San Francisco Man With Devil Name, 2 Others Charged In Murder And Backyard Burial In North Carolina
CLEMMONS, North Carolina (CBS SF) -- A man reported to be a San Francisco native who adopted the devil name used in the movie "The Exorcist" is one of three arrested in North Carolina for murder after deputies found skeletal remains of two victims buried in shallow graves at a home there.
Published reports say 35-year-old Pazuzu Illah Algarad was arrested Sunday in Forsyth County, N.C., and charged with murder and "accessory after the fact" following discovery of remains in his backyard on Sunday.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported Algarad was born in San Francisco as John Alexander Johnson and changed his name to Pazuzu Alagarad in 2002 for religious reasons.
"Pazuzu" is the name of a mythological devil king and also the name of the evil spirit used in the movie, "The Exorcist."
Two other suspects were also arrested: 24-year-old Amber Nicole Burch of Clemmons, N.C., and 28-year-old Krystal Nicole Matlock of Winston-Salem, N.C. Burch was also charged with murder and "accessory after the fact," while Matlock was charged with "accessory."
A Facebook page for Pazuzu Algarad lists him from San Francisco and living in Clemmons, N.C. It also indicates he is an alumnus of Sonoma Valley High School and is "Married to Amber Algarad." The Facebook page for Amber Algarad shows what appears to be images of Burch and Algarad together.
Deputies allege in court documents that Algarad killed one of the victims sometime after June 1, 2009, and that Burch and Matlock helped bury the body in July 2009, according to WXII-TV.
The court documents also allege Burch killed a male in October 2009 and Algarad helped bury the body, WXII said.
A woman who says she lived with Algarad for a month in 2005 told the Huffington Post he had talked about bones in his back yard and of "killing and eating" two prostitutes before burning their remains in a fire pit before burying their remains.
In 2010, Algarad was convicted of an accessory charge in the shooting death of a man in North Carolina and released on probation. In an online message board discussing that 2010 killing, an anonymous poster from 2012 said Algarad had talked about burying bodies. "He has bragged to other members of my family about sick things he has done and told them he has killed other people and has buried other bodies," the poster wrote.
The Journal cited court documents as saying Algarad was accused by law enforcement of regularly performing satanic rituals and animal sacrifices at the home.
Algarad and Burch lived at the Clemmons home where the human remains were found and the home is owned by Algarad's mother, Cynthia Lawson, according to the Journal.
Algarad and Burch were previously convicted in separate assaults on Lawson in 2010 and 2011, while Burch was convicted of assault and battery on Algarad in 2012, the Journal said.
Tuesday, a housing code enforcement officer visited the home where the human bones were found. Following that, Forsyth County housing authorities condemned the home as 'unfit for human habitation,' WXII reported.
Forsyth County deputies said they haven't ruled out the possibility of more arrests.
