The Body is a clandestine religious cult that originated on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska around the turn of the century. The group is led by a 66-year-old man named Marc Bisset who’s from an island called Whidbey near Seattle, Washington. Bisset’s followers believe he’s a modern prophet on par with Jesus Christ.
Marc is prone to conspiratorial thinking. He’s a flat-earther and QANON supporting sovereign citizen who’s found a lot of success getting those around him to accept concepts that aren’t in their own best interest. He once had a member he wanted out of the group to report the police on himself for whatever he thought about while masterbating.
The Body began as a small in-home fellowship comprised of one large family and a few of their neighbors from a Nazarene church in an isolated but modern fishing village called Nikiski. Eventually, the cult found allies they could trust through their existing connections and through friends of friends known well enough to trust they could keep a secret.
Even though the cult doesn’t publically recruit and you need to know someone to get inside a meeting, The Body has always found important allies in the communities they’ve arrived in. First Alaska then Hawaii, and now back to Washington State for Marc Bisset. They’ve hired reporters sympathetic to their worldview to write stories about their enemies, there was a once even a member who was a news director at one of the only media outlets on the peninsula. They’ve had politicians do their bidding, and they’ve made inroads in a variety of industries.
Back in April of 2022, when the group were exposed during an arrest on the outskirts of Tonasket, Washington, the two men who went down were construction workers who were in the business of building houses and flipping properties, which is something the cult has relied on to generate income since its inception. Marc Bisset’s strategy has been to stack people of value through coercive persuasion and the illusion that he is capable of working miracles.
A man named Scott Anderson was among the first outsiders to get recruited when the church was just getting off the ground. When he was called to testify before a court in 2015 about his experiences, he described how the fellowship became more about mysticism and alignment with another plane of existence as it became more controlling and vicious. Social pressures and fear of ostracism crept into every corner of the group after that.
Only a handful of former members have spoken out since their exit, which is likely due to policies in The Body that require the faithful members to tell leadership their darkest secrets in order to to avoid some very aggrisive shunning. The practice is consistent enough that once members are out of secrets, they’ve described having to deliver fictitious stories, stories about their fantasies, and have even been made to engage in sexual activities outside of their orientations to produce a narrative that many consider to be a form of something like blackmail-baiting.
Marc Bisset does have something akin to the magic his followers have described, or he wouldn’t still be driving the ship in 2024, but it’s a predatory magic, and the latest waves the cult has made could have vast consequences that could spell the end for The Body all together. They will not go quietly, and the potential for leadership to push followers into exacting revenge on those who speak out against him as the curtains close is certainly concerning, but while the cult is still active it’s worth wondering, how has Marc gotten so many people with so much to lose to do his bidding. How has he prevented this outrageous story from exploding onto newspapers across the country?
The question is especially poignant now as trial in a child abuse scandal involving Christopher Coombes looms in April of 2024, and the sheriff’s department in Okanogan County deals with a delinquent public records request that may prove one of their deputies should be facing the same scrutiny.
Morgan Damerow
AG Ombudsman
Washington State
0 1 / 1 4 / 2 0 2 4
Hello Morgan,
I’m Syran Warner, the journalist from Minneapolis you spoke with on Friday, January 5th. There’s still an open issue concerning delinquent public record’s request #23-523 filed with the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office[1] on November 12th, 2023. The FOIA has now been open over 60 days, and since it’s the only open request in Okanogan County, there’s no bureaucratic loophole OCSO can jump through that will prevent it from being in continuous violation of 42.56 RCW. The law is broken every single night in absence of #23-523 being fulfilled.[2]
This request is for the public records generated by a police officer named Terry Shrable that are detailed in report S22-04930 submitted on 09/10/2022.
From S22-04930:
“I explained how I was documenting Carrie's return to Chris' life in late 2021 and the chain of events that led to her getting custody of the two daughters. Zachery and Stephanie spoke to me about those details and agreed to send statements via my county email.
On 8/10/22 I was on duty and found two emails from Zachery and Stephanie…”
I’ll pretend for a moment that the only things that interests me in those three sentences are the bits about the public materials sent to a sergeant at OCSO via county email. These records should be extremely simple to produce, especially in a scenario where there are no other public record’s requests open for the department to process.
As we discussed on the phone, you kinda’ just type in what you’re looking for, and it’s in the server or it’s not.
If I’m still pretending that this FOIA wasn’t submitted because I’m investigating a cop that I strongly suspect participated in organized crime in their capacity as an OCSO deputy, the problem here is that these dang records are still nowhere to be found.
I spoke to the records clerk at OCSO about this issue.
Minutes of call in to OCSO on 10/20/2023:
Syran Warner, Journalist:
I'm just saying in the report, he's very clear. They sent me these emails - on this day- and I uploaded them.
00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:43.440
Beth Barker, OCSO Records Clerk:
Okay. I don't know where they would have gone to.
00:04:49.200 --> 00:04:52.040
Syran Warner, Journalist:
I mean, I guess, like, they could have been deleted?
00:04:52.040 --> 00:05:00.120
Beth Barker, OCSO records clerk:
Well, we don't delete records unless Terry deleted them, and I can't answer that. He doesn't work here.
00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:01.560
Terry Shrable[3] is no longer a sergeant at OCSO. Today, he’s a regular ol’ police officer in Omak. Seems like a demotion to me, but maybe they offer a better benefits package or something; I don’t know why he’s not with OCSO. Who cares? Do you?
The point is that I’m done pretending this open FOIA is about anything other than the public records in S22-04930 that I requested in which it appears a cop acting as a deployable agent[4] for a destructive cult[5] collaborated with a Tonasket resident in order to serve a mutual interest.
The Tonasket resident OCSO sergeant Terry Shrable appears to have conspired with is named Christopher David Coombes and he’s currently facing life in prison[6] for abusing children. This should be a high priority for your office. If you disagree, please explain in your reply.
This email is full of public records that you have access to. This is not just my opinion. Look at the beginning of S22-04930 and tell me there’s no conversation about ethics to be had.
From S22-04930:
Supplement
CAD Call info/comments
11: 44: 45 07/29/22 SACHSE K
ONGOING ISSUE W/ EX WIFE, CARRIE COOMBES, WHO HE PAID FOR TO GET TO WASHINGTON FROM PA. SHE THEN MAKE A FOOL OF THE OKANOGAN SHERIFF'S OFFICE[7], SUPERIOR COURT, AND CPS BY LABLING RP AS A CULT MEMBER[8] AND EXTREMIST, RP BELIEVES THAT DUDILIGENCE WAS NOT DONE. [ARC] AND [LFC][9] ARE HIS CHILDREN WHO HAVE BOTH BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM HIM RP HAS A CRIMINAL REPORT[10] AND A FLASH DRIVE W/ A VIDEO ON IT, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS THAT HE WANTS TO GIVE TO THE OFFICER'S HANDLING THIS CASE.
11:45:05 07/29/22 SACHSE K
RP IS IN THE SO LOBBY, I ADVD HIM OF THE DELAYED RESPONSE.
14:41:07 07/29/22 WHITLEY M
RP LEFT S/O, WILL BE AVL ON CELL
17: 24:38 07/29/22 TAFT R
CONTACTED DCSO[11], THEY ARE GOING TO CHECK LISTED ADDRESS FOR VEHICLE/HEATH
17:45:53 07/29/22
WHITLEY M
PER U9 FWD TO U7[12] VM. HE IS HANDLING THE INVESTIGATION
Narrative:
“On 7/29/22 I was not on duty[13] but assigned[14] a complaint initially labeled a civil matter.[15] Christopher Coombes was at the sheriff's office with documents regarding investigations he was arrested for and wanted to speak to the case officer. The complaint was assigned to me.
On 8/2/22 I was on duty. I drove to Chris' address in Tonasket in order to speak to him. The location appeared to be vacant; lawn brown/dead, weeds overgrown, no vehicles parked at the address.[16] I called the number for Chris but had to leave a message. He returned my call a few hours later and I made an appointment with him to meet at the sheriff's office on 8/3/22 at 1800 hours.[17]
Note: I asked Chris[18] if he was represented by an attorney as he was arrested in incident S22-02108. Chris said no, he was acting as his own legal counsel and was freely meeting with me. I also contacted the prosecutor's office to see if there were any ethical issues with me meeting Chris. I was told no,[19] Chris was acting as his own legal counsel and meeting with me of his own free will. The prosecutor's office declined to be part of the meeting[20]…”
Wait, OCSO sergeant Terry Shrable was Subpoenaed to testify in Washington v. Coombes in the month prior to the start of investigation S22-04930? Wuut? Yeah, you betcha.[21] Twice, actually.
This is because Shrable wrote the probable cause affidavit when Chris was arrested[22] on 08/04/2022 in a warrant aid of a writ of habeas corpus.[23][24] In case 22-1-00086-24 the prosecutor for Okanogan County wanted to hear about Terry Shrable’s involvement in 22-2-00104-24, and so do I, because he made all kinds of errors. Shrable decided not to “ping” Chris’ phone when he absconded with minor ARC because he thought AT&T would need evidence of immediate danger, which ARC was in, if you trust the more responsible members[25] of OCSO.[26]
Terry Shrable was also subpoenaed in the middle of his 43-day investigation into a claim made by Christopher David Coombes that his ex-wife, Carrie Coombes, had turned in a False Report to OCSO.[27] That wasn’t filed by the State of Washington though, that was filed by Christopher David Coombes.
Per Cause No. 22-1-00086-24:
Reference and Joinder: 22-2-00100-24 and 22-2-00104-24
Christopher David Coombes
ORDER FOR ISSUANCE OF SUBPOENA FOR
Defendant/Involuntary Trustee
SERGEANT TERRY SHRABLE TO APPEAR AT TRIAL AS WITNESS TO TESTIFY
It sure seems like Terry Shrable, who was a Sheriff’s deputy in the State of Washington, should have reached out to the ombudsman’s office before Syran Warner, a journalist, did.[28] I’m not a cop, and I knew precisely where to go when ethics got murky in my investigation.[29]
This guy had been subpoenaed to testify about his experience handling a real Coombes case he goofed up[30] twice before his investigation into a fictitious Coombes case started, and was then subpoenaed once again, in the middle of his flippin’ investigation, and no one said a dang word.
Morgan Damerow, are you pulling my chain here? How in the heck is that not an ethical violation in the State of Washington. Can you explain this? It’s outrageous.[31]
I don’t know what Carrie Coombes[32] will think about all this, because I’ve never communicated with Carrie Coombes[33] in my life, but I’m about positive she wouldn’t have a flippin’ problem with me referring to The Body as a cult and Marc Bisset as the leader of the cult because that’s right there in her affidavit. Judge Rawson believed she was telling the truth. Do you?[34]
Carrie Coombes:
“At 38 weeks pregnant with [LFH], Chris held a meeting with the other cult members in my absence, and he told me they decided that I would give birth to [LFH], but I could not bond with her, nurse her, or hold her despite my begging. Chris told me they did not want my "contentious spirit" to get on [LFH]. Immediately after I gave birth to [LFH], Chris took her from me and gave her to Marc and Ruth Bisset.[35] Later I found out that [LFH] was being raised by Stephanie Hezeltine. Around this same time, Chris refused to let me watch and care for [ARC] while he was away, and he began taking her to stay with Catherine Haley, at that time another member of "The Body."’
So, that’s what Carrie says. Christopher David Coombes was less convincing for the judges in his statements before the court.
Read S22-04930.
Put Coombes, Chris in Odyssey, see what pops up. I bet you have an account.
Don’t you ever tell a flippin’ journalist that you’re putting a flippin’ Post-It on your computer to call OCSO about a matter of public safety on Monday 01/08/24 unless you’re actually going to do it or you will have a PR disaster on your hands, dude. Do you know what the cult calls me?[36]
Christopher Coombes on 03/21/2022:
“i; man, christopher-david:coombes claim;
the said wrongdoer Trespass my Private Property;
case # [22-2-00100-24] trespass my property
the trespass did and does harm to my property;
the causal agent of the trespass comes by way of extortion, theft,
torture, deprivation, kidnapping, and harm;
the commencement and the harm began on March eighteen, 2022;
the wrong and harm continues to this day March twenty first, 2022;
i; require compensation for the initial and continual trespass upon my
property;
treble damages for trespass of i; man, acting as foreign sovereign;
compensation due, hundred thousand dollar money order backed
by gold;
each moment in the now-time that my private property is arrested,
detained will be charged to each wrongdoer 1 silver dollar per
second;
i, say here, and will verify in open court, that all herein be true
March twenty first, 2022; now-time
all rights retained, without prejudice”[37]
Okay, before you get to swept away in that charm tsunami, these are the charges Christopher David Coombes is currently facing:
1 Rape of a Child 1st Degree 9A.44.073 Felony A 11/13/2021
10 Assault Of Child 2nd Degree-Person 18yo or Older and Child Under 13yo 9A.36.130(1)(a) Felony B 11/13/2021
11 Assault of Child 2nd Degree-Intention and Previous Pattern or Practice 9A.36.130(1)(b) Felony B 11/13/2021
2 Child Molestation 1st Degree 9A.44.083 Felony A 11/13/2021
3 Incest 1st Degree 9A.64.020(1) Felony B 11/13/2021
4 Incest 2nd Degree 9A.64.020(2) Felony C 11/13/2021
5 Assault 2nd Degree Deadly Weapon 9A.36.021(1)(c) Felony B 11/13/2021
6 Assault 2nd Degree Harm Equivalent Torture 9A.36.021(1)(f) Felony B 11/13/2021
7 Unlawful Imprisonment 9A.40.040 Felony C 11/13/2021
8 Criminal Mistreatment 2nd Degree 9A.42.030 Felony C 11/13/2021
9 Assault Of Child 2nd Degree-Person 18yo or Older and Child Under 13yo 9A.36.130(1)(a) Felony B 11/13/2021
Morgan, those are unbelievably serious charges.
This is a sensational story. And, as we both know, it’s your job to investigate this claim. If I’m wrong, I give you permission to send Terry Shrable after me to investigate a False Report like he did for 43 days with money from the State of Washington in 2022 in S22-04930.
From S22-04930:
“On 8/3/22 Chris and I met in the conference room of the sheriff's office regarding his open investigations where he was arrested.
Chris started the meeting by showing me a video of a woman who he said was Carrie Coombes. Chris said the video was recorded in 2018 with Carrie's consent. I watched the video of Carrie in which she says she is freely giving up all parental rights to [LFH] (youngest) and that she has no further interest in the child or being involved with the child…
Chris said he could provide me a copy of the video via email.”
Then in case 22-2-00100-24[38] Chris Coombes states the following:
“Okanogan County Sheriff Terry Shrable's False Report Investigation for Incident # S22-04930, and that the Video of Carrie Coombes testimony proving directly that all of her testimony provided in all three (3) declarations, and two (2) petitions were and are 100%
false, and that Okanogan County Sheriff Terry Shrable is ready, willing and able to testify that
he will be able to identify Carrie Coombes as the person in the video as an ER 103(2) Offer of
Proof for the Court Record that she and I were on good terms, and that she was voluntarily
giving me full custody of my daughters, and that said video is admissible under the business
records exception to the hearsay rule as a police officers business record pursuant to RCW
5.45.020 for Incident # S22-04930, thus satisfying ER 901(a) to be admissible in this court.”
You should call me back this time. Like, for efficiency. Your head would spin if you knew how well all these documents catalogued. And I’d be happy to share this stuff with the Attorney General’s Office. For my safety.
FYI, no one will need to submit a FOIA to read this email because I’m going to start making it public as soon as I hit send. I’m a journalist.[39] We talked about this on 01/05/2024 and you didn’t call OCSO. If you did, well, my request wasn’t updated, I’m not aware of any investigation, and nothing changed, hence the influx in your inbox.
I will continue to publicly email your office with more public information concerning FOAI #23-523[40] until I feel safe, and I don’t feel safe. You not understanding the terror that accompanies my whistleblowing is a symptom of your privilege.[41]
You should talk to OCSO right now because they’re breaking a law[42] that you enforce[43] every single night.
Godspeed,
Syran Warner
[1] Henceforth, OCSO
[2] The ombudsman enforces 42.56 RCW
[3] He’s on the Brady List
[4] See Lifton, Robert J.
[5] The Body
[6] 23-1-00166-24
[7] It was actually the OCSO that “made a fool” of the OCSO
[8] He is in a cult. They’re called The Body. See Alaska case 3KN-12-01986CR for details.
[9] My edit omitting the names of children in these documents because this email is going to be public as soon as it’s sent.
[10] What do you suppose was in that criminal report? Was it a report generated in the State of Washington?
[11] They contacted a sheriff’s office in another county. Why do you suppose they did that?
[12] Terry Shrable
[13] NOT ON DUTY
[14] By U9
[15] Why would it be labeled a criminal matter? It was literally labeled False Report/Conspiracy, which is funny.
[16] I love reading these kinds of details in police reports. It’ll be cool if that’s how he solves the crime!
[17] Per OCSO, there are no records whatsoever of this meeting
[18] You ever watch Dateline, Morgan? I love it. If you’ve never seen it, know that this never, ever happens.
[19] Really? He’d been subpoenaed by the prosecutor to testify against Chris in an upcoming trial. WTF?
[20] You’re dang right they declined, holy cripes. There were subpoenas
[21] Minnesotan parlance
[22] S22-02108
[23] Because OCSO decided not to execute a judges order during S22-01628 and OCSO decided they need a writ of habeas corpus
[24] “You shall have the body” in Latin, ironically enough
[25] Weigle, for instance
[26] Why would that be up to Terry Shrable?
[27] THE IRONY
[28] rn
[29] Once 42.56 RCW was locked in perpetual violation, at least
[30] Three deputy sheriffs went to Respondent's property on the evening of Friday, March 18, 2022, to serve the Temporary Order for Protection and Notice of Hearing and Order to Surrender Weapons on the Respondent. The Sheriff deputies encountered the Respondent and served him with the Ex parte order and Notice of Hearing, and Order to Surrender Weapons.
Declaration of Sheriff's Report dated March 18, 2022, p. 5. Respondent did not relinquish the oldest child, or his weapons, Id. and was therefore in contempt of the Temporary Protection Order. Notwithstanding R.C.W. 25.050.115[1], Sheriff's deputies did not enforce the protection order by removing the minor child, but decided to turn it into a "welfare check." Id.
When questioned by Petitioner about why the Sheriff had not followed the orders and forced Respondent to relinquish the child and his weapons, the deputies did not have a response, other than to state that they would need a writ of habeas corpus in order to pick up the child. (Declaration of Attorney Melanie Baillie, hereinafter Baillie Decl.)
[31] imo
[32] Who Terry Shrable investigated for 43 days with taxpayer money, and never once contacted because he didn’t know how to, even though he literally listed her number at the end of S22-04930, all this information per S22-04930
[33] She’s just a subject in my journalism. I’m a journalist who covers court stuff. Chris calls me, “the cult hunter.”
[34] I don’t give a shit what you think Morgan. Why don’t you do your fucking job, so I don’t have to keep writing these emails and putting my life at risk? Your inaction last week is the kind of shit that gets journalists murdered.
[35] The Bisset’s run a religious organization refered to as “The Body.” See full affidavit.
[36] Google my name, motherflipper
[37] Notes: That is the original formatting. Chris refers to his daughters as property. Sergeant Terry Shrable of OCSO spent 43 days working on a 22-page investigative report about how normal all this is. I hope your gathering documents and making phone calls for the rest of the day unless you think OCSO is going to investigate themselves.
[38] Document 75
[39] Shrable had the guts to question my credentials in S22-04930. A mistake, imo
[40] And make it public!
[41] oops
[42] 42.56 RCW
[43] 42.56 RCW