Case snapshot
In the summer of 2000, Glenn Helzer convinced his younger brother and girlfriend that God had chosen them to fund the apocalypse. Within weeks, five people were dead, their bodies dismembered and dumped in duffel bags in the Sacramento River. The murders weren’t crimes of passion or greed alone. They were the final stage of a plan concocted by a former stockbroker who believed he was destined to witness the second coming of Christ.
The prophet and his followers
Glenn Taylor Helzer grew up Mormon in Concord, California. Charismatic, intelligent, and ambitious, he served a mission in Brazil and worked as a securities broker at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. But by his late twenties, something shifted. He became obsessed with a twisted interpretation of Mormon theology, convinced that he was a prophet tasked with preparing the world for Christ’s return.
He recruited two people into his vision: his younger brother Justin Helzer, a follower who idolized Glenn, and Dawn Godman, Glenn’s girlfriend and a former client. Together, they called themselves the Children of Thunder, a reference to a scriptural phrase Glenn had reinterpreted to mean chosen warriors of God.
Glenn’s plan was as grandiose as it was deranged. He believed that to fulfill his divine mission, he needed money, vast amounts of it. The funds would be used to manipulate the stock market, influence world events, and ultimately finance the apocalypse. His method for raising that money: extortion, fraud, and eventually murder.
The first victims
In July 2000, Glenn identified his first targets: Ivan and Annette Stineman, an elderly couple from Concord. Glenn had once worked with their daughter, Jennifer Villarin, and knew the family had money. His plan was to kidnap Jennifer, forge her mother’s signature on documents transferring money from her accounts, and then eliminate everyone who could identify them.
On July 30, Glenn, Justin, and Dawn lured Jennifer Villarin and her boyfriend, James Gamble, to Glenn’s apartment under the pretense of a social visit. Once inside, the couple was bound and beaten. Glenn forced Jennifer to provide her mother’s social security number and other information. Then he bludgeoned both victims to death with a hammer.
Hours later, Glenn and Justin drove to the Stineman home. They used the information extracted from Jennifer to gain Annette Stineman’s trust over the phone, then arrived in person. Once inside, they beat Annette to death. Ivan Stineman, who used a wheelchair, was killed shortly after.
The bodies were dismembered in a bathtub. Glenn and Justin used saws and knives, then stuffed the remains into black duffel bags weighed down with dumbbells. The bags were driven to the Sacramento River Delta near Antioch and thrown into the water.
The unraveling
Glenn’s scheme required one more piece: a fifth victim. Selina Bishop, a friend and former client of Glenn’s, was killed days later on August 3. Glenn believed she posed a risk because she had seen him recently and might connect him to the missing people. She was beaten, her body dismembered, and dumped in the same manner as the others.
But the plan collapsed almost immediately. The duffel bags began surfacing in the river. On August 8, a fisherman discovered one. Over the next few days, more bags were found. Investigators quickly identified the remains and traced financial activity back to Glenn Helzer.
On August 11, police arrested all three members of the group. Glenn and Justin were taken into custody without resistance. Dawn Godman was arrested shortly after. Inside Glenn’s apartment, investigators found blood evidence, cleaning supplies, saws, and notebooks filled with apocalyptic plans and religious justifications for the murders.
Inside the delusion
Glenn Helzer’s writings revealed a man wholly consumed by his own mythology. He believed he was a translated being, a figure granted immortality and divine authority. He thought the murders were necessary sacrifices, steps in a cosmic plan that would bring about the end times and elevate him to a position of spiritual power.
Justin followed his brother completely. Friends and family described him as malleable, desperate for Glenn’s approval, and incapable of challenging his older brother’s authority. Dawn Godman, once a successful professional, had become enmeshed in Glenn’s world, participating in the killings and the cover-up without hesitation.
What emerged in court was not a story of mental illness alone, but one of control, manipulation, and shared delusion. Glenn had built a mythology so complete that two other people were willing to kill for it.
The trials and sentences
Glenn Helzer was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in 2002. He was sentenced to death and placed on California’s death row at San Quentin State Prison. He never expressed remorse. In interviews and letters, he continued to frame the murders as spiritually justified.
Justin Helzer was also convicted and sentenced to death. In July 2013, he was found dead in his cell, hanging from a bedsheet. His death was ruled a suicide.
Dawn Godman accepted a plea deal in exchange for her testimony. She was sentenced to 38 years to life in prison. Prosecutors acknowledged her cooperation but emphasized that she had participated in every stage of the crime, from planning to execution to disposal.
Glenn Helzer remains on death row. California’s moratorium on executions means he will likely die of natural causes, decades removed from the summer he tried to become a prophet.
The aftermath
The Stineman and Villarin families were devastated. Five people were killed not for passion, revenge, or even conventional greed, but to fund a fantasy. The senselessness of it deepened the grief.
Investigators who worked the case described it as one of the most disturbing they had encountered. The cold efficiency of the murders, the dismemberment, and the calm with which Glenn discussed his actions painted a portrait of someone entirely detached from moral reality.
The Children of Thunder case stands as a grim reminder of how ideology, when twisted by a persuasive individual, can justify unspeakable violence. Glenn Helzer didn’t need a compound or a commune. He needed only two people willing to believe him.
Where to dive deeper
- Book: “Unholy Sacrifice” by Robert Scott
- Podcast: “The Children of Thunder” (“Casefile True Crime”, Casefile Presents)
- Documentary: “Deadly Cults: Children of Thunder” (Investigation Discovery)
