"ST. GEORGE — A Southern Utah cult leader who allegedly kidnapped his four kids, married a 7-year-old girl as well as his own 4-year-old daughter, had allegedly been planning to kill his young son, whom he believed was an “evil spirit,” according to search warrant affidavits unsealed last week.

The pair of search warrants filed in 6th District Court revealed new details in the case of John Coltharp and Samuel Shaffer – both having been a “prophet” of the Knights of the Crystal Blade religious group – who were arrested for allegedly kidnapping Coltharp’s four children to join their purported doomsday cult, and face numerous other charges involving child abuse, child sodomy and child bigamy.

Read more: 2 Southern Utah men allegedly married each other’s 7- and 8-year-old daughters

James Shaffer — the father of Samuel Shaffer — was also recently arrested and charged with obstructing justice for allegedly hiding Coltharp’s children in his home and lying to police about it.

They were preparing for the end of the world while anticipating a Muslim invasion of the United States

Police believe John Coltharp, 34, of Spring City, and Samuel Shaffer, 34, of Cedar City, were planning to kidnap more children about the same time that they were preparing for the end of the world while anticipating a Muslim invasion of the United States, according to the affidavits.

Samuel Shaffer was located and arrested Dec. 4. He allegedly told investigators that he had married Coltharp’s 8-year-old daughter while Coltharp married Shaffer’s 7-year-old daughter, according to charging documents.

Following an extensive search and an Amber Alert, authorities located Coltharp’s four children and Samuel Shaffer’s two daughters on Dec. 5 at a compound made up of shipping containers in a remote area of northern Iron County, approximately 1 mile west of Lund.

Two girls were recovered from what officials said was a “deplorable” single-wide trailer, and two other girls were found in an empty 50-gallon water drum, where they had been housed for 24 hours in subfreezing temperatures. The girls were taken to an area hospital, and one was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City."

https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2018/02/13/kss-police-southern-utah-man-who-married-his-own-daughter-had-plans-to-kill-his-son/#.WoTIKminHrc

Ah, another lovely Mormon splinter group I see. They better keep him in solitary.

Makes you wonder how many such splinter groups are rife throughout Utah in general? It has the FLDS compounds in southern Utah and polygamous compound right outside of SLC (the Kingston clan.) They're under constant scrutiny by law enforcement.

Creeps like these guys marrying their little girls to each other are pretty much off the radar until the cops catch drift of them.

More video nonsense from this group that you ever wanted to see...

http://www.thekingdomofgodornothing.com/apps/auth/login?why=mpw&try=1&wp=1&next=samuel-warren-schaffer

That Mormon board is made of some splintery wood.

Geez! Is that some kind of weird inverse-Oedipal complex?

Very skewered, right?!

Sick bastards.

To me, the whole story shows how frighteningly realistic Cheryl's book is...

If you haven't read it, it's really worthwhile. You can download it from the RfM homepage.

This whole episode reads like a chapter from the book.

Tom in Paris

John Coltharp is my brother in law; my wife's youngest brother.

The effect he has had on his children and extended family has been devastating to say the least. We're all just holding our breath in hopes that he (and Sam Shaffer) will never see the outside of a prison cell again.

I can tell you that John Coltharp has always had an obsessive and mildly extreme bent about him. He could never just stay on the plane of normal conversation or thought. He was constantly dabbling in conspiracy theories and 'deep doctrine' of the Mormon church; more so than most of the nutters I've encountered. But, up until, this last year, we all just considered him odd and eccentric and somewhat anti-social.

None of us would have ever guessed that he would have taken things to this extreme.

I feel really bad for those poor children. Will your family be able to step up to the plate and take them in? Or have they already been taken in by the courts, or other family members?

Thankfully, the mother has been awarded full custody of the children and she is with her parents. We've been by her side through this whole ordeal since her children disappeared in September and she is now living with her parents while she tries to put her life back together.

John left her homeless and destitute so it will be a long road back for her and her kids but they're safe and surrounded by people who love them. But they are going to need intensive therapy for years to come in addition to being properly socialized (John "home schooled" his kids - and I use that term very loosely) so they have a lot of work ahead of them.

We've done what we can to raise funds and contribute wherever we can. We're actually in contact with the mother on a regular basis - especially as more and more charges have been piled on John and Sam and the case has developed into something more heinous than anything any of us could have possibly imagined.

There's hope ahead - it's just going to take a long, long time to pick up all the pieces. But we're all committed to doing anything we can for those kids.

You're all in my thoughts and prayers.

It really does take a village to raise a child. You're living proof with those children.

Let me know if there's anyway I can possibly help, albeit remotely. I plan to retire to southern Utah in several years. If I were closer I'd probably be volunteering at local non-profits that provide assistance for displaced FLDS and other former cultists trying to reclaim lost lives.

(((hugs to you and yours)))

Thank you, Amyjo; I really appreciate that. The mother and her children are actually far away from central and southern Utah now (can't blame them for wanting to get the hell outta dodge) and, if it wasn't against the rules, I'd post the link to their fundraising page. But please believe me when I say the sentiment is deeply appreciated.

We've all (John's ex-wife, her children, and us as their former in-laws) have had to contend with something and someone that comes as close to pure, unadulterated evil as anything any of us has ever been exposed to.

It has been deeply traumatic for everyone close to this situation and has fractured the family in ways that we can only hope can be repaired in the long years to come. I was one of the lucky ones (along with my wife, John's brother) to have been in a position to offer help and support to John's ex-wife through those agonizing days when she didn't know if her babies were alive or dead and was given a few precious moments to see those children and hold them and tell them how much I loved them and that I was so happy that they were safe before they left town. My wife and I were emotional wrecks after that, as you can imagine.

But this situation has really showcased the capacity for people to do wonderful things as well. Our species' capacity for goodness has been a healing balm as we've had to reconcile that one of the most evil among us is related by blood and law.

The children had a wonderful Christmas thanks to the donations of so many wonderful people who didn't even know the family personally.

And local and regional law enforcement have been nothing short of miracle workers through this whole ordeal. My wife and I were the ones that called law enforcement in and granted them access to the property in Spring City initially to start laying the groundwork in September for what would become, for many of these small town officers, a case unlike any other in their professional careers. But they have all risen courageously and diligently to the unique challenges of this series of events and they, quite literally, saved the lives of those 6 children.

We've seen the worst AND the best that humanity has to offer and, thankfully, we've been reminded that the good far outweighs the evil.