Mass murderer Marcus Wesson and his vampire incest cult

Marcus Wesson is currently in a state prison awaiting the death sentence given to him in 2005. For what? For leading a cult that believed in vampires and incest. Wesson was born on August 22 of 1946, in Kansas. His parents seemed to have a profound effect on what his life would look like as an adult. His mother was (in Wesson’s words) a Seventh-day Adventist “fanatic” and his father was abusive & an alcoholic.

It’s been said one of Wesson’s favorite pastimes as a child was to “play preacher.”

Wesson served in the military as a medical care provider, but was given an honorable discharge in the early ‘70s. Settling down in San Jose, California, Wesson met a woman by the name of Rosemary Solorio. Rosemary was married at the time, but quickly broke it off in order to have Wesson move in with her.

Rosemary was already the mother of eight children when she met Wesson. However, this did not deter the man, in fact, he seemed thrilled, claiming they needed a “shepherd”. It wasn’t long before Rosemary and Wesson had a son of their own.

But the family’s growth didn’t stop there. Not long after Wesson’s son was born one of Rosemary’s eldest daughters left seven more children with the family, because she was unable to care for them herself due to a drug habit.

Wesson took on the role of cult leader easily, and employed every basic cult trope you’ve seen in movies. He required everyone to call him either “lord” or “master”, and he was terrifyingly abusive even to the infants. One boy was beaten for thirty days because he ate a spoonful of peanut butter without permission, and a teenager was stabbed for trying to leave the house.

Three times a day Wesson became the preacher he had always dreamed of, telling the large family stories from the bible with his own twists. These new takes included telling his family he was God, vampires were real, and Jesus was one of them.

Wesson’s obsession with the undead stemmed from the fact he, apparently, saw similarities between the undead creatures and Jesus. This led him to collect coffins and give some of the children “vampire names” including Jeva– a combination of the words Jesus and vampire.

With sixteen kids and two adults there were a lot of people to keep track of, but Wesson for whatever reason, became fixated on Elizabeth– Rosemary’s eight-year-old daughter. Rosemary was likely already so brainwashed by Wesson she took no issue with his actions.

The man declared Elizabeth was his “wife” and removed her from school after performing an at home marriage ceremony. (Eventually, none of the kids would be allowed to attend school.) Once Elizabeth was twelve he began to assault her sexually with the intention of marrying her legally when she turned fifteen– the legal age with parental consent. At fourteen Elizabeth became pregnant giving birth to the first of eleven children she would have with Wesson.

Elizabeth was not the only girl he treated this way. Wesson would go on to do very similar things with most of the girls in the cult, starting his crimes when the girls were as young as eight.

Due to Wesson’s possessive ways toward the women and girls, he required the girls and boys to be separated from one another to prevent anyone from committing the same incest he was. The women were also forced to wear clothing that covered their bodies, to walk behind Wesson, and wait on his every need or desire. Everyone was expected to do hard work, and anyone old enough was expected to have a job outside of the cult to make money for Wesson.

Eventually, two of the girls decided they wanted out of the cult. Ruby and Sofina were nieces to Wesson and they begged him to let them go. Ultimately Wesson decided to agree, but only under the condition, they would leave their two sons behind. The two had no choice but to agree if they wanted to get out, so they did.

Ruby and Sofina were freed from the cult and did their best to adjust to their new lives. However, the horrors of the cult haunted them, and in 2004 they decided to go back for their sons. The women contacted family outside of the cult to help them, and together showed up outside of the commercial offices Wesson was renting for the cult to live in.

When the nieces and their backup arrived Wesson is reported to have dealt with the situation calmly, while the women in his harem screamed profanities at the women who in their eyes were traitors. Eventually, the police were called.

Ruby and Sofina told officers Wesson was going to hurt the kids– telling them Wesson and some of the other women had a suicide pact that was regularly discussed. If anyone in law enforcement showed up the women were to kill their children and then themselves.

When the police spoke to Wesson he agreed to let the kids go, but first, he wanted to say goodbye. He shut the door and the officers waited for an hour and a half before Wesson came back out. His clothes were drenched in blood.

Neighbors say they heard gunshots during the period of time Wesson was allowed to “say goodbye”, but officers claim they didn’t hear anything.

Officers immediately arrested Wesson while others stormed the building. Inside was a literal pile of bloody human bodies. Nine dead were dead. The victims ranged from age twenty-five to just one year old. Each person had been shot in the eye.

Wesson went to trial pleading not guilty. His defense was that the mother of the children had killed them and then herself. (Which, had been what the pact was.) The members of the cult who still believed and trusted in Wesson defended him in court.

Ultimately, the jury decided Wesson was guilty and he was charged for all counts of sexual assault and murder. Wesson was sentenced in 2005, and as of 2020 the man still awaits execution on death row.

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