DEATH PENALTY

Hatchet Murderer Who Used Scientology Defense Killed in Prison

Kenneth Thompson’s claim that his beliefs led him to kill his sister-in-law and her boyfriend did not fly with the jury.

A Missouri man who claimed Scientology led him to murder his sister-in-law and her boyfriend with a hatchet has been killed in prison. Kenneth Thompson was found dead at a state lockup in Arizona, and officials said they have two suspects. Thompson was convicted in 2019 of the gruesome murder of Penelope Edwards and Troy Dunn seven years earlier; after he chopped them to death, he poured acid on their corpses and set their home on fire, the Arizona Republic reports. His attorneys claimed that because he was raised a Scientologist, he believed psychiatry was evil and was trying to rescue Edwards’ children, one of whom was being treated by a psychiatrist.