The Detroit Occult Murders: What Happened to Benny Evangelista?
The macabre slaying of mystical healer Benny Evangelista and his family sent shockwaves through the city of Detroit in 1929. The unsolved case of the Detroit Occult Murder has become the most mysterious and strangest murders in the history of American crime. Who killed Benny and the Evangelista family?
Who Was Benny Evangelista?
Benjamino Evangelista, and his older brother Antonio, immigrated to the United States. The brothers arrived in America from Naples, Italy, in 1904. Like many immigrants, Benjamino Americanized his name to Benny Evangelista. The two were ready for a better future.
Benny and his brother moved to Philadelphia and lived together for a time. While there, Benny became interested in the occult and claimed to receive visions from God. As a devout Catholic, Antonio was disturbed by his brother’s visions which were not very Catholic in nature, and the two had a falling out.
Benny was sent by his brother to work in York, Pennsylvania. While in York, Benny became very good friends with another man from Naples, named Aurelius Angelino. The men began exploring the occult as a pair, investigating the world of dark magic and mysticism. However, this was to prove deadly when Angelino attacked his family and murdered his twin sons with an axe.
