Strange Witchcraft Ritual Kills Two Teenage Girls

January 8, 2008 8:37 p.m. EST

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - A misunderstood witchcraft ritual could have caused the deaths of two teenage girls, police said.

Police charged Lawrence Douglas Harris Sr. with two counts for the first-degree murder of his stepdaughters after authorities arrived Sunday at his burning home in Sioux City, Iowa, and found the girls in their second-story bedroom and blood on Harris, police said Monday.

"You're talking about people casting spells, spells gone bad," Sioux City Police Chief Joe Frisbie said. "Obviously, there is a lot more going on here than a straightforward homicide."

The victims were Kendra Suing, 10, and her sister, Alysha Suing, 8, whose bodies were found Sunday afternoon. An official cause of death won't be available for several days, police said.

Professor Helen A. Berger, author of three books on witches, told the Sioux City Journal she doubted anyone claiming to have killed children while casting a spell is a true practitioner of witchcraft, the Associated Press reported.

"This is not a group that participates normally in violence, but it is a group that doesn't have firm boundaries, which means that anyone can make a claim to be a member," she said.