By James Queally and Clara Harter
A 44-year-old man was arrested in Tennessee this week in connection with the killing of a missing member of a “cult-like” religious group in the Inland Empire, authorities said.
Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was captured in Nashville on Jan. 12 and booked into a San Bernardino jail on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2023 disappearance and death of Emilio Ghanem, according to a news release issued from the Redlands Police Department. Duran Jr. will appear in a San Bernardino courtroom on Wednesday, records show.
Ghanem was a longtime member of “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies,” a religious group based in Colton and Hemet that has been linked to a number of deaths and disappearances. State and local authorities have arrested five members of the group in total, including its two leaders, in connection with the killings of Ghanem and a 4-year-old boy named Timothy Thomas.
It was not immediately clear if Duran Jr. had legal representation. Authorities did not describe his alleged role in Ghanem’s death.
Ghanem joined the religious group more than two decades ago and helped launch a pest control business overseen by the organization called Fullshield Inc., his sister Jennifer Ghanem previously told The Times. Ghanem left the group in April 2023 and moved back to Nashville, where he started his own pest control company, she said.
In May of that year, he returned to the Redlands area to try and network with former clients but was served a cease-and desist letter that accused him of stealing business from the religious group’s pest control company, Ghanem’s sister said. Seventeen days later, he vanished.
Last summer, Redlands police said they found the truck Ghanem was last seen driving and served search warrants on two of the group’s properties, where they recovered ghost guns and automatic rifles.
Shelly Bailey “Kat” Martin, 62, and her husband Darryl Muzic Martin, 58, have been described as the group’s leaders. Shelly Martin and another group member, 43-year-old Rudy Moreno, have also been charged in Ghanem’s death.
The Martins and former group member Andre Thomas, 48, have also been charged with the killing of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was found dead of septic shock caused by a ruptured appendix at one of the group’s properties in Colton in 2010. The boy was in the care of the Martins at the time, police said.
Police believed neglect played a role in the boy’s death, but struggled to get cooperation from members of the religious group due to the extensive control the Martins held over their followers, authorities said.
Several members have since parted ways with the group and revised their statements to police, saying that their original testimony was made under duress from the group’s leaders, according to Colton Police Sgt. Shawn McFarland.
The group also has been named in connection with the 2019 disappearance of member Ruben Moreno in Claremont, according to local police.
