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September 6, 2004

Father kidnaps son to ensure vegan diet +++

Update (9/8/04, 8 pm): According to NY1, the baby is now in custody of ACS. It's unclear where the baby's dad is. Someone claiming to be Raphael, the baby's father, left this long comment on another blog, in which he describes his problems with his mother-in-law and the nature of the baby's diet. The baby is now in custody of a foster family, which might not be the best thing judging from the mother-in-law's comments in this article from a few days ago.

Note: There is a lot in this post that hasn't been reported in the media. A father kidnapped his son, yes, but I searched around and learned the father's past is more complicated than it first appeared.

The Crime

Raphael Spindell, a self-described radical environmentalist, kidnapped his 14-month-old son from the baby's grandmother/guardian yesterday because the grandmother, Zoya Watterson, did not keep the infant on a strict vegan diet.

The grandmother had taken legal custody of the child a day earlier after a dispute related to the child's health. Two months ago, the baby was diagnosed as anemic and was confined to a hospital. Spindell removed him from the hospital, and that's when ACS got involved, finally removing the child from Spindell's care on Friday.

When Spindell arrived at Watterson's home, he reportedly shouted, "You don't feed my baby right!" and abducted the child. Watterson described the child's vegan diet as inadequate, though: "He eats every 15 minutes, but he only eats fruit juice, seeds and breast milk — it's not enough calories," she said.

The child's mother, 21, reportedly met Spindell six years ago, and is apparently alienated from Watterson, her mother. "He brainwashed her. She always listens to him, not me, him," Watterson said.

Police believe that Watterson and the mother are together with the child, but they don't know where. Recently, they were living in an RV down the street from Watterson. Spindell phoned Watterson last night and asked her to promise, in writing, to feed the child a strict vegan diet and "secure the cleaning materials" in the house. But, she'll have to get the baby back before she can live up to that promise. [Source: NYP]

Spindell, the Web, and his Village

Radical behavior in defense of veganism is apparently nothing new for Spindell. According to his website, childrenofthemillennium.org (which has been taken down -- but see below), he believes in "green anarchy, animal rights/eco-rights and evolution" and wants to establish a "tribal eco-village" in Belize. It would seem that this village would serve as a sort of training ground for what Spindell calls "Soldiers of Ahimsa," who would defend the Earth:

Like the traditional army, which calls its citizens to its ranks in times of war, the world needs a new kind of soldier - a Soldier of Ahimsa - to help save both humanity and the entire planet from extinction. Because our own lives and those of others are literally 'on the line', the time for individual commitment, personal involvement and dedication to goals has never been more appropriate than at this moment. [source]

Spindell's fairly robust website, childrenofthemillennium.org, has been taken down, but thanks to the magic of the Google cache and archive.org's Internet Wayback Machine, we can still see some of it:

Here are the pages from Google's cache, and the pages from the Wayback Machine. (For example, here is what the homepage looked like in January.)

In an online profile, he describes his occupation as "prophet," lists his AIM username as OsirisVamp, and elsewhere lists the username Archangel (more on that later). In this Yahoo profile, he links to the domain name archangelraphaelcoalition.org, a site that also is no longer accessible.

He also expresses an interest in "Homo Sapiens Sylvestris," a phrase it appears Spindell more or less coined himself and which translates as "wise man of the woods." Considering this post on American Samizdat, it further appears that this phrase doubles as the name of his proposed eco-tribe network, the first outpost of which was to be in Belize (and called "Adahy Wakiza," which is Cherokee for "Lives in the Woods"). He posted an anticipatory description of Adahy Wakiza on a Yahoo bulletin board about raw food, and even set up a Yahoo Group dedicated to the village. Here are some thumbnail images (including a map) related to the village that are in Google's cache but now missing from the orginal site.

In the past, when someone with an internet presence has done something unusual or illegal, I have collated as much information as possible and presented it in one place. Initially, I wasn't going to do that in this case, because you can get quite a lot on Spindell yourself just by Googling childrenofthemillennium.org or "Raphael Spindell."

But then, just before wrapping up this post, I found something kind of unexpected: Raphael's identity has been pretty mutable for the last few years.

Reverend Osiris, aka Raphael, aka Ralph

Spindell's activity on Usenet is the key to learning about his past. After poking around a bit, I have come to the following conclusion: Raphael Spindell's real name is RALPH Spindell.

In 1995, a Ralph Spindell posted his resume to Usenet, listing a Brooklyn address and describing his computer experience. Two years later, in this Usenet post to a Goth newsgroup, someone with the email address "osiris@octet.com" identifies himself as Ralph Spindell. In other messages, this Ralph also discusses computer/web issues. A few months later, in this Usenet post, "Raphael 'Osiris' Spindell" is listed as the host of "Flesh and Blood: A Gothic, Fetish, Fantasy and Vampire Gathering."

Given that Ralph and Raphael both live(d) in Brooklyn, have an interest in Goth culture, have experience as web developers, and go by the nickname "Osiris," it seems to me they are the same person. And once you have someone's email address, it's pretty easy to see everything they posted on Usenet using that address, thanks to Google. So here's the same Ralph Spindell asking whether using Vaseline helps you get six-pack abs. If you want to find the rest of Ralph/Raphael's messages on Usenet, go to Google's advanced Usenet search page and search for these addresses: rspindel@cyberspace.com, osiris@octet.com, osiris@thecoven.org. You can also just search for "Raphael Spindell".

Raphael was quite heavily involved in the "vampyre"/goth scene back around 1997. Up until about 1999, he ran a website called thecoven.org (long out of service, but here's an archived page) that at one time boasted 2000 registered members and offered fellow vampyres everything from auctions to personal ads. Although he seems to have shifted ideologies in recent years, the Osiris/Raphael/Archangel nicknames have lingered. (See Paradise Lost for more on Raphael.)

Finally, here is the signature file appended to some of his Usenet messages, circa 1997:

=========================v\/vv\/v============================
Reverend Raphael Osiris Spindel  ICQ=1286000 AOLIM=OsirisVamp
* Founder, The Coven Organization http://www.thecoven.org
Dedicated to the Preservation of the Vampyre Community.
* Official Co-Moderator, New York City Vampyres List
"subscribe nycvamp-l" in msg body to listserv@necronomi.com   
* Executive Producer, WebSpin: http://www.octet.com/~osiris
Alternative Web Development for the Retail Underground.
* Hi-Priest, Temple of Luxor: http://www.thecoven.org/luxor.htm
Personal Egyptian Cybre Gothic Vampyre Angel Ego-Trip
=========================v\/vv\/v============================

In case you are looking for definitive proof that Raphael and Ralph are the same person, note the reference in Raphael's sig file to his position as "Executive Producer" at Webspin, his software company. In this industry article, Ralph Spindell is identified as the founder and executive producer of Webspin.

Raphael, it sounds like you've had quite a ride these last few years. I hope you bring the baby back before things get too out of control.

Update (9/7/04): As mentioned on the Scary Blotter, NYDN and NYP both have updates today. Raphael called his mother-in-law, said he was in the forest, and threatened to kill himself and the baby if arrest was imminent.

Update (9/8/04): This Daily News article says Raphael called police and denied he threatened to kill his son. The article also says the baby's diet is more extreme than a typical vegan's: the boy isn't allowed to have soy milk, and he may not even getting grains like rice and cereal. The article's end is pretty balanced, and offers good nutritional advice for parents who want to bring up their baby vegan. I linked to this once before, but for the sake of people arriving after the fact, here is the NYDN article in which Raphael responds to charges about the child's diet, and also describes his mother-in-law.

categories: Brooklyn, Kidnap
posted by adm at September 6, 2004 4:49 AM

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