Robert Earnest Rozier

Serial Killer

Robert Earnest Rozier: Murders Committed for the Nation of Yahweh

From Professional Football to a Violent Religious Movement

Robert Earnest Rozier Jr. was born on July 28, 1955, in Anchorage, Alaska, and was raised primarily in California. Before becoming a convicted murderer, he was a talented athlete who played defensive end at the University of California, Berkeley. The St. Louis Cardinals selected him in the ninth round of the 1979 National Football League draft. Rozier appeared in six regular-season games for the Cardinals and later spent time with teams in the Canadian Football League and briefly joined the Oakland Raiders. His professional football career was short and unstable. After leaving the sport, Rozier experienced financial and legal problems and eventually became involved with the Nation of Yahweh, a Miami-based religious movement led by Hulon Mitchell Jr., who called himself Yahweh ben Yahweh. The organization presented itself publicly as a spiritual and economic movement for Black empowerment, but prosecutors later described an inner circle that used intimidation, beatings, arson and murder to punish opponents and enforce the leader's authority. Rozier met Yahweh ben Yahweh during the early 1980s and became deeply committed to the organization. He surrendered his possessions, separated himself from much of his former life and adopted the religious name Neariah Israel. His size, athletic background and willingness to obey orders made him valuable to a secret group within the Nation of Yahweh known as the Brotherhood. Members of this group were sometimes referred to as "death angels."

The Brotherhood and Its Initiation Murders

According to testimony later given in federal court, the Brotherhood was expected to carry out violent assignments for Yahweh ben Yahweh. These assignments included retaliatory attacks against former members, neighborhood residents and people who challenged the organization. The group also targeted white victims because Yahweh ben Yahweh repeatedly taught that white people were enemies who should be destroyed. Rozier testified that a man seeking full acceptance into the Brotherhood was expected to kill a white person and return with physical proof of the murder. An ear, finger, head or another body part could be presented as evidence that the order had been completed. The killings were therefore not simply spontaneous acts of personal violence. They were portrayed within the organization as demonstrations of loyalty and obedience. In April 1986, Rozier was directed to kill a white man as his initiation. He wandered through the Coconut Grove area of Miami until he encountered an intoxicated man named Glendell Fowler. Rozier followed Fowler into an apartment and confronted him while carrying a Japanese-style knife. He told Fowler that he was an angel sent by Yahweh and stabbed him to death. During the attack, Rozier discovered a second man, Kurt Doerr, inside the apartment. Rather than leave a witness, Rozier stabbed Doerr to death as well. He considered decapitating the victims and bringing their heads back to Yahweh ben Yahweh, but reportedly decided that carrying the heads would attract police attention. The exact day of the double homicide is not consistently identified in available court accounts, but the killings occurred in April 1986 in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Raymond Kelly Age: (61), Date of Death: 1986-09-05

Robert Rozier - Wikipedia