — left 19-year-old Lucas Leonard dead and his then-17-year-old brother, Christopher, severely injured.

Soon pulled under the harsh scrutiny of a police investigation, the little-known religious sect was revealed as a dangerous cult.

Nearly three years later and Word of Life is no more. Christopher continues to recover from his injuries and relatives tell PEOPLE he recently graduated from high school.

All told, nine people were sent to prison for their involvement in Lucas’ death — among them, the church’s pastor, Tiffanie Irwin, who inherited the group from her father before bending it even further to her will.

Many who’ve followed the case still wonder how Bruce and Deborah Leonard could have been compelled to kick, punch, strike and whip their two sons over 12 torturous hours. The case and the church itself will be featured on Monday night’s episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults, on Investigation Discovery.

As Bruce later said in court, the attack began following a Sunday service when Irwin called his family together and confronted the teenage brothers with allegations of child abuse and witchcraft.

Bruce told a judge the beatings started with a punch and a slap and quickly progressed to electrical cord whippings. The point he said, was so his sons “would understand the hurt that they caused” and to discipline and punish them.

Though the question of alleged child sex abuse came up in court, investigators have always insisted there was no evidence to indicate Christopher and Lucas Leonard ever harmed any children.

For more on the Word of Life Christian Church and the death of Lucas Leonard, watch Monday’s People Magazine Investigates: Cults at 9 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery.

https://people.com/crime/inside-word-of-life-christian-church-cult-murder-new-york/

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