[narrator] in the suburbs of north carolina,
Residents talk of a house of horrors.
They got a report of a body buried in the backyard.
It was absolutely crazy.
[narrator] an investigation leads to
A self-proclaimed satanist and his most devoted follower.
He publicly announced that he was a devil worshipper.
[nate] they would drink one another's blood.
She was his queen and he was her king.
[narrator] a series of terrifying discoveries
Proves that truth can be even stranger than fiction.
[michael] he had started following a religion
That required animal sacrifice.
People had informed deputies
That he had killed several people.
[lee] every one of the friends I talked to,
They all said they were scared to death.
[narrator] in this southern gothic story,
Demons are very, very real.
[lee] the devil didn't go to georgia.
He came to north carolina.
[music]
[theme music]
[narrator] February 15, 2010.
It's a chilly Monday in mocksville, north carolina,
When an anxious young woman shows up
At the davie county sheriff's office.
It appears her ex-fiancé,
32-year-old joshua wetzler,
Has been missing for over six months.
Stacey carter came to my office
Wishing to file a missing persons report.
She said she has totally lost contact with him.
[stacey] when I stopped hearing from him
And he stopped showing up,
It was not like josh to not contact our son.
[narrator] stacey explains that josh was always a free spirit.
But after months of radio silence,
A missed milestone is the final straw.
[stacey] at first, I just made the assumption
That josh is fine.
He just went off the radar.
He chose to disappear.
It was sporadic as to when I'd hear from him,
So there was no, like,
You know, rhyme or reason to when he would call or come by.
And when his mom's birthday came and went,
And she hadn't heard from him,
That set off some alarm bells
Because that was not like him at all.
And he always called, you know, for big things like that.
And he didn't call.
[narrator] josh wetzler was born in naples, Italy in 1977.
His parents were both in the us military,
So they never stayed in one place for long.
[martha] josh was born about a year before we came back.
My husband went to a school in california.
And after he finished that schooling,
We went to new orleans.
After new orleans, we went to chesapeake, virginia.
Josh was a good kid.
He had a good personality.
[narrator] in high school,
Josh developed a passion for music.
[jamie] josh and I went to see the grateful dead.
Several of us continued, for the summer of '95,
Following the grateful dead around the country.
[narrator] josh continued to follow the band as they toured,
And in 1999, he met his future fiancée,
Stacey carter.
Josh ended up out in washington state.
I was traveling cross country,
And I met some folks who told me about
This great party that was happening.
And that was where josh was living at the time.
And we hit it off.
It was, you know, love at first sight.
[stacey] we definitely had chemistry.
We also had so much in common.
He loved horses,
And we both loved music and going to concerts.
[narrator] two years into dating,
Stacey and josh began a new adventure together
In north carolina.
[stacey] josh and I bought 11 acres of land in davie county.
Shortly after that, he started horseshoeing school.
So we had visions of operating a business
Out on our property.
[narrator] the couple got engaged,
And in 2004, the family grew with the birth of their son.
But a year later, with a new business and a new baby,
Financial troubles began to take a toll.
[stacey] josh wasn't making as much money.
I wasn't making a lot of money.
So it was really hard to try to get our, our bills paid.
Josh and I were fighting a lot,
And I think that's ultimately what caused me to leave.
[martha] stacey called and told me
That her and josh had separated
I think I was more upset than she was.
[narrator] despite the breakup, josh remained a devoted father.
[stacey] we had shared custody of our son.
And we had a schedule.
And he would go back and forth and stay with us.
Josh was an amazing dad.
He loved his son more than anything.
Josh chose to stay, um, on our property.
And I told him, okay, well, that's fine.
You know, you can stay there as long as you pay the mortgage
Then I found out that he had stopped making
The mortgage payments,
And that our property was going into foreclosure.
I think that's when his mental health, you know,
Was really starting to decline, or had been declining,
For, for some time.
[narrator] but in may 2008, a brush with the law
Would cost josh everything.
[police radio chatter]
He was arrested for having mushrooms delivered to his home
Through the mail.
[martha] it was probably found by a dog at the post office.
And so they arrested him.
When the police came to his house,
He had his son with him.
And so then he was also charged with
Endangering the welfare of a child.
[stacey] so at that point, he was a felon.
And he lost all custody of our son.
He would come to my house and spend time with him there,
But that was really the downward spiral for him.
[martha] he didn't work very much, you know?
He didn't either show up for a job
Or sometimes he would miss going to work for somebody and...
Things like that.
Eventually he kind of drifted away--
Not just from me, but from our circle of friends.
He started hanging out with other people that I didn't know
The last time we saw him was in July.
We were cooking out, and josh, he made pizzas.
[narrator] his sporadic visits dropped off.
And by early 2010,
Josh hadn't spoken to his family
In several months.
Finally I said, there is something wrong
Because he would have called me
[stacey] I just made the assumption that josh is fine.
He just went off the radar. He chose to disappear.
It wasn't until I heard otherwise
That it occurred to me that something could've happened.
[narrator] stacey explains to authorities
That what she heard is frightening.
[stacey] the first person to tell me
What had happened to josh was our friend,
Who called me and just blurted out,
"josh is buried in pazuzu's backyard."
And I was like, "what?"
I had never heard of pazuzu.
I had no idea who he was.
So I went to the police and reported him missing.
Those were my words-- "you're gonna think I'm crazy,
"but my son's father is buried in,
You know, this guy's backyard."
[lee] when stacey mentioned pazuzu to me,
I was like, "who and what's pazuzu?"
And she said, "that's his name."
[narrator] investigators search social media sites
And find a profile for someone who goes by pazuzu algarad.
[lee] when I saw pazuzu's myspace account,
The first thing that jolted, jolted in my mind
Was the manson family.
In the photos, this guy was trying to live that lifestyle.
You could tell by the graffiti on the walls...
The filth...
Claiming to do animal sacrifices and the dark moon.
He had tattoos on his face,
And his teeth were sharpened.
His hair was in dreads.
[lee] in the photos, pazuzu
Was doing satanic worshipping.
And he believed in bloodletting
He made general statements.
He wanted to be a demon,
So therefore, everybody should bow down to him
And respect him and be fearful of him.
I'd never seen anything exactly like this.
Pazuzu sort of reminded me of..
Something you'd watch on tv, a horror flick.
But here it was in north carolina.
[music]
[narrator] coming up,
The search for josh wetzler
Leads to the door of a suburban devil worshipper.
[nate] when you roll up, pull in the driveway,
It looks like a normal, cookie-cutter clemmons house.
[narrator] and investigators descend into a den of evil.
Unless you've been into a death house,
There's no way to mentally prepare yourself
For something like this.
Jesus christ! Look at that.
[theme music]
[narrator] after receiving a tip
About 31-year-old pazuzu algarad,
Davie county investigators learn everything they can
From social media
Before talking to friends of their missing person,
Josh wetzler.
I have no idea what josh's relationship to pazuzu was.
But I feel like it was a time where josh was feeling like
An, an outcast.
I think it kind of pushed him to the edges of society
And, you know, he was drawn to other people
Who were also on that edge.
[lee] every one of the friends I talked to,
They all said they were scared to death of pazuzu.
He publicly announced that he was a devil worshipper,
And the rumor's out that he killed
Somebody in his basement,
Presumably joshua wetzler.
The biggest hurdle for me and my agency was...
He was supposedly killed and buried
In another jurisdiction.
Joshua is a resident of davie county, north carolina
But pazuzu's in forsyth county.
I contacted forsyth county sheriff's office
And advised him of a missing persons report
That I was initiating.
[narrator] the forsyth county sheriff's office
Is quite familiar with the name pazuzu.
[michael] either anonymously or by name,
Multiple people had informed him that
He had killed several people and buried them in the backyard.
[narrator] due to those allegations,
Forsyth county already has a profile
On the alleged murderer from previous interviews with him
And those who know him.
[nate] when I first met him,
He actually didn't seem that messed up.
I mean, no more than the rest of us,
Just drinking, partying, having a good time.
He presented himself as this nontheistic,
Maybe atheist satanist.
He had, you know, a weird kind of macabre charm.
He was very good at drawing people
Going against the grain--
The black sheep, the rejects, the outcasts.
[dj] pazuzu algarad lived with his mother.
It's a residential neighborhood.
Uh, he lived in a single-story brick ranch-type house.
[nate] pazuzu's house was the land of do what thou wilt.
It was like never-neverland.
The place to go to be whoever, whatever you wanted to be.
It was his kingdom,
But I think it was also an opportunity to control
And manipulate people.
[music]
[dj] pazuzu had a girlfriend, amber.
Apparently the girlfriend was a willing participant
In the whole thing.
Amber burch grew up in rock hill, south carolina.
Um, her friends describe her as a normal girl growing up.
At some point, she met pazuzu.
And her friends describe a change in her.
[nate] as she got more and more involved with pazuzu,
She became almost just a...
Female extension of pazuzu himself.
She got very heavily involved in the rituals that he did.
They would drink one another's blood.
Everything paz did, amber did.
She was his queen
And he was her king kind of thing, you know?
[narrator] from the description of
Josh wetzler's emotional state before he disappeared,
It seems possible he'd been pulled into pazuzu's orbit.
Still, an alternative lifestyle isn't proof
A crime has been committed.
I might not agree with it, but you've got a right to practice
Your own religion.
[narrator] davie county detectives learn
That forsyth county deputies received ominous allegations
About pazuzu six months before josh was reported missing.
[michael] terina billings, on August 3, 2009,
Went to the forsyth county sheriff's office.
And she told them that a couple weeks before,
Her father had gone to pazuzu's house.
And then after her father, allen billings, came back,
He told her this fantastical tale
That when he went over the house,
He saw a dead body covered in a tarp.
Pazuzu had told him
That he had shot this person 10 times
For being a snitch.
And allen had helped pazuzu
Chop up the body and bury it in the backyard.
[lee] mr. Billings told his daughter
He was afraid that because now he's an accessory to the crime
That he would be facing life imprisonment.
[narrator] but when deputies questioned billings,
He told a different tale.
Allen billings denies ever seeing a dead body.
So there's some discrepancy there.
[lee] but what he did tell them was that
Pazuzu had told him
That he did shoot someone 10 times,
And they was buried in the backyard.
The statement that mr. Billings gave
More or less gave suspicion, but not probable cause.
Nothing that detectives could get a search warrant for.
[narrator] when questioned, pazuzu told deputies
Allen billing's story was made up.
Ultimately, authorities dropped the investigation
Due to lack of evidence.
But now the new allegations
About josh wetzler's connection to pazuzu
Inspire forsyth county to check the home.
On February 23, 2010, they return with a search warrant
And cadaver dogs.
When you roll up, pull in the driveway,
It looks like a normal, cookie-cutter clemmons house.
[michael] immediately going into the house,
The inspectors are overwhelmed by the smell.
They said it stinks.
[investigator] jesus christ...
[michael] it's almost hard for them to continue.
[investigator 1] watch your step.
There's a lot of broken glass.
[investigator 2] okay.
[michael] there is a lot of graffiti on the walls.
Weird posters.
Weird signs.
[investigator] look at that.
The kitchen was probably the cleanest,
Most normal-looking room in the house...
[investigator] no drainage.
[nate] ...And his mother cynthia's room.
She only ever came out of her room
To grab something from the kitchen real quick
Or to leave for work.
The rest of the house was just...Crazy.
[lee] filthy, nasty, unkept, spider webs everywhere,
Dirt all over the floors.
Uh, supposedly animal carcasses laying around.
[music]
Unless you've been into a death house,
There's no way to mentally prepare yourself
For something like this.
It was like an air of evil resonating from
The basement area where all thi was supposedly taking place.
[narrator] despite the horrific state of the house,
They find no evidence of foul play.
[lee] there were four k9 cadaver dogs used,
But unfortunately, none of them hit.
There's always factors that can play in.
It's not always 100 percent.
Officers weren't able to visually cue in on
Any locations in the backyard
Where a recent burial was made or anything.
[music]
So I'm just waiting in anticipation,
You know, for them to tell me that he had found josh.
When I heard back from the police
That they didn't find anything,
That was really devastating because now, you know,
We had no answers.
[theme music]
[narrator] after the unproductive search
Of pazuzu algarad's home,
Forsyth county deputies find themselves at a dead end.
As the weeks pass, it seems increasingly unlikely
They will ever find josh wetzler.
But four months into the investigation,
Detectives get a new lead.
[birds chirping] [music]
On June 7, 2010,
Yadkin county sheriff's office got a 911 phone call
Of a body found at the yadkin river park area.
It was a male subject
Who had been apparently shot in the head.
[dj] as you go down towards the water,
That's where we found the victim--lying on his back.
He had $148 dollars in his pocket.
He still had his wallet.
There didn't seem to be any type of defensive wounds
Or any evidence of a struggle at the scene.
[narrator] the victim is identified
As 30-year-old joseph chandler.
His mother reported him missing earlier that morning.
She advised us that he was legally blind.
However, he can still see enough to walk to places that he knew,
As long as he didn't have to cross too much traffic.
It would've been very difficult, if not impossible,
For him to get there on his own.
So we thought he probably met with somebody
And got a ride up there.
Joseph would go to a convenience store
On lewisville clemmons road to purchase beer.
Other than that, there wasn't very many places
That he would travel.
[music]
We interviewed the clerk, who did recognize him
As coming in the night before
And leaving with a local person
Known as pazuzu algarad.
[narrator] with another potential victim
Linked to pazuzu,
Detectives question him again.
[dj] when he came to the door, we told him,
You know, who we were and, you know, why we were there.
And we were able to go inside and speak to him.
He said that there was a get-together
At his house that night,
That he met joseph chandler at the convenience store
And invited him back to, uh, drink some beer with him.
Joseph was there for a short period of time,
And then left with an unknown hispanic male named pete.
At that point, our first goal was to identify
As many people as we could that were in the house
The night that joseph chandler was there
So we can conduct interviews.
[narrator] one of the partygoers
Was 20-year-old nicholas rizzi.
[lee] they got mr. Rizzi's cell phone number,
And while doing an investigation on his cell phone number,
They found that it had in fact pinged
At the yadkin river that night,
In the location where the body was found.
[narrator] authorities confront rizzi about the phone records.
[dj] at that point, he admitted that
He and pazuzu were there that night.
He broke down and confessed.
[narrator] according to rizzi,
Joseph's death was an accident.
[dj] they had been drinking all day.
At the end of the night, pazuzu wanted to go shooting.
They got to the park.
Um, nicholas had a .22-caliber pistol
That he had described as in poor state of repair.
Rizzi pulled the slide back.
[click]
A round ejected from the pistol.
And when the slide went forward--
[gunshot]
[dj] --the pistol discharged
And joseph fell to the ground.
At that point, they panicked.
They didn't know what to do.
Joseph wasn't breathing.
They got in the car.
They left the park.
He threw the pistol out of the window of the vehicle.
And they returned back to pazuzu's house.
[narrator] rizzi's statement is enough
To place both men under arrest.
On October 4, 2010, rizzi is charged with
Involuntary manslaughter.
I think the charges were correct at the time,
You know, with the evidence that we had.
There just wasn't enough evidence
To support a murder charge at that time.
[narrator] rizzi pleads guilty
And is sentenced to 13 months in prison.
Pazuzu claims he was too drunk to remember what happened,
But he is charged as an accessory,
And the court orders the 31-year-old
To undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
[michael] pazuzu algarad
Was evaluated, um,
Because of concerns of whether or not
He was mentally incompetent to stand trial.
[music]
[michael] pazuzu's real name was john lawson.
He grew up in california.
His parents moved to north carolina at some point.
They split up. His father left the family.
His mother was left to raise him by herself.
[dr. Gray] mr. Algarad had a history of significant anxiety,
Agoraphobia, and other types of mental health concerns
From a relatively early age.
[michael] he only finished ninth grade
And eventually dropped out.
He had started following a sumerian kind of religion
That required animal sacrifice.
At some point, he changed his name.
Pazuzu was the name of the demo in the movie the exorcist.
I think that the beliefs in satanism
And these other religions were more a means of him
Getting power over others.
[nate] pazuzu's persona, it was about shock and awe.
You know, it was just taking pleasure
In people's averse reaction to seeing
Or hearing or experiencing something
Different and uncomfortable.
[narrator] after a thorough assessment,
Pazuzu is deemed fit to stand trial.
However, the case never makes it to court.
Instead, pazuzu enters into a plea agreement.
Pazuzu algarad, uh, received--
I believe it was five years of probation.
So at the time, the facts, the statements,
The confession from nicholas rizzi,
All the evidence at the scene, uh,
Wouldn't support a second-degree murder charge.
[narrator] but as one case closes,
Another remains unsolved.
[lee] I felt in my gut that josh was buried in pazuzu's backyard
And every day I hoped maybe this would be the day
I'll get that information that'll break this case.
You don't give up.
You never give up.
[narrator] coming up,
Another local man goes missing.
[gunshot]
The door was unlocked. You could hear the music
From a stereo, but tommy wasn't there.
[narrator] and a member of pazuzu's inner circle
Finally breaks his silence.
He never thought his friend would go that far.
[theme music]
[narrator] satanist pazuzu algarad
Has been put on probation for his role in one man's death
But detectives still suspect he's also responsible
For the disappearance of josh wetzler.
So far, forsyth county sheriffs have been unable to prove it.
But nearly two years into the investigation,
They get a surprise phone call.
[lee] in November 2011,
Pazuzu's mom, cynthia, reported in 2009
That a boy named tommy was over at their house,
And she heard a gunshot.
[gunshot]
She went down to the basement,
At which time she witnessed a male subject slumped over,
And who appeared to have been shot.
[narrator] but according to cynthia james,
The killer was not her son.
It was amber burch, pazuzu's girlfriend of three years.
She said that she saw amber with a rifle in her hand
Pointed at tommy.
[lee] pazuzu told his mama to get upstairs,
Back to her room, which she did.
[narrator] investigators search police records
And discover that around the same time,
A local man named tommy welch had been reported missing
By his sister-in-law, carrie welch.
[carrie] tommy lived in clemmons, north carolina.
I was engaged to his brother, rusty welch.
On October 3, 2009, I had a shift at work
And didn't have nobody to watch my children,
So I asked tommy and his mother
If they would mind watching them.
They were gonna do a movie night.
[music]
When he walked in the door, right?
I was so excited.
Me and lea was, was like, "uncle tommy!"
He got me to watching scary movies.
He always was a big fan of Halloween.
[music]
[carrie] when I came home, his mom was there with the children
And she was frantic.
I didn't understand what was going on.
She said she had sent tommy to their apartment in clemmons,
But he'd been gone longer than he should have.
Tommy could leave our apartment and be at his apartment,
Walking, probably take him about 15, 20 minutes.
And she just felt something was wrong.
[narrator] not wanting to alarm her children,
Carrie took them to tommy's apartment to look for him.
[aaliyha] she just basically made up stuff,
'cause we were just so little.
She told us that he's possibly playing hide-and-seek with us.
Like, keeping the positivity for us.
[carrie] when we arrived at
Tommy and his mother's apartment,
We knew he had been there. The door was unlocked.
You could hear the music from a stereo,
But tommy wasn't there.
[narrator] the next day, tommy's family filed
A missing persons report,
And police obtained a haunting clue.
Surveillance cameras catch him at a nearby gas station,
Walking toward it.
And at some point, he goes behind the gas station,
Out of the camera's view.
And that's the last time that anyone
Publicly sees tommy alive.
It's like he walked off the face of the earth.
[narrator] without any direct evidence,
Sheriff's deputies can't obtain another search warrant
For pazuzu's home.
[lee] with all the information that's coming in,
You're still stuck.
It's like banging your head up against the wall.
Nobody will go on record.
Nobody wants to be involved.
Your hands are tied.
[narrator] three more years pass,
And any leads in the murders of josh wexler and tommy welch
Hit a dead end.
But in 2014, one of pazuzu's inner circle
Finally stands up to him.
[lee] September 26, 2014,
Matthew flowers comes into the picture.
Matthew was a army veteran
Stationed at fort willis, washington,
And had returned home from iraq
Matt flowers had known pazuzu for about eight years,
Had partied with him.
He had kept in contact with pazuzu over the years.
And pazuzu would tell matthew that he'd kill people.
Matthew thought he was just boasting.
He never thought his friend would go that far.
[narrator] but when he returned to the states
After his deployment,
Matthew found out the truth
When his ex-girlfriend, dixie,
Told him a harrowing story.
Dixie told matt that, uh, she was contacted by amber,
That she needed help at pazuzu's house,
Where amber resided.
Dixie said she went into the residence
And she saw tommy welch deceased on the ground.
He'd been shot.
And amber said, "I got my first, just like paz does."
Paz being pazuzu.
Amber and pazuzu told dixie,
"we need your help to bury him.
And if you say anything, you'll join him."
And dixie, rightfully so at that point,
Believed the threat.
Dixie told matthew that her and amber
Spent quite a long time digging a grave outside.
And when they tried to put tommy's body in the ground,
Well, the hole was too small.
So they used shovels to break tommy's legs,
'cause his legs were sticking up out of the hole.
[narrator] matthew tells investigators
He reported the incident anonymously
Back in 2009, but nothing came of it.
This time, he decided to go on the record
And dixie agreed to back him up
[lee] matthew was worried about her getting in trouble
And also didn't want pazuzu going after her.
[michael] dixie gives a 13-page statement
Detailing where the body was located.
[lee] and luckily, dixie had evidence
To show corroboration to her statement.
She had pictures.
She took pictures of the body.
[michael] and this provides enough information
For the sheriff's office to, again,
Apply for a search warrant,
And this time they have actual locations
For where the bodies might be buried.
[stacey] you know, I was ready for those answers.
[theme music]
[narrator] on October 5, 2014,
Four years after the first disturbing search,
Forsyth county sheriffs have enough for a warrant
To search the home of pazuzu algarad again.
When they executed the search warrant in 2014...
They found the remains of two bodies.
Because the bodies were interred in the ground so long,
It was just skeletal remains that were left.
The bodies were collected and transported
To wake forest medical facility
For identification purposes using dna
And also dental records.
And the bodies were positively identified as tommy welch
And joshua wetzler.
[narrator] for the families of the victims,
The news comes as a strange relief.
[stacey] it was really difficult to try to explain to my son
Why his dad wasn't around.
He was not even three years old when josh disappeared.
But the truth was, I was euphoric.
Like, I was just so happy.
We finally had some closure and we, you know,
Were able to have a funeral for him.
[carrie] I had a lot of emotions going through
Because I was angry, for one, that...
They took a really good person out of the world.
It was sad because then I had to tell the kids.
How do I explain to them that bad people
Got ahold of their uncle tommy
And they just killed him?
How do you tell that to your kids?
[narrator] pazuzu algarad and amber burch
Are immediately arrested.
Pazuzu is charged with josh's murder.
Amber is charged with tommy's murder.
And both are charged with one count of
Accessory after the fact.
It's not something I can really wrap my head around.
I didn't realize
The monstrous things he was capable of.
[dr. Gray] I think this is an individual who became
Increasingly antisocial, psychopathic in nature.
Those traits were reinforced over time.
I believe amber burch was brought into the influence
Or circle, orb, of mr. Algarad,
And she was willing to engage in whatever behaviors
He encouraged her to do.
The devil didn't go to georgia. He came to north carolina.
[narrator] a date is set for pazuzu's trial,
But he never makes it to court.
Pazuzu algarad was found in his cell
Early the morning of October 28, 2015.
He had committed suicide.
According to the autopsy report,
He used some kind of object to cut into his wrist,
And he bled out.
He took the coward's way out
And killed himself.
Let's hope he burned in hell.
[narrator] when amber's day in court finally arrives,
She pleads guilty to multiple charges,
Including second-degree murder for the death of tommy welch.
She receives a sentence of 30 to 40 years.
Amber took it upon herself on the night that they took him
To shoot him and kill him because
Pazuzu already took care of josh.
She wanted to be part of it.
"let me do it this time."
That's cold-blooded.
[narrator] today, nothing remains of the den of evil
Pazuzu created with amber burch
But the memories of their victims live on.
[lee] the house was ordered to be demolished,
Razed to the ground.
Neighbors set up armchairs to personally watch
This nightmare finally come to an end.
This whole incident was nothing more than a nightmare to them.
Just the evil of the place, I mean,
It could never be washed out of it.
[music]
[stacey] josh and I went through some really hard times
And our lives kind of diverged.
But I can't help but wonder
Would they have come back together again.
I'll never know, and, and that hurts, you know?
It's hard to, to have to live with that.
[carrie] we cry about it.
But we don't constantly grieve about it.
We gotta keep the good stuff going, not the evil.
The good times is what's gonna make tommy stay alive.
[music]