We’ve spent the last few weeks digging into the wild and criminal history of Joseph Jeffers, a cult leader who left behind a legacy of fraud, violence, and scandal. Last week, we explored the shocking murder of his wife Helen. This week, we fast forward to the 1970s—a new chapter in Jeffers’ bizarre and destructive story.
The Move to St. James, Missouri
In 1974, Joseph Jeffers and his new wife, Connie, relocated their Kingdom Temple to St. James, Missouri. The cult barely managed to construct a pyramid-like structure, tied to their strange belief that Jesus would one day return in a UFO and beam Jeffers’ followers into the skies. To most townspeople, Jeffers seemed like nothing more than an eccentric oddball, preaching outrageous ideas. What they didn’t realize was just how dangerous and criminal he truly was.
A Trail of Crime and Betrayal
By 1979, Jeffers’ crimes caught up with him. He was arrested for hiring a hitman to kill Connie, his own wife. His corruption didn’t stop there—he conned an elderly widow out of her $5 million estate, taking advantage of her vulnerability before she passed away from cancer.
Newspaper reports grew darker as accusations piled on. One shocking headline revealed that Jeffers had assaulted a 14-year-old girl. The media soon ran stories claiming that Jeffers himself insisted “God told him to leave Missouri.”
The Final Years: A Wanderer of Scams
The last eight years of Jeffers’ life were no less outrageous. He traveled abroad, trying to push his twisted beliefs on new audiences. In Bermuda, he attempted to convince locals that he had special insight into their own Bermuda Triangle legends. The community wasn’t impressed and quickly rejected him. He repeated the same routine in Australia, with equally poor reception.
Despite decades of fraud, grooming, and sexual assault allegations, Jeffers managed to avoid real consequences. No one ever fully stopped him from conning people out of millions or preying on vulnerable victims.
The End of Joseph Jeffers
In 1988, just one month shy of his 90th birthday, Joseph Jeffers died of natural causes. He left behind a legacy not of spiritual enlightenment but of deceit, exploitation, and unpunished crimes.
Jeffers’ story is a grim reminder that cult leaders often wear masks of charisma, eccentricity, or religious authority—while behind the scenes, they exploit, manipulate, and destroy lives. His decades-long spree of fraud and abuse shows how dangerous unchecked power and blind faith can be.
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Madman or Messiah? An Investigation into the Crimes & Charisma of Cult Leader Joseph D. Jeffers
From extreme fundamentalist ideologies to the paranormal and the occult, Joseph Jeffers’ message integrated with the times and incited a religious fervor amongst his followers. In the 1930s, he was causing war in Arkansas and inciting violence that would lead to the death of one man and the attempted murder of a local preacher. In the 1940s, he was making headlines in L.A. for his lewd house parties. In the ’50s, his third wife would be brutally murdered. Her homicide would go unsolved. In the ’60s, he would make headlines in Arizona when he gambled off all of the church funds at the race track. In the ’70s, he would prophesy great and mighty things to do with UFOs and the Bermuda triangle. By 1978, he would be building a pyramid to withstand the apocalypse in Missouri. And by 1988, he would die of old age. No one ever stopped this man from stealing millions of dollars, coercing innocent young women, or hiring a hitman to kill his wife. Read this book to find out more about the crimes, the chaos, and the injustice in the life of Dr. Joseph D. Jeffers.
How could this man have gotten away with all of these crimes, and how could he have flown under the radar? After making so many ludicrous headlines, how do we not know the name of Joseph Jeffers?
This episode is brought to you by BONES COFFEE COMPANY.
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