The Two Faces of Tommy Sullivan
While it’s true that water can be pure, as can elements like gold and copper, such is not always the case with matters of the human spirit. In some instances, even those among us who appear to be above reproach may, in reality, be walking a gilded path. It’s only when the facade crumbles, exposing the demons within, that the truth comes to light and by then, it’s too late.
This shocking tale of a good kid gone bad started innocently enough in November of 1987 when fourteen-year-old Thomas “Tommy” Sullivan Jr. followed a friend down a rabbit hole from which he would never emerge. Even more shockingly, it appeared as though his downward spiral was inadvertently set in motion by a well-intentioned priest.
A freshman at a private Catholic school in Essex County, New Jersey, Tommy Sullivan was considered the cream of the crop. A star performer on the wrestling team, he was also active in the church, serving as an altar boy since the age of nine. To top off his impressive resume, he was also a member of the Boy Scouts of America.
Just prior to Thanksgiving break, a theology instructor, who also happened to be a respected priest, gave students the task of writing a paper on another religion as a way of introducing them to beliefs that may differ from their own. When given a list of options to pick from, Tommy had chosen to explore the Mormon faith. In a decision that would come back to haunt him, one of his best friends opted to dive headfirst into the teachings of Satanism.
While the boy’s choice may have seemed questionable to those who assumed that Satanism entailed worshipping the devil, the reality was much more benign, at least in theory. In most instances, practitioners of this polarizing faith center their energies around individualism, personal freedom and self-awareness. Unfortunately, Tommy’s friend had gone another way, placing his focus on the fringe element who take the word Satanism literally. Enthralled by stories of blood offerings and the summoning of demonic entities said to occur around bonfires in the witching hour, the teenager wanted to learn more. With no desire to venture into the dark realm alone, he had recruited Tommy to come along for the ride. He couldn’t have known that with this simple act, he had unleashed a monster.
Over the course of the next six weeks, Tommy’s fascination with the malevolent side of Satanism became all-consuming. The situation went from bad to worse when his friend introduced him to an individual who claimed to be an active member of a local congregation of devil worshippers. After attending a gathering in the woods in which hooded figures had participated in rituals he thought only existed in horror movies, the ninth grader knew that he had found his calling.
On the evening of January 19, 1988, Tommy’s thirty-seven-year-old mother Betty Ann had confronted him about his unhealthy interest in the occult. It wasn’t the first time the two had butted heads over his newfound obsession, but it would be the last.
As his father, Thomas Sr., and younger brother Brian slept in their upstairs bedrooms, Tommy had stabbed his mother repeatedly with the blade of his multi-tool Boy Scout knife. When he was sure she was dead, he had dragged her body to the basement. He had then arranged his collection of books dedicated to the practice of Satanism in a circle on the floor. After filling the inside of the circle with crumpled newspaper, he had set the room ablaze before fleeing the house.
At 10:30 p.m., Thomas Sr. was awakened by the sound of smoke detectors going off throughout the house. After getting Brian to safety and phoning 911, he had gone in search of Betty Ann and Tommy.
After looking high and low, he discovered his wife’s body lying prone on the basement floor. His eldest son was nowhere to be found. While emergency personnel were able to extinguish the fire, there was nothing they could do to save Betty Ann, whose body bore the markings of a homicide.
As police cars, ambulances and fire trucks descended on the area, Tommy Sullivan hid in a nearby yard, watching the chaos he had created. Whether he was pleased with his actions or drowning in remorse will never be known. He made sure of it.
Early the next morning, a neighbor found Tommy’s lifeless body in his backyard. The medical examiner determined that he had sustained several self-inflicted wounds to his neck and wrists. The cause of death was ruled suicide. That the altar boy who had worn his faith like a badge of honor for as long as anyone could remember had committed a mortal sin in the eyes of the Catholic Church was another piece of a convoluted puzzle that made no sense to those who thought they knew him.
When the investigation into the murder/suicide was complete, authorities determined that Tommy had murdered his mother in a fit of rage. Instead of killing his father and brother in the same manner, he had set the house on fire, believing they would either succumb to smoke inhalation or be consumed by flames. In his haste, he had forgotten to disengage the fire alarms, an oversight that had foiled his plans.
Upon searching the house for clues, officers discovered a suicide note among Tommy’s belongings. Although the content has never been made public, they did say that the note had been penned prior to the argument that ended in his mother’s murder. The only other piece of information authorities deemed suitable for public consumption was the revelation that the correspondence was laden with “satanic symbols.” Considering that these tragic events took place during the “satanic panic,” a morality play that took hold in the 1980s and continued well into the ’90s, the investigators’ willingness to accept the occult angle at face value was not surprising.
During those strange days, a staggering number of people believed that role playing games, horror movies and music were the tools of Satan. At the height of the frenzy, Satanism was being blamed for everything from child abuse to murder. With this in mind, it’s not much of a stretch to assume that the interpretation of the symbols found on the suicide note may have been influenced by the times. Since the images were kept under wraps, there’s really no way of knowing for sure.
In the aftermath of the crime that shook an entire community, the rumor mill churned with accusations that Tommy had been a victim of sexual abuse by one of the parish priests. His helplessness transitioning to rage, he had looked elsewhere for salvation. Even though no evidence was ever presented to back up this claim, those who knew the teen before everything went wrong could think of nothing else that would have led him down such a dangerous, and ultimately fatal, path.
While this makes some sense in the larger scheme of things, there are other possibilities to consider, namely, that Tommy Sullivan had been holding back his demons for a very long time. Aware that something wasn’t quite right with his wiring, he had immersed himself in the teachings of the Catholic Church in an attempt to keep his dark side at bay. If this was truly the case, his brief foray into the world of Satanism had little to do with his decision to take both his mother’s life and his own. Unable to face who he really was, he had found a way to shift the blame from his hand to that of the most loathsome entity known to man. Of course, this is just one of many darts that have been thrown at a proverbial dartboard over the years to see if anything sticks.
To this day, the murder/suicide that occurred on that winter’s night back in 1988 and the most extreme forms of Satanism are almost always mentioned in the same breath. Hopelessly intertwined, either by circumstance or design, it’s become more difficult through the years to tell where one ends and the other begins.
On a sad footnote, Tommy’s twenty-year-old brother Brian took his own life on June 29, 1998. A resident of North Carolina at the time of his passing, his death was yet another blow to a family that had seen more tragedy in the span of ten years than most experience in a lifetime.
Resources:
·njdigestonline.com
·latimes.com
·upi.com
Images used under provisions of the Fair Use Act.