Satanic NC murders are subject of new TV series on ‘The Charles Manson of Clemmons’
One of the most disturbing crimes in recent North Carolina history is examined in a five-episode Viceland documentary series starting this week.
“The Devil You Know” looks at the horrifying case of self-proclaimed Satan worshiper Pazuzu Algarad, who (along with girlfriend Amber Burch) was charged with murder after two bodies were found buried in the backyard of his home in Clemmons, near Winston-Salem, in 2014.
The series begins at 10 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 27) on Viceland.
“The Devil You Know” uses the work of Camel City Dispatch writer and editor Chad Nance along with interviews with Algarad’s former followers and those close to the victims to tell the gruesome story. Algarad killed Tommy Dean Welch and Joshua Fredrick Wetzler in the home at 2749 Knob Hill Drive that he shared with his mother and his crew of outcast followers.
Inside that home, the group — including those interviewed for the documentary — did drugs, blasted black metal music, had orgies and performed Satanic rituals, including sacrificing small animals and drinking the blood of birds. (Interviewees recount other acts too disgusting to print here.)
Algarad, referred to in the series as “The Charles Manson of Clemmons,” also filed his teeth into pointy fangs and called his female followers “fiancées,” just as cult leader Manson did. He took the mythological name “Pazuzu” because it means “King of Demons” (it’s also the name of the demon that possesses the main character in the 1971 novel “The Exorcist” and the movie based on the novel).
Born John Alexander Lawson, Algarad legally changed his name to Pazuzu Illah Algarad in 2002, the Winston-Salem Journal reported at the time the bodies were discovered in his yard. Winston-Salem Journal also reports that Algarad died by suicide in his cell in Raleigh’s Central Prison in 2015.
This is a deep dive into Algarad’s world — perhaps deeper than you might be able to stomach — but it’s an interesting case and the series looks past the horror of the crimes to try to understand how a community, including a possibly negligent police department, allowed it to happen.
Watch ‘The Devil You Know’
“The Devil You Know” airs at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on Viceland.
You can find Viceland on channel 133 on Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable), on channel 271 on DirecTV, on channels 257 and 1257 on AT&T U-verse, on channel 121 on DISH and channel 328 on Google Fiber TV.
This story was originally published August 26, 2019 at 6:06 PM.
