Foreword for Hell Minus One

by Lieutenant Detective Matt Jacobson
Utah Attorney General’s Office (retired)

In the autumn of 1994, I was at the Utah State Attorney General’s Office working under a legislative grant to investigate satanic ritualistic abuse. Though ritualistic abuse existed, it was proving hard to prosecute. Imagine my surprise and fascination when I received a phone call from a female victim who, wanting to remain anonymous, was willing to provide the AG’s office with information and documentation of her own abuse. After many phone calls, I finally convinced her to bring copies of confession letters from her mother and stepfather, and letters from her siblings confirming this abuse. She agreed to meet with me.

On the day of the appointment, she parked her car a block away (and around the corner) from the Utah State Capitol building, trying to hide her license plate. She refused to give me her name, and all the documented copies she handed to me were covered with white correction fluid to conceal names. She was trying to remain incognito. Imagine her fright and lack of trust. The interview went well and her information was priceless.

As she left the office, I smiled. This woman, so afraid of retribution from her abusers, was wearing the hottest, hot pink jacket I had ever seen! Every security camera in the building could’ve created a Kodak moment at a moment’s request. To date, that woman, Anne A Johnson Davis, still declares that her hot pink blazer was a “power color” that gave her confidence and reassurance. Anne is a woman of confidence.

When Mike King, my AG detective partner, and I traveled to a state in the Pacific Northwest to question Anne’s mother and stepfather about allegations of satanic ritual abuse, we found the contents of their confession letters to her to be true. They confessed to us—in person. The allegations were confirmed. Anne has suffered and now healed. Her writing and lectures give hope to others that they too may heal, and no longer label themselves as victims.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is bitter potion by which the
physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink
his remedy in silence and tranquility:

For his hand, though heavy and hard,
is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn
your lips, has been fashioned of the clay
which the Potter has moistened with His
own sacred tears.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran