Arne Cheyenne Johnson 'blacked out' and claimed he stabbed his landlord four times in the chest while he was possessed by the devil Feb. 16, 1981, his lawyer said. The case sparked one of the most bizarre criminal cases in history that attracted an international media frenzy and later inspired books, movies and documentaries, including a dramatized version of events in 'The Conjuring,' and a current Netflix documentary, 'The Devil Made Me Do It.
don't know if they've been destroyed or what, but I certainly heard them enough times,' he said. 'And it wasn't the voice of an 11-year-old kid.' Witness statements claimed the 'police chief actually witnessed the boy levitate, and he also witnessed objects being thrown around the room,' Minnella said.
'Arne jumped on and said, ‘You leave him alone. Take me. Enter my body,'' Minnella said. 'And the priests are saying, ‘Don’t do this.' And the Warrens are telling him, ‘Don’t do this.' But he continued. He challenged the devil.' That's when Johnson's family believes a demon transferred from Glatzel to Johnson.
Johnson was convicted in November 1981 on a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter and spent about five years in prison of a 10-to-20 year sentence. Looking back, Minnella said even though they couldn't introduce their planned defense, the case was splashed across the front pages of virtually every major newspaper in the country, discussed in depth on every primetime news show and known all over the world. And it worked in their favor.
Director Chris Holt, who sat with David, Alan and Carl Glatzel, as well as Arne Johnson, told Netflix, 'There are people who tell lies, but I sat down with David and Arne and Carl, for hours on end, and their stories never changed.' 'I think they were telling me the truth — but it’s their interpretations of the truth rather than it being a hardened fact. But they believed — and I believed — what they were saying is truthful,' he said.