CARSON CITY, Mich. (WOOD) — Police reports and surveillance video show just how much damage vandals inflicted on the Church at Carson City and the homes of church leaders.
The vandalism led to allegations that the church was a cult and that leaders had covered up decades of sex crimes.
Video from the church's surveillance cameras first show the two suspects, a woman and her nephew, skulking around the property just before 11 p.m. on Halloween.
The grainy video shows one of the two spray-painting a message on the church. Later, it shows one of the vandals spray-painting messages on the church's van.
They painted words like “cult,” “lies,” “deceit,” “false shepard (sic),” “only Jesus saves” and “family killers.”
But they also painted obscene images and words that appeared threatening, like "boom" on a fuel tank, and "dead" on a window.
State police said the suspect, former church member Anna Morris, was identified by a relative who viewed the video.
The 54-year-old woman and a 14-year-old nephew confessed, but she told police the messages weren't meant as threats.
"I didn't write the words to be a threat to hurt anyone," she wrote. "I wanted them to think about how bad they hurt others and maybe they would know how wrong they are about the stuff they do and teach there."
Her nephew also wrote a confession.
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