Naman Shrestha
In March 2004, a seemingly regular custody dispute turned into a massacre when Marcus Delon Wesson was questioned at his house. In order to not let his dark secrets come out in front of the world, he ended up killing nine of his children inside his house. One of the surviving sons of the killer recounts that horrible and vivid day in the episode titled ‘A Family Massacre’ of Discovery+’s ‘Deadliest Mums & Dads.’ Apart from that, the episode also consists of interviews with other key individuals related to the entire debacle.
Marcus Delon Wesson Led His Cult-Like Family Members to Death
Despite being partners, Benjamin and Carrie Wesson were strikingly different from each other. While the latter was described as a religious fanatic, Benjamin was reportedly an alcoholic and child abuser. The couple gave birth to four children, including Marcus Delon Wesson — who would grow up to be a combination of his parents. Born on August 22, 1946, in Kansas, Marcus was just in his formative years when his father abandoned him and the rest of the family. Raised as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he grew up to be an extremely religious man with anti-government beliefs. In the 1960s, the Wesson family lived in San Bernardino, California, where he seemingly joined a high school.
However, Marcus dropped out and joined the US Army where he served as an ambulance driver from 1966 to 1968. Upon returning home, the 22-year-old Marcus crossed paths with Rosemary Solorio, a separated woman and a single mother in her 30s with eight kids from her previous relationships. As time passed, Marcus moved in with her in San Jose and tied the knot. With a strict set of rules and disciplinary measures, Marcus used to discipline them like they were his own kids. One of the kids who caught his eye was 8-year-old Elizabeth Wesson. In August 1974, when Elizabeth was just 15 years old, he married her. Over the course of their marriage, she gave birth to ten of Marcus’ children by the time she was 26, including Serafino.
Preferring to live a life of seclusion, Marcus and the rest of the Wesson family moved from one isolated place to another quite frequently. In order to keep his children disciplined and obedient towards him, he used fear tactics and physically punished them if they crossed even the thinnest of lines. Reports suggest that Marcus had an authoritative manner to control his family, in a cult-like fashion, as he used to force his children to treat him like their “lord” or “master.” Led by Marcus, there was a lot of assault, abuse, and brainwashing going on within the Wesson family. In the name of keeping the bloodline pure, he raped two of his daughters and three of his nieces, all of whom became pregnant with his children.
By mid-2003, the Wesson family moved to a property at 761 West Hammond Avenue, Fresno. Soon, a couple of his nieces named Ruby and Sofina decided to part ways with the family. However, on March 12, 2004, they returned to the Wesson residence demanding the custody of their respective children. That day, 19-year-old Serafino and his brother had gone out to watch a movie. But when they returned home, they found a large crowd gathering outside. Around 2:15 pm, the authorities were called to the Wesson residence as Marcus was refusing to hand over their children to Ruby and Sofina.
Cutting through the crowd, Serafino went inside the house to the back bedroom where he found nine of his siblings and cousins — Sebhrenah aged 25, Lise aged 17, Illabelle aged 8, Aviv and Jonathan aged 7, Ethan aged 4, Sedona and Marshey aged just 18 months, and Jeva Wesson aged 1 — alive and well. Exiting the house with Marcus, Serafino asked Ruby and Sofina to remain calm as nothing alarming had happened to anyone. But soon, when Marcus disappeared into the house, Serafino entered the back bedroom again after a while, to find the bodies of all his siblings and cousins piled up in the corner of the room while Marcus said that it was his turn next. All of them were shot with a single bullet through the eye.
Emerging with blood on his clothes, 57-year-old Marcus surrendered right outside the house and was immediately taken into custody for being responsible for the massacre that had occurred inside the house. Even after all this, his surviving sons and family members defended him and his actions, claiming that he was a wonderful father and could never hurt them in his wildest of imagination.
Marcus Delon Wesson Was Sentenced to Death
On March 3, 2005, the trial of Marcus Delon Wesson, also known as the “vampire king of Fresno,” for the murder of his nine children began. During the trial, he pleaded not guilty and the defense claimed that it was Sebhrenah who actually pulled the trigger on his children before shooting herself. After three long months, on June 17, 2005, Marcus was found guilty of nine counts of murder and 14 counts of rape and continuous sexual abuse of his underage daughters.
Although it was not proved that Marcus fired the fatal shots, the jury was convinced that he had manipulated his children into a suicide pact. Moreover, even if Sebhrenah might have been the one who pulled the trigger, it must have been due to the coercion and the mental abuse inflicted by Marcus. In July 2005, he received the death sentence for the charges against him. At present, Marcus Delon Wesson remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison at 66 Main Street in San Quentin.
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