BROOKFIELD — Arne Cheyenne Johnson was possessed by the devil when he stabbed Alan Bono several times in the chest and stomach, killing the 40-year-old owner of a Brookfield kennel. At least, that’s what the 19-year-old’s defense said four decades ago. And that’s the plot of a new Warner Bros. horror film set to be released this week.
But some of those who were there on that February night don’t recall anything supernatural. They remember a dazed 19-year-old man and a very sad situation.
It was 1981, and the small Connecticut town, nestled between Danbury and New Milford, had never had a murder inside its borders before, much less one where the defense claimed demonic possession. In fact, it was the first known time this line of reasoning had been used to argue a murder case.
That made it perfect material for the upcoming thriller ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,’ which debuts in theaters June 4 and is loosely based on this small yet bizarre piece of the town’s history.
While it’s expected to gross $15-to-25 million on its opening weekend from eager viewers, many of those who witnessed and took part in Johnson’s arrest and the unprecedented trial that followed are wary of Hollywood’s version of events.
The story Hollywood latched on to goes something like this: Arne Johnson was dating a young woman named Debbie Glatzel, whose younger brother David, was thought to be possessed by the devil. During an exorcism at the Glatzel house, Johnson allegedly challenged the devil to enter him in order to protect David, which Johnon claimed devil did. This, in turn, led Johnson to murder Bono while possessed.
Did the devil make him do it? Many residents don’t believe that version of events. But several are curious to know how Hollywood plans to tell their story.
To watch or not to watch
At this point, many of the locals who were involved in Johnson’s arrest and trial all those years ago have seen— or stumbled across— a trailer for the movie.
“It’s very obvious that they’re producing this for the entertainment value,” said John Lucas, who was the lead investigator on the case for the Brookfield Police Department. “I think it’s removed from the reality that occurred.”
Lucas, who has historically been reticent to talk about the case, does not plan on seeing the movie.
“I don’t grasp it at all,” said Peg Ellis, wife of Norman Ellis who was the ambulance captain and also working for the local police department. She has a different explanation: “It was guys that were drinking and fighting over a chick.”
Peg Ellis remembers listening to the police scanner in her home as Norman made the call to the dispatcher. Norman Ellis had left home in the middle of dinner after the call came in, and Peg wanted to keep abreast of when he’d be back. She heard him tell the dispatcher he had run across Johnson trying to climb up an embankment near Pocono and Silvermine Road.
“I saw a little bit of the trailer and I’m disappointed,” said resident Joe Lamparelli who grew up in Brookfield and was one of the first responders to the crime scene.
Lamparelli said he was there that day, speaking to the witnesses, and filed the initial police report.
“It’s nothing even close to really what I recollect,” he said.
What Lamparelli saw on screen while watching the trailer was not Brookfield, and while he assumed the movie would go off-script, its focus on demonology was even more than he expected.
From the very first scene of the trailer— which shows a gaunt, blood-stained Johnson walking down a road in the bright daylight as a police car turns on its siren— Lamparelli was bothered by Hollywood’s most basic inaccuracies. The movie wasn’t even filmed in Brookfield, he said.
“He was hardly Charlie Manson. He was a country bumpkin. He was a cute little guy with curly hair and everything else,” Lamparelli said. “We didn’t feel threatened in any way shape or form at the time.”
Lucas said he thought it was a traumatic situation for everyone involved, and remembers having to sit down with the stunned Johnson to explain why he was being arrested.
In his report, Lamparelli had also noted that Johnson seemed dazed and that he had told them he “didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“Maybe somebody just twisted that into being possessed,” Lamparelli said.
Lucas remembers paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren coming to talk to them at the police station. He said that while they were very professional, it was clear to him that they were in the entertainment business, and he was very skeptical of what they were saying.
The Ellises are probably going to watch the film. And Lamparelli also plans to see it because he wants to know what happens. “I’ll try to anyway,” he added.
Even Johnson’s lawyer, Martin Minnella, is curious to see what happens in the movie, and more specifically, how he’s depicted. Minnella still practices law out of his Middlebury office and just recently won three cases, with five more pending. He has had his own lawyer looking into the movie, he said.
As a practicing lawyer, he wants to make sure his reputation isn’t impacted.
Specifially, he wants to know how his character is depicted. “They tried to tell my guy they’re using a woman,” Minnella said.
To this day, Minnella stands by the claims made 40 years ago: Arne Johnson was possessed by the devil.
A national sensation
After the Warrens spoke to the press about their suspicions of demonic possession, the story began to reach a much broader national and even global audience. There were calls from major newspapers and television outlets. Everyone was interested in the trial of Arne Johnson, a young man who had allegedly been possessed by the devil, and the town in Connecticut where it happened.
“We were a young department and it became very overwhelming very quickly,” Lucas said, who was just 33 at the time.
Suddenly, the first murder case in Brookfield’s history had a massive spotlight on it.
“We were inundated with literally hundreds and hundreds of letters and newspaper clippings from people all over the world,” Lucas said. “It was a distraction to us because we had our jobs to do on a daily basis.”
Many of the main players in the story still get calls from law professors and students writing term papers.
“I didn’t think this was going to be my 15 minutes of fame in any way shape or form,” said Lamparelli.
But despite the hubbub created, those who were there that night said the case hasn’t had a huge impact on their lives or careers. Brookfield continued on as it always has. The media maelstrom receded, life moved on, people grew older and retired.
Arne Johnson was released from prison after serving a five-year sentence, married Debbie Glatzel, and raised a family.
Peg Ellis said most of their friends thought the demonic possession claims were a “line of garbage,” and that most didn’t pay attention to it after the fact. The town stayed above the fray, she said.
Peter Frengs, Brookfield’s current police captain, was just four years old at the time of the event and didn’t live in Connecticut.
“I’m not sure how many people now know about it,” he said of local discussions around the event.
The department hasn’t received a whole lot of calls recently— Frengs could only recall one Freedom of Information request from a media company.
Still, the new ‘Conjuring’ movie has certainly caused a resurgence in interest. And another documentary on the subject from Discovery is on the way.
Lamparelli, Lucas, Ellis, Minnella and others who played a role in the case mentioned being filmed recently for interview segments in the expected documentary.
“It didn’t bother me,” Lucas said of the interest and questions he’s had over the years, and especially in the last 18 months. “I think there’s a natural curiosity about things that are unknown to us or things we can’t seem to rationalize.”
But this story, he said, seems to have taken on a life of its own.
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