The Power of Satan: "I Can’t Die," Defendant told Victim

By Raul Mora

Friday, July 2--Two days before Shevawn Geoghegan was killed, she bumped into her one-time "squatter" boy friend Glen Mason at a convenience store. Frantic over their encounter, Geoghegan decided to call the mother of one of her best friends.

"She was furious, she was really angry," Stephanie Barry testified Thursday in the murder trial of Mason. "She felt he was waiting for her."

During the conversation Geoghegan said Mason told her, "I can’t die."

What if a bullet was put through your brain, Geoghegan said she asked Mason.

"You don’t understand," she said Mason told her. "I can’t die."

The new testimony in the February 26, 1998 killing of Geoghegan -- who was strapped to a chair and strangled in an abandoned mental health facility on Euclid Street – provided a glimpse into a the mind of Mason.

A drifter known on the streets as "Jason Ballis," Mason was dedicated to the service of Satan. He also controlled a harem of teenage runaways known as "Ballis’ angels," said one of his former girlfriends, Jessica Barry.

Nearly a year and a half after the killing, the defendant still had a "powerful" influence. When asked if she still loved Mason, Barry testified, "Part of me very much so." The other part of her, Barry added, "hates him."

"He would date (Geoghegan) then date me," Barry said. "It was like it kept going in circles."

While this situation led to some friction between Barry and Geoghegan, both girls decided not to let their love triangle pull them apart. The trio later spent time together in one of Mason’s "squats" following his house rules, sacrificing animals and doing speed.

But Geoghegan had a tendency to rile up her acquaintances. "She was just this tiny little thing and she had this big ol’ mouth," Barry said.

Geoghegan’s arguments with Mason escalated to the point where he would threaten to kill her, Barry said. No one took the threat seriously though, even after Mason killed a rabbit during an argument with Geoghegan.

"He had it in his hand," Barry said. "He took the rabbit and chucked it at the curve. I think it died instantly."

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Glen Mason was a "Squat Nazi" who controlled two abandoned buildings in the city -- a home on Idaho Avenue and the mental health facility on Euclid, where he was both feared and obeyed by his guests, witnesses have testified.

Inside his homes the Satanic vagrant’s words ruled the actions of his guests, Barry said. Over time Mason was able to convince his peers to sacrifice animals in the worship of Satan.

One time, Mason hung a rabbit up, spray painting it, and setting fire to it while it was still alive.

Mason – who worshipped his devil at all times -- took Barry under his wing and began teaching her prayers in a language she was not familiar with.

"I thought he was asleep, he started to talk in this voice," Barry said, describing it as high pitched.

Barry also testified she once saw a demon in the "squat." But under cross examination by defense attorney Marc Lewinstein, she acknowledged that it could have been a hallucination brought on by her lack of sleep due to speed.

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The year before Geoghegan’s murder, Stephanie Barry had allowed the then 21-year-old Glen Mason to socialize with her daughter, hoping that the vagrant would be a good influence.

Their relationship blossomed, and Mason was allowed to sleep at the Barry’s home during the rainy "El Nino" months.

By the time Jessica decided to run away with Mason, Stephanie Barry had grown to hate the drifter, blaming him for her daughter’s sexually transmitted disease.

Barry later warned Mason that Jessica was in a drug treatment hospital in Utah, where she would be safe from him. After cursing Barry, Mason hung up the phone.

He decided that he would go to Utah in a stolen van and break Jessica Barry out.

The trail will resume Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. in Department P.