Fifth person arrested for killings linked to Inland Empire cult group

A 44-year-old man was arrested this week in Tennessee in connection with the killing of a missing member of a “cult-like” religious group in the Inland Empire, authorities said.

Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was captured in Nashville on Jan. 12 and booked into a San Bernardino jail on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2023 disappearance and death of Emilio Ghanem, according to a news release issued by the Redlands Police Department. Duran Jr. will appear in a San Bernardino courtroom Wednesday, records show.

Ghanem was a longtime member of the “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies,” a religious group based in Colton and Hemet that has been linked to a number of deaths and disappearances. State and local authorities have arrested five members of the group in total, including its two leaders, in connection with the murders of Ghanem and a 4-year-old boy named Timothy Thomas.

It was not immediately clear whether Duran Jr. had legal representation. Authorities have not described his alleged role in Ghanem’s death.

Ghanem joined the religious group more than two decades ago and helped launch a pest control business overseen by the organization called Fullshield Inc., his sister Jennifer Ghanem told the Times. Ghanem left the group in April 2023 and returned to Nashville, where he started his own pest control business, she said.

In May of that year, he returned to the Redlands area to try to network with former clients, but received a cease-and-desist letter accusing him of stealing business from the religious group’s pest control company, Ghanem’s sister said. Seventeen days later, he disappeared.

Last summer, Redlands police said they discovered the truck Ghanem was last seen driving and served search warrants at two of the group’s properties, where they recovered ghost guns and automatic rifles.

Shelly Bailey “Kat” Martin, 62, and her husband Darryl Muzic Martin, 58, were described as the leaders of the group. Shelly Martin and another member of the group, Rudy Moreno, 43, were also charged in Ghanem’s death.

The Martins and former group member Andre Thomas, 48, were also charged with the murder of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was found dead of septic shock caused by a ruptured appendix at one of the group’s properties in Colton in 2010. The boy was in the Martins’ care at the time, police said.

Police believed negligence played a role in the boy’s death, but they had difficulty getting cooperation from members of the religious group because of the extensive control the Martins had over their followers, authorities said.

Several members have since separated from the group and revised their statements to police, saying their initial testimony was given under duress from the group’s leaders, according to Colton Police Sgt. Shawn McFarland.

The group was also named in connection with the 2019 disappearance of member Ruben Moreno in Claremont, according to local police.