Naman Shrestha
Gerald Cruz started out a rivalry with a new resident named Franklin Raper, which led to the former using his authoritative status as the founder of “the Camp” to get back at him. Fueled by revenge, he plotted a sinister scheme along with his followers, but things turned sideways. The episode titled ‘Wheel of Punishment’ of ‘The Real Murders on Elm Street’ provides a detailed account of the quasi-military compound and the crimes of its leader, Gerald Cruz.
Gerald Cruz Developed Deadly Animosity Towards Franklin
Ever since his childhood, Gerald Cruz was told by his loving mother that he had special powers. Keeping that in mind, he grew up to become a master manipulator and founded a quasi-military compound called “the Camp.” Based right outside of Salida, California, Gerald was the leader and authority of the group, which grew in numbers over time. Based on white supremacist ideology, “the Camp” inflicted several brutal punishments upon the members who made mistakes or disobeyed the authority. Although the Camp hardly troubled the people around them, the locals still felt intimidated by them, and they did not have any run-ins with the law until they did.
Things changed when 50-year-old Franklin Raper moved his trailer into the area of the Camp in January 1990. Tensions brewed between Franklin and Gerald as the former hardly felt intimidated or threatened by the authoritative figure of the group. After one of their disputes, Gerald set fire to the new resident’s car and expressed his hatred towards him. Soon, he and the rest of the Camp members plotted to teach Franklin a lesson. Unfortunately, during the time of the attack, he had company on the property, resulting in a massacre. Catching Franklin and his acquaintances off guard in his house on the night of May 20, 1990, Gerald and his masked men, dressed in camouflage, attacked all of them in the living room. The former was not only beaten with a bat but he was also stabbed brutally.
Since the Camp leader had instructed his followers to leave no witnesses behind, they stabbed and beat the rest of the victims as well. However, a woman named Donna managed to survive the attack as she was in one of the bedrooms during the murders. She also got a look at one of the attackers after he took his mask off. Sneaking away into the garage, she hid underneath a pile of clothes before finding the right opportunity to run down Elm Street. After knocking on several doors in the neighborhood, she found someone and called 911. As the police rushed to Franklin’s house at 5223 Elm Street in Salida after midnight on May 21, 1990, they were met with a gruesome crime scene with the bodies of four victims — Franklin Raper, Dennis Colwell, Darlene “Emmie” Paris, and Richard Ritchey.
Investigation Into the Mass Murder Led the Police Straight to Gerald Cruz
Upon inspection, they learned that all of them died of blunt force trauma and stab wounds. When Donna gave a description of the man he saw at the residence, the detectives matched it with a guy named Jason LaMarsh, a member of the Camp. After digging deep into the suspect, they learned that he belonged to a commune led by Gerald Cruz. When they asked him about the murders, he claimed that he had no idea about them, but he ended up giving a few names to the police. Still suspecting foul play on the part of Gerald, the investigators searched his house and came across various pieces of concerning evidence, such as a receipt for a knife, Satanic literature, bombmaking materials, and a “wheel of punishment.”
Consisting of several kinds of punishments, from eating off the floor to getting beaten severely, it was used when a follower of Gerald disobeyed him or made a mistake. In light of all the evidence, Gerald Cruz was taken into custody and arrested for four counts of first-degree murder and possession of explosives, along with other members of his group. Despite his claims of innocence, the leader of the Camp was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to death. As of today, Gerald is on death row at California Health Care Facility.
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