MGM+ Series Explores 1988 New Jersey Teen Murder-Suicide Case

MGM+ released the first episode in a bone-chilling four-part series on August 31 about the 1988 Morris County tragedy. The disturbing story follows 14-year-old Thomas Sullivan Jr., who killed his mother, burned down their house, and then killed himself.

"When you read his journals, you go, was this mental illness? Was this some kind of abuse going on? Nobody really knows. It's not clear-cut what really happened," said director Eli Roth to Patch.

The teen attacked at their Jefferson home with a Boy Scout knife. In an eerie ritual, he placed occult books in a circle, piled newspapers in the middle, set them on fire, then ran to a neighbor's yard where he died.

Police found the boy's body with deep cuts from ear to ear and across his wrists. They also found books about devil worship at the scene and a strange note suggesting supernatural motivations.

The case grabbed headlines during the 1980s, when people were terrified about satanic influences in popular culture. The boy had started looking into Satan worship for a school project just weeks before the tragedy.

Sullivan seemed like a normal kid before things went wrong - he went to Catholic school and was in Boy Scouts. But problems started at home when he got really interested in occult books.

The show features interviews with police, teachers, and people who were there. True crime podcaster Branden Morgan helps produce after talking to locals about the case in 2021.

New episodes will come out weekly starting August 31, then September 7, 13, and 20. It's the first deep dive into a case that got people talking about teen mental health.

Today's experts study this case to better understand how fear of satanism spread through communities in the 1980s. The series offers new perspectives through fresh interviews with the original investigators.