So sick. So sad. So cult.

Many Questions Remain in Murder of Grandview Woman
Posted on: 6:18 pm, November 12, 2012, by Katie Ferrell and Jason M. Vaughn, updated on: 08:19pm, November 12, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Police say that they have a confession, but still a lot of unanswered questions in the murder of Bethany Deaton of Grandview.

According to authorities, Deaton was found dead inside a van on October 30th at Longview Lake. Court documents say that a note was found with Deaton’s body that read, “My name is Bethany Deaton. I chose this evil thing. I did it because I wouldn’t be a real person and what is the point of living if it is too late for that? I wish I had chosen differently a long time ago. I knew it all and refused to listen. Maybe Jesus will still save me.”

Investigators say that pills were also found near Deaton’s body, but Deaton’s admitted killer, 23-year-old Micah Moore, it was all a cover-up to keep the 27-year-old woman quiet. In a statement to Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies, Moore said that he and Deaton were part of a “religious community” – led by Deaton’s husband, Tyler Deaton – in which the members had sex with each other.

According to court documents, witnesses told authorities that Tyler Deaton was viewed as a “Spiritual Leader” who had control over the members of the household. A witness also said that three days after Bethany Deaton’s body was found, Tyler Deaton told him that he had a dream in which he killed his wife by suffocating her.

Tyler Deaton has not been charged with any crimes in connection to his wife’s death.

In the statement, Moore told detectives Bethany Deaton was being drugged and sexually assaulted by him and several other men at a home in Grandview. Moore said they became afraid that Bethany Deaton would tell her therapist about the abuse, so Moore was told by someone whose name was blacked out in the probable cause statement to kill her.

Court documents indicate that Bethany Deaton was given the drug Seroquel – a prescription anti-psychotic drug – during the sexual assaults, and it was given to her in a water bottle on the day of her her murder.

On Friday, authorities searched Moore’s south Kansas City apartment for evidence.

“When I saw his picture in the paper, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen that guy somewhere before.’ And like I said, he just lives across the street,” said Darren Martin, neighbor.

Tyler and Bethany Deaton, along with Micah Moore, were members of the International House of Prayer, or IHOP.