Norman “Snake” Brooks was the founder and leader of a communal group known as the Children of the Valley of Life. He first appeared in Eugene, Oregon, in the 1970s with several of his wives and followers. Brooks, originally from Austin, Texas, had a troubled past, claiming to have been a car thief before becoming a Baptist reverend. He used the name “Snake,” he said, because “you never know what a Snake is gonna do.”
The group, which consisted of more than a dozen women ranging from teenagers to a 56-year-old divorcée, had a vision of a new, self-sufficient, and charitable life based on Christianity. Many of the women had left behind what they considered to be stifling social norms or difficult pasts. They were a diverse group, including runaways, college students, and young mothers, many from California.
In 1972, their car broke down in rural Lane County, just outside Eugene. They decided to stay and moved into an abandoned cabin on public forest land, seeking to avoid the rising crime and drug use in the city. The group was isolated and broke during a record-cold winter, subsisting on game and limited provisions. During this time, Brooks fathered at least three children with members of the Family, as they had come to call themselves.
In the spring, authorities learned of the group’s illegal homesteading. This led to a raid by a large rescue party, including sheriff’s detective Roy Dirks, who had a reputation for being a “quick draw” and often blurred the lines of the law. During the raid, Brooks was arrested for poaching, and the children were taken from their mothers and placed in social services. This was the first of many confrontations between Brooks and Dirks.
After a contentious legal battle, the women were able to regain custody of their children. The Family then took up residence in Eugene. Brooks began to show an entrepreneurial streak, opening a chain of three 24-hour diners called Lighter Brown Darker Brown. The group also founded the Children of the Valley of Life church and started a rogue highway rescue service. They even produced their own children’s television show on a local public access channel.
The group’s ventures were primarily funded by Beverly Daugherty and her college-age daughter Maureen, who had joined the Family. Beverly, the ex-wife of a respected local physician, had filed for divorce and liquidated marital assets, causing a public scandal. The diners, staffed by young women and operating on a cash-only basis, fueled local gossip and suspicion that the operation was a front for criminal activity. This scrutiny was compounded by racist attitudes in Eugene, a city with a history of being a Black exclusion state.
The tension between Brooks and Dirks, who had a complex relationship, continued to escalate. Brooks claimed that his diners were being broken into, but the police did not act. In response, he held a press conference where he claimed that $2 million had been stolen and threatened to burn the restaurants down if the police did not intervene. This only intensified the gossip and led to a police raid on one of the restaurants where the Family was living. The women fought back, violently assaulting officers, although no evidence of drugs or child abuse was found.
With public opinion turning against them, the Family’s businesses failed, and they became impoverished. They retreated to a forest near Lorane and moved into a makeshift home in an abandoned miner’s cave. This move prompted yet another police raid, again displacing the group and leading to the temporary removal of their children. Despite the harassment, Brooks maintained his friendly banter with Dirks, who was openly boastful about his role in the group’s troubles.
On April 11, 1975, the years-long conflict came to a head. The Family, having fled threats from locals, made a new camp near the Blue River Reservoir. Dirks, who was investigating the death of a man whose body was found in the reservoir, headed to the area. The next morning, Dirks was found dead, shot once in the head. A massive manhunt was launched for Brooks and the Family, who split into two groups and fled.
After several days, authorities located Brooks and the remaining members, who surrendered without a fight. Brooks was taken into custody and charged with the murder of Roy Dirks. All 18 women in the Family were held in separate jails and subjected to aggressive interrogations. One of the women, Belinda Lederer, was a former Catholic novitiate and mother to one of Brooks’s children.
During Brooks’s trial, the prosecution’s case began to fall apart when forensic evidence showed that the fatal shot was fired from a rifle used by Lederer. The prosecution had claimed that Brooks, a charismatic leader likened to Charles Manson, had directed Lederer to kill Dirks. However, Brooks maintained that he hadn’t shot Dirks because he didn’t believe the detective was going to shoot him, but that “you don’t fool with a woman; you don’t know what a woman’s going to do.”
The prosecution’s argument that the women were under Brooks’s mind control was weakened by juror testimony and Lederer’s own statements. Jurors noted that the women appeared to be strong-willed, single mothers who had found a community, not a cult, and that Brooks did not project a dominant personality. Unable to prove that Brooks had ordered Lederer to shoot Dirks, the prosecution dropped the murder charges. He was instead found guilty of hindering prosecution for fleeing the scene and giving false evidence and sentenced to five years in prison.
In a separate trial, Lederer’s attorney argued that her actions were a justifiable response to years of harassment and that she was acting in self-protection. Lederer testified that she was terrified of what Dirks might do and that her actions were instinctive. She broke down on the stand, saying, “I didn’t mean to kill him.” The jury found Lederer guilty of manslaughter, not murder, and she received a maximum 10-year sentence.
After Brooks’s conviction, the remaining Family members moved to Salem to be near the prison where he was incarcerated. When he was released, they moved to Maui, Hawaii, where they had purchased a large property. They began a new life, creating a business of digging fishponds. The group continued to have legal entanglements in Hawaii over alleged crimes and child custody issues.
Years later, in 1979, Dirks’s children won a $1.2 million wrongful death lawsuit against Brooks. They have spent decades trying, unsuccessfully, to collect the judgment. Belinda Lederer, no longer a member of the Family, became an artist. Norman “Snake” Brooks died in 2016, with some of his original followers still by his side.
Key Sources:
Chambers, J. (2023). Murder & mayhem in the Willamette Valley. Arcadia Publishing.
McConnell, R. (2025, March 24). ‘Things that could not be avoided.’ Alta Online.
Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 