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A group of impoverished farmers gathered to live at a farm owned by widower Rick Stice in Rulo, Nebraska, and guided by cult leader Michael Ryan, murdered young follower James Thimm. Ryan also killed and tortured Stice’s 5-year-old son, Luke.
Ryan took out his anger on Stice's son, five-year-old Luke. The boy apparently defied the cult leader. According to witness statements, Ryan violently slammed the boy into a piece of furniture, knocking the child unconscious.
Mr. Ryan has also been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 5-year-old Luke Stice, the son of a former cult member, and is to stand trial on that charge Aug. 5.
Ryan was convicted in the torture and killing of 26-year-old James Thimm at a southeast Nebraska farm near Rulo, where Ryan led a cult, and in the beating death of Luke Stice, the 5-year-old son of a cult member.
Ryan was arrested in 1985 after reports and a criminal investigation indicated that he had abused and killed five-year-old Luke Stice and later killed fellow group member James Thimm (age 25) after he had tortured the latter for several days, beating him, whipping him, then shooting off his fingertips, skinning him alive, breaking his legs, and ...
In early 1985, cult members James Thimm and Rick Stice (who had a 5-year-old son named Luke) ran afoul of Ryan after expressing doubts about Yahweh and the validity of the arm tests. According to court documents, Thimm and Rick Stice were demoted to "slaves," made to sleep outside chained to a porch and at various points forced to ...
There were two victims—Luke Stice, the five-year-old son of Richard (Rick) Stice, a Ryan enlistee, and James Thimm, an adult member of the group who had been demoted to slave.
