Leaders Of Alleged Cult Facing Murder Charges For Missing Former Member

Police have arrested Darryl Martin and Rudy Moreno, the two leading figures of a California religious organization some have likened to a doomsday cult, accusing both men of murder.

According to police, who booked the men on Thursday, December 11, Martin, 58, his wife, Shelly Bailey “Kathryn” Martin, and Moreno, 43, lead the His Way Spirit Led Assemblies in southern California’s Hemet. Shelly, 62, even professes to be a prophetess.

Since 2023, both men have been the subject of an investigation into the disappearance of 40-year-old Emilio Ghanem, who left the group in early May of that year.

Relatives told investigators Ghanem spent 20 years with the group, and worked for Fullshield, Inc., a pest control business the religious organization owned and operated.

KTLA interviewed an excommunicated member of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies in September, who said Ghanem told other members he was leaving to return to his native Nashville.

And he did, his sisters told police. Within days, he launched his own pest control business and then moved it to California, prompting Fullshield to send him a cease-and-desist letter on May 8, 2023.

Ghanem was reported missing on May 25, 2023, after he was last seen inside a Starbucks in Redlands. According to police, Ghanem had gone to the coffee shop to meet with a His Way Spirit Led Ministries member who claimed they needed help leaving.

Police think the ask for help was a ruse to bring Ghanem out into the open.

Surveillance cameras caught Ghanem’s rented Nissan Frontier pickup truck driving that same day in Grand Terrace, according to cops.

The truck was found on August 1, reinvigorating the investigations. Police allege evidence inside that truck led them to Martin and Moreno.

The former member who spoke to KTLA said the Martins dictated their daily lives, and that the group was constantly preparing for the apocalypse.

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The ex-member said that Ghanem started the pest control company, and that within a year, it was earning close to $2 million.

That money, the former member said, was given to the Martins.

Police have searched His Way Spirit Led Assemblies’ headquarters in Hemet and a nearby property in Anza, and “recovered several illegal firearms, including converted fully automatic rifles, short-barreled rifles and un-serialized ‘ghost guns’ along with electronic devices and other digital evidence,” police said in a statement.

Investigators are now looking into two suspicious deaths linked to His Way Spirit Led Assemblies, including 4-year-old Timothy Thomas in January 2010. The boy’s parents surrendered custody of the child to the religious group. At the time, coroners listed the boy’s cause of death as “natural.”

Police are also looking into the disappearance of Ruben Moreno, another former member of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies who has not been seen since 2017.

Moreno, 49, was reported missing in August 2019.

Martin and Moreno are being held without bond.

It was unclear Friday if either had retained an attorney who could address the specific allegations. Plea information was also unavailable at press time.

Anyone with information pertinent to the Ghanem case is urged to call the Redlands Police Detective Bureau at 909-551-4424.