Brothers beaten in church to force them to confess, police say

Associated Press

NEW HARTFORD, N.Y.

Two teenage brothers were brutally beaten in church – one fatally – in an effort by their parents, sister and other members to get them to confess their sins, police said Wednesday in a case involving an insular congregation that had sparked gossip and suspicion among neighbors.

Police said spiritual “counseling” at the Word of Life church in upstate New York turned into an hours-long attack Sunday night in which Lucas Leonard, 19, and his 17-year-old brother, Christopher, were pummeled with fists and kicked. They suffered injuries to the abdomen, genitals, back and thighs.

Eventually, Lucas stopped breathing, and relatives took him early Monday to a hospital, where he died, police said. Authorities went to the church and found his younger brother, who was hospitalized in serious condition.

“Both brothers were subjected to physical punishment over the course of several hours, in hopes that each would confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness,” Police Chief Michael Inserra said.

He said investigators have not determined what the supposed sins were.

The brothers’ parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, were charged with manslaughter in Lucas’ death. Four other adults were charged with assault in the younger brother’s beating, including Sarah Ferguson, 33, the victims’ sister.

The beatings took place at a red-brick former elementary school that serves as both a church and a home for several members of the congregation, including one of the suspects.

The church has existed for as many as 30 years in New Hartford, a once-thriving mill town of 22,000 people about 50 miles from Syracuse.

All the suspects pleaded not guilty. Lawyers for the parents and the sister had no comment.

Seven children, four of them Ferguson’s, were turned over to child welfare authorities.