Eldridge Broussard

Case identification

Eldridge Broussard was the founder of the Ecclesia Athletic Association.

Background

Eldridge Broussard conceived the notion of forming a group to help black and minority families survive in the impoverished Watts neighborhood and to help young people steer away from drugs and crime. Broussard was frequently whipped and beaten by his father, a Pentecostal minister in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

Broussard graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove. He had a brief but unsuccessful tryout with the Portland Trail Blazers professional basketball team. He returned to Los Angeles in 1975 and began conducting Bible studies with his father.

Dayna Grant later became Broussard’s wife and the mother of their five children—three boys and two girls.

Over the next five years, Broussard and his followers bought an abandoned Watts bakery building and converted it into the Watts Christian Center. They also bought and renovated an old gymnasium at nearby Will Rogers Park to help train youths for athletics. Broussard attracted large crowds while preaching at Will Rogers Park, and after preaching his sermon he led his congregation on a run around the park for fun and exercise.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Broussard drifted away from his ministry and focused more on enriching the bodies of his young followers rather than the souls. In 1982, he founded the Ecclesia Athletic Association to shape group members through intense training and strict discipline so they could resist the temptations of crime and drugs in Watts. Broussard and his followers hoped to train young athletes for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and future Olympic Games, envisioning Ecclesia-type training programs developing elsewhere in the United States and abroad.

The group was never endorsed by the Olympic Organizing Committee, although it participated in peripheral Olympic-type programs and events.

Formation of the Sandy-area camp and community response

In April 1987, Broussard and the Ecclesia Athletic Association brought 70 to 100 men, women and children to a Sandy-area farm in an attempt to establish an athletic training camp. Neighbors became suspicious about the group’s secretive nature and regimented lifestyle. Neighbors said they could see dozens of boys and girls running through the countryside and doing rigorous calisthenics or working the land, but they believed the group was rude and evasive about the group’s intent. Neighbors complained to the media and county officials.

Two months later, following extensive media coverage of the controversial group and its training camp, Ecclesia officials closed the athletic camp temporarily and several members returned to Los Angeles. In July 1987, Ecclesia withdrew its request to Clackamas County for permission to set up tent shelters for 100 adults and children at the commune.

A year after abandoning their Sandy farmhouse headquarters, Ecclesia returned.

In the summer of 1987, neighbors described initial assistance and later suspicions. Kenneth Teuscher helped the group set up its retreat by helping to plant a garden, build a fence, and let them use some of the land on his cattle ranch for tents. Teuscher said he grew suspicious after seeing pit bulls patrolling their 18 acres next to his ranch and finding that the boys and girls would never speak unless spoken to. After revelations of ritualistic beatings and sparse food and a fatal flogging of an 8-year-old girl inside the Ecclesia farmhouse, Teuscher questioned why he had not acted earlier. Teuscher said: "I Wish We'd Done Something." Teuscher also said: "Right at first people around here were all pretty open-minded about them but as time went on, we got suspicious," and "Now I wish we'd done something about it."

Living conditions and allegations within the Ecclesia farm

Eldridge Broussard was not at the Ecclesia’s Sandy farmhouse where the beating occurred on the night of Oct. 13. The strict discipline he preached as part of the Ecclesia credo frequently resulted in child beatings.

The death of Dayna Lorae Broussard

On Oct. 13, 1988, the victim, Dayna Lorae Broussard, was taken by Ecclesia adults to Rural Fire District 71 in Clackamas at about midnight. Paramedics were unable to revive her.

Authorities later learned that Dayna Lorae Broussard was beaten hundreds of times with a hose, a pipe and an electrical cord while other children watched. Dayna was 8 years old.

A week after Dayton Leroy Rogers was convicted of the Molalla Forest Murders, four members of the Ecclesia Athletic Association were convicted in the same courthouse of first-degree manslaughter in the beating death of Dayna Lorae Broussard, the 8-year-old daughter of Ecclesia founder Eldridge Broussard.

Arrests and indictments

Six Ecclesia adults were arrested in connection with Dayna Broussard’s death.

In October 1988, after an extensive investigation, four of the six adults were indicted by a Clackamas County Grand Jury of first-degree manslaughter.

Trial

During the three-month trial that followed, jurors heard testimony about other beatings and strict disciplinary action against other Ecclesia children.

On May 12, 1989, a jury convicted Willie K. Chambers, Brian J. Brinson, Constance Zipporah Jackson and Frederick Paul Doolittle of first-degree manslaughter.

On June 23, 1989, the four were sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Clackamas County judge.

Federal civil rights investigation and Broussard’s arrest

On April 5, 1990, a federal grand jury in Portland began investigating Ecclesia leaders for possible civil rights violations.

The investigation culminated in the Feb. 8, 1991 arrest of Eldridge Broussard and three of his followers on charges of holding Ecclesia children in slavery and conspiring to deny them their civil rights.

Broussard and two others—Carolyn Van Brunt and Josie Ruth Faust—were released Feb. 11 pending trial in federal court.

Broussard’s death

Eldridge Broussard never made it to trial. The 38-year-old Ecclesia leader was found dead Sept. 5, 1991, in the same Sandy farmhouse where his daughter had been beaten to death three years earlier. A coroner’s report indicated Broussard died of complications related to his diabetes.

Broussard blamed the media and its negative publicity about the Ecclesia Athletic Association for contributing to his daughter’s death and to the disintegration of his group.

Other details

Evidence and conditions described at discovery

Last week four adults came to a Clackamas County firehouse with the body of an 8-year-old girl who had died from multiple injuries to the head, chest and limbs. The victim was Dayna Broussard.

Chastened authorities inspected the two-story, four-bedroom Ecclesia house and discovered 53 other children, ages three months to 16 years, living in Dickensian horror. The children were kept in rooms strewn with sleeping bags but no beds. There was only one working toilet, no refrigerator, and the only food was some tomatoes and a head of lettuce. The youngsters were malnourished, and most had bruises, welts and wounds.

The statement attributed to Bart Wilson, a manager of the Oregon children’s services division, was: "It was Lisa Steinberg times 50."

Donald Welch, director of the Clackamas County juvenile department, said: "floggings were "systematic." Adult staff members, he said, would deal out up to 800 blows with "paddle, electrical cord or similar device," while other children looked on."

Four adults, including two who delivered the dead girl to the firehouse, were charged with first-degree manslaughter and held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The children were placed in protective custody of juvenile authorities. Fifty-three children were removed from the Sandy farmhouse by the state Children’s Services Division. About half of the children were returned to their parents in Oregon. Several others were living with relatives in Florida and California, and some remained in foster care in CSD custody in Oregon.

Custody and public statements

Broussard returned to Oregon. After first refusing to comment on the case, he appeared on the nationally televised Oprah Winfrey Show. He blamed the death of his daughter on "the media." His only display of emotion came when he broke into tears as he complained about the media’s treatment of him.

Broussard denied that children in the house were beaten and said they were merely "spanked." He described his program being unfairly likened to a cult and said he had been called, in his own phrase, a "new Jim Jones."

Broussard vowed to make an all-out effort to regain custody of his young wards. Oregon officials were expected to oppose his effort with equal adamancy.

Names and people mentioned in connection with discovery and investigation

Bart Wilson was identified as a manager of the Oregon children’s services division. Donald Welch was identified as director of the Clackamas County juvenile department. Bart Wilson and Donald Welch were cited in connection with the described conditions and floggings. Capt. Pat Detloff, chief of detectives for Clackamas County, was quoted about law enforcement’s approach to cults and criminal acts.

Dominic Mancini was identified as Clackamas County planning director. He said: "But you can't deny somebody a land use permit just because they're out of the mainstream. I guess Oregonians have always felt somewhat independent and open to groups on the fringe." Dominic Mancini also said: "Coming on the heels of Rajneeshpurum, a lot of families were concerned with this group."

Bonnie Bailey was identified as a saleswoman at Bailey Realty next door to the Ecclesia center. She said: "They kept to Themselves" and "They always said hello, were very friendly and the children always seemed very well behaved and well kept."

Estelle Van Meter was identified as the founder of Concerned Citizens for Better Community, a senior citizens social service center located a block from the Ecclesia building. She said she was concerned about the association’s strong desire for privacy and that it was put to rest by an open house and yard sale the group sponsored.

Permit and membership control statements

Papers filed by the Ecclesia organization with Clackamas County in the summer of 1987 included an application form for prospective members. On it, an applicant promised to: "put all of my ambitions, desires, past and future commitments, relations, expectation, gifts, and assets under the total control of Eldridge Broussard Jr."

The applicant also signed a statement certifying that: "all of my decisions -financial, social, recreational, educational, dietary and any not mentioned above - must pass his scrutiny and obtain his approval."

Mention of related communities and comparisons

The Ecclesia group was described as an outgrowth of the Watts Christian Center in Los Angeles that was founded in 1978.

The material discussed other communes in Oregon, including Rajneeshpurum, the community taken over by the followers of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the early 1980s, disbanded in 1985 after federal government accusations of crimes ranging from attempted murder to fraud and immigration violations. It also mentioned a plan by followers of Indian guru Sant Thakar Singh to set up a commune and school in the Umpqua River Valley in southern Oregon, which was said to have yet to win full local government approval.

Court and legal processing details included

In addition to the four convictions, the text described that six Ecclesia adults were arrested, four were indicted by a Clackamas County Grand Jury of first-degree manslaughter, and all four convicted defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Clackamas County judge on June 23, 1989.

People named in the manslaughter convictions

Willie K. Chambers was convicted of first-degree manslaughter. Brian J. Brinson was convicted of first-degree manslaughter. Constance Zipporah Jackson was convicted of first-degree manslaughter. Frederick Paul Doolittle was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.

Federal defendants mentioned

Carolyn Van Brunt was arrested with Eldridge Broussard and was released Feb. Josie Ruth Faust was arrested with Eldridge Broussard and was released Feb. Eldridge Broussard was arrested Feb. 8, 1991 and released Feb. 11 pending trial in federal court, then found dead Sept. 5, 1991 before trial.