Chapter 92: An Exorcism in Enfield-The Death of Kennedy Ife

0:00 Hi guys. I'm Courtney and I'm Lisa, and welcome to the next chapter in the Book of the Dead. Brought to you by dark Cast Network indie podcasts with a twist. On wiki travel. The Pacific Northwest is best known for its beautiful coastline, green interior, rainy weather, and spectacular mountains.

0:41 But because of all this, it's also the perfect place to go missing. My name's Carmita and I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and Portland, Oregon. I host a podcast called Missing in the PNW. My podcast is different from others you may have heard because I focus specifically. On two things. The first is that all of the missing person cases that I cover are strictly from the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and Washington. I know the title of my podcast should have given that one away. The second thing is that my podcast focuses strictly on missing persons from marginalized communities such as the black, Hispanic, Native American Indigenous people and the LGBTQ plus communities, you know, the ones that get absolutely no media attention. Now, I am not an investigative journalist or a reporter. I'm actually a widowed mom of three who loves true crime and has a passion for social justice. So join me in helping to spread the word on these missing person cases and help you the voice for the ones that are now voiceless. You can find Missing in the PNW on all of the major streaming apps.

1:50 As well as on socials at Missing in the PNW podcast. If you have a case you want me to cover, please email me at Missing in the PNW at gmail dot com or send me a message through Facebook Messenger. I hope to talk to you soon and remember, have fun, but be safe. Hello, Hello, welcome to the next chapter in the Book of the Dead. Today, we have a different kind of chapter for you, one that I think some people would not necessarily consider to be a quote true crime story because of the manner in which this particular victim passed.

2:31 For this particular victim, some people may argue his death was not a result of the actions of others, and some may argue otherwise. In my personal opinion, which we'll get to at the end, the individuals involved in this case made conscious, misguided decisions that contributed to what was most likely a preventable death. This is the death of Kennedy E. Fe now, before we jump into these circumstances of Kennedy EFE's death, we have to have a lesson in exorcisms. Exorcisms, or at least the knowledge of them, really hit the mainstream in nineteen seventy three with William Friedkin's horror movie The Exorcist starring Linda Blair. This movie was based on the nineteen seventy one novel by the same name by William Peter Blattie. The book is loosely based on the nineteen forties exorcism of a young boy in the South, and it follows the story of a little girl named Reagan who begins to display terrifying behavior such as glossolalia, which is speaking in tongues, and leptation.

3:49 Her mother seeks help from a priest, and the priest believes Reagan is suffering from demonic possession, so the church sends in an expert to exercise her. While this book and subsequent movie really put the concept of exorcism on the map, it is a ritual that has been around for centuries. A journal article published in The Lanced discussing placebo effects tells about how the first recorded mention of an exorcism being performed is in the Bible. In eighty seventy in the Gospel of Mark quote the basis for Reformation encounter. Reformation extorcisms harkened back to the Gospels. Jesus of Nazareth stated, in my name shall they cast out devils.

4:35 Despite being the father of lies, the devils also believed and trembled, and could be commanded to aquease and speak truth and be a reliable witness. Typically, the devil recognized the authority of Jesus as the son of God Most High. Now, these quotes are taken directly from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as the Book of James, and they speak of how those afflicted by what was considered demonic possession were saved when Jesus commanded the devil to leave the victim and cast them out. The devil listened because of Jesus' authority as the son of God in layman's terms. Now, obviously the Bible has been rewritten and edited and had things omitted from it countless times over the centuries, but that is typically what we know to be true in terms of Catholicism. The next time we really start hearing about the concept of exorcisms is in the fifteen hundreds, when German theologian Martin Luther started publicly making complaints against the Catholic Church. His actions were pivotal in the start of Protestant Reformation, and he was very public about what Christianity should look like. In fifteen twenty six, he printed his Amended Order of Baptism, where he spoke about infant extraction, which he thought should be used to help the baby quote reject the devil, sin and evil

6:06 throughout their lifetime, rather than to cast out a demonic presence. According to history dot com, while exorcisms kind of died out in the sixteen hundreds after being a public spectacle for sixteenth century Protestants, there is a resurgence in the United States, Latin America, and Africa in the nineteen hundreds with the emergence of Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism focused on the Holy Spirit, faith, healing, miracles, and exorcisms. In the nineteen fifties into the sixties, there was the emergence of evangelical Protestantism, and with it came a new worship style in a movement known as charismatic Christianity with a new focus on rituals like exorcisms. Charismatic Christianity is something we see today with the big super churches and the crazy, crazy services, with the music and amphitheaters essentially filled with people, and of course that would bring us to the seventies with the Exorcist novel. Now, exorcisms obviously are a very intense ritualistic practice. I mean, there's no other word for it. It is a ritual.

7:24 As much as Catholics and Christians want to pretend that they don't have rituals within their belief system, and coming from someone who went to Catholic school for a number of years read the Bible, had a very religious grandmother, that's just simply not true. There are rituals in Catholicism. However, there is no law against the performance of an exorcism. It is not a legal issue. It is a religious one. You could argue it's a moral one. In Catholicism, exorcism is defined as a specific form of prayer that the Church uses a against the power of the devil. It's also important to note that exorcism is different than the sacrament of penance. Rather, it is used to prepare an individual for that sacrament. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, there are two types of exorcism, minor or simple, which is used to prepare individuals for baptism.

8:22 The second is solemn or major exorcism, and it is only to be performed with the express permission of the Church and can only be performed by a bishop or priest. This is stated in the Code of canon Law and is quote directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation of a person from demonic possession. A lot of people are familiar with the concept of extorcisms from the Conjuring movies, with ad In Lorraine Warren and Ed Warren saying that he had special permission from the Vatican who perform extorcisms because he took their demonology core or whatever.

9:02 Do I think that's true? Possibly? Do I think these were real exorcisms? No, but I digress. Exorcisms that least true ones are exceedingly rare, and while it's recommended to get the recipient's permission, the general consensus is if they can't consent and loved ones and the priests thinks it's necessary, it can be performed anyway. According to the USCCB, these are the rituals involved, as the actual process is pretty confidential. Quote. In addition to the use of psalms and Gospel readings and the recitation of the exorcistic prayer, a series of sacred symbols is utilized in the right of major exorcism.

9:45 To begin, water is blessed and sprinkled, recalling the centrality of the new life the affected person received in baptism and the ultimate defeat of the devil through the selvific work of Jesus Christ. The imposition of hands, as well as the breathing on the person's face or explation by the exorcist, reaffirms the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the person as a result of his or her baptism, confirming him or her as a temple of God. Finally, the Lord's Cross is shown to the afflicted person and the Sign of the Cross is made over him or her, demonstrating the power of Christ over the devil. Based on this text, you would think that it's a pretty harmless process, and it rarely is. In fact, it can be an incredibly stressful or even a violent situation for the person being exercised as well as the ones performing the ritual. Now, there's plenty of examples of how violent an exorcism can be in history, with cases such as Annelie Michael, who is probably the most well known example. There's Terence Catrell Junior, a two year old boy diagnosed with autism who died during the course of an extorcism because his mother and members of her church believe the boy's behave your problems were a result of demonic possession. There's fifteen year old Charity Miranda Martin, whose case some people might be familiar with her death was featured in a documentary series, who was a victim of an extiousism where she died after

11:16 the seven hour ordeal due to smothering. End qong Ah, who was brutally beaten during the course of an extioucism, resulting in her death in nineteen seventy seven. However, for the purpose of this chapter of the Book of the Dead, we are going to focus on Kennedy Ephae. Kennedy Ephe was an it worker from a very affluent family whom he lived with in Enfield, North London. He was the son of Kenneth and Josephine Efay, and he had five brothers, Roy, Harry, Colin and the twins Samuel and Danny, so he was one of six. It was a big family and according to medium dot com, they all lived together in a one point three million pound mansion. Kenneth was a Nigerian immigrant.

12:06 He worked as a professor as well as a global economic consultant, and he was a strong supporter of West Africa's economic community. The family as a whole was very religious and involved in their church, Jesus Sanctuary Ministries, where they were well liked as well as thought highly of by other friends and neighbors. Now this case begins in August of twenty sixteen. I unfortunately have very little information, in fact none at all of Kennedy's life prior to twenty sixteen. But in twenty sixteen, Kennedy is twenty six years old and he goes out to eat at a buffet.

12:47 Around the same time, he starts to not feel well, and this is around August thirteenth. He starts complaining of a sore throat and so he goes to the doctor. Now it's very possible he got sick at the buffet because unfortunately, it's hard for the employees to monitor the patrons and make sure they're not touching food with their bare hands and making sure they're putting utensils back in their appropriate trays. There's just a lot of room for food born illnesses and bacteria from cross contamination to thrive because of the carelessness of the people going there to eat, not the employees the patrons. I know when I worked with specialty food we had an olive bar. Now I'm certified in food safety and I know how to prevent food born illnesses from spreading, but I can tell you from experience it is a virtually impossible to monitor an open food bar at all times. We were very diligent, but I would not be surprised that people slipped through and touch things with their bare hands without our knowledge.

13:50 And I'm sure you've all heard stories of people getting sick from food bars at grocery stores and buffets. It's common and it happens. So Kennedy starts to really not feel well, and he even at one point tells the doctor it feels like something is crawling in his throat, but there's nothing there. Over the next few days, Kennedy declines pretty rapidly, and this is accompanied by some very alarming behavior. Kennedy had stopped eating, he was feverish, and he was extremely agitated. According to an article for a vice, he was suffering from insomnia and continued to complain about his throat, as well as telling his parents he wanted to break from their church or wanted a break from their church. Obviously, for Kenneth and Josephine, who were deeply religious, this was a cause for alarm. Now these symptoms got worse, and Kennedy had been found hunched over in a chair by his brothers that week, muttering to himself. By all nineteenth there was an even further decline in Kennedy's mental stability.

15:04 He was crying and screaming, throwing things around the house, and he had even said that there was a snake inside of him. He cried and told his family he wanted to cut off his genitalia to try and get rid of the serpin. He then attempted to attack his mother, but she managed to escape to her bedroom, locking the door behind her. Kennedy raged even more, screaming about the mark of the beast and allegedly claiming he wanted to assault a child. Now, after they were able to calm him down, his brothers took him for a walk Colin and Roy, but he soon became agitated again, pulling his shirt off and attempting to punch in headbut his brothers so obviously, this is incredibly alarming behavior that he's experiencing, and he's just getting sicker. According to The Independent, Colin Efe said, quote, it's clear that this thing was in him what we believed was a demon, because it was not natural. It was clearly trying to kill him. They brought him back home and Kennedy was restrained once again with rope, handcuffs and cable ties, all the whiles still screaming and his fever got higher. Colin said of the restraints, quote, we had to restrain him for himself. It was clear if we didn't restrain him, he could have tried to harm people in our family. When it got to the violent stage, we said no, we have got to protect him.

16:32 Convinced that Kennedy was being possessed by demonic spirits, Josephine contacted the church and begged for help. On August twentieth, at just before eleven a m. The church sent three people to the Efe home a man named Andrew, father Peter, and brother Ameca, who had come to pray over Kennedy to ease his spirit. The men observed that Kennedy looked exhausted and overall very sick. The prayers commended, and the family maintains that during the sixty seven hours of doing this, Kennedy was only restrained for twenty minute intervals and force was used if it was deemed necessary. While no one knows exactly what happened from the twentieth to the twenty second, what is known is that Kennedy grew weaker and more agitated as the hours passed. His breathing became labored, and he was severely dehydrated and started. It's also necessary to point out that he received no medical treatment at this time.

17:34 In fact, the only time he had seen a doctor was when he had initially gone for his sore throat. Now. At some point during this process, Kennedy attempted to attack his brothers and father, with Kenneth getting bit on the shoulder. Kennedy also bid at his wrist to try and get out of the restraints. On Monday, August twenty second, twenty sixteen, at around nine am, Colin Efe called the police an and asked for an ambulance, stating that Kennedy was suffering from dehydration. However, when paramedics arrived, Kennedy was not breathing and his body temperature was one hundred and five point four degrees fahrenheit. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate him and lower his temperature, but he was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.

18:22 Paramedics called the police while Colin carried out a quote attempted resurrection, saying Kennedy, I command you to rise in the name of Jesus. According to The Independent, police were told about Kennedy's alarming behavior and how he had become aggressive in talking about the devil and the mark of the Beast, and Josephine had told them quote he had been fighting amongst himself, yet they made no mention of any sort of extracism being performed. During a starch of the home, police found a note on Josephine's bed stating quote, if you feel your son is under a spell, pick up earth and throw it to north south east to west. For four days after there will be an encounter. So some sort of instructions on how to perform a ritual on a child's apparent beliefs to be suffering from some sort of demonic possession or influence. Police also found a bag that had been thrown in a neighbour's yard containing black handcuffs, cable ties, and wristbands. The pathologists report revealed sixty injuries to Kennedy's body, as well as a bitemark consistent with forced restraint. The cause of death was officially ruled as cardiac arrest. Now ultimately the whole family is arrested, Kennedy's parents and five brothers, and they are charged with manslaughter, false imprisonment, and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. The family went to trial in twenty nineteen, and Colin told the court about Kennedy's declining health and

19:53 mental faculties the week leading up to his death. Colin described the aggressive behavior as another person coming through his brother, and the narrative is that the Ife family were trying to save Kennedy's soul, which I do believe they were trying to do, especially given how deep their religious convictions were. They self identified as charismatic Christians, which I told you about earlier. But the problem with this is that religion trown to health care and that turned into something deadly. Prosecutor Tom Little, QC argued that Kennedy's death was a result of quote his own family deciding that because he had become and remained unwell, he should be restrained. The nine to nine to nine call that was eventually made for expert assistance was too late. The family put misguided religious beliefs about this young man being possessed by a demon or evil spirits before the obvious and common sense conclusion that he needed help and did not need to be restrained. Kenneth, during his cross examination, told the jury, according to BBC, that he ordered his sons to guard care Kennedy in shifts and told them to use overwhelming force if he became violent, but he denied the possibility of cults, occults or secret societies being involved in his son's death. Ultimately, the family is acquitted on all charges and they're free to go in March of twenty nineteen.

21:18 What's interesting is that the jury didn't believe that any of the actions performed by every member of the EFA family contributed to Kennedy's death. In fact, when they read their decision, they were smiling at the Efae family and holding hands in prayer. But forget the extorcism thing for a second, and the fact that they were actively trying to cast out a demon from Kennedy's body. The fact was that Kennedy was extremely ill and they didn't do anything about it because, as Tom Little said, their religious convictions trumped common sense. I don't think they're bad people. I think they truly believed what they were doing was the right thing. But Kennedy is still dead as a result.

22:00 In terms of what was going on with Kennedy, based on the symptoms that he initially presented with, it was obviously not possession, I believe, and this is purely speculation without knowing if this was found during pathologists testing that Kennedy was suffering from a severe form of food poisoning that coupled with the stress of an exorcism, contributed to his cardiac arrest. And I'll tell you why. The most likely types that Kennedy could have been suffering from is norovirus equali or salmonella, all of which can easily be found at a buffet style restaurant. Because contamination is easier to occur because of all of the patrons. Symptoms for these illnesses vary, but the common ones or diarrhea, stomach cramping, vomiting, dehydration in a high fever, as well as the sore throat.

22:54 In fact, if you work with food, they tell you to stay home if you experience any of these symptoms, including the sore throat, because it can be indicative of some sort of food poisoning. So obviously, food poisoning explains the sickness, but what about his behavior that can be explained by the fever. A high grade fever in an adult is over one hundred and three degrees, and if it gets to one hundred and four to one hundred and five, you need to go to an emergency room. Immediately After one hundred and five degrees, and Kennedy's was almost one hundred and six, a person is approaching hyperpyrexia, which can occur in people suffering from severe infection, like a serious case of food poisoning. Symptoms of hyperpyrexia include extreme confusion, hallucinations, loss of consciousness, shallow rapid breathing, hot, dry, red skin, rapid but weak heart rate, dilated pupils, inability to urine, eat, in seizures at the onset of his delirium, and his difficult healty breathing, Kennedy should have been rushed to an emergency room. A high fever combined with the stress being repeatedly restrained during the course of his exorcism absolutely could have resulted in cardiac arrest. There is a condition called broken heart syndrome, also known as stress cardiomyopathy.

24:18 And I already know what you're thinking, Courtney. This case has nothing to do with Kennedy having a broken heart, and I hear you. But broken heart syndrome is a name for stress causing rabid heart muscle weakness leading to a heart attack. While it's more commonly found in people under a lot of emotional stress, it's also found in people under physical stress. According to John Hopkins', physical stressors include high fever and difficulty breathing. Combine that with environmental stress, and it can lead to stress cardiom myopathy. This is when the body produces adrenaline in response to the stress, which can overwhelm the heart. Access adrenaline can cause narrowing of the small arteries that supply the heart with blood, causing a temporary decrease in blood flow to the heart.

25:08 Adrenaline can also bind to the heart cells, causing large amounts of calcium to enter. This can prevent the heart from beating as it should now. This can absolutely be temporary and reversible if the person experiencing this seeks medical attention. This is typically reduced by medication or by cardio rehabilitation. They may tell you to do yoga remove yourself from the stressful situation, but it can be reversed. It is not permanent, however, without seeing a doctor, it can get worse and lead to a heart attack. Now. While usually seen in women over fifty five, this condition is not gender or age specific and can be found in men and women of any age, including in children. Based on all of this, I believe that Kennedy's death could have absolutely been preventable if he had been given medical attention and not an exorcism, which his family denied because they said it was quote a domestic matter. It also could have been prevented if he wasn't subjected to being forcibly restrained, putting further stress on his heart that was already compromised from his fever. Based on his reported symptoms of having trouble breathing. Now, I am not a doctor, and I have not seen the pathologist results. Because this is not a highly publicized case. I found maybe seven articles about this, and a lot of them said kind of the same thing. However,

26:43 while I believe his family were simply trying to help, they were incredibly misguided and allowed their beliefs to warp what it was a clear medical crisis into something demonic. There is absolutely nothing wrong with someone having strong religious beliefs, someone being passionate about their faith. And that's not to say that real demonic possession isn't real. I don't know. I've never experienced it. Could it be true, sure, However, this was clearly not the case, and religion or religious beliefs become problematic when it clouds someone's judgment. If their judgment hadn't been clouded and Kennedy was brought to a hospital, I do believe he would be alive today. He would have gotten the medicine necessary to lower his fever, and he would have gotten the treatment necessary if he had stress cardiomyopathy to reverse it. Again, I don't know if he had it, but it seems incredibly likely based on everything that I've read. Thank you for joining me today.

27:52 As always, I very much appreciate it. If you haven't already listened to, the episode I did with the Santana Brothers was wonderful. They are wonderful and their book is really good. I'm not done with it yet, but I think it's something that everyone should read. Again. Lisa is clearly not with me. She has just not been feeling well. Her issues since the accident have gotten worse. She needs surgery to repair damage to her shoulders. It's not like help wise or systemic. It's a shoulder issue, but she's in a lot of pain. She doesn't feel well because she's done a lot of pain. So I don't know when she'll be back. She tried. She did an episode with me when we cover Johnny Frank Garrett. But you know, when she's up for it, she'll be back for an episode or two. But for now, it's just me. As always, I appreciate and love you guys. Thank you so much for listening and never hesitate to reach out with case suggestions or just simply to say hey. But with that, I will leave you until the next chapter of the Book of the Dead. Bye guys. Thank you so much for listening to this chapter of the Book of the Dead, and don't forget that you can always connect with us on Instagram, you can connect with us on Twitter, and you can absolutely connect with us on Patreon. We also

29:22 have a merchore as well that we have frequent discount codes coming out for so that you guys can get March hand drawn by myself at a better cost. We hope you have a lovely rest of your week and just remember, please be kind and don't forget to always stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant. Bye guys, Bye bye.