Jonathan Hirsch
Appearances
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 6. “I need some money, honey.”
Would you want a tree surgeon doing open-heart surgery on you? That's the way I look at it.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 6. “I need some money, honey.”
The most sophisticated sociopath I've ever observed. Her love of money. It just was so evil.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Listen to all episodes of Scary Terry ad-free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Binge, feed your true crime obsession. Before we get started, I just wanna let you know that we do discuss suicide in this episode. So please listen with care.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
It was time to dig deeper into Terry's history and into her group. Past is prologue, as they say. A prologue to a story darker and more terrifying than I could have possibly imagined. When I went in search of who Terry was before Devereaux's death, before Sandra drove herself and Luis off a cliff, I knew I had to talk to someone from those early days. That's when I met Janine Snyder.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
By the time Janine crossed paths with Terry, she was in her 20s and had a small child she was raising on her own. She'd just moved to Dallas. For as long as she could remember, Janine knew she could see things others could not.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
As a newcomer to the city, Janine was struggling. She knew she was different, sometimes made her question her sanity. And that's when a friend told her about Terry's meditation group. The classes were held at the Church of Religious Science.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Terry was heavyset with a wide gait. She wore loose-fitting clothes, drapey gowns or muumus. Her whole face would draw towards her brow when she frowned or looked serious and snap back into an overly tight expression when she smiled. She was not striking or welcoming, really, but I guess that, in a way, made her feel authentically motherly to some.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
I'm beginning to see what made this woman appealing. In a deeply conservative town, here was this raggedy prophet who gazed lovingly on you, who promised a brave and spiritually-minded path and a circle of friends to do it with. Janine met Sandra there, too, perhaps the person most close to Terry in those days.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Janine told me she didn't feel crazy anymore. She had a deep longing to be okay. Terry had this way of meeting students where they were and helping them to see their life in a new way. One that made them feel understood even when they were in crisis.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
That was a lot of money back then. Almost a million bucks today. How the hell in all the 171 million acres of Texas does a teenager find themselves compelled to sign a will? And why Terry Hoffman? Both Chrissy and Gail believe that she created the will because her mom wanted her to. But I wonder if it's more complicated than that. What if Sandra didn't walk unwittingly into the water?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Janine got close enough to Terry to realize she could be different things to different people.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
For those under her spell, she was almost godlike, a guru of sorts. Terry G. It was baffling to people on the outside. In photos, she appears nervous and unhealthy. Janine said there was an excuse for that. The fat, the excess weight she carried, was there to carry all the energy. It was necessary. The energy she apparently absorbed from her followers.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
This was also why Terry wore semi-precious and precious stones. Stones that she sold to her followers. They were spiritual protection and apparently absorbed bad energies too.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
By then, Terry had asked Janine to join a circle of teachers, an exclusive group within CDBMS, tasked with being sort of ministers of Terry's message.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
$25,000 is a lot of jewelry today. Honey.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
So in addition to the lectures, Terri sold this jewelry, which was supposed to give you spiritual protection. She made these recordings of her lectures and did private, paid consultations. She was carving out a nice little New Age niche for herself. Terri told followers like Janine that she was a living master from humble beginnings, who'd picked cotton in the West Texas sun.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
The orphan who saw the light through the wisdom of a Lutheran nun. The nine-year-old who was adopted by a Dallas family who'd lost their child to tuberculosis. The Benson family.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Her first husband, he was a trucker. She married him at age 15 in Oklahoma, where that was still legal. That part was true, or at least the public records support it, but the rest of it, highly unlikely. I pulled the vital statistics from Pecos County, where Fort Stockton is located. She was born to the Bensons, a musician and a housewife from Dallas.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Terry Lee Benson was not who she said she was. By the mid-70s, Terry's influence in the Dallas area was growing. The people who came to her lectures, who paid for her consultations, they were from all walks of life. Students, professionals, you name it. Some accounts had as many as 300 people attending lectures of Terry's at Southern Methodist University.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Now, I've covered cults, new religious movements, for a long time now. I was actually raised in one. Turns out, long story for another time. But I can tell you with confidence that I have familiarity with the New Age movement and the mystical ideas that informed Terry's philosophy.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
This was not an organized spiritual worldview, more like a salad of different so-called mystical ideas tossed together. Janine had quickly become a part of Terry's innermost circle. She actually helped name their budding group, Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul, and wrote their handbook with Sandra and another follower on Sandra's typewriter.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
This is someone reading a passage from the original CDBMS handbook, which I found buried in an archive of fringe religious groups at a California university.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Maybe she knew a swim on the peninsula that day was a death sentence. The question of why she'd signed a will was unanswered, incomplete. like an unsigned check she'd left on the kitchen table. Turns out that will didn't really hold up.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Conscious development was about your personal journey towards spiritual maturity. Terri was there to help you along, like a spiritual coach almost. She was in your corner. She was cheering on her faithful, encouraging them to try new things, to become a more advanced spiritual being. Sometimes that meant letting go of people who weren't serving your growth.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Of course, that's not how Janine saw it at the time. She was committed. She was raising her son, recently married. She had her own flock of students and community of like-minded friends in Dallas. It was all she ever wanted. Until Terry came for her husband, Rick.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Rick did not like that Terry was encouraging him to cheat on his wife.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
The darkness that Janine's talking about, that all began when Terry started talking about the Black Lords.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
This Black Lords shit was getting weird. The teachers began to perform detailed rituals designed to protect themselves from the Black Lords. They accumulated various tools, wands, swords, and these weapons alongside their spiritual energy would be used to battle the Black Lords.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
But in the midst of their grief, it did hang in the air, the question of the will. Did somebody put her up to this? It was a wild and dangerous thought that bounced around in their heads like a caged animal. They just couldn't shake this feeling that maybe Sandra had convinced Dev to sign this will. And that even if she hadn't, Sandra might have known Terry had it out for their daughter.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
So the groups of followers would be engaged in a choreographed battle, fighting the Black Lords with bronze talismans.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Wait, what? Bloodletting? I'd read and heard a lot of out there stuff about Terry's beliefs at this point, but this was a dark turn. Terry believed that the Black Lords were poisoning the blood of her students, and the only way to cleanse them, and there's no easy way to say this, was to extract their blood.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
It was bizarre. Terry had seemingly crossed a line, and Janine knew it. But also, nothing bad enough had happened to her to leave. She was a frog in boiling water.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
It's probably hard for someone who hasn't been through an experience like this to appreciate how difficult it would have been to leave. Janine wasn't being physically harmed, and she trusted the path Terry had set everyone on. She was smart and trusting, but that, I know for a fact, doesn't stop people from joining cults.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
It actually makes it easier for you to rationalize weird and dangerous shit because you can find a reason it might be good for you in the long run. The thoughts about leaving Terry were growing in Janine's mind, blooming out of a black seed, a seed poisoned by a leader who now seemed completely divorced from reality so as to be alarming.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Janine couldn't confirm for me when she officially left CDBMS, but it was in the mid to late 70s, late 76, early 77. And Terry did not take it well.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
I've heard other accounts of Terry doing this, calling out specific members or enemies and announcing that they were a black lord, a danger to the group. But now Janine heard her son was a target, a little kid.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
To eliminate all doubt about what Janine just described, she believed Terry had marshaled dark energy from her followers, causing Janine to run over her son's arm.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
And if Terry could get Sandra to let go of her daughter, what else could she get her to let go of?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Janine left Terry behind, moved on, and tried not to follow up on it all, she told me. The rest of the members of CDBMS, they went right on into an alternative reality that didn't exist. Except for one person. Terry's second husband, Glenn Cooley. Next time on Scary Terry.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
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The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
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The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Scary Terry. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Chapter 2, The Last Will. The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A beautiful, otherworldly stretch of park. Almost 500 acres of craggy, red rocks that stretch across the foothills surrounding the town. From the tops of the mountains, you can see never-ending peaks and valleys of tall aspen trees.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Here you could climb above the earth and everything in it. Terry had purchased land in this area, further up the mountain near Cripple Creek, as a future site of a center for CDBMS. In 1981, just two years after Dev's death, Sandra wanted to go see their new property. And she asked her childhood nanny, Louise Watson, known as Wheezy, to tag along.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
At this point, Wheezy was older. She may not have felt like she could say no to Sandra. Sandra was in her 40s, but Wheezy was 78. Why? Why? Why?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
In the Garden of the Gods, narrow, dramatic roads encircle the mountains, winding up and up into the sky. It was around one of those turns that Sandra Cleaver and Louise Watson, Wheezy, were driving in September of 1981. As they turned one of the corners along that twisty road, their car went flying off the side of the cliff and into the valley below.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Devereux Cleaver left behind a grieving family, but she also left behind a will that she'd written herself in her own handwriting. She was 13 years old when she apparently decided it was time to write her last will and testament.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
According to the police report, there were no tire marks on the pavement. No sign of hesitation. No pumping of the brakes. The car simply took flight towards the horizon and into the Garden of the Gods, along with Sandra Cleaver and Louise Watson. No one survived.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
So did Sandra mean to die that day? Had she made some kind of sick promise to Terry? And when you found out about the death of Louise and Sandy, how soon before you started to suspect that this had something to do with Terry?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Immediately, because it had happened again. Two suspicious deaths, and both women drafted wills. Louise and Sandra had seemingly prepared for a worst-case scenario. And Wheezy, too, had signed up for a life insurance policy.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
So clearly there's a target here for Terry. Wheezy's will gave everything to Sandra. So, in the event of both of their deaths, there would be the same beneficiary. This was beginning to look like more than coercion. This string of deaths seemed to be premeditated.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
And that's not all. In the year before her suicide, Sandra's brother, Kroom, had all but lost track of his sister. He told me, and I get this, he was a thousand miles away. He had kids and a life. His sister didn't want his help, despite the multiple tragedies that had beset her. A couple of months before she died, Kroom's son received a phone call. It was his aunt, Sandra.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
She called simply to tell him that she had chosen to leave everything to Terry and that if she died, this is what she wanted. There was a defiance in her tone. Like, fuck you. No one is going to tell me what to do. Kroom's wife, Meriwether, said they had no idea what Sandra was even up to.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
She'd slipped so far away from them by then that Croom and his wife weren't even the first ones to know about her death. But from the moment he heard about his sister's death, Croom was also suspicious, especially when he found out that his sister and Louise had left everything in their possession to Terry Hoffman.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Croom contested the will. A trial ensued. He wished to recoup in the civil proceedings property he felt was the rightful possession of the Beatty family.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
It is a disturbing and puzzling part of the story. How does one become influenced in the way some of the victims' families alleged their loved ones were? I found these tapes of Terry. Tapes of her getting prepared for this trial. And boy, are they something.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
A man named Ken Fairchild is walking Terry through how best to respond to allegations that she was liable for Sandra's death.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
So Terry Hoffman is often heard on the tapes, suggesting she has no influence over anyone, least of all Sandra. In these tapes, Terry would have the court believe that she's nothing more than a gal pal, a friendly ear. Terry wouldn't even admit she was Sandra's spiritual advisor. This advisor, Ken, seems to be reminding her that her freedom is on the line. They could lose this case.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Terry Johnson. Otherwise known as Terry Hoffman. Sandra's friend. Terry Hoffman. And here's what's strange. The document was dated August 1978, six months before she died. The will indicated who would get Dev's basketball, her rock collection, but also the family trust.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
When she talks about Sandra, she doesn't speak as a grieving friend. Her voice doesn't waver. Terry's advisor tells her to avoid words that indicate she had any control. So, Terry suggests that Sandra made her executor of her will of her own accord.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Incredibly, Terry tries to argue that she found out after the fact. While the trial to contest the will was set against Terry, Croom and the Cleavers wanted law enforcement to launch a criminal investigation into her.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
The assistant DA was a guy by the name of Cecil Emerson. He very much wanted to pursue a criminal investigation, despite the fact that Terry was not at the scene of either supposed crime. She wasn't at the beach when Devereaux drowned. She wasn't in the car when Sandra and Luis drove into the Garden of the Gods.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Cecil was sympathetic to the family's concerns, but he was hamstrung as far as prosecution goes. Because while it seemed as clear as day to Gail and Chuck and Kroom that Terry Hoffman had played a role in these three deaths, there was no smoking gun. There was motive, for sure. For days, there was motive. But there was no note from Terry promising Sandra that she would be reborn after death.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
There was no recording of Terry saying that Devereaux needed to go. Dev died in what came to be seen as a tragic accident. Violent seas swept her away. The motive to have access to her money was clear, but the actions tying Terri to her death were flimsy at best, non-existent at worst. Something I've been thinking about time and again in this case.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
You can't have a smoking gun when you die by your own hand. And so there was little the DA could do. The trial to decide what would happen with Sandra's will began in 1982.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
You know, we proceeded to move on with our life. They moved on and left Sandra's sordid history behind them. just as the Cleavers had tried to after Devereaux. And in each tragedy, the money flowed to Terry. A reporter covering the Terry Hoffman story in the 80s said to me, there was a lot of smoke. The challenge was always determining whether it was all coming from the same fire.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 2. The Last Will
Terry was described as having a soft and gentle demeanor. But could that unassuming woman be a mastermind? In the beginning, it was hard to imagine she could have anything to do with these tragedies that surrounded her. This poor orphan from far west Texas, who'd been introduced to mystical ideas from a Lutheran nun at an orphanage.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Introducing: Scary Terri
Drowning, freak accidents, double suicides, murder. A dozen people from Dallas, Texas died mysteriously. All of them had one person in common, a spiritual leader by the name of Terry Hoffman.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Introducing: Scary Terri
From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Scary Terry. Coming December 1st to The Binge. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Introducing: Scary Terri
The more I learned, the more I began to wonder, is Terry Hoffman the Charlie Manson you've never heard of? These shark eyes, those cold, dark eyes.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Introducing: Scary Terri
Hundreds of thousands of dollars, property, and land.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Introducing: Scary Terri
And the deeper I get into this thing, the weirder it gets.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Introducing: Scary Terri
Can nobody stop her? Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession. The Binge. When I started looking into a string of mysterious deaths in Dallas, Texas in the 1970s and 80s, I had no idea what kind of madness, carnage, and darkness I'd find there. I also didn't think I'd stumble across another Charlie Manson. Devereux Cleaver had just turned 14 when her mom, Sandra Cleaver, invited her to go on a vacation to Hawaii.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
They really didn't care for the people Sandra hung around with, especially her friend Terry, to whom she was practically attached at the hip. But spending quality time with her mom was something Devereux didn't get to do very much, and Chuck and Gail didn't want to get in the way of that. The Wailupe in O'ahu. A windy peninsula southeast of Honolulu.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
A few months before Devereux took that trip with her mom to Hawaii, she'd asked her sisters to stay the night with her at Sandra's. It was Sandra's turn to have her, but she'd also planned to host a conscious development meeting at the house, which made Devereux uncomfortable. She didn't want to be there alone.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Kristen figured it'd be your typical teenage sleepover. Junk food, manicures, movie marathons. It was anything but.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
The house on Manning Lane in Dallas was just a five-minute walk from Terry's. A big front yard with a paved walkway towards the door. Large, sleepy oak trees hung over the walkway on either side. And inside the house, in the living room, all the people from CDBMS were there. From Dev's room in the back of the house, the girls could hear all of their voices.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
They were a little creeped out by the whole thing, but also curious.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
They agreed to go check it out.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Men and women from all walks of life were gathered around to listen to Terri. Preppy academics, long-haired hippies, young, wide-eyed seekers, and seasoned spiritualists.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chrissy never forgot what she heard that night. It was over 40 years ago, and it's seared into her memory. How can someone's blood be evil? Why were these adults acting like that was a perfectly normal thing to be talking about? Chrissy could tell immediately something wasn't kosher about the whole thing.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Never went back to the house Dev shared with her mom, Sandra. For a sweet kid, Dev had to deal with some pretty heavy stuff. At her dad's, she had the stability of a big family, a two-parent household, but she still very much loved her mom.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chrissy told me that love seemed directed towards somebody else.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And as time wore on, Terry roped Sandra more and more into her group, conscious development of body, mind, and soul. Terry wanted her to help make and sell her jewelry, made of precious and semi-precious stones that they believed to have special spiritual qualities. They would travel for days at a time, leaving Devereaux with the family nanny, Louise Watson.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Then Sandra invited Devereaux on the trip to Hawaii. It was a bit of a surprise. But here was a chance for mother and daughter to spend time together. Terry would be there too. But that didn't matter to Devereaux. Sandra had in fact paid for the trip as a honeymoon present for Terry and her third husband, Ben Johnson. The invite put Chuck and Gail in a tricky spot.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And here was Sandra doing what everyone noticed had been lacking, spending quality time with her daughter. And they might have been doing weird stuff in the living room and talking about blood, but Debra wasn't involved in any of that, right? She had no undue influence from Terry Hoffman, as far as anyone knew. Chuck and Gail told her it was okay to go.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
It means literally kite water on account of the breezy Pakata coastline where they could take flight and nearly touch the sky. You can see them today, guiding surfers across the water like disembodied souls under the bright sun. Hawaii was an exotic wonderland for Devereaux.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
It was the last time Gail ever saw that young girl. The one she raised and loved was her own.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
That night, Dev showed up unannounced to the house. She boarded a plane with her mother, Sandra Cleaver, and Terry Hoffman to Hawaii. They'd be there for a week.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
February 25th, 1979. The picnic by the beach at Wailupe Peninsula. It was clearly not a safe place to be swimming.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
It's the kind of detail Gail has played over and over again in her mind. Why would Sandra choose to take Devereux swimming there unless she knew it was dangerous and did it anyway?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
That long walk to the edge of the water, towards a senseless tragedy. A senseless tragedy the Cleaver family now believes was no accident. Lynn Fairchild had heard his fiancée Sandra's cries for help and alerted the fire department. Two people went out into the water that day, and only one returned. And then that night, with Devereaux missing, the phone rang at Chuck and Gail's house.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Gail answered, and a woman was on the other end of the line. It wasn't Sandra. It was Terry Hoffman.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Far from the dusty horizon, the muscular cloud clusters miles high, and the hot blanket of air draping Dallas like a set piece in a movie.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
She thought, why the hell was Terry Hoffman calling us? A long and terrible night of uncertainty followed. The next day, Chuck boarded the first plane to Hawaii in search of his daughter with his best friend, Jean Coker.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Before boarding the plane, they got the word. Dev's body washed ashore.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chuck arrived at the hospital by that afternoon, where Sandra was recovering.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And so Chuck sat in the hospital room with his ex-wife. All of his worst fears confirmed about letting his daughter go with Sandra and her weird friends on a vacation halfway across the world. How did they get to this point? A happy young couple once, a beautiful daughter, to this?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
For a moment, it seemed, despite the cavernous depth separating Chuck and Sandra from each other, that they would be able to grieve together, father and mother. That is, until Terry showed up.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
almost as if she couldn't show herself to her friend Terry in that moment. Couldn't appear to be the grieving mother she most certainly was. When Terry came in, she made some quick dismissive comments about their situation. Chuck's best friend Gene was there too. He said a glaze came over Sandy's eyes. Communication was shut down after that. There was something weighing on Chuck's mind.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
A growing suspicion. A tangled mess of grief, fear, and rage.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
His daughter's body in the cargo of the plane and a nine-hour flight to think about what had happened to her. Chuck knew he didn't have all the information yet, but something wasn't right. He'd questioned why the trip was happening in the first place. And now this, why did they choose to swim out there? And why had Sandra acted so strange when Terry came into the hospital room?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Dev's body was transferred to the medical examiner in Dallas. The tox screen came up negative. An autopsy showed no sign of struggle. Nothing strange. If someone had had a hand in Devereaux's death, it wasn't physical. She was then transported to a funeral home. Chuck wanted the girls to have closure, so he brought them all there to view Dev's body before she was cremated.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Gail remembers seeing her face like it was yesterday. There was still seaweed in her hair. But something altogether strange had happened while Chuck and Jean were in flight back to Honolulu. Gail got a call to the house. It was one of Terry Hoffman's children. They said they had a document they needed to show the family. A will. Devereaux's will.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
A will that she had written that Chuck didn't know anything about. A couple of days after they'd been informed of the will, an unidentified woman entered a Dallas bank where Devereux had an account and handed the teller the document. The woman was looking to make a withdrawal from the account because, according to the will, this dead girl had given all of her money away to Terry Hoffman.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Now Chuck and Gail knew there was no doubt in their minds what had happened to their daughter. And there was nothing they could do about it. Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
This season on Scary Terry.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
I go searching for answers.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
A dozen people are dead.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Was Terry Hoffman the Charlie Manson you've never heard of?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Unlock all episodes of Scary Terry ad-free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of the show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts, all ad-free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series. That's all episodes, all at once.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. Scary Terry is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment. It was hosted and reported by me, Jonathan Hirsch. Cooper Maul is our lead producer and co-reported the series with me. Catherine St. Louis is our story editor.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
I'm our executive producer. Sound design and mixing by Scott Somerville. We use music from APM. Our associate producer is Zoe Kolkin. Our fact checker is Tracy Lee. Our production managers are Tamika Balans-Galazny and Sammy Allison. Our lawyers are Rachel Goldberg and Lauren Pagoni. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rosick, and Jamie Myers.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Sandra and Devereaux had gone swimming that day, after lunch. Just 20 or so minutes from their hotel in Honolulu was a beach. More like a lagoon, actually. It was ankle deep for about a half mile out from the shore. An odd choice for swimming. Lynn, Sandra's fiancé, stayed back, napping off one too many glasses of champagne after lunch. Go on, have fun, he told them.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Suddenly, underneath them was a patch of coral reef, tough and sharp, like knives and sandpaper. The water was deepening now, too. That far out, it's hard to gauge the size of a wave. That's when one wave came roaring past, knocking them off of the raft. Another wave, and she was gone. Sandra looked over and couldn't see her daughter. She'd been swept under by the current.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
She dove underneath, looking for her. She couldn't find her. That's where Sandra's account trails off. She woke later on the rocky shoreline, calling for help. Meanwhile, Lynn woke up from his catnap, recognized something was wrong. He alerted authorities on the beach, who dragged Sandra back in.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chuck got out of bed and headed towards the airport. It was like an eclipse flashed across the sky. A dark pall covered their world. A chill shot through them that they would never be able to shake.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Their daughter was gone. Life would never be the same. And from the moment their phone rang that awful night, Gail had a creeping suspicion that would soon overcrowd everything. This wasn't a freak accident.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Devro and Sandra were collateral damage in a sick and deadly conspiracy. And the terrible truth is, I think Gail was right.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths?
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Scary Terry. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Chapter One, The Mysterious Death of Devereux Cleaver. Chuck and Gail were the perfect match. An all-American couple. Chuck was tall and muscular with a gentle smile and wavy brown hair. Played college basketball, worked in commercial real estate. Gail had fine blonde hair, high cheekbones, a model.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
She in fact was one in those days for a chain of department stores in Texas. But the couple also came together with history. Kids from another marriage, previous relationships. The biggest challenge in their young life together was no doubt sharing Devereux with Sandra. Because it always felt to them like they weren't just sharing Devereux with Sandra.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
They were sharing her with Terry, Terry Hoffman.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Terry was a kind of spiritual life coach. She'd recently started a group she was calling Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul. We'll call them CDBMS for short. Under this name, she hosted group meditation sessions where she would also give lectures to a growing number of people in Dallas about things like reincarnation, the soul, and the hidden energies that inform and power our world.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
She'd host these events around North Dallas, often on the campus of Southern Methodist University. And Sandra was one of Terry's first disciples and a close friend. Sandra had had a tough few years and was searching for meaning in her life.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And with those consecutive losses, a window opened up in her heart. She'd do anything for relief. Take any advice that seemed to get her to a better place. Terry was a heavyset woman in her 40s, round frame, lumbering, big piercing brown eyes, and tough black hair often pulled back into a bun.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
She didn't on the surface appear to be particularly charismatic, but it was her words that captivated people. Oh, Terry.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Her mom's fiance, Lynn Fairchild, would be there too. And her close friend and mentor, Terry. Devereaux's stepmother, Gail Cleaver, remembers her as a bright girl, sweet and shy, tall.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
There are few recordings left of Terry. but this is from one of these counseling sessions she gave to her students. Her voice is slight, with a thick Texas lilt. She was gentle and nurturing to her students. A divine mother, one former disciple told me. Life, Terry instructed her earliest acolytes, was a journey towards spiritual evolution.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And she was there to help you advance, to cheer you along as you became more spiritually aware, but also to encourage you to eliminate things that weren't serving you.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
This all sounded too kooky for Chuck. He stayed out of it. His wife was slipping. He didn't approve of this new relationship, which was taking time away from raising the family and also costing them. She was buying up expensive jewelry from Terry made of semi-precious stones she claimed would provide spiritual protection.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
When Sandra started writing checks for several thousand dollars made out to Terry's group, Chuck had enough. They were at an impasse. That's when he met Gail. Both of them had been invited to a minister's home.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
It was the first time Gail met Sandra.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Different, like she marches to the beat of her own drum. Eccentric.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
It took the women a minute to realize she was being serious.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And I'm sure it felt unsettling to the other women in that room, these relatively well-to-do Christian women chatting in the kitchen of a Dallas suburb, 1972.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Not long after, Sandra asked Chuck for a divorce.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Who was this woman? She'd wrestled her way into the center of a marriage and managed to convince Sandra that, to evolve, her husband had to go. She had spiritual practices to pursue or whatever, and Chuck was getting in the way. At the same time, Chuck had started this new blended family. Gail was Devereaux's stepmom, and Devereaux now had a stepbrother and stepsisters close in age.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
She loved animals and basketball and her new step-siblings. Gail had a son and two daughters from a previous marriage. They were this Brady Bunch type family, a friend of hers told me. Devereux was excited to go, but Chuck and his new wife Gail were worried about the trip.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
He was concerned about Terry's influence on his daughter. He fought to have full custody of Devereaux.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chuck's lawyer was scared. Sandra had espoused some pretty out there ideas, which she seemed to be absorbing from her friend Terry.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chuck's attorney feared that Sandra was being influenced, that she might do something she'd later deeply regret. If you move forward and get full custody, his lawyer said, which it looks like you can get, you will win the battle, but you're gonna lose the war.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Gail and Chuck, in the middle of all this, did their best to provide a loving home for Devereaux and to keep the kids insulated from any of the weirdness going on with Sandra and Terry. They were sort of dancing around Sandra, trying to stay connected to Dev without getting too involved with her. It felt precarious, unstable.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
And now, lawyers on both sides of the custody dispute were telling them, it could be dangerous.
The Binge Cases: Baby Broker
Scary Terri | 1. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Chrissy is Gail's daughter from her previous marriage. She was closest in age to Devereaux. Seeing Gail and her together, she's a carbon copy of her mom. silvery blonde hair, high cheekbones, perfect teeth. Chrissy loved Devereaux.