In today's episode, we delve into the horrifying case of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a man whose name became synonymous with unspeakable evil. Known as the Child Killing Cannibal, Bar-Jonah's crimes against children in the late 90s left an indelible mark of fear and revulsion. Join me as I take you through the chilling details of Bar-Jonah's gruesome acts, from his early warnings signs to the heinous crimes he committed. We'll explore how he lured his innocent victims, the shocking discoveries that led to his arrest, and the ongoing questions surrounding the full extent of his atrocities. This episode isn't for the faint of heart, but it's crucial in understanding the depths of human depravity and the importance of vigilance in protecting our most vulnerable. Buckle up as we uncover the terrifying tale of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah on Pushing Up Lilies. * Listener discretion is advised.
CONNECT WITH JULIE MATTSON:
• Website: https://pushinguplilies.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pushinguplilies
0:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies.
0:08 I'm your host, Julie Mattson.
0:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly True Crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
0:24 Do I have some stories for you?
0:26 Are you ready?
0:31 Hey guys, I'm coming to y'all this week from Las Vegas, Nevada.
0:36 I am at the IACME annual training symposium that stands for International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.
0:46 And if you're interested in this field, I highly encourage you to look into this organization they do in person symposiums every year.
0:56 This year is at the Golden Nugget Hotel, and it's been here.
0:59 I know for sure for the last three, but they have two in person symposium opportunities.
1:06 One is for basic medical legal investigations and the other is advanced.
1:13 The advanced is kind of designed to help those that are already in the field, supporting them and giving them more advanced concepts.
1:25 The basic course is familiarizing investigators with the operation of the medical legal investigative system, and they also provide them with basic information to conduct a death scene investigation there are beginners here and there are seasoned death investigators who have been doing this for well, over 25 years, I am attending the advanced symposium and they also, which I think is really neat, have remote opportunities.
2:02 So if you can't make it to Vegas, then you still have the opportunity to take part in the classes and learn from them.
2:10 We received a scholarship this year and we were able to attend at no cost.
2:19 It's really amazing to be able to network.
2:22 I've already run into some girls that I met at the last training I went to in Atlanta, which was over a child death investigation.
2:30 It's just neat.
2:31 You know, it's a very kind of close-knit family.
2:34 Everybody's super friendly and we all do the same thing.
2:38 And so we all have the same mindset.
2:40 It's just amazing, highly encourage you again to become a member of the I AM.
2:48 This organization has over 85 years of experience in the presentation of educational seminars and those are to assist coroners, medical examiners and other forensic specialists in performing their duties.
3:04 Now, even if you're not currently working in the field, you can become an associate member.
3:09 That's $50 a year.
3:11 And those are members who are 18 years or older but do not meet the status for a member or choose not to seek member status to be a member.
3:22 You have to be 18 years or older and also work as a coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner or member of their respective staff.
3:35 You still have the opportunity to become an associate member.
3:39 You can get their newsletter again if you want to get into the field.
3:44 And a lot of people ask me this, what are ways, this is a way that you can continue to get information while you're working towards that goal tonight, we're going to the sphere.
3:56 I've never been there, but I've heard that they have robots that greet you at the door.
4:00 I may have to get a video of that and post that on my Facebook page for y'all.
4:04 It sounds kind of interesting.
4:08 I know that I was at a restaurant in our hometown not too long ago and a robot brought me my dinner.
4:16 It just rolled up to the table and then my dinner was on the tray.
4:20 Of course, I had to reach over and get it.
4:22 But yeah, it was kind of cool.
4:24 It was different.
4:25 I guess they have those in a lot of areas.
4:27 We're not used to seeing them in Denton, Texas, but Vegas is a little more high tech.
4:32 I'm kind of excited to see what they've got going on over there at the sphere.
4:36 The weather here y'all.
4:38 Oh my God.
4:39 Ok.
4:39 I'm never complaining about the weather in Texas again because it was like 99 you know, a couple weeks ago when I was complaining we landed here.
4:51 I'm not even kidding.
4:53 When I say it was 100 and 12, it was 100 and 12 degrees.
4:56 We could not breathe.
4:58 But what I loved is that when we summoned our Uber driver, we now have the opportunity to put, whether we want the car to be cool or warm or hot.
5:09 Of course, I clicked that cool button as quickly as I could.
5:12 And it also gave me the option to choose whether or not we wanted to converse with the driver or if we just wanted them to, you know, shut up and drive or whatnot.
5:24 I put converse, and we had a very nice driver.
5:27 Overall good experience.
5:30 I am loving the pool here.
5:32 We have not had a chance to get out in it yet, but I want a new swimsuit.
5:37 I'm just a little bit afraid to try them on.
5:40 I know y'all all kind of are with me that fear summers here.
5:46 I don't know.
5:47 I mean, I'm just not quite ready.
5:49 I'm pale as a ghost for one thing.
5:52 I mean, I'm literally have no color to my skin whatsoever, but I don't have skin cancer.
5:59 So there's that I want to thank everybody for listening.
6:04 I'm just overwhelmed by the outpouring of people even at this conference who recognize me and know my podcast and listen to me regularly.
6:15 I overheard someone tell another person here that my podcast was the best and I went over and hugged her and I'm like, thank you so much for listening.
6:25 It means so much to me to tell your friends and spread the word.
6:30 I would love to get more followers.
6:33 I think I'm right at about 25,000 now.
6:36 I really want more.
6:38 And guess what?
6:39 Y'all, my YouTube channel is about to be up and going.
6:43 I have the thumbnail done and it's going to be called brains, body bags and bedside manner.
6:51 And it's not only going to be forensics per S E I mean, of course, it will be mostly forensics but nursing in general.
7:00 Hence the bedside manner.
7:02 We don't have to have bedside manner in the death investigation world.
7:06 Well, we somewhat do, we do deal with the family steel.
7:10 You do have to be courteous and polite and respectful.
7:15 So I'm lying.
7:17 We do still have to have bedside manners in the forensics world.
7:21 But yeah, I'm super excited about that again.
7:25 Please shoot me an email Julie at pushing up lilies dot com.
7:29 If you're interested in being a part of the group that subscribes to the very first cereal box subscription box, it will contain all forensic true crime, death related items.
7:43 I don't know yet how many will be in each box.
7:46 I'm guessing probably around 5 to 6.
7:49 But if you will get on my Facebook page also, you can private message me and I will be glad to add you to the list.
7:55 If you'll send me your name and your email address, then I can go ahead and invoice you for that first box.
8:05 I'm guessing it's going to be about $75.
8:08 That's an estimate right now.
8:10 But based on the items that I've seen that I'm considering putting in that first box, which it will be a surprise, but I can tell you that you won't be disappointed.
8:20 It's all going to be amazing items that you've never seen before and that you can't find on the street.
8:26 I'll just tell you that anyway, I think that y'all really love cannibalism based on what I can see from my followers and statistics.
8:38 It looks like y'all love that.
8:40 Y'all are as sick as I am.
8:41 But I will say it's just interesting and I'm definitely not condoning it by saying I like to hear these stories.
8:50 But how do these people's minds work?
8:53 Like what are they thinking and how do the people around them not know this is happening?
8:59 And that's what I guess gets me more than anything is how do people get away with it for so long and not get caught?
9:08 I mean, I'm a terrible liar.
9:10 I can't even joke with somebody without laughing at myself.
9:16 I would not be good at keeping a secret.
9:18 But anyway, long story short, this is a story of another cannibal, and this guy is pretty sick.
9:28 He weighed about 300 pounds.
9:30 His name was Nathaniel Bar Jonah.
9:34 He was intimidating.
9:35 I mean, he was a big guy, 300 pounds.
9:38 He moved to Great Falls Montana from Massachusetts where he had finished a long sentence for the sexual assault and attempted murder of a young boy.
9:50 And again, I always hate when the victims, I mean, I hate that there are victims at all, but I especially hate with the victims or Children and that just tells you how sinister these people are that they would go after people who are unsuspicious and people who maybe are not able to defend themselves.
10:15 Now, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was born David Paul Brown in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1957.
10:25 But he was never a normal guy.
10:28 I mean, you know how you meet those people and it's like, ok, it seems pretty normal.
10:32 No, he was never, never normal.
10:35 Like no friends, none of that stuff.
10:39 In 1964 he received a Ouija board for his seventh birthday.
10:45 Ok.
10:45 Nothing wrong with Ouija board y'all.
10:47 I got one when I was a kid, my friends would come over and we would play that thing and swear that it worked, and I know some people believe in them.
10:59 I just, I had one.
11:01 I might still have it.
11:0 2I don't know where it's at.
11:03 It's probably in storage somewhere, but we used it a lot because it was fun.
11:08 It was mysterious, and it was something to do.
11:12 We always played lot is a feather or, you know, where we thought that we were actually lifting this person.
11:17 It was kind of crazy.
11:18 All the games and the things that we do when we're kids so nothing against Ouija boards.
11:23 I myself did have one but he was seven.
11:28 I can't see my granddaughter who's five asking for a Ouija board and maybe he didn't ask for it.
11:34 Maybe his parents just gave it to him.
11:35 But he lured a five-year-old neighbor into the basement to try the board out.
11:42 He was like, hey, let's go check out my Ouija board.
11:45 Ok.
11:46 He tried to strangle her, and her screams alerted his mother who forced him to let her go at seven y'all.
11:54 I mean, he's seven to me.
11:56 That seems absolutely crazy.
11:58 That's when it started or that's when we think it started.
12:03 Nothing came of the incident, and they assumed that he just didn't know what he was doing because he was a young child and just kind of dropped it.
12:12 I mean, I hope that that little girl's mom did not allow her to go back over there again.
12:18 I mean, one can only hope, right?
12:20 I mean, we know as moms we wouldn't, but who knows?
12:24 Now in 1970 he tried this again.
12:27 He lured a six-year-old neighbor to a secluded area and sexually assaulted him as he grew older, his techniques became a little more sophisticated.
12:41 Now in 1975 he claimed to be a police officer and he approached an eight-year-old and lured him into his car where he began to sexually assault and strangle him.
12:54 A neighbor witnessed it and called the police, and he was arrested, but he only got one year probation.
13:01 I mean, ok, so we'd already kind of, you know, 1964 1970.
13:09 Here we are in 75 there are probably a lot of incidences between those periods that weren't reported or aren't known.
13:18 But three years later, so we're talking about 1978ish.
13:23 He abducted two boys from a movie theater.
13:26 Again, he pretended to be a police officer.
13:30 He handcuffed them and took them to a secluded area and molested both of them worried about getting turned in.
13:38 He strangled one of the Children when he discovered or confirmed that that child was unconscious.
13:46 He put the other in his truck and drove away.
13:49 Now the strangled boy that he left behind actually survived and ran to get help.
13:56 Police later found bar Jonah with the other victim still in the trunk.
14:01 Now this time, he was actually charged with attempted murder and sentenced to 18 to 20 years.
14:09 So he met with a psychiatrist while he was in prison who recommend that he be moved to a mental health hospital due to him saying that he was having fantasies about murdering, dissecting and eating Children.
14:24 So he's like, ok, this guy doesn't belong in the general population like he has a mental problem.
14:31 They wanted to move him to this other facility.
14:36 Ok.
14:37 This is confusing to me, but in 1991 ok.
14:41 We're talking years later; he was found not to be a dangerous threat.
14:48 Now knowing what you know about this guy, how can you say that he's not a dangerous threat?
14:57 He was released on probation, and he was told, hey, you're on probation if you move to Montana and live with your mother.
15:07 Now, that's assuming that his mother is going to truly be responsible for him and watch him.
15:14 But days after being released, days y'all, days after being released, he spotted a seven-year-old boy in a parked car.
15:23 Ok.
15:24 Why are you leaving your seven-year-old in a parked car?
15:27 First of all, but he forced himself into the car and tried to smother him, mom.
15:34 You know, thank goodness, came out of the store or where she was and stopped him and he was actually arrested.
15:44 Now, no one from the Massachusetts Court followed up with probation officers in Montana and this kind of allowed him to blend into the community.
15:54 So, you know, we always wonder how people slip through the cracks, and this is exactly how it happened.
16:02 And at that point, he changed his name from David Brown to Nathaniel, Benjamin Levi Bar Jonah.
16:10 Now in 1996 10-year-old Zachary Ramsey disappeared on his way to school.
16:19 His parents filed a missing person’s report and leads went cold because the local police department was small and inexperienced.
16:29 And I say that because I've read that.
16:31 I don't know that for sure.
16:33 But it sounds as if they were because it sounds like the leads just kind of led nowhere.
16:40 Zachary left the apartment that he lived in at 7:34 a.m. to go to school.
16:46 He took his usual route through an alleyway.
16:50 This was on February 6th of 1996 in 2001, he was declared legally dead because his body was never found.
17:01 How sad is that for the family bar, Jonah was living in a nearby apartment complex, and he had actually been luring young boys in there and sexually assaulting them and he even installed a pulley from the ceiling where he hung at least one by the neck.
17:20 These crimes were undiscovered for years.
17:23 No one really suspected that he was a murderer.
17:27 Ok.
17:28 And this part will kind of creep you out.
17:31 But you've heard it before because I've covered another story where kind of the same thing happened.
17:37 He was making food for his neighbors.
17:41 The neighbors made comments that the food always tasted strange, and they couldn't really identify what was in it or what made it taste funny.
17:50 But he claimed that it was deer meat and that he had shot a deer, but he never went hunting like he wasn't a hunter, had no experience hunting.
18:01 I mean, ok, I don't know, in 1999 he was arrested outside of a local school carrying a fake gun dressed as a police officer.
18:15 So the guy just keeps on doing this.
18:17 And even after he's been in jail, a couple of times, police searched his home and found photos of Children cut from magazines and a bizarre journal and they also found a piece of human bone.
18:34 Now, neighbors finally came forward with the allegations that he'd been molesting their Children.
18:41 Ok.
18:41 Why are you waiting to come forward?
18:43 This?
18:44 It drives me crazy.
18:45 There are so many things that could have taken place to prevent all this from happening, but none of it did.
18:51 He was charged with kidnapping and sexual assault.
18:54 Now, his journals contained at least 22 names, eight of which were his earlier victims from when he lived in Massachusetts before he moved to Montana.
19:07 Many were local Children, and some were never identified the diary, the bizarre journal that they found had detailed his plans to cook and eat Children, but he had entries in there that he was going to make barbecue kid and little boy stew just sick.
19:28 There was a meat grinder found in his apartment after he was arrested.
19:32 And so that and his writings, you know, finally raised suspicion.
19:37 I mean, what do you got to do to make people see that you're a child molester and a murderer.
19:45 Neighbors began to wonder if Bar Jonah actually murdered Zachary Ramsey and fed him to them.
19:55 Now, Bar Jonah denied killing Ramsey and apparently there was never enough evidence to prove that cannibalism took place.
20:06 Ramsey's mother claimed that she didn't believe that Bar Jonah did it.
20:11 So the charges were dropped.
20:14 Bar Jonah was eventually sentenced to 130 years in prison for molestation charges.
20:21 Although cannibalism and all that could never be proved, molestation was proved.
20:28 He was found dead in his cell in 2008.
20:32 His manner of death was natural with the cause being cardiovascular disease.
20:38 No one really knows how many people that he killed.
20:43 But I found a lot of interesting facts.
20:46 Police had actually seized a large portion of Plywood from his residence, and it had a large smear across it that looked like it had been scrubbed repeatedly with bleach and the plywood had been struck numerous times with a sharp object.
21:03 Many of the officers believe that may have been used as a cutting board.
21:08 The meat grinder that was found in his apartment had hair inside of it.
21:13 I mean, now I know, you know, if you did kill a deer and you ground your own meat, it would have hair or fur or whatever.
21:20 But I mean, come on at his previous residence in Great Falls.
21:27 Police sifted through dirt dug up from his garage and found 21 fragments of human bone and it was determined that the bones were those of a child believed to be between the ages of eight and 13.
21:40 DNA revealed that they were not the bones of Zachary Ramsey.
21:45 Police also wanted to examine the sewer under his house and guess what the sewer pipes had been replaced because they were quote, unquote, always getting clogged when he lived there.
21:58 So that evidence is gone.
22:01 Bar-Jonah again held cookouts for his mother, neighbors and friends just after Zachary Ramsey's disappearance before he became a suspect.
22:15 Again, made spaghetti with meat sauce, casseroles, just whatever and told everyone that the meat was dear.
22:23 But his shopping habits were analyzed, and his financial records indicated that he hadn't even purchased anything significant at the grocery store for a month after Ramsey's disappearance.
22:34 Again, he wasn't a hunter.
22:36 So two plus two people.
22:40 Bar-Jonah said that he talked considerably about Ramsey's disappearance and made statements that he would never be found because he'd been chopped up and thrown about multiple locations.
22:52 And witnesses said that they saw a bag filled with old clothing that would fit a young boy in his apartment as well as gloves that appeared to be stained with blood.
23:06 I don't know when all this stuff was found.
23:09 I'm assuming that it was after he was arrested and sentenced to 130 years.
23:14 But he allegedly taunted Ramsey's mother saying that he hunted, killed, butchered and wrapped the meat of her son, but she didn't feel like he did it.
23:27 Police and FBI determined that two names on the list were male Children who lived in the apartment above him.
23:34 There were also photos of the boys sitting on his couch and in his bed, one of the boys who was 14 was interviewed and confirmed that both he and his cousin were assaulted by Bar Jonah.
23:49 Now Rachel Howard is Zachary Ramsey's mother.
23:55 She does not want the knowledge of her son's disappearance to cripple her and she said that she could forgive him if he did it.
24:05 You know how we've talked before about how a lot of people who act in this nature have had just a hard childhood and not that, that excuses it whatsoever.
24:15 But Bar-Jonah was reportedly abused by his strict father for being a kleptomaniac because he would steal his sibling’s belongings.
24:25 You know, when he was younger y'all, this is like a terrifying story.
24:30 It just, I don't know, I always think, you know, I see people and sometimes I watch people's behavior and I'm like, he looks like a serial killer.
24:39 He could be a serial killer.
24:40 I bet he's a serial killer.
24:41 I don't know if all y'all do that or not, but when I see people acting strangely, I watch them, it's kind of creepy because you never know, you never know what their house looks like what's in their house, what they've done where they've been.
24:57 I mean, it is, it's terrible to think about.
25:01 But I know how y'all like cannibalism and cannibalism stories.
25:05 Thank God, this guy is dead.
25:07 I hate that it took them so long to catch him because obviously he continued to kill.
25:14 There were more victims because he was overlooked and again, slipped through the cracks and, you know, somebody didn't follow up or the investigative team didn't try hard enough or, I don't know, I mean, I can see how someone that looks and acts normal might slip through the cracks, but they said he was never normal.
25:34 I mean, from the age of seven, he was never normal.
25:38 And so I just can't see how someone like that would slip through the cracks, especially with his history.
25:44 I don't know.
25:45 It kind of freaks me out y'all.
25:48 I would love to hear your input again.
25:51 I would love to have people in the death investigation field.
25:57 People who have had family members that have been victims or even perpetrators or police officers.
26:04 If you want to discuss cases, please reach out to me.
26:08 My email is Julie at pushinguplilies.com and I will send you a calendar so that you can schedule a time and we can do a remote call and have you as a guest host.
26:20 I hope that all of y'all have an amazing rest of your week and I very much look forward to talking to you next week.
26:28 Take care.
26:28 Bye.
26:30 Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies.
26:33 If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple podcast.
26:41 This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public.
26:44 Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at PushingUpLilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.