The Devil and Doyle Davidson

The turmoil at Water of Life began bubbling to the surface the summer after Maggie's birth. In April 2004, Davidson shocked his inner circle by declaring that, 17 years earlier, God had given him Lisa Staton as his wife. Most of them accepted it, but not without a fight, Davidson says. "They struggled, every one of them," he says. The preacher would later share the news with his television audience.

Davidson claimed his marriage to Patti was in the flesh and his marriage to Lisa, a vivacious brunette at least 20 years younger than him, was pure, "of the spirit."

Core members accused Davidson of adultery and called for him to repent; some left the church.

In June 2004, Davidson announced that God had directed him to give away his Fairfield house, appraised at $227,000. A few weeks after Maggie's murder, he would purchase a big two-story house in Plano only a few blocks from the Statons. Both the home and its elaborate furnishings were paid for by the ministry. Davidson later posted photos of the showcase home on the Internet, as if to tell Lisa her nest was ready.

The relationship boiled into the public eye on September 9, 2004. That's when Davidson went to the Statons' Plano home and demanded that Lisa come live with him. According to a police report, her husband discovered Davidson sitting on top of Lisa, his hands around her throat, trying to cast out the Jezebel spirit so that she would obey him. The Statons called police. Davidson took a swing at JR, according to the report, but JR ducked. An officer smelled alcohol on Davidson's breath and charged him with public intoxication. Davidson admits he'd been drinking but says he "absolutely" wasn't drunk. He ended up paying a $352 fine for public intoxication, but assault charges were dropped when the Statons refused to cooperate with police. Announcing to the church that JR had "betrayed" him by calling the cops, Davidson fired both of the Statons. Lisa's refusal to submit to God's plan became a regular topic of his televised sermons.

Davidson brushed off calls to repent. Of what? He was just obeying God.

The Statons could not be reached for comment, but Lisa has posted this message on the Internet: "Doyle Davidson has been speaking many things both on and off his TV broadcast for some time about me, Lisa, and has also written things on his 'News of Interest' page. It is NOT the spirit of God speaking out of his mouth. Doyle is speaking by a witchcraft divination spirit. Many wicked things have also been said and done in private by Doyle to me and which I will not go into details because God sees, hears, and he knows."

Davidson responded by calling his critics devils and sorcerers.

Dena's soul roiled at every twist in this nightly drama. According to court testimony, after a series of encounters--Lisa chasing Davidson with a fly swatter, Lisa telling Davidson her children hated him--the Statons went into hiding. Davidson says he last spoke to Lisa in June 2005. "She came by and said some things to me. She was mad."

In e-mailed letters, Davidson vilified Lisa for joining forces with a group of former believers who were plotting against him.

"Do you ever consider that your tongue is set on fire from hell?" Lisa shot back in one of her e-mails.

Davidson still expects Lisa to return to him some day. "I saw the power of darkness take Lisa over," he says. "I was horrified to watch her. She lost control, and that devil had her. She became an enemy of mine." But God, he says, will bring her home.

On November 21, 2004, Dena went to Sunday services with John and the children. That day, Davidson severely criticized the Plano Police Department and cursed Lisa's rebellion. He had not been drunk; the accusations against him were from lying spirits. The whole thing was a "set-up by Satan" to destroy his ministry.

Indignant and upset, Dena told John after church about her desire to talk to the police, to demand they drop the charges against this man of God. John took Dena to Davidson, who insisted he could handle the police himself.

The couple argued in the parking lot. "I want to give the baby to Doyle," Dena insisted. "I want to give the baby to God." She was convinced Maggie was supposed to marry Doyle. John didn't take it seriously. Later that day, according to a confidential CPS report obtained by the Morning News, John spanked Dena with a wooden spoon to curb her rebellion.

Dena must have felt her world closing in. Her mother was dying, and her husband was self-absorbed and angry. John had announced they were moving to Grapevine, far away from Thomas. They'd only be able to go to church a few times a week. The post-partum depression now flared into full-fledged psychosis.

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Dear Lisa,

You have been my wife from the foundation of the world. The Lord says that any man that hath touched you is a dead man. --Doyle Davidson, March 4, 2006

On the morning of November 22, 2004, Dena had been reading the Bible, as she had nonstop for four or five days, when she was overwhelmed by a feeling something was wrong. A Bible verse from Matthew was reverberating in her mind. "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

After the arguments at church the day before, the Schlossers had gone to an electronics store, and Dena heard John say, "little arms, little arms" as he picked up 11-month-old Maggie to put her in a cart.