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The Church of Hope... Fear

The Church of Hope... Fear

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 In this harrowing episode, retired homicide detective Sergeant First Class Harry Gavel recounts the tragic 1990 abduction and murder of 22-year-old Hope Staff and the trauma endured by her four-year-old son, Michael. What began as a simple late-night favor—driving her brothers to a local bar—turned into a nightmare that would haunt Camden County forever.

Hope and her son were carjacked outside the Rosedale Bar by two violent predators: 20-year-old James Earl Jones and his 14-year-old accomplice, Lawrence Bela Lugosi. They forced Hope to drive to a secluded area behind the Hope Baptist Church, where they brutally assaulted and murdered her—within sight of the church’s cross, a chilling symbol of silent witness. Her son, left in the car, watched in horror.

Detective Gavel walks us through the intense investigation—from the discovery of Hope’s body and the recovery of her traumatized son, to the relentless interrogation that led to Jones’s confession. The case revealed a spree of prior crimes, including the rape of two women and the robbery of a Catholic priest. The most disturbing detail: after killing Hope, the perpetrators violated her body again.

Both suspects were convicted—Jones receiving life plus 50 years, and Lugosi, tried as an adult, sentenced to life. This case, 35 years later, remains one of the most haunting in Camden’s history—a story of unimaginable cruelty, but also of justice pursued with unwavering resolve.
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