A 44-year-old man was arrested in Tennessee this week in connection with the killing of a missing member of a “cult-like” religious group in the Inland Empire, authorities said.
Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was captured in Nashville on Jan. 12 and booked into a San Bernardino jail on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2023 disappearance and death of Emilio Ghanem, according to a news release issued from the Redlands Police Department. Duran Jr. will appear in a San Bernardino courtroom on Wednesday, records show.
Ghanem was a longtime member of “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies,” a religious group based in Colton and Hemet that has been linked to a number of deaths and disappearances. State and local authorities have arrested five members of the group in total, including its two leaders, in connection with the killings of Ghanem and a 4-year-old boy named Timothy Thomas…