COPS: Cult Killed Baby Found In Suitcase In S. Philly

DAILY NEWS: The religious cult that Ria Reshma Ramkissoon belonged to shunned health care and formal education. The leaders were known as “King” and “Queen,” and their followers called themselves “Prince” and “Princess.” They were forbidden to interact with loved ones outside the cult without a member’s supervision. And they may be killers. Two days after police found a dead baby stuffed in a suitcase hidden in South Philadelphia, Ramkissoon’s relatives in Baltimore await a phone call that they suspect will confirm their worst fears: that the infant is Ramkissoon’s 18-month-old son, Javon Thompson. Relatives fear that cult members starved the tot to death because he refused to say “Amen.” “He would have been around 18 months old,” Javon’s aunt, Colleen Khadan, said yesterday. “But at that age, a child’s vocabulary is not that well-developed.” Authorities say that the infant was a homicide victim, and a law enforcement source said that he is believed to be Javon. Then last Monday, Baltimore police, acting on a tip, came to Philadelphia, where they found the remains of a baby in a suitcase in a shed behind a Philadelphia Housing Authority townhouse on 13th Street near Fitzwater. The suitcase had been packed with a comforter and fabric-softener sheets to mask its contents’ odor. The elderly man who lives in the townhouse is not considered a suspect. He told police that he allowed a family of five “Baltimore drifters” to stay in his home last year. He asked them to leave after four days but allowed them to store items — including the suitcase — on his property until they settled somewhere. MORE