Prosecutors have dropped charges against Micah Moore, who falsely confessed to the murder of Bethany Deaton, the wife of his spiritual leader.
Deaton’s death had been ruled a suicide before Moore’s admission. Prosecutors now say they will keep the case as an open investigation.
Micah Moore’s confession to the murder of Bethany Deaton — the wife of his spiritual leader Tyler Deaton — came after an ‘International House of Prayer’ group exorcism session , his attorneys claim.
In a motion to dismiss Moore’s confession they argue that according to the admission of detectives there is no evidence that Bethany’s death was anything other than a suicide.”
Micah Moore, the man who confessed to the murder of his religious sect leader’s wife appeared in court today.
After the hearing he was freed on a $250,000 cash bond.
He is due back in court in February.
A man who confessed to the murder of a woman whose death had initially been considered a suicide made up the story, his defense attorney claimed in court on Wednesday.
Earlier this month Micah Moore told police he had killed Bethany Deaton at the instruction of her husband, his spiritual leader, to stop her from revealing she was being sexually assaulted by fellow members of her husband’s spiritual community.
Bethany Deaton’s murder bears an eerie similarity to the murder of a woman in the fictional book, House of Lies.
The author says she has now come under attack by some people within the International House of Prayer.
The International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, has tried to distance itself further from Tyler Deaton, the leader of a controversial religious group whose wife was murdered — allegedly at his command.
Meanwhile, the media reports that people have long expressed concern at Deaton’s manipulative behavior
Micah Moore, a student at the International House of Prayer University — also a member of a ‘religious sexual community’ — confesses to murdering a female housemate to cover up sexual abuse.
The woman’s husband, Tyler Deaton, is said to be the cult’s spiritual leader. Authorities say he is also under investigation.
The International House of Pancakes restaurant chain, known as IHOP, has ended its trademark infringement lawsuit against the International House of Prayer, citing “on-going mediation discussions” with the church.
IHOP had accused the church of choosing a name it knew would be abbreviated IHOP, with the intent of trading on the fame and reputation of the restaurant chain, which has used the acronym in marketing since 1973.
IHOP, the chain, voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit on December 21, according to a filing in federal court in Los Angeles, Reuters reports.
The chain claims it has six registered trademarks with the IHOP acronym and that the religious group’s use of the same four-letter logo causes, according to the lawsuit, “great and irreparable injury and confuses the public.”
The lawsuit further accuses the church mission of adopting the name International House of Prayer knowing it would be abbreviated IHOP — the intent being to misappropriate fame and notoriety of the food chain.