Uncle Of Missing Child Says Cult Pursued Him

WJZ News, Baltimore/May 3, 2008

Baltimore - The body of a young child was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a Philadelphia storage shed.

Eyewitness News has learned Baltimore detectives were in Philadelphia Thursday working the disturbing case.

Mike Hellgren reports with rare access into the religious group that family members say took control of the missing child.

A source says Baltimore police have reviewed autopsy results with Philadelphia police on the tiny body found inside the shed.

They're working to determine whether DNA of those remains matches an infant reorted missing in Baltimore two years ago.

That child's family saved his belongings, including clothes and toys, hoping he would come back.

His uncle, Ricky Ramkissoon, says the boy disappeared along with his mother when she joined what he calls a cult.

"She was always religious. She was like a follower," said Ramkissoon.

Ramkissoon had inside access to the group who tried to recruit him. He says they target young people with children.

"They really wanted me after they found out my son was born," said Ramkissoon. "They go outside shouting at demons, talking to demons, saying that they see stuff on my shoulder. They pray a lot. It was more praying to the king and the queen than to the Lord."

The king and queen are the two founders of the church. He says they once lived in a house on Robinson Street.

Ramkissoon says a park in east Baltimore is the last place he saw his nephew alive.

"I gave him an oreo, and they went crazy, like, 'He's not allowed to eat anything,'" said Ramkissoon. "My sister was crying and said, 'You can't come her no more.'"

The group told members they could have no contact with their families.

"They told me I couldn't talk to my mother any more. They told me she was the devil," said Ramkissoon.

And they found spiritual healing in marijuana.

"They believe they have to smoke weed everyday. Put their lips on the baby's lips and blow it in, inside the baby. That's what they did to my nephew," said Ramkissoon.

A man who l ives in the Philadelphia home where police foudn the body says he let several drifters form Baltimore live with him and store items in his shed.

Police do not believe he had anythign to do with the death.

Although the DNA tests have not come back on the corpse, the missing boy's grandmother fears she'll never see him or her duaghter again.

"Once you get in there, you become their slave," said grandmother Seeta Newton.

It could be several weeks before the DNA results are released. Baltimore police say a tipster lead them to the body in Philadelphia, but they're not revealing more about that person.

No one has been charged in this case.

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