GUILTY CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*

[Niner]

Date Len Appearance Name Hearing Type Case # Location Division
6/14/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/15/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/16/21
10:30 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/17/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/18/21
10:30 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/21/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/22/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/23/21
10:30 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

6/29/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

7/1/21
9:00 AM 1D IN PERSON EDEN, IKA Jury Trial D392021CR192 Mesa County Courtroom 12

link: Seventh Judicial District » Docket Search

 

[Niner]

Monday, June 14th:
*Trial set to begin (@ 9am MT) - CO - Makayla Victoria Roberts (10) & Hannah Elizabeth Rosaline Marshall (8) (June, 2017, Norwood; found Sept. 8, 2017) – for *Ika Eden (53/now 56) (from Jamaica) charged with 2 counts felony child abuse causing death, bond $125K; plead not guilty. Found incompetent to stand trial; in State hospital in Pueblo.
Trial set to begin on 6/14/21 (6/14-6/18, 6/21-6/23 & 6/29/21). Trial moved from San Miguel County to Mesa County.
Court info from 5/21/29 thru 5/25/21 reference post #320 here:
CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*
6/10/21 Update: Next trial set to begin on 6/14/21.
*Madani "Ama" Ceus – Child: Termination of parental rights hearing on 8/20 & 8/21/20. Sentenced for murder on 6/19/20 to 64 years in prison. Restitution hearing on 9/11/20.
*Ashford Nathaniel Archer aka Nathan Yah aka Nathanyah Nitchitu (50) – found guilty & sentenced to 24 years in prison. 5/8/19: Appealing his guilty verdict. 1/29/20: The notice of appeal document from July is for now restricted to case parties; the opening for appeal 4/14/20. The appeal will be handled through the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
*Nashika Leonie Bramble (36) – Jury verdict guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder. Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole. Bramble’s appeal brief had been due Thursday 2/27/20, but the Court of Appeals granted an extension until July 16. Until the appeal is filed, the specifics of what Bramble is contesting are not public.
*Frederick "Alec" A. Blair – Plead guilty. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

[Niner]

Couldn't find anything (over here) on what is going on with her trial - maybe someone in the U.S. can find something - ??

Tuesday, June 15th:
*Trial continues (Day 2) (@ 9am MT) - CO - Makayla Victoria Roberts (10) & Hannah Elizabeth Rosaline Marshall (8) (June, 2017, Norwood; found Sept. 8, 2017) – for *Ika Eden (53/now 56) (from Jamaica) charged with 2 counts felony child abuse causing death, bond $125K; plead not guilty. Found incompetent to stand trial; in State hospital in Pueblo.
Trial began on 6/14/21 (6/14-6/18, 6/21-6/23 & 6/29/21). Trial moved from San Miguel County to Mesa County.
Court info from 5/21/29 thru 6/10/21 reference post #322 here:
CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*
6/14/21 Monday, Jury selection Day 1: No info available. Trial continues on 6/15/21.
*Madani "Ama" Ceus – Child: Termination of parental rights hearing on 8/20 & 8/21/20. Sentenced for murder on 6/19/20 to 64 years in prison. Restitution hearing on 9/11/20.
*Ashford Nathaniel Archer aka Nathan Yah aka Nathanyah Nitchitu (50) – found guilty & sentenced to 24 years in prison. 5/8/19: Appealing his guilty verdict. 1/29/20: The notice of appeal document from July is for now restricted to case parties; the opening for appeal 4/14/20. The appeal will be handled through the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
*Nashika Leonie Bramble (36) – Jury verdict guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder. Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole. Bramble’s appeal brief had been due Thursday 2/27/20, but the Court of Appeals granted an extension until July 16. Until the appeal is filed, the specifics of what Bramble is contesting are not public.
*Frederick "Alec" A. Blair – Plead guilty. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

[MsMarple]

I've been checking the Telluride Daily Planet and The Montrose Press for news as both papers have reported in depth on Makayla's and Hannah's murders and the trials. Nothing yet but if there's news to print they'll definitely cover it.

 

[Niner]

Wednesday, June 16th:
*Trial continues (Day 2) (@ 10:30am MT) - CO - Makayla Victoria Roberts (10) & Hannah Elizabeth Rosaline Marshall (8) (June, 2017, Norwood; found Sept. 8, 2017) – for *Ika Eden (53/now 56) (from Jamaica) charged with 2 counts felony child abuse causing death, bond $125K; plead not guilty. Found incompetent to stand trial; in State hospital in Pueblo. Found competent to stand trial (5/25/21).
Trial set to begin on 6/14/21 (6/14-6/18, 6/21-6/23 & 6/29/21). Trial moved from San Miguel County to Mesa County.
Court info from 5/21/29 thru 6/10/21 reference post #322 here:
CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*
6/14/21 Monday, Jury selection Day 1: No info available. Trial continues on 6/15/21.
6/15/21 Tuesday, Trial Day 1: No info available. Trial continues on 6/16/21.
*Madani "Ama" Ceus – Child: Termination of parental rights hearing on 8/20 & 8/21/20. Sentenced for murder on 6/19/20 to 64 years in prison. Restitution hearing on 9/11/20.
*Ashford Nathaniel Archer aka Nathan Yah aka Nathanyah Nitchitu (50) – found guilty & sentenced to 24 years in prison. 5/8/19: Appealing his guilty verdict. 1/29/20: The notice of appeal document from July is for now restricted to case parties; the opening for appeal 4/14/20. The appeal will be handled through the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
*Nashika Leonie Bramble (36) – Jury verdict guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder. Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole. Bramble’s appeal brief had been due Thursday 2/27/20, but the Court of Appeals granted an extension until July 16. Until the appeal is filed, the specifics of what Bramble is contesting are not public.
*Frederick "Alec" A. Blair – Plead guilty. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

[Niner]

I've been checking the Telluride Daily Planet and The Montrose Press for news as both papers have reported in depth on Makayla's and Hannah's murders and the trials. Nothing yet but if there's news to print they'll definitely cover it.

Thanks for trying to find something!

 

[MsMarple]

A Grand Junction jury is now hearing evidence against the last religious group member accused in the deaths of two young sisters.

Ika Eden is charged with two counts of child abuse resulting in death in the 2017 deaths of Hannah Marshall, 8, and Makayla Roberts, 10.
...
She was found to have been restored to competency in February and is now representing herself, with a court-appointed attorney as advisory counsel.
...
Jury selection began Monday and continued through Tuesday. Opening statements were set to start at about 4 p.m.
Jury selection winds down in Norwood child deaths
BBM
It's a shame this case didn't get as much attention as it deserves. I have to commend local reporters for their coverage - they've done a better job than big city reporters and have painted a clear picture of the people involved.

 

[Niner]

And thank you for the update @MsMarple. I just got an alert on that article & couldn't access it.

 

[Niner]

Thursday, June 17th:
*Trial continues (Day 3) (@ 9am MT) - CO - Makayla Victoria Roberts (10) & Hannah Elizabeth Rosaline Marshall (8) (June, 2017, Norwood; found Sept. 8, 2017) – for *Ika Eden (53/now 56) (from Jamaica) charged with 2 counts felony child abuse causing death, bond $125K; plead not guilty. Found incompetent to stand trial; in State hospital in Pueblo. Found competent to stand trial (5/25/21).
Trial began on 6/14/21 with jury selection & trial began on 6/15/21 (6/14-6/18, 6/21-6/23 & 6/29/21). Trial moved from San Miguel County to Mesa County.
Court info from 5/21/19 thru 6/10/21 reference post #322 here:
CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*
6/14/21 Monday, Jury selection Day 1: No info available. Jury selection continues on 6/15/21.
6/15/21 Tuesday, Jury selection Day 2 & Trial Day 2: Jury has been selected. Opening statements are done. Trial continues on 6/16/21.
6/16/21 Wednesday, Trial Day 2: Eden is representing herself, with a court-appointed attorney as advisory counsel. No info available. Trial continued on 6/17/21.
*Madani "Ama" Ceus – Child: Termination of parental rights hearing on 8/20 & 8/21/20. Sentenced for murder on 6/19/20 to 64 years in prison. Restitution hearing on 9/11/20.
*Ashford Nathaniel Archer aka Nathan Yah aka Nathanyah Nitchitu (50) – found guilty & sentenced to 24 years in prison. 5/8/19: Appealing his guilty verdict. 1/29/20: The notice of appeal document from July is for now restricted to case parties; the opening for appeal 4/14/20. The appeal will be handled through the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
*Nashika Leonie Bramble (36) – Jury verdict guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder. Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole. Bramble’s appeal brief had been due Thursday 2/27/20, but the Court of Appeals granted an extension until July 16. Until the appeal is filed, the specifics of what Bramble is contesting are not public.
*Frederick "Alec" A. Blair – Plead guilty. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

[Niner]

Can't access this - if someone can - please post 10% of it. I'd like to know "who" the witness is? TIA!

Fatal abuse defendant kept charge of one of two sisters found dead in Norwood: Witness

 

[Niner]

Friday, June 18th:
*Trial continues (Day 4) (@ 10:30am MT) - CO - Makayla Victoria Roberts (10) & Hannah Elizabeth Rosaline Marshall (8) (June, 2017, Norwood; found Sept. 8, 2017) – for *Ika Eden (53/now 56) (from Jamaica) charged with 2 counts felony child abuse causing death, bond $125K; plead not guilty. Found incompetent to stand trial; in State hospital in Pueblo. Found competent to stand trial (5/25/21).
Trial began on 6/14/21 with jury selection & trial began on 6/15/21 (6/14-6/18, 6/21-6/23 & 6/29/21). Trial moved from San Miguel County to Mesa County. Eden is representing herself.
Court info from 5/21/19 thru 6/10/21, Jury selection (Day 1-2) 6/14/21 to 6/15/21 & Trial (Day 1-2) 6/15/21 to 6/16/21 reference post #329 here:
CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*
6/17/21 Thursday, Trial Day 3: No info available yet. Trial continued on 6/18/21.
*Madani "Ama" Ceus – Child: Termination of parental rights hearing on 8/20 & 8/21/20. Sentenced for murder on 6/19/20 to 64 years in prison. Restitution hearing on 9/11/20.
*Ashford Nathaniel Archer aka Nathan Yah aka Nathanyah Nitchitu (50) – found guilty & sentenced to 24 years in prison. 5/8/19: Appealing his guilty verdict. 1/29/20: The notice of appeal document from July is for now restricted to case parties; the opening for appeal 4/14/20. The appeal will be handled through the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
*Nashika Leonie Bramble (36) – Jury verdict guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder. Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole. Bramble’s appeal brief had been due Thursday 2/27/20, but the Court of Appeals granted an extension until July 16. Until the appeal is filed, the specifics of what Bramble is contesting are not public.
*Frederick "Alec" A. Blair – Plead guilty. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.

 

[Niner]

Can someone give me a 10% synopsis of this article, please? TIA!

Norwood child deaths suspect a ‘passionate’ believer in sect teachings

 

[brazgal]

Can't access this - if someone can - please post 10% of it. I'd like to know "who" the witness is? TIA!

Fatal abuse defendant kept charge of one of two sisters found dead in Norwood: Witness

Blair’s friend River Young testified Wednesday that he and Blair met Ika Eden and other religious sect members at a Grand Junction truck stop in May 2017 — a date Ika Eden disputes. A member who introduced himself as Nachitu (later identified as Ashford Archer) approached the men, asked them for marijuana, then invited them to a meal group leader Madani Ceus had cooked, Young said.

Blair subsequently invited Archer, Ceus and Ika Eden to come stay on the farm, as well as Hannah and Makayla’s mother, Nashika Bramble, and other sect members, including Ceus’ two young daughters. In previous testimony, Blair told juries in codefendants’ cases that he hadn’t initially known Hannah was even on his property.

...
Ika Eden, whom he knew as “Brown” because of her robes, was tending the three girls most of the times that he saw her.

“Ama and Nachitu (Archer) were who I took as … calling the shots and having control,” Young said.
...Following other testimony that illustrated the sect’s purported beliefs — including that Blair had come to believe he was Jesus and Buddha reincarnated — Young testified to sitting in guided meditation with Ceus.
...
“ … every time I saw the kids, I’d see Brown (Ika Eden) around,” Young said, referring to Makayla and Ceus’ two daughters. “ … He reiterated that he never saw Hannah.
...
...to prepare for an apocalypse as foretold by Archer. They burned their electronics and other possessions and Blair, on Ceus’ orders, began starving his beloved dog, Lion.
...
When he returned ... around Labor Day that September...
The farm’s gates were locked; no one was showing themselves; the crop beds were dead or empty; a tarp was over the Toyota — and Lion “my brother from another mother” did not greet him at the entry, Young said.

...
Horn, who testified first on Wednesday, told jurors about walking through the property and taking pictures of license plates so he and Fletcher could determine who was with Blair. They came upon the gray Toyota, which was sealed up, tarped over, and had sun shades blocking the windows. But between the sun shades and the back window glass, Horn saw a thick coating of dead flies.

It's a very long and detailed article. And very disturbing too.

 

[brazgal]

Can someone give me a 10% synopsis of this article, please? TIA!

Norwood child deaths suspect a ‘passionate’ believer in sect teachings

But before she and other sect members ever met Blair at a Grand Junction truck stop in May 2017, and before they moved onto his farm, there was North Carolina.

Ika Eden had frantically sold off her goods and packed up her children at Ceus’ instruction to move there, the defendant’s daughter, Hannah Joy Sutherland, testified. Prior to that move, her mother had been an observant and evangelizing practitioner of Ceus’ movement — called The Family — and was in frequent phone contact with her, as well as sect member Ashford Archer.

“She was a believer. She was very passionate about what they were preaching,” Sutherland said.

Thus, when Ceus told Ika Eden to decamp to North Carolina, she flew into action, per the testimony: she was “kind of scared, panicked” as she got ready. Preparations included destroying identification documents; Ika Eden and others would change their names to aliases, Sutherland’s testimony indicated. “The world was ending and we needed to leave,” she said.
...
Sutherland said sect members subsisted on a cleansing diet of coconuts, dates, almonds and water, which at first, were in adequate supply. As time wore on, the foodstuffs dwindled and Sutherland, as well as Ika Eden and others, ate less so that the children could have more.

“We didn’t have any more food. You can’t go outside, so we just drank water after that,” Sutherland said.
...
Tanner’s friend Lisa Bloome also testified that Ika Eden was the caregiver for Hannah, Makayla and the two other children.

Bloome also spoke of the group’s beliefs, saying holiness and purity “were strongly pressed upon us.” The focus on purity extended to food, as the group was taught that genetically modified foods changed human DNA, Bloome said.

looooong article about witnesses telling about previous times.

 

[Niner]

Thank you @brazgal - at least I have some names to put on my notes.

 

[coastal]

Thanks for the link to to this story, brazgal! Welcome to Websleuths!

Heavens to Betsy, these people sound just like the Daybells! Worse! A Doomsday prophet, cult leader, with two missing murdered children found in his back yard...helped by faithful and legally incompetent wife and mother, others...believers...

Norwood child deaths suspect a ‘passionate’ believer in sect teachings

...She (Eden) was a believer. She was very passionate about what they were preaching,” Sutherland said...

...The world was ending and we needed to leave,” she said...

I avoided this thread because I knew it was awful, knew it would be awful, but...
Man. I had no idea.

Maybe it is the end of the world.

 

[MsMarple]

Thanks for the summaries @brazgal and @coastal! I've been over on Summer Wells' thread which is getting flooded so I haven't kept up with other cases. This is one of the most bizarre cases I've followed and it's great that the local press has been on top of it.

Strange sights greeted Dan Covault late summer in 2017, when he entered the Norwood property of Frederick “Alec” Blair.

There were symbols carved into fence posts, drawings on the ground. He saw stacks of rocks — and pennies every few feet along the crude roads through the 17-acre parcel. At each intersection, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office sergeant found loose change, which he and other investigators were never able to explain. They found burn pits with charred electronics and what looked like the remnants of an Egyptian mythology book.
...
The position of their bodies showed Covault that Makayla had possibly seen her younger sister die, he told jurors Friday, about a week into the trial of Ika Eden.
...
Although there was detritus from food packages and cans with holes punched in them, he found no tool in the car that the girls could have used themselves to access the cans, he also said — yet elsewhere on the property, investigators reported finding roughly 160 pounds of dried goods that were still OK to eat.
...
According to Covault’s testimony, Hannah had been sitting cross-legged, facing the rear window when she succumbed to what pathologists said was likely heat, starvation and thirst. The little girl tipped over backwards, her head pointing toward the fly-clotted floorboard on the passenger side.

Makayla’s body was across the back seat. Her head rested on top of Hannah’s bent knee, showing Covault that Makayla had died last and came to rest on her sister’s body.
‘Cosmos, what is happening to me?’ Testimony in Norwood child deaths trial indicates girl may have seen sister girl die

 

[Niner]

@MsMarple - I can't access the article unfortunately - but were there other state witnesses listed in the article? I like to keep those in my notes. And maybe an "update" on how the trial is going. I have for the trial dates coming up 6/21 to 6/23, 6/29 & 7/1.

TIA!

 

[MsMarple]

Looking...

Ika Eden is representing herself. She successfully objected to certain aspects of testimony the prosecution intended to elicit from the woman who became the foster mother of Ceus’ children.

According to argument outside of the jury’s presence, the witness was to testify about a nightmare that left one of the surviving girls shaking and terrified — in which she saw “two girls alive and two girls dead.”

Mesa County District Judge Gretchen Larsen ruled in favor of Ika Eden on that aspect, finding this information irrelevant as to whether Ika Eden had caused Hannah and Makayla’s deaths.
===
Trial resumes Monday, Blair will testify.

 

[Niner]

Monday, June 21st:
*Trial continues (Day 5) (@ 9am MT) - CO - Makayla Victoria Roberts (10) & Hannah Elizabeth Rosaline Marshall (8) (June, 2017, Norwood; found Sept. 8, 2017) – for *Ika Eden (53/now 56) (from Jamaica) charged with 2 counts felony child abuse causing death, bond $125K; plead not guilty. Found incompetent to stand trial; in State hospital in Pueblo. Found competent to stand trial (5/25/21).
Trial began on 6/14/21 with jury selection & trial began on 6/15/21 (6/14-6/18, 6/21-6/23 & 6/29/21 & 7/1/21).
Trial moved from San Miguel County to Mesa County. Eden is representing herself with a court-appointed attorney as advisory counsel.
Court info from 5/21/19 thru 6/10/21, Jury selection (Day 1-2) 6/14/21 to 6/15/21 & Trial (Day 1-3) 6/15/21 to 6/17/21 reference post #332 here:
CO - Makayla Roberts, 10, & Hannah Marshall, 8, slain, Norwood, June 2017 *Arrests*
Update for 6/16/21 Wednesday, Trial Day 2: State witnesses: Sheriff Horn. Frederick "Alex" Blair. River Young, Blair’s friend. Hannah Joy Sutherland, Eden's daughter. Lisa Bloome. All testified Wednesday, 6/16.
6/18/21 Friday, Trial Day 4: State Witnesses: San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Dan Covault. No other info available yet. Trial continued on Monday, 6/21/21.
*Madani "Ama" Ceus – Child: Termination of parental rights hearing on 8/20 & 8/21/20. Sentenced for murder on 6/19/20 to 64 years in prison. Restitution hearing on 9/11/20.
*Ashford Nathaniel Archer aka Nathan Yah aka Nathanyah Nitchitu (50) – found guilty & sentenced to 24 years in prison. 5/8/19: Appealing his guilty verdict. 1/29/20: The notice of appeal document from July is for now restricted to case parties; the opening for appeal 4/14/20. The appeal will be handled through the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
*Nashika Leonie Bramble (36) – Jury verdict guilty of 2 counts of 1st degree murder. Sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole. Bramble’s appeal brief had been due Thursday 2/27/20, but the Court of Appeals granted an extension until July 16. Until the appeal is filed, the specifics of what Bramble is contesting are not public.
*Frederick "Alec" A. Blair – Plead guilty. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.