- It's me again I showed up, how are you? I hope you're all having a great day. My name is Bailey Sarian
and today is Monday, which means it's Murder,
Mystery and Makeup Monday. (vocalizing) Thank you, thank you. Every Monday I sit down and I
talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my (clicks) noggin, and I do my makeup at the same time. If you're interested in true
crime and you like makeup, then I would highly suggest
you hit that subscribe button because I'm here for you every Monday and I upload on Saturdays as well. Go check that out too, hey. Last week we talked about... (crickets chirping) Holy crap. What did we talk about? Oh Emma, Emma Fillipoff! Okay sorry about that, brain fart. Today I wanted to talk about
a story that I came across that's just wild. This is a weird story, and I know so many of
you are going to be like, this is--there's no way this is true, because I didn't think it was true either, but it is. And let's jump right into it. The year is 1988 and we're in a small town called Childress. Childress, Texas. Childress was small enough that it's hard to like
do anything that somebody else doesn't happen to hear about. Everyone knows your business, everybody knows each other. And everyone in town at this time 1988, knew a 15 year old boy named Tate Rowland. He was a pretty popular young man. He was good looking, but he had kind of a wild streak in him. You know teenager, teenage boy in a small town who's bored. "Wild Streak". Tate was known to have a little bit of a reputation by the
Sheriff's Department. Tate liked cars and he liked beer. Tate also had a girlfriend at this time, and her name was Karen. Karen actually came from
a pretty well-off family. They were farmers and they
made a good amount of money, and again, everyone kind of knew her too. Their relationship was
pretty--what was that? Their relationship was
pretty rocky so it was said, and it was also said that they were constantly getting into fights. They were always bickering, they were very jealous people. So if Karen was talking to a guy, Tate would get all jealous, they fight, they break up, but then they'd kiss, make
up, get back together. And then just repeat, you know it was one of
those relationships. And just little side note, if you're in one of those relationships, just get out now. They don't ever work out. Sorry, save yourself. Once again the couple
had gotten into a fight. Now this time the fight
took place at Karen's work. Tate allegedly jumped over
the counter to get to Karen, and then he choked her. He wasn't aggressive at all in the past but this obviously like upset Karen a lot. She ended up pressing charges. Tate did end up getting arrested, and they went all the way to court, but then the charges got dropped and the two of them, Tate
and Karen, they made up. But this time, once everything was done and over with, Tate ended up leaving Texas, and he moved to Louisiana to
live with a family member. So then springtime came and Tate ended up moving back home to Texas. Once Tate got back into town, he had heard a little
rumor swirling around that Karen his ex-girlfriend, she ended up getting married
while he was away in Louisiana. Tate didn't let that
get him down you know, he obviously is sad, upset, heartbroken but he still would hang
out with his friends, and he tried to just kind
of carry on with his life. His friends said that yeah, he was heartbroken and stuff but, he pretty much like bounced
back pretty quickly. So they break up that sucks, like they break up officially you know? Karen got married so there's
no getting back together. So then July 26, 1988 around 5:00 PM that
afternoon Tate had been seen around the United Supermarket parking lot. Tate had made plans to
drop by the city park that evening to coach a
Women's League Softball game, and he had his friend Chad with him, and the two of them are going to hang out and drink some beer after the game. Chad was 15 at the time
and he would be considered to be more of a quiet guy, he was introvert. He wasn't very popular in school and he liked hanging out with Tate, because Tate was cool and
that would help him be cool. So at 6:00 PM that same
evening, Chad, the friend he came running through the front door of Tate's family home to tell the family that Tate had hanged himself. Now Tate's mom said that Chad, when he came in running to tell them that Tate had hanged
himself that he was like, super calm, eyes were dry. Like it wasn't like he was crying, he didn't look worried at all, and she thought it was really weird. Tate's mom, dad and Chad, they all go to the location. where Tate hanged himself. Once they got there poor Tate's dad is the one who cuts
Tate down from the tree, cause he's still hanging from the tree. Why did Chad come home and not get Tate down from the tree? I don't know. But Chad takes them to the location where Tate had hanged himself. And that's where Tate's
father cuts his son down from the tree and comes
to realize that Tate is dead. Now of course police come out
and everything, all that jazz. They question Chad. "What are you up to Chad?" Chad first told the sheriff
that he and Tate had driven out to like a small grass
area to listen to music, and then they were going
to drink a few beers. Chad then went on to say that Tate strung a rope over
the limb of a tree, and announced that he was
going to hang himself. Chad said that he
thought Tate was kidding. Chad then told police that he walked behind the car to throw a
beer can into the bushes. I don't know why that's funny, I'm really sorry. And when he came back, that's
when he saw Tate was hanging from the tree and he was dead. Now the story didn't
make any sense to police, because Tate had two rope
burns visible on his neck, one above the Adam's apple and
one below the Adam's apple. When someone is hanged, the body weight pulls
the chin toward the rope so that the rope mark is
always above the Adam's apple. So the story just wasn't making sense, why did he have two lines on his neck? So police are thinking well could Tate have been strangled first and then hung up in the tree? Two days later Chad was brought
in to be questioned again, this time though he changed his story. His story is flip flopping
like a fish out of water. Chad said the first time
Tate tried to kill himself, the rope broke. Then they went back to Tate's house, which was a five minute drive away. The goal was to go back to
Tate's house to get another rope. And then once they got another rope, Chad said that's when they
came back to the tree. And then that's when Chad said that he told two different stories because he was afraid that he would get into trouble for not trying to
stop Tate in the first place. When you think about it, cause sometimes you have to step back and look at the bigger picture here, Chad is only 15 years old. That may be the case, maybe he was afraid. The Sheriff's Department ended up listing Tate's death as a suicide. The County judge saw no
reason to order an autopsy, and Tate's body was just
prepared for burial. You think the two rope
burns would be enough but I don't know man. I need more concealer. So the funeral goes on for Tate, and many friends and family
come out to say their goodbyes. Some freaky shit goes down at the funeral. Tate's aunt--I say ant but aunt. She's sitin' like towards the front, and she notices like a woman. She's dressed in all black
and wearing a black veil, it's covering her face. This woman comes in and she
kind of sits towards the back. Tate's aunt was like, "Hey who's this?" "Who's this lady?" "Do you guys know who that is?" Like asking the people in her row, just asking like do you
guys recognize that girl? No. Who is she? It was just more out of
curiosity is what the aunt said. It was just like, "Hey who is that?" "Does anyone know?" I don't know. Apparently nobody knew who she was. Tate's aunt was like, I'm going to go up to her and
introduce myself you know, once the service is over. I want to see who this lady is. But unfortunately this mysterious woman, she had left before
anybody could talk to her. So nobody got to talk to her, but many people saw her, so they knew she was there. So the funeral carries on, and in the middle of the service, this young man who was sitting in the front row starts
mumbling something. Nobody can really make
out what he's saying but he's getting louder and louder, because he's saying something
over and over again. And people are like what the
fuck is going on over there? This young man he was chanting the word suicide over and over again. He could have just had some
like problems actually, now that I'm thinking about it. I was thinking like he
sounded like he was possessed. Look Tate's family members were like, what the fuck is going on? You know like this woman
sneaks in and then she leaves. Nobody knows who she was. And then this kid is kind
of chanting suicide over and over and over again. Like what the fuck? Oops. Sorry, what the heck? It was strange, and everyone just thought
that was very weird. So time goes on, Tate's family just had this feeling that it wasn't a suicide. Over Karen? No. A lot of people believe
that it was not a suicide. People said that Tate felt really bad that him and Karen were broke up, but it wasn't that bad to the point where he would kill himself. A few days later, the police department actually get a tip from a high school student about a spot around a mile
from the hanging tree. And this person had told the police like, "Hey you need to go check this place out." So the police go out
to check this location, and what they find is a cow skull lodged in a small tree, and beneath the tree were
a pile of all these logs, logs, you know, sticks and stuff, logs. They were kind of like in a circle. And then there was a pile of rocks in the middle cow skull. They're thinking that they're staring at what seems to be an altar of some kind. Okay side note just quickly, this eyeshadow is completely
blending off of my eye. I don't know what to do. Any who on another night, there was an officer
who was driving around, you know patrolling at night, and he happened to drive by the cemetery. He saw a figure standing by Tate's grave. It was late at night. He just saw a figure, he didn't like see a face or anything. So he goes and he checks it out. When he gets there, he doesn't see a figure
or anything it's gone. But he does notice that
all over Tate's grave, there's a bunch of spit
from chewing tobacco. Did you just spit all over
his grave or his tombstone? This officer also sees a wooden cross. Like it was placed there
by somebody, you know? So it's a little wooden cross, but it was all burned up
like it was set on fire. Weird things are happening
in this small town right? But people were talking. Again this is a small
town, everyone gossips. So hey, everyone knows
everyone's business. So people are hearing
that there's possibly like an altar going on, like someone set up an altar, which then leaves people
thinking some satanic shit. So when school had started that next fall, all the students had their own rumors about what happened to Tate. I mean they all knew what happened, they heard that Tate had died, they were all at the funeral. But the rumors were starting, not even, they were just getting passed around. That Tate was a member of a cult. He had been killed by
a fellow cult member, because he would not bring them a blonde-haired blue-eyed
child to be sacrificed. But the word cult just
kept entering the chat. Many believe that Tate was indeed part of some kind of cult. And to make things even weirder, when school was back in session, the school staff had noticed
that there was a bunch of like strangers in their cars waiting for kids or their kids in
the school parking lot. They didn't recognize them. And you probably think you'd be like, yeah so what? They didn't recognize them. But again, this is a small-ass town. These people like knew who, who came to pick up their-- They just knew, you just fucking knew. Why can't you believe me? They just knew okay? So they see these cars and stuff, and these strangers just waiting in them, so instantly these staff members knew that something was not right. Now this part wasn't rumors, this part happened. People were in their cars
trying to kidnap kids. There was one car or the one
man who tried to snatch a kid, kid got away, no arrests were made for
these attempted kidnappings but it was fitting the story that, you know something weird is going on and everyone was on just high alert. The police, they receive
a bizarre phone call from the police department
in central Texas. It's a town called Lockhart, and a girl had gone to the
police department down there or over there, wherever it is, she went there. She said she used to live in Childress, but she was visiting Lockhart. And while she was out there visiting, she had a dream, she had a vision. Visions are always in the story, what did I tell you? A vision! She said in her dream, a cult had met at an abandoned house with a red porch light
in a tiny town nearby. This girl said that her
parents were involved in the cult and that they
had used a car to run down a boy a few years earlier. The police department, they actually ended up
doing some fact checking. So they drive out to this
town that she had talked about where there was like this little house with a red porch light and guess what? They drive out there and just
like this girl mentioned, they see that this house in the town that this girl had mentioned, this house had just recently
burned to the ground. And then when police did a
little bit more research, they find out-- I'm not laughing because it's funny, I'm laughing because I don't know. Okay look so get this, a couple of years earlier a
15 year old boy had been hit by a car and killed while walking home. Nobody found the killer and
this girl was on point, right? The house, the porch, the light. And she also ratted out her
parents at the same time. So police were like okay, maybe there is a cult? So again word got out, people were like, "Oh my God have you heard about
this house that burned down? There was a cult meeting there, and this boy got hit by a car." People are just losing their minds. They're like there is a
cult in town everybody, be on high alert they're snatching kids. Not long after that whole situation, a confession was made. A confession, somebody came forward. Somebody finally confessed. Confessed to what? I don't know, because did Tate kill himself? I don't even know! A confession was made to the
police by a boy named Ray. Now Ray was a pretty rough kid. He was 15 at the time, and he was arrested for stealing a car, driving drunk, and then he crashed into a utility pole, wrecked the car, was arrested, and that's when he confessed. According to officers when Ray was booked, he said that he was a
member of a satanic cult. And he said that he had
been there at the tree when Tate was hanged. Ray was being arrested and
put in jail for another thing, for driving drunk and crashing that car, so that's what he was there for. The next day he recanted, saying that he didn't
remember saying anything because he was so drunk. But Ray's family, they were no strangers to police. Ray's brother and father
had various felonies. Word got out about Ray
and like what he said, that he confessed. People in town, they
would drive by his home to see if they could see any like, satanic shit going on. So people are doing like little drive-bys, like trying to--with their binoculars. People noted that there was graffiti on like the back of the house. It was poorly painted over. Some people were trying
to make out what it said, because it looked like it could be a clue. Now some people swore,
it said "devil house". It was written in like
spray paint in the back. Others thought it said "devil den". And then some people swore
it said "I love the devil". Police asked Ray "What's up with that painting on your house? You
know--everyone's saying like, it says devil house or
devil den, or something," According to Ray it actually said, "I love L" and then Ray
said he painted over it. cause his dad got mad at him. Ray actually had an alibi
for the night that Tate died, or the evening that Tate died. But nobody really cared or believed that. Now this whole cult thing
was getting out of hand. People were accusing one
another of being in a cult, and it was a literal witch hunt. But that didn't stop anyone okay? Now remember Tate's old girlfriend? Her name was Karen, she was going through it. People were just...rumors were that she had many witchcraft books. She had a Ouija Board in her bedroom. And according to town gossip, it was Karen who had
lured Tate into the cult, because Karen was the cult's queen bee. So now all the people in town are, are just treating Karen so differently. But Karen, she was questioned by police and she was actually cleared. She was obviously frustrated from the harassment she was receiving. Now as the days passed and time went on, all this cult talk was still happening but it was definitely dying down. You know it was becoming
kind of past news, things were becoming a little bit more normal they would say. You will never guess in a
million years what happens next. Oh no, uh-uh. Tate had an older sister, and this older sister's name was Terrie. Terrie is found dead, oh yes. Not only was she dead, but she was found in the
infamous "devil house" where the guy Ray had lived. Huh? When residents heard about this, oh baby you want to talk
about losing their shit? They are connecting the dots, any of us would be, I'd be losing my shit too. Terry had been going
through some hard times. She had separated from her husband, she gave up custody of her four kids, and then she happened to like start hanging out with the wrong people, and she ended up getting into drugs. Terrie was seeing a guy who
was friends with Ray's brother. So they're all hanging out one night, they're partying, they're just having fun. And at the end of the night, they all go back to their
own rooms to go to sleep. Well the next morning at 9:30 AM, one of them went to go wake up Terrie, and she wouldn't wake up. She was cold to the touch. So they call police and all that stuff. An autopsy determined that Terrie had more than twice the legal blood alcohol limit, and she had died by
choking on her own vomit. Now to investigators there was no evidence of foul play, case closed. Nay, nay, of course not. A lot of people are
putting pieces together, rumors are swirling around
and people are thinking Terrie's death was somehow
linked to Tate's right? Brother, sister, they're both dead, like where are the odds of that? It's not funny. it's just like...anyways. People were thinking
like it had to be linked, because Terrie never once believed that Tate took his own life, and she wanted to find out who killed him. And she was set on this and
she kept talking about it. So people were thinking
that's why she died, because she kept talking about it. She kept telling people that Tate didn't want to kill himself, and the next thing you know she dies, so. Terrie had recently told a friend that Tate had warned her to
keep her daughters in the house, because this cult was going to sacrifice one of them in a satanic ritual. The family demanded an
investigation at that time, but the county sheriff
refused to look into it, or to further look into
Tate's case as well. He insisted that it was a suicide. Now luckily, luckily the county sheriff, the guy who was blocking
the investigation, well he was sent to
jail for dealing drugs. This guy was dealing drugs
like what a mess, right? Sheriff is dealing drugs, he gets caught, he goes to jail. Yay! So now they have a new sheriff, and this new sheriff he
reopens Terrie and Tate's case. So now they're going through, and they're re-interviewing witnesses and they came across yet
another super suspish situation. Ray, remember Ray? Okay well Ray's brother
attempted to kill himself by swallowing 25 to 30 tablets of Elavil, a mild antidepressant that has
tranquilizing effects to it. It essentially makes you go to sleep. Ray's brother left a
suicide note that said, "I know something that
the cops don't know. I know who killed Terrie. I can't live anymore." Hmm. He ended up surviving his suicide attempt. Investigators are like awesome, and when he was questioned
about what this note meant, he said that he didn't
remember writing it, and had no idea who killed Terrie. I'm calling BS but okay, I'm glad he's alive. Now on July 27th, 1991, this is three years after his death, Tate's body was exhumed from the cemetery. Tate's casket was not airtight, so because of this his body
decomposed pretty badly. They couldn't get any evidence to prove that it wasn't a suicide. Unfortunately though, they
were unable to get anything. But an autopsy test did find
traces of a drug in his system, a drug called elavil. Now ain't that some weird shit. It wasn't noted before because they didn't do an autopsy on Tate's
body originally remember? Okay it was the same drug used for the attempted
suicide of Ray's brother. Now this drug is not
considered a party drug, it's a drug that you take
when you want to go to bed. Elavil could have been
the very thing a cult would use to sedate someone
when they wanted to kill them. This is what a lot of
people were thinking. Terrie's body, she was exhumed next. They examined Terrie's body, and after the doctor had studied the previous autopsy of her death, he said it was unlikely that
she could have choked to death on her own vomit because she was sleeping, or lying face down. What in the coverup is happening? So it's almost Halloween 1991, and this new autopsy for
Terrie had been done, and it comes back with the results. Now it was said that Terrie most likely died of asphyxiation,
most likely smothering. She had bruises in her
mouth that indicated blunt trauma likely happened
during some kind of assault, but that wasn't all. There was another thing
found in Terrie's body. Can you guess what that
was? Use your noggin. What do you think was
found in Terrie's body? Well it was a drug. It was a drug called elavil. Well shit on my tits, what the fuck? So you're telling me
there are three people who had this drug in their system, two of them are related
brother and sister. This other guy Ray's brother, it was a suicide attempt and how did Tate die? A "suicide". Isn't that a little...like
what it's going on right? At this point it was hard to find anybody in Childress who did not believe there was a cult on the loose. Rumors were going around
about who may have done this, but nobody would confess. There have been tons of allegations, especially against Ray and his family, and they have been in and out
of jail for just petty crimes. There have been many allegations, but the police have found that most witnesses were unreliable. As time went on there was
still strange things happening. There would be house pets found, cut with their hearts taken
out in the middle of the road. An investigator, his house mysteriously
burned to the ground. A few weeks after that
a middle aged couple was found in possession of strange artwork. Some of this artwork
was very pornographic, others were seeming to be more satanic. One of them was a goat, well actually it was like a painting of a person and it had a goat's head over the human body. Satan! Investigators, they have not been able to find any concrete evidence that a satanic cult ever operated in this town. No answers have been found since. Nothing came from this. this is the end I'm telling. I'm sorry. Tate's death may have been a suicide, maybe it wasn't, and as far as his sister Terrie, her death was a possible murder. Honestly it seems like it was a murder, but the witness reports
didn't help find any answers. What do you believe? A town full of social
gossiping, butterflies, or was something really fishy going on? Maybe one day we will find an answer, but for now this mystery remains unsolved. So when I heard this
story I was just like, oh what a wild story. If anything, I think maybe the town made it more intense
because they were gossiping, just out of control, and they truly believed
there was a cult there okay? Now I don't know...Well,
maybe--I don't know. I don't know what I think, because what are the odds that all three of those who have died or almost died, had that same drug in their system? It's not a party drug. Somebody was up to this, you know? I think it may have been Ray's family? Maybe not necessarily a cult, but cause it seems like the drugs were all coming from that house. But then how did Tate get it? Satanic cult or people gossiping too much? Anyways, thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a wonderful day ahead, please, please, please be safe out there, make good choices. Let me know who you want
me to talk about next week. But other than that, I hope
you have a wonderful day. Just a little side note
before I say goodbye, I'm a Monet right now okay? I look good from far away but up close I am a mess and you're
just blue everywhere. So if you can see how sloppy my makeup is you don't have to tell
me, thank you so much. I will be seeing you guys later. Bye! (electronic music)
