On August 6, 1985 the body of 19-year-old Dennis Keith Medler was found behind Resthaven Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Houston, Texas. The condition of the body indicated a brutal, sadistic killing: he had been beaten, slashed with knives, choked, his throat cut, teeth hammered out, one eye gouged from its socket and his hair burned down to the scalp. Investigators concluded death was likely from a combination of strangulation and blood loss, and the mutilation and location initially suggested a ritualistic or symbolic motive.

Authorities identified a group of teenagers who allegedly carried out the attack. Reports named 17-year-old John-Michael Alexander Trimmer, 19-year-old Michael Gene Cravey, 17-year-old Harold Glenn Smith, a 16-year-old boy held in juvenile detention, and a 16-year-old girl sought for allegedly setting the victim’s hair on fire. Investigators said the suspects discussed the plan for about a week and that witnesses described Smith as a ringleader; he was later sentenced to life in August 1986. No clear organized cult ritual was found, and detectives reported the killing was carried out reportedly simply to watch somebody die.

Anyone with information about Dennis Medler or the people involved is asked to come forward.