Man Calling Himself ‘Jesus’ Locked Daughter, Believing She Was ‘Possessed By Demon’

An Illinois couple was arrested Tuesday after they allegedly locked their 10-year-old daughter in the basement thinking she was possessed by a demon.

The police raided the house of Randy Swopes, 48, and Katherine Swopes, 49, after they received an anonymous tip around 2 p.m. local time (3 p.m. EDT) and discovered that a young girl was being held captive in the basement of the home in “poor condition.”

According to the detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division, the basement was dingy with a structure that can be classified as a bed, a training toilet which she used as a restroom and a bucket for bathing. She seldom saw the light of day and was made to spend every night in the basement. She had limited contact with the rest of her siblings, aged 15, 13, and 7, respectively.

The unnamed victim is believed to have been restrained from the beginning of the year because “they believed she was possessed by a demon,” Cmdr. Joe Florip of the Waukegan Police Department said, Chicago Tribune reported.

Randy and his wife were charged with child endangerment and unlawful restraint, and their bail was set at $750,000 and $150,000 respectively. Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has reportedly taken the victim and her siblings into protective custody.

The father of the victim has a criminal record that dates back to 2008. He is currently registered as an “Illinois State Police Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry” participant for the arrest by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office 10 years ago.

Back then, he was arrested after a medical personnel in the hospital where one of his children were admitted noticed a wound on the child’s buttock that was sewn up with a regular needle and thread. According to court records, Randy tried to close the wound by applying super glue, then used a common sewing needle and thread to close it.

He was charged with aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery to a child causing bodily harm. The second charge was dropped after he pleaded guilty to the first one and he was sentenced to 24 months of probation, and 250 hours of community service.

But Randy’s brush with law started way back in 1998 when he counter sued his landlords for serving him with an eviction notice. Retired lawyer Michael Pardys, who represented the landlord at the time said Randy had a god complex.

“He was the strangest man I ever met. Every document he filed in court was a handwritten religious tract,” he said. “He told me on several occasions that he was Jesus. I remember one time he told me that if I knew who he was I’d be nicer to him because, ‘I have 2,000 years of experience.'”

One of the most startling things that the lawyer remembered about Randy was his hairstyle. “It was a bizarre haircut — like a monk with just a fringe of hair on top and shaved all around. He gave his children the same haircut. He was really a red flag that something was wrong,” the attorney said.

Regardless, Pardys said he never pegged Randy to be a particularly dangerous man. “I was disturbed to see the story (about his arrest) ... because I always thought he was just a harmless crazy person,” Pardy said. “He would draw a crowd in the court hallway by ranting about crazy stuff.”