Sect leader’s conviction for now stands in Norwood child deaths
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Ample evidence supports the conviction of sect leader Madani Ceus, who was convicted of fatal abuse in the 2017 deaths of young sisters Hannah Marshall and Makayla Roberts in Norwood, the Colorado Supreme Court’s majority held in a Monday order.
The ruling partially agreed with, but ultimately rejected several parts of the Colorado Court of Appeals’ earlier finding that had remanded the case to the district trial court for either a new trial, or a finding of conviction on a lesser count. With one justice dissenting, the higher court on Monday, June 29 remanded Ceus’ remaining claims to the Colorado Court of Appeals to reconsider. For now, pending the outcome, her conviction stands.
“I value the Colorado Supreme Court’s careful review of these important legal issues and the guidance its opinion provides to courts and practitioners across Colorado. The justice system is strongest when difficult cases receive both thoughtful jury consideration and careful appellate review. This decision reflects the importance of both,” said Rob Zentner, who was a prosecutor on Ceus’ original criminal case and now works for the Mesa County District Attorney’s office.
THE DEATHS
Ceus led an itinerant religious group that came to Colorado the summer of 2017. The group moved onto the Norwood property of Frederick “Alec” Blair at his invitation, after he became attracted to the teachings of Ceus, who also called herself Amma or Yahweh. Hannah and Makayla were part of the group, although their presence was initially concealed from Blair.
As the group awaited an apocalyptic event sect member Ashford Archer foretold, Ceus declared the sisters were impure, and ordered them to be isolated in a car belonging to their mother, Nashika Bramble. Ceus decreed that they could not be fed anything that she had prepared.
According to court documents, she controlled the group by controlling food, and had also convinced the members that she held their eternal fate in her hands. She allowed Blair and Bramble to visit Telluride food pantry to find other food for the children, but then declared that food “unclean.” Because Blair admitted to eating bananas from the food bank, she barred him from any more food forays, and ordered the entire group to stay at the farm, or else their souls would be “harvested.”
At some point during that scorching summer, Hannah, 8, and Makayla, 10, died. Pathologists later testified their deaths were likely from heat and starvation. Although they could not make a conclusive finding, expert witnesses for the prosecution ruled out trauma.
After Blair discovered the children were dead, and following Ceus’ instruction, he covered with a tarp the car that had become their tomb. There, they decayed until Blair’s father and a friend visited the farm to check on his wellbeing after hearing alarming reports from Blair’s friends in the Norwood area. The two other men called the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office after Blair revealed the deaths.
Blair, Ceus, Archer and sect member Ike Eden all were arrested. Bramble, who had left the farm after Ceus decreed her impure like her daughters, was arrested a time later.
Blair pleaded out his case and has since been released from prison after serving time as an accessory. Archer was convicted of child abuse resulting in death and as an accessory to a crime; he was sentenced to 24 years in prison. In January, the United States District Court denied his Fourth Amendment challenge of the abuse convictions.
Bramble was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to mandatory life terms. The Colorado Court of Appeals denied her subsequent appeal, and the state Supreme Court declined in 2023 to review the appellate ruling.
After four years of competency hearings, Ika Eden (who goes by both names as one) was convicted of child abuse resulting in death in 2021. Ika Eden, who had represented herself, at trial gave sprawling testimony about the Book of Daniel, about realizing she was Daniel, and said both girls were actually demonic spirits. She was sentenced to 96 years in prison. Her later appeal based on competency was denied, as was a petition for review.
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