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Mother convicted of deaths of 2 girls found on Colorado farm

DENVER (AP) — A jury in southwest Colorado has convicted a mother of two girls who died after they were banished to a car without food or water by members of a doomsday religious group because the girls were thought to have been impure.

Nashika Bramble was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder in the 2017 deaths of 10-year-old Makayla Roberts and 8-year-old Hannah Marshall, KMGH-TV in Denver reported . The sisters’ bodies were found in a car parked on a San Miguel County farm near Norwood in September 2017. Authorities said they died of heat, dehydration and starvation.

Bramble, who is expected to be sentenced this fall, was a member of a religious group that moved to the property earlier that year.

Investigators say they believe the group’s spiritual leader, Madani Ceus, declared the two girls were possessed by unclean spirits during a past life and ordered them kept in a car without food or water for days as the others waited for the apocalypse in advance of the 2017 solar eclipse.

Former West Virginia bishop disciplined by pope

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — Pope Francis has issued disciplinary action against a former West Virginia bishop, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said Friday.

The diocese posted the pope’s decision on its website, saying former bishop Michael Bransfield can’t live within the diocese, can’t participate in any public celebration of the liturgy and must make amends “for some of the harm he caused.”

A church investigation found sexual misconduct accusations against Bransfield to be credible. It also found that Bransfield misused church funds, spending them on dining, liquor, gifts, personal travel and luxury items.

The diocese earlier announced financial reforms after Bransfield was found to have misused funds. The new policies were announced in a letter to parishioners this week from Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore.

Bransfield resigned as bishop last year.

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