More allegations surface in Mohler case
, Richmond News Staff
11-19-2009
As a father and four sons made their second court appearance together, the Mohler family sexual abuse saga grew increasingly incredible and grim Tuesday – and deadly.
Charges against the original five men – plus a sixth relation arrested in Silver Springs, Fla. and awaiting extradition – grew this week from 14 to 29 counts alleging years of sexual abuse against minor children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Relatives filled the Lafeyette County courtroom’s front row, with Roland N. Mohler, 47, winking at one audience member, as the five men in matching orange suits passed the judge.
The charges Burrell E. Mohler, 77, Independence and his four sons, Burrell Jr., Roland, Jared and David, face alleged incidents of sodomy, bestiality and “mock” wedding ceremonies of nieces and uncles followed by rape. The charges stem from incidents involving Mohler Jr.’s five daughters and one son during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Jared, 48, Columbia, the only family member to have secured an attorney thus far, is currently held with his brothers and father in Lafayette County on $50,000 cash bond and with provisions against drug and alcohol use or contact with minors under 17 years old, should he post it. Of the five, only he faces a Dec. 2 preliminary hearing date.
All of the remaining four – none of whom appeared with counsel – received Dec. 3 hearing dates. David, 52, Lamoni, Iowa, while praising Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department personnel’s treatment while in custody on a $35,000 cash-only bond, requested special grooming privileges prior to his court dates. He also requested access to a pencil and paper to take notes during his trial and prior to his court dates.
“I do respect all the care I’m given in jail,” he said. “It’s been important to me that I make a respectful appearance in court.”
Alumbaugh replied, “I’m sympathetic to this issue, but if I do it for him, I have to do it for all the inmates.”
Mohler Jr. and Roland are also held on $50,000 cash-only bonds, with provisions the same as Jared’s. Mohler Sr. is held on a $150,000 bond, facing a maximum 100-year-plus sentence if convicted on all counts.
Mohler Jr., 53, Independence, appeared unaware of the murder allegations, wondering, “Is that true?”
Darrel Mohler, 72, Silver Springs, Fla., is also accused of joining in the abuse. Authorities in Florida arrested him over the weekend. Lafayette County Prosecutor Kellie Wingate Ritchie charged him with two felony rape counts, worth a combined maximum 30 years if convicted.
Darrel, Mohler Sr.’s estranged brother, claims he has spent the last nearly 20 years in Florida as a Florida Department of Corrections guard and electrical contractor, and has not seen his brother since years before the alleged incidents took place. He is alleged to have engaged in the same kind of incidents at the Old Concord Rd. property as his nephews and brother.
It was announced Monday he would not fight extradition and would agree to his return to Missouri to face the charges.
According to affidavits, recently found evidence may conclusively point to at least one alleged murder. The original five Mohler men charged already face a combined maximum 427 years imprisonment between all felony counts.
Lafayette County Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh said last week authorities had statements suggesting “a body or bodies” could be buried at the former Mohler family home at 3607 Concord Rd. outside Bates City. More bodies and more evidence may also be hidden at other potential, as-yet undisclosed sites, according to Alumbaugh.
Statements from one of Mohler Jr.’s daughters recalls Mohler coaching her, the now-26-year-old daughter who first recalled the abuse to Independence police in August, and two of their sisters to assist in an April 1988 Independence kidnapping.
Statements allege the four and Burrell E. Mohler Jr., 53, Independence, staged a heart attack by Mohler Jr. in a parking lot outside Independence Center and attacked a lone passerby who came to their aid.
The man – described by a third daughter as about 6’2” and about 300 pounds – was taken to the family residence and to a wooded area. Mohler Jr. allegedly blindfolded the girls and told them to walk until reaching a stopping point, holding hands the entire time.
After removing the blindfolds, Mohler Jr. then allegedly gave the three girls knives then instructed them to kill the man. He warned his daughters he would kill them if they didn’t kill the victim first.
One daughter then jumped on the victim’s back and tried to choke him before being thrown off. Fearing the victim would kill her and her sisters, she stabbed him repeatedly in the back.
Mohler Jr. then stabbed the man in the front, killing him. He then allegedly had one of his daughters stab him in the face after his death, after propping him against a tree. Finally, he then allegedly forced the girls to help dig the man’s grave.
Along with a human bone of unknown type, authorities on Nov. 10 found a glass fragment, half an old credit card, eye glasses, a shoe or boot sole and broken glass jar.
Mohler Jr.’s only son, said in an Oct. 29 statement to authorities he once found jars containing hand-written notes from his three sisters. The men told the girls to write down what had happened to them and bury the letters, so the bad memories would go away.
The 26-year-old daughter said in another Oct. 29 interview she remembered seeing another girl confined to the home’s cellar in a crawl space. Jeanette Cyr, the woman’s mother, said Nov. 4 her daughter had asked if she had another sister not living with the rest of the family. Cyr provided police a photograph of the crawl space, acccording to the affadavit.
Following coverage of the initial five men’s arrest, authorities took statements from a new witness, unidentified in documents and unrelated to the six children of Mohler Jr. She claimed after abuse by the five men while kept in captivity, she became pregnant twice, according to Det. Ray Burns.
After delivering her first child, Mohler Jr. and his father, Burrell E. Mohler Sr., 77, Independence, allegedly put the baby in a box, and buried it in the basement’s dirt floor and sealed it beneath a concrete layer.
A radar scan of the basement has also revealed an 18 to 20-inch by 24 to 30-inch box buried beneath the basement floor.
Ritchie emphasized Tuesday that all six men are to be treated as innocent until proven guilty. As of presstime, none of the six suspects face murder charges.
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