NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere’s former neighbors are said to be ‘terrified’ after chilling claims he poisoned four women in his upstate New York home and two more of his followers died in suspicious circumstances.
Barbara Jeske, Pamela Cafritz, Kristin Keeffe and an unnamed follower were all diagnosed with a form of the disease after living with the convicted sex trafficker in his Halfmoon condo home.
Jeske, 63, and Cafritz, 57, two of Raniere’s top lieutenants who had intimate knowledge of his activities, died after living with the manipulative cult leader. Jeske died in 2014; Cafritz in 2016.
The two other cancer victims, including Keeffe who is currently in hiding in Florida after Raniere fathered her son and she escaped NXIVM, survived the disease.
Former cult insider Frank Parlato, speaking to the Investigation Discovery film The Lost Women of NXIVM, now says the deaths of two more women are also suspicious.
Kristin Snyder vanished in 2003 in Alaska after taking NXIVM courses and her death was presumed a suicide – but her body was never found.
And Gina Hutchinson, who publicly accused Raniere of statutory rape, was discovered dead in Woodstock, New York in 2002 – but the alleged self-inflicted shotgun wound is re-examined in the film.
Keith Raniere, 59, pictured, will be sentenced next month on charges of trafficking and racketeering after being convicted earlier this year. He faces life in prison. His former neighbors are said to be ‘terrified’ after chilling claims he poisoned four women in his upstate New York home and two more of his followers died in suspicious circumstances
Barbara Jeske, 63, right, and Pamela Cafritz, 57, left, two of Raniere’s top lieutenants who had intimate knowledge of his activities, died after living with the manipulative cult leader
Kristin Keeffe, pictured, survived cancer after living with Raniere. She is currently in hiding in Florida after Raniere fathered her son and she escaped NXIVM
Barbara Jeske, Pamela Cafritz, Kristin Keeffe and an unnamed follower were all diagnosed with cancer after living with the convicted sex trafficker in his Halfmoon condo home, pictured
In that Raniere, 59, himself says in a video clip from The Lost Women of NXIVM documentary: ‘I’ve had people killed because of my beliefs.’
A sample of hair from the unnamed woman – who survived bladder cancer after living with Raniere – showed she had ‘significantly higher’ traces of ‘heavy metals’.
Forensic expert Jason Kolowski said the metals bismuth and barium found are normally in ‘gun powder, explosives, electronic devices and rat poison’.
One Halfmoon neighbor told Fox News: ‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore. It’s kind of weird that these women all got sick in the same house. He [Raniere] is beyond evil. This documentary has made the neighbors very nervous again.
‘Even though he’s locked up in prison, I want to get a home alarm system. All this crap was going on right under my nose. We shouldn’t have to feel insecure anymore.
‘In my opinion, NXIVM is not dead.’
Parlato added: ‘Is it possible that Keith Raniere poisoned these women over a period of years? The secrecy surrounding him and his inner circle makes anything possible.’
Raniere will be sentenced next month on charges of trafficking and racketeering after being convicted earlier this year.
The case against Raniere was largely centered around the secretive sect of Nxivm called DOS where women were starved, blackmailed, branded and forced to submit to a variety of sexual acts including orgies at the request of their ‘master,’ Raniere.
His lawyer Marc Agnifilo told The New York Post: ‘Keith didn’t kill anyone. That is an insult to real forensic investigation as well as to the people who have passed away.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Agnifilo for comment.
THE SEX CULT WHICH SAW WOMEN STARVED, BLACKMAILED AND BRANDED
Women were starved, blackmailed, branded, pictured, under NXIVM
It took just four hours of deliberation for a jury to find Nxivm founder Keith Raniere guilty on all counts.
He now faces life in prison after being convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking.
Raniere was also convicted on all 11 underlying counts of racketeering that fell under the wire fraud charge.
Former members of Nxivm and DOS burst into applause when the verdict was read, while the mother of one young woman who was one of Raniere’s ‘slaves’ had some choice words for the convict.
The case was largely centered around the secretive sect of Nxivm called DOS where women were starved, blackmailed, branded and forced to submit to a variety of sexual acts including orgies at the request of their ‘master,’ Raniere.
Raniere had entered a plea of not guilty to all charges. His sentencing has been scheduled for September 25 and he will continue to be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn without bail.
The trial lasted for six weeks, during which time multiple women were called to the stand to describe how they served as ‘sex slaves’ to Raniere and were forced to have his initials branded on their bodies.
These women testified about how they were forced to turn over collateral in the form of damning and often false statements about themselves, while also providing graphic nude photos of themselves, including images of their genitalia.
That was not all either, with Raniere also making demands that the woman stay thin and not trim their pubic hair.
‘Over the last seven weeks, this trial has revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact a massive manipulator, a con man and the crime boss of a cult-like organization involving sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion compelled abortions, branding, degradation and humiliation,’ US Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement shortly after the verdict was read on Wednesday.
‘The evidence proved that Raniere was truly a modern-day Svengali.’
Others from his inner circle – including Smallville actress Allison Mack and heiress Clare Bronfman – have also sensationally pleaded guilty to various NXIVM-related crimes.
Heidi Clifford, wife of Kristin Snyder, who disappeared in Alaska in February 2003 after several outbursts at NXIVM courses, said in the film: ‘I never talked about it at all until today, and I’m still scared. I’ve ran the last 15, 16 years of my life, being scared of these people. I’m still scared.
‘I think Keith Raniere had inappropriate sex with her, which would have thrown her off her rocker … she reported to me that she was pregnant with Keith’s baby, and I’m like, “What? What are you talking about?”
‘Then when I heard it more in the class, when she was yelling it out … they just kept pulling her out of the room. This is not just one time. This is three or four times, she was blurting this out.’
After that, Snyder disappeared. A kayak was discovered stolen and a suicide note was found in her car, but her body was never found – despite a comprehensive search by authorities and friends.
The film interviews a handwriting expert who casts doubt on the authenticity or meaning of the note.
Gina Hutchinson, left, who publicly accused Raniere of statutory rape, was discovered dead in Woodstock, New York in 2002. The shotgun wound is re-examined in the film. Kristin Snyder, right, vanished in 2003 in Alaska after taking NXIVM courses and her death was presumed a suicide – but her body was never found
Raniere’s (pictured) lawyer Marc Agnifilo told The New York Post: ‘Keith didn’t kill anyone. That is an insult to real forensic investigation as well as to the people who have passed away’
The film also focuses on the 2002 death of Gina Hutchinson, whose body was found in Woodstock, New York, about an hour and a half from the cult’s Albany headquarters.
The death was ruled a suicide, and she was presumed to have killed herself with a shotgun – but the film, using a female subject of similar build and consulting a ballistics expert, raises doubts as to how such a self-inflicted death could have even been physically possible.
Hutchinson was ‘always super intelligent, very sensitive,’ her sister says in the film. ‘She always brought in stray animals, was always very caring and compassionate. She was 33 when she died. It’s all very suspicious.’