Harold Glenn Smith

Timeline

• August 13, 1986 — A jury convicted Harold Glenn Smith of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with an additional $10,000 fine.
• August 14, 1985 — Houston police were summoned to Rest Haven Cemetery, where the custodian found the mutilated body of 19-year-old Dennis Medler.
• January 1986 — Authorities arrested Harold Glenn Smith, two other teenage boys, and a 16-year-old girl, charging all four with the murder of Dennis Medler.

Background

Harold Glenn Smith was a 19-year-old leader of Satanists.

Before the murder of Dennis Medler, Smith shot and killed 16-year-old Wayne Schubert and displayed Schubert’s body to his girlfriend.

The offence

On August 14, 1985, the body of 19-year-old Dennis Medler was found in a Houston cemetery. Before death, Medler had been beaten, slashed with knives, had one eye gouged from the socket, and had his hair burned down to the scalp. His teeth had been hammered out. Death appeared to have been produced by strangulation and/or loss of blood. The victim had no record with police.

The mutilation and the fact that the murder occurred in a cemetery were treated as resembling ritual activity, and deputies pursued leads by interrogating members of the cult whom they were able to identify.

Smith also had been linked to multiple other killings, including:

• A motorist who had picked him up hitchhiking and was later slashed.
• Another stabbing death in Houston, where Smith displayed the body to friends.
• A “Jane Doe” murder in 1986.

Investigation

After the Medler murder, deputies interrogated members of the Satanist cult whom they could identify.

One girl told detectives that her boyfriend was responsible for killing another victim, 16-year-old Wayne Schubert. She reported that the killer showed her Schubert’s bullet-riddled body in his pickup truck one afternoon when he dropped by her house to visit, and that he seemed particularly proud of his achievement.

Around the same time, police interviewed a 25-year-old motorist who had survived a brutal slashing at the hands of teenage hitchhikers. Under questioning, one suspect fingered his companion as a Satanist and follower of “high priest” Harold Smith. The slasher had driven the informant to a Houston flat where 25-year-old Ronald Monahan lay dead on the floor. Police initially dismissed Ronald Monahan’s stabbing as a simple burglary gone sour. The informant named three other cultists who participated in the crime with Smith.

Before police could bag the suspects, a fourth murder was added to the list: a young “Jane Doe” found shot to death outside of Houston. Authorities theorized that the death was linked to the cult by tattoos, including an inverted pentagram and the numerals “666” discovered on her body. No charges were filed in the Jane Doe case, but police believed the girl may have intended to defect, and that her death was intended to ensure silence to protect the cult.

Arrest

In January 1986, authorities arrested Harold Glenn Smith, two other teenage boys, and a 16-year-old girl, charging all four with the murder of Dennis Medler.

Trial

Jurors deliberated for 45 minutes before convicting Smith of first-degree murder on August 13, 1986.

Sentencing

Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment on August 13, 1986, and he was also given an additional $10,000 fine.

Outcome

Smith’s conviction was for first-degree murder of Dennis Medler.

Other details

The victim Dennis Medler was 19 years old when he was murdered.

Wayne Schubert was 16 years old when he was shot and killed.

Ronald Monahan was 25 years old when he was found dead on the floor.

One girl, her boyfriend, and other identified participants were part of the investigation through statements and identifications made to detectives.

No charges were filed in the 1986 Jane Doe murder case.