Profile of Child Predator Nathaniel Bar-Jonah

Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was a convicted child predator that was serving a 130-year prison sentence after being found guilty of repeatedly molesting, torturing and attempting to murder children. He was also suspected of killing a child and then disposing of the body through cannibalistic ways that involved his unsuspecting neighbors. Childhood Years Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was born David Paul Brown on February 15, 1957, in Worcester, Massachusetts. As early as age seven, Bar-Jonah demonstrated severe signs of depraved thinking and violence. In 1964, after receiving an Ouija board for his birthday, Bar-Jonah lured a five-year-old girl into his basement and tried to strangle her, but his mother intervened after hearing the child screaming.   In 1970, 13-year-old Bar-Jonah sexually assaulted a six-year-old boy after promising to take him sledding. A few years later he planned to murder two boys in a cemetery, but the boys became suspicious and got away. At 17 years of age, Bar-Jonah pled guilty after being arrested for dressing as a policeman and beating and choking an eight-year-old boy who he ordered into his car. After the beating, the child recognized Brown who was working at a local McDonalds and he was arrested, charged and convicted. Bar-Jonah received a year of probation for the crime. Kidnapping and Attempted Murder Three years later, Bar-Jonah dressed as a policeman again and kidnapped two boys, made them undress and then began strangling them. One of the boys was able to escape and contact the police. Authorities arrested Brown and the other child was located, handcuffed inside his trunk. Bar-Jonah was charged with attempted murder and received a 20-year prison sentence. Sick Thoughts While incarcerated Bar-Jonah shared some of his fantasies of murder, dissection, and cannibalism with his psychiatrist who made the decision in 1979 to commit Bar-Jonah to the Bridgewater State Hospital for Sexual Predators. Bar-Jonah remained at the hospital until 1991, when Superior Court Judge Walter E. Steele decided that the state had failed to prove he was dangerous. Bar-Jonah left the institution with a promise from his family to the court that they would be moving to Montana. Massachusetts Sends the Problem to Montana Bar-Jonah attacked another boy three weeks after his release and was arrested on assault charges, but managed to be released without bail. A deal was made that required that Bar-Jonah join his family in Montana. He also received two years probation. Bar-Jonah kept his word and left Massachusetts. Once in Montana, Bar-Jonah met with his probation officer and disclosed some of his past crimes. A request was made to the Massachusetts probation office to send more records regarding Bar-Jonah’s history and psychiatric past, but no additional records were sent. Bar-Jonah managed to stay away from police until 1999 when he was arrested near an elementary school in Great Falls, Montana, dressed as a policeman and carrying a stun gun and pepper spray. Authorities searched his home and found thousands of pictures of boys and a list of boys names who were from Massachusetts and Great Falls. Police also uncovered encrypted writings, decoded by the FBI, that included statements such as little boy stew, little boy pot pies and lunch is served on the patio with roasted child. Authorities concluded that Bar-Jonah was responsible for the 1996 disappearance of 10-year-old Zachary Ramsay who vanished on his way to school. It was believed that he kidnapped and murdered the child then cut up his body for stews and hamburgers that he served to unsuspecting neighbors at a cookout. In July 2000, Bar-Jonah was charged with Zachary Ramsay’s murder and for kidnapping and sexually assaulting three other boys who lived above him in an apartment complex. The charges involving Ramsay were dropped after the boys mother said she did not believe Bar-Jonah killed her son. For the other charges, Bar-Jonah was sentenced to 130 years in prison for sexually assaulting one boy and torturing another by suspending him from a kitchen ceiling. In December  2004, the Montana Supreme Court turned down Bar-Jonah’s appeals and upheld the conviction and 130-year prison sentence. On April 13, 2008, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was found dead in his prison cell. It was decided that the death was a result of his poor health (he weighed over 300 pounds) and the cause of death was listed as myocardial infarction (heart attack).