The headlines arrived as satanic panic gripped 1980s America.
“Satanist teen Uses Scout Knife to Kill Mother, Self.”
“Boy Kills Mother and Himself.”
“Suicides Blamed on Music’s Satanic Spell.”
Jefferson Township’s Thomas “Tommy” Sullivan Jr. was 14 when he killed his mother, Betty Ann Sullivan, by stabbing her with his Boy Scout knife in 1988.
More than 37 years later, a true-crime docuseries will explore the New Jersey case.
The show, called “Let the Devil In,” is hosted by writer, actor and director Eli Roth (“Thanksgiving,” “Borderlands,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Hostel,” “Knock Knock”), also an executive producer.
The four-part series, premiering on MGM+ Sunday (Aug. 31), is based on Branden Morgan’s podcast “The Devil Within.”
Morgan serves as an executive producer on the series from showrunner and director Danielle Franco.
Tommy Sullivan Jr. and his mother had reportedly been arguing about his fixation on satanic ritual and folklore when he fatally attacked her, set the family’s house on fire, then slit his throat in a neighbor’s yard, killing himself.
Tommy’s father, Thomas Sullivan Sr., and brother, Brian Sullivan, then 10, escaped the fire after waking up to a smoke alarm, finding Betty Ann’s body in the basement.
The first season of Morgan’s podcast, released in 2021, examines Tommy — who was a a student at the Rev. George A. Brown Memorial School in Sparta — along with his family and that deadly night at their Jefferson Township home in Morris County.
“Let the Devil In” promises firsthand accounts and interviews related to the 1988 Jersey case, with sources including witnesses, friends, members of the community and law enforcement.
See the trailer below.
“Let the Devil In” premieres Sunday, Aug. 31, 9 p.m. ET/PT on MGM+.
If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
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