David and Glenda Goodman
Real Name: David Allen and Glenda Frances Goodman
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Lake Highlands, Texas
Date: January 1990
Case[]
Details: During the 1980s, David Goodman and his fourth wife Glenda became followers of Terri Hoffman, the leader of a spiritual movement called "Conscious Development of the Body, Mind and Soul". By the fall of 1989, the couple began acting very strangely, most likely due to Terri's influence on them. Their families last heard from them in January of 1990. A few days later, a neighbor found the couple shot to death in their Lake Highlands home, with two guns recovered by their sides. Investigators soon discovered that shortly before their deaths, the couple had written checks to Terri totaling close to $100,000. Although their deaths were ruled a double suicide, their families believe that Terri Hoffman influenced their decisions to commit suicide in order to get money from them, and that she is responsible for their deaths.
Suspects: Terri Hoffman
Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of the November 10, 1995 episode, which focused mainly on missing follower, Charles Southern Jr.
Results: Unsolved. Terri died in 2015; she was never charged in the Goodmans' case, nor was she charged in any of the other cases.
Links:
- Terri Hoffman's Website
- Texas Monthly - The Curse of the Black Lords
- Troubling deaths of spiritual seekers: Allegations of mind control follow Dallas couple's suicide
- Police Seek Link Between Cult Leader, Nine Deaths
- Prosecutor out to prove that beliefs can kill
- Mystery Lingers About Mystic and 10 Deaths
- After nearly four years, mystery remains in case of mystical leader
- Families charge meditation expert caused death of loved ones
- Dallas mystic sentenced to jail for fraud
- D Magazine’s 40 Greatest Stories: Death in a North Dallas Cult
- David Allen and Glenda Frances Goodman at Find a Grave