Paul Ingram

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Paul Ingram was a prime suspect in a high-profile satanic ritual abuse trial in recent American history. Ingram was acquitted of satanic ritual abuse but found guilty of third degree rape. His story forms the basis for the book "Remembering Satan" by Lawrence Wright and the film " Forced to Lie " (Forgotten Sins) by Dick Lowry . According to Elizabeth Loftus , Ingram confessed based on false memories .

background

Paul Ingram and his family were "born again" in 1975 in the Church of Living Waters, a Pentecostal church. They immediately took an active part in community life. Ingram's daughters, Ericka and Julie, attended so-called "heart-to-heart" meetings of the ward. At these meetings, which were always very emotional, the young people talked about problems with self-confidence, sexuality and the family.

In 1983 Ericka revealed to the other teenagers that she had been the victim of an attempted rape. The police have been notified. However, when she found out that it was a married man who had put a hand on Ericka's knee, she closed the investigation.

Two years later, Julie revealed that a neighbor had sexually abused her. Ericka confirmed the allegations and said she was molested by the same man. A complaint was made, but it was dropped because, according to the police, Julie's statements were "incomplete and inconsistent". In 1988 Karla Franka, a member of a charismatic church from California, kept the youngsters under their spell with her clairvoyant visions. Franka "saw" sexual abuse in several of the young people involved, which was confirmed by them. Ericka Ingram attended the meeting as a supervisor. After the meeting, Franka began to pray for her, and she had visions that Ericka had been sexually abused by her father.

Some time later, Ericka revealed to her mother that she had been sexually abused by her father Paul Ingram and her two older brothers. The next morning Julie also told her mother that she had been sexually abused by her father and one of her brothers. On the same day, Julie, accompanied by a woman from the "Advice Center for Rape Women", went to the police, where she gave more detailed information about the incident.

Interrogation of Paul Ingram

A week later, on November 28, 1988, Paul Ingram was confronted by Sheriff Gary Edwards and Deputy Neil McLanahan with the allegations. Ingram said he didn't molest the girls, adding that he doesn't think he has a dark side. Ingram was then interrogated by Brian Schoening and Joe Vukich. Ingram said she did not recall any sexual abuse. The detectives presented him with three ideas.

  • 1. His daughters were responsible and truth-loving girls who would not invent lies about a crime of this magnitude. Ingram agreed.
  • 2. Sex criminals often suppressed the memory of what they did. Ingram agreed to that too.
  • 3. The only way to get access to the facts was to admit that he sexually abused his daughters. After that, his memories would likely return.

Eventually Ingram confessed to the abuse, although he still had no memories of it. Then he tried to remember the abuse, but, according to his own statements, viewed it "like an outsider". He confessed to having come into Ericka's room at night, undressing her and touching her immorally, and threatening to kill her if she told anyone about it. He spoke in the subjunctive ("I would have ..."). By the time the interrogation ended, Ingram had admitted raping Ericka since she was five and sexually abusing Julie for at least ten years. He also remembered getting Julie pregnant and having an abortion at the age of 15. After the confession, Ingram was taken to a hospital cell. On the morning of November 29th, he was visited by the psychologist Richard Peterson. Ingram asked him if it was really possible to completely block memories of such brutal and disgusting acts. The psychologist confirmed this and added that many sex offenders had been abused as children themselves and had repressed this. Ingram couldn't recall having been sexually assaulted at the time. At a later date, he said he had been sexually abused by his uncle.

When Ingram entered the interrogation room at 1.30pm on November 29, 1988, officers confronted him with two letters from Julie, in which she revealed she was still being abused and threatened. Two of her father's poker friends were involved in the abuse. When she was a child she was raped many times by several of these men. At first Ingram couldn't think of anyone, but then he thought he could remember a scene: Julie was hand and foot cuffed and was lying face down on a sheet. His friend Jim Rabie molested her and his friend Ray Risch took photos of the scene.

Reaction of Rabies and Risch

When Rabie and Risch were confronted with the fact that Paul Ingram had charged them with the allegation of sexual abuse, they did not clearly reject the accusation, but rather spoke of a memory loss similar to Ingram. Rabie insisted that he had no memories of these events but, like Ingram, mentioned a "dark side". Finally Rabie confessed, "Blame me because I probably didn't want to admit it. I have to be the worst of them all".

Interviewed by Chad Ingram

Ingram was haunted by a memory that featured Jim Rabie and his son Chad Ingram: Rabie had anal sex with Chad. Chad was interviewed by Detective Schoening and psychologist Peterson less than a week later. He couldn't remember being sexually assaulted by Jim Rabie or anyone else at first, but he could remember cutting his wrists open at 17. He couldn't remember the exact reason. The conversation turned into an analysis of Chad's dreams. Chad described a particularly vivid dream in which there were little people who came into his room and ran around his bed. Their faces were painted with black, red, and white stripes, like the rock group Kiss. Peterson saw this dream as evidence that Chad was being violated. Chad told of another dream in which a witch held him down on his bed. He couldn't move or speak. Schoening and Peterson tried to convince Chad that this was not a dream but a reality. Finally, Chad said that he remembered a man sitting on top of him. The man's knees held Chad's arms, who couldn't move, and his penis was stuck in Chad's mouth. It was very likely Jim Rabie. The next day, after intensive questioning, Chad reported another memory. He was raped by Jay Risch when he was ten or eleven. Chad later withdrew that statement. It would have been nothing more than bad dreams.

Memories from Sandy Ingram

Sandy Ingram thought at first that she couldn't remember what had happened. However, after talking to the pastor of her congregation, who believed she was an accomplice, she remembered being handcuffed to Jim Rabie on the living room floor. Then the memory jumped and she was now in a storage room with her husband, who hit her with a piece of wood while Risch and Rabie laughed at her. When Paul let her out of the closet, Risch and Rabie threw her down and forced her to have anal sex.

Allegation of satanic ritual abuse

On December 30, 1988, Ericka Ingram filed a statement with the police in which she for the first time precisely set out her memories of ritual abuse by devotees of Satanism. From the age of five to twelve, she was often woken up at night by her father. A group of men and women, including their mother, father, Jim Rabie, Jay Risch, and a high priestess in a robe, waited for them in a barn. Everyone gathered around a table, stabbed a baby, and continued the ritual even after the baby was dead. The body was dressed in something white and buried in the ground. "They also said that I would not remember. They repeated it over and over, like a spell". Julie also began to have memories of "satanic stuff". She could remember burying dead animals, but couldn't tell whether they died of natural causes or were sacrificed. Ericka later stated that her father forced her to have intercourse with dogs and billy goats. Her mother would have had sex with animals too. She described satanic orgies, child sacrifices, and cruel abortions. Paul Ingram later stated that he also remembered satanic ritual abuse.

Richard Ofshe

Richard Ofshe , an expert on cults and brainwashing and professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, was brought in. Immediately on the first phone call with the chief prosecutor, Gary Tabor, Ofshe said, "There is no evidence that devil sects that kill babies even exist." Ofshe met with Ingram, who described how he was trying to get memories: First he prayed. The next step was "emptying the mind". Ingram tried to imagine that he was surrounded by warm, white mist. After a while, "memory fragments" began to appear in his mind. Ofshe doubted the reality of those memories. In his opinion, the visual, fragmentary content of the memories suggested that they were pseudo-memories evoked in trance. Ofshe decided to conduct an experiment to test his theory. He persuaded Ingram that he had forced one of his sons and one of his daughters to have sex. According to Ericka, such an incident never occurred. Paul Ingram later admitted having vivid memories of forcing his son Paul Jr. and Ericka to have sex. A heated exchange ensued, during which Ofshe told Ingram that he had come up with the whole scene. Ingram, however, insisted that his version was the truth. Ofshe sent a report to the prosecutor's office. He reiterated his concerns about the investigation into the case and his conclusion that Paul Ingram had not committed the crimes he had confessed.

Examination for scars

Ericka and Julie were examined for scars by Detective Loreli Thompson. She couldn't find any scars.

Outcome of the process

The charges of satanic ritual abuse have been dropped. Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of third degree rape and received a final judgment. He was released from prison in 2003. All charges against Jim Rabie and Jay Risch have been dropped.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham: "The treated memory - About the dubious attempt to prove sexual abuse years later". 1995. Bastei Lübbe; Pp. 372-431

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ingram, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American man
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century