August 18, 2000
A father's private purgatory

By Jayson Larson

It's been over a year since Keith Tarkington has seen his sons. He scoffs at suggestions by friends
who tell him he won't recognize them if he ever gets to see them again. All he knows is he wants to
see them alive.

It has become a fierce yet silent battle in Henderson County's own backyard. On one hand, a father
is battling to find his two young sons, who have been kept from him, against court orders, for well
over a year. On another, the family police think may be sheltering the children refuses to surface
from the confines of their rural Trinidad home.

The patriarch of the family, John Joe Gray, has warned police of a gunfight if law enforcement
attempts to take the two boys from the residence.

It's the same residence where it has been said Gray once allowed the Texas Militia to hold training
exercises. While the family patriarch is no longer a militia member, he is wanted for assaulting a DPS
trooper in Palestine, and he has issued a clear warning to the Anderson County District Attorney's
Office: Come on my land, and be sure to bring plenty of body bags.

The Divorce

While the conflict has remained, for the most part, on the back burner of area residents' minds - if
they know of it at all - the situation has the potential to be disastrous.

Since April of last year, Keith Tarkington has seen his two boys, 4-year-old Joe Douglas and
2-year-old Sammie, one time. That was for only a few minutes in a bar ditch.

State district Judge Carter Tarrance awarded Keith temporary custody of the children during divorce
proceedings on May 26, 1999, about a month short of what would have been the couple's fourth
wedding anniversary.

Keith said he's seen his children "maybe two minutes" since that day. "You know, I hadn't seen them
in about two months at the time. They hardly even recognized me.

"I just said 'I love you, what have you been doing?' ... They acted like (I was) a total stranger."

The judge's initial custody order came after Lisa Tarkington failed to make any court appearances.
Repeated attempts to serve her divorce papers failed, and the only correspondence the court
received from the woman came in a hand-written letter dated May 24, 1999.

"I love Keith very much and wish we could work things out, but he is letting people interfere with his
life," Lisa wrote. "My children's safety and happiness are my first priority."

In the letter, she claimed she does not trust Keith's parents or the court system. "... I don't trust
anyone, Jesus Christ is my protector and my guide."

She ends the letter, in which she alleges her husband abused both her and the children, by writing,
"No justice for the just."

Keith denies ever mistreating his ex-wife or children.

Where Are The Boys?

Discussing his missing sons, the 34-year-old quickly becomes animated and angry. He is frustrated he
hasn't seen the boys in well over a year. He is frustrated with law enforcement for not moving fast
enough to suit him and frustrated with the Grays - who have done something to him he likely will
never forget.

On April 9, 1999, Keith, Lisa and the boys - J.D. and Sammie - were returning from a dinner
celebrating Lisa's 29th birthday. But before reaching home, the Tarkingtons were stopped by a Tool
police officer for a faulty tail light. Upon running his record, the officer learned Keith had three
outstanding warrants and arrested him at the scene.

Then the traffic stop took an unexpected twist. After placing Keith in handcuffs, the officer asked
Lisa her name and birth date. Lisa, whose sister had previously served a stint in jail for refusing to
provide proper ID to police, gave her name but refused to tell the officer her birth date. Her refusal
led to an arrest, and police called a family member of Lisa's to pick up the children.

The couple stayed in jail overnight, and Keith paid his fine and was released when the judge arrived
the next morning. Keith says he told Lisa, who was still incarcerated, that he was going to get the
money to bail her out, but she refused and said she wanted to stay in jail.

In her letter to the court, Lisa claims she tried unsuccessfully to find Keith to help her get out of jail
after he left.

Lisa's mother, Alicia Gray, eventually bailed her daughter out, and Keith and Lisa both landed back at
the Gray residence where they spent most of the rest of that day, April 10, together. But later in the
day, Keith said he asked Lisa to come with him to his parents' house in Gun Barrel City. She said she
wanted to stay at her own parents' house with the kids, and Keith left alone. It was the last time he
would see his kids under normal circumstances.

Keith said when he returned to pick up Lisa and the kids from the Gray house that evening, his wife
didn't come out to meet him. Instead, Keith said, John Joe Gray met him at the fence.

"She was in the house, and her dad came out there and said, 'Look, she said she don't want to be
around you no more. You might as well go on.'"

Religious Roots

By all accounts, the Grays are a deeply religious family. On the gate outside their 47-acre plot, the
Bible references Psalms 91 and Jeremiah 10 are proclaimed. Also posted are the words: "God, Guts
and Guns: Keep us free!" and the warning, "No trespassing. Survivors will be prosecuted."

In his last court appearance before District Judge Jim Parsons in an Anderson County courtroom, Gray
refused to raise his right hand during the routine swearing in.

"I can't swear, your honor," he told Parsons. "It's against my religion."

Gray's promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth "so help himself" sufficed
for the judge in place of raising his hand to be sworn in.

Later during the hearing, when asked if he was a current member of the Texas Militia, Gray said, "No,
sir. I'm a member of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ ... King of kings, Lord of lords."

But theirs is a faith to which many in these parts probably can't relate. At least several of the Grays
are members of the Oregon-based Embassy of Heaven Church. Members of the church, who can be
found in several states across the nation, do not respect the authority of worldly government.

"Jesus explained that in the governments of the world, men lord it over other men. But those in His
Kingdom are not to participate in such activities. In His government, we serve one another," church
doctrine states.

Incidents over the past several years illustrate the Grays' contempt for worldly law. Gray's daughter,
Racheal Dempsey, was arrested by Tool police in 1998 for driving without a state-issued license
plate. Instead, the plates on her Buick Regal were issued by the Embassy of Heaven. She later
presented to the officer vehicle registration and title papers issued by the church organization.

Dempsey's family refused to post the $300 it would have cost to bond the then 24-year-old out of
jail because that would mean recognizing the state's authority.

"That would be putting her back in the system, and we're not in the system," Dempsey's mother,
Alicia, told the Review in 1998. "Anything she signs or anything she does puts her back in the system.
We are out of the corporate government system of the United States."

Dempsey threatened a hunger strike and was eventually released by a frustrated Henderson County
Sheriff's Department.

Avoiding Violence

Area law enforcement, including the Henderson County Sheriff's Department and the local office of
the Texas Rangers, have been monitoring the situation for months, looking for any possible way to
come to a peaceful end to the affair. While maintaining that their first priority is to make sure every
person involved is safe - the children, the Gray family and law enforcement officers - they realize
that a peaceful end may not be possible.

"We want to get every living soul out just as they are: a living soul," said Henderson County Sheriff
H.B. "Slick" Alfred. "We have no desire to harm anybody. We wish to be met by the same desires."

Law enforcement is torn into two distinct and complicated pieces. Despite having a writ of
attachment by which the judge gives police the authority to seize the children, the law prohibits
officers from storming into a home to seize the kids unless they are certain the kids are at the home.
And they aren't.

On the other hand, John Joe Gray has two outstanding warrants against him for assaulting a state
trooper and attempting to disarm a peace officer. The warrants stem from a 1999 Christmas Eve
incident in Palestine when, during a routine traffic stop, an armed Gray bit a state trooper on the
forearm and allegedly attempted to take another trooper's weapon.

Gray's last legal appearance came in January during a bond reduction hearing following his arrest in
Palestine. Judge Parsons reduced Gray's bond from over $300,000 to $52,000. The judge also ordered
Gray to report weekly to Henderson County community supervision officers. Gray never showed, and
forfeited the bond.

Vivian Mauser, a bookkeeper at East Texas Bail Bonds in Tyler which posted Gray's bond, said the
company is in the process of foreclosing on Gray's land. But they have been warned against sending
bounty hunters to arrest Gray at his residence.

"I think they're afraid they're going to get another David Koresh," Mauser said, referring to the 1993
Waco incident where a 51-day standoff ended in the deaths of some 80 Branch Davidians. "They're
afraid if they go in there, the kids are going to end up dead."

Officers have a legal responsibility to serve the warrants, but do not want to start a gunfight by
crossing over onto Gray's property. It has left law enforcement continually pondering the safest way
to resolve the situation.

"We're just going to keep trying to figure ways to avoid (violence)," he said. "I don't know if we're
going to be able to do that."

At least one former friend of the Grays finds it hard to believe the children, if there, are in danger.

"I haven't spoken to the Grays since 1987," said Murchison resident Nancy Eddy, "but after spending
time with them for the better part of 1986, and from watching the way they treat their children and
grandchildren, they would never harm those kids or abuse them in any way."

Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Every second that goes by for Keith Tarkington without his kids is
beginning to resonate with the furious sound of a bomb. And even though he doesn't even think his
boys would recognize him at this point, he still thinks to the days ahead when he will have them by
his side.

"People always tell me, 'If you see them you wouldn't even recognize them.'

"Yes, I would. They are my kids. I know they wouldn't recognize me ... but they've got the rest of
their lives to know me. I just want to be there with them."

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT : Henderson County Sheriff's Office (Texas) -
1-903-675-5128

JOE TARKINGTON
Case Type :Endangered Missing
DOB :jun-24-1996 Age :4 years
Height : 2' 8" - 81 cm
Weight : 22 lbs - 10 kg
Eyes :Blue Hair : Sandy
Circumstances : Children may be in the company of their non-custodial mother. They may still be in
the local area. Joe's nickname is J.D. and Samuel's nickname is Sammie.
Date Missing :apr-09-1999
City of Report :TRINIDAD
State of Report :TX
Country of Report :USA
Case Number :872002

SAMUEL TARKINGTON
Case Type :Endangered Missing
DOB :sep-22-1997 Age :3 years
Height : 2' 0" - 61 cm
Weight : 20 lbs - 9 kg
Eyes :Blue Hair : Sandy
Circumstances : Children may be in the company of their non-custodial mother. They may still be in
the local area. Joe's nickname is J.D. and Samuel's nickname is Sammie.
Date Missing :apr-09-1999
City of Report :TRINIDAD
State of Report :TX
Country of Report :USA
Case Number :872002

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children