Susan Alamo, born Edith Opal Horn, married Hoffman in 1966 after which the two changed their names to Tony and Susan Alamo. The ministry has buildings in Moffett and Muldrow. Another former wife of imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo has been added as a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit that names the ministry, church-run businesses and high-ranking individuals in the organization as defendants. [11], In 1976, the church relocated to Dyer, Arkansas, where Susan had grown up. Amy was 14. Our website includes affiliate links, which means we get a small commission -- at no additional cost to you -- for each qualifying purpose. I wanted to push him to see if he could keep his balance in his elevator shoes. The miniseries describes their founding and running of the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation which the program characterizes as a "cult" through which the Alamos became rich by exploiting their followers who truly believed in them. In 2007, the Southern Poverty Law Center listed the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries as a hate group, citing its anti-Catholic literature and rhetoric. He kept the presses at his print shop running day and night, churning out literature about Satanic conspiracy theories perpetrated against him and the church. If hed married Brooke Shields I would be jealous. Widely regarded as a cult, Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was at the center of a number of lawsuits and government actions, and its leader was jailed on a variety of charges, including income tax evasion, the theft of his late wifes body, and taking underage girls across state lines for sex. Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life. She said an address on his posters the urge music fans to send in the votes for entertainer of the year is Alamos post office box in Los Angeles. This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award. 2023 Encyclopedia of Arkansas. He keeps his life private but we will mention it as we found. Ive done well. In the midst of his supposed third marriage, a 1986 Arkansas Gazette report concluded that Gyllenhammar had actually been Alamo's sixth wife, as he had apparently been married four times prior to Susan. Preacher Alamo Told to Return Wife's Remains. In 1982, the same year that Susan Alamo died,[15] the foundation was discontinued and replaced by the newly incorporated Music Square Church (MSC). 25-Apr-1925, m. 1966, d. 8-Apr-1982 cancer) Wife: Birgetta Oyllenhammer (m . Below are several (but not all) of Tony Alamos alleged wives. Hed lost his best friend, business partner and favorite wife and she was only 56. Alamo died in federal custody in North Carolina on May 2, 2017. Some days are easier than others.. Church members branched out to begin small businesses within the nearby community of Alma, Arkansas. But look who he married? Picture taken in 1993. In the reported belief that she would rise from the dead,[4] her embalmed body was kept on display for six months,[8] before it was entombed in a heart-shaped marble mausoleum on church property. Like a cheap carnival act, Coie recalled last week, he kept it on display in an open casket, telling church followers that Susan Alamo would rise from the dead. At one time, Alamo owned as many as twenty-nine businesses in nearby Alma, including Alamo Western Wear, as well as Alamo Restaurant and Alamo Discount Grocery. . Additional support provided by the Arkansas Community Foundation. Original Design by Gurpartap Singh, Eye Witness & First Hand Accounts of Abuse, Tony Alamos second wife says theyre not divorced, 1986-03-06 Press Argus Courier Alamos second wife says theyre not divorced. Alamo is the president of the Alama-based Alamo Christian Foundation. He remained in prison until his death in May 2017 . The total number of wives he has accumulated is unclear, to be sure. History: Alys went to Tony Alamos house in Fouke, Ark at 11 yrs old to become Alamos wife. Ten would be convicted on ten counts, all related to trafficking underage girls across state lines. "They did not leave a paper trail," said Tampa police Detective Grady Snyder. [12], The church published religious tracts and distributed tapes of sermons by the Alamos. They have a son, Tabor, together. Her mother Suzanne and step-father, Bob Streit, are still with the Alamo group. Gyllenhammar is seeking a five-figure monthly alimony as part of her settlement. Saying he appreciated the articles about Alamo, Amrhein insisted, Ill keep the kids. The children are brainwashed, but they will be OK, said Amrhein, who is involved in a bitter custody fight with his former wife, Elizabeth Amrhein-Alamo, who claims to have married, Tony Alamo, the Alma-based evangelist and has been living at his Dyer home with her children. At the end of a trial that included several women testifying that they had been sexually abused by Alamo, some having been forced to become his wives as young as eight years old, Alamo was found guilty on July 24, 2009, on ten counts of taking underage girls across state lines for sex. I still do, said Coie, who last saw her mother in 1971 when she quit the sect against her parents wishes. Shown here with their son, Sion. [16], Tony Alamo was arrested numerous times, beginning with an illegal weapons possession charge in 1966 for which he served time before he married Edith Opal Horn,[15][11] and culminating in his 2009 conviction on ten counts of transporting minors as young as 9 years old across state lines for sex. Tony Alamo talks to reporters as he is escorted to a waiting police car outside the federal courthouse in Texarkana, Ark. Today, the girl born into the Alamo church is a grown woman, as is her younger sister, and Coies pride in both her daughters is immense. Christian communities were good business in Hollywood, and The Alamo Christian foundation grew steadily over the next decade. The church quickly expanded its holdings, buying several businesses and establishing a compound in nearby Saugus. Says Randall Harris, a retired FBI agent who investigated the case: The world revolved around Tony Alamo.. History: In 1993 Misheal Eden Jones-Williams became Tonys wife at 18 years old. The Alamo Christian Foundation was an American cult founded in 1969 by Christian evangelist Tony Alamo and one of his wives, Susan Alamo. Elizabeth Mercado Unofficial wife of Tony Alamo. Shown here in 1993 at Alamos birthday party before she became a wife and again after she was unofficially married to Alamo. 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The various publications his ministry offered, such as The Vatican Moscow Washington Alliance, detailed his conspiracy theories. [4], After divorcing their respective spouses, Horn and Hoffman married in a 1966 Las Vegas ceremony, legally changing their names to Tony Alamo and Susan Alamo. Tony Alamo and his wife, Susan, established a church in Nashville called the Music Square Church, located near Printers Alley. Her estranged daughter, Christhiaon Coie, brought a suit against Tony for stealing the body, and her stepfather obtained a court order requiring the body to be returned.[14]. [20], Alamo died on May 2, 2017, while he was in custody at the Federal Medical Center, Butner in Butner, North Carolina. Susan Alamo died in April 1982. [1][2] In the 1960s, he worked in Hollywood as a pop singer under the names Mark Hoffman and Marcus Abad. Hughes, Dave. Nicky, 12, and Amanda, 10, but apparently she violated conditions placed on her by the court. Tony Alamo was looking at child porn charges. The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. He lost the suit as well as an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1985, the same year that the IRS retroactively revoked the tax exempt status for his church for the years 1977 to 1980. Coie, a 45-year-old singer, said last week she had not expected a monetary award but sued to preserve some semblance of her mothers dignity. McNeil, Betsy. Alamo has fathered three children by different women who live in his home as secretaries. Every day is a milestone, Amy says. Creating an account gives you access to all these features. . Members could stop by the compound in Dyer, from its perch looking out over the Ozark Mountains, and view the embalmed body of Susan Alamo. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. In November of that year, the judge sentenced him to 175 years in prison. The Alamo Christian Foundation had churches in Chicago, Nashville, Miami Beach and Brooklyn. 1A, 11A. Around the time of his wifes death, Tony changed the name of the church and consolidated its power. Alamos attorneys kept the issue before the courts from 1985 to 1992, arguing that church-owned enterprises were exempt from federal income taxes because they were churches in disguise. A few years later, her estranged daughter, Christhiaoan Coie, successfully sued him in 1995 for access to her mothers body for burial. My mother learned strong-arm tactics from my father and then finessed it with religion, Coie said. Tony and Susan Alamo on one of their album covers. Hes a convicted tax evader and a flamboyant evangelist who once ran what authorities called a multimillion-dollar, Saugus-based cult. The saga began in 1982 when, instead of burying his 59-year-old wife, Alamo brought her embalmed body back to his compound near tiny Dyer, Ark. Susan died in the early Spring of 1982. She later claimed her husband beat and drugged her and demanded she undergo plastic surgery to make her look like Susan. In the early 1940s, Susan moved west to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Between 1986 and 1990, the preacher remarried twice. Additional support provided by the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation Inc. He was convicted on July 4, 2009. But after Susan died in 1982, Alamos behavior turned more deviant as he extolled the righteousness of polygamy and marrying young girls. The trial included testimony from church members who proved Alamo Ministries had accumulated $9 million in income for three years when he paid zero taxes. Sprinkle said she, her parents and others were beaten severely. In return, their own needs would be met and their children would receive basic education through high school. Alamo Mansion in Disrepair, Entered Now on a Dare. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 9, 2017, pp, 1A, 9A. It lost on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals in 1999. She said Alamo had sent her a telegram saying they were divorced, but she has been unable to get a divorce decree either in Van Buren or Nashville because he will not appear in court. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Communal living was a staple of the Music Square Church. Williams, John. Said Hutchinson: We get their literature on our windshields about every Sunday morning.. She sings better than he does. Read our Privacy Policy. On September 20, 2008, state and federal officials raided Alamos Fouke (Miller County)compound as part of a two-year investigation into allegations of child abuse and child pornography. 1986-03-06 Press Argus Courier Alamos second wife says theyre not divorced Original Design by Gurpartap Singh, Eye Witness & First Hand Accounts of Abuse. Alamo formed the cult way back in 1969 with his wife Susan when he was a flamboyant preacher on the streets of Hollywood. The other children (Tabor and Antoinette) were conceived during Alamo and Kroopfs marriage and the biological mothers (Lydia Willis and Elizabeth Mercado) are in the group and currently living with (or near) Alamo. It would turn out this marriage would be forever for only one of them. In the official record, Tony Alamo is listed as a pastor. His booming voice could be heard on the radio from Alabama to Africa, trying to convert a new flock. Its no wonder you get rich when you dont pay your bills. He took all my jewelry and gave it to Elizabeth. She said, Im a successful designer. Lydia and Tabor are no longer in associated with the group or Tony Alamo. She didnt hink he will hold on to his wealth much longer. In addition to clothing, the church produced music and began distributing Christian music and sermons nationally. There is nothing I can do to make it go away, but I try my hardest.. 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