In the mid-1980s, supporters of a fringe white supremacist movement in rural Nebraska were shaken by the chilling crimes of Michael Wayne Ryan, a Christian Identity minister who led a ragtag, anti-government compound. Believing an apocalyptic race war was imminent, Ryan and his followers stockpiled weapons and conducted nighttime burglaries to fund their cause. His violent descent culminated in the torture and murder of five-year-old Luke Stice and the gruesome killing of group member James Thimm—who was beaten, mutilated, sexually assaulted, and stomped to death. Convicted in 1986, Ryan was sentenced to death, his case exposing how radical ideology can mask unspeakable brutality.