The Real ‘Devil Made Me Do It’ Case: The Trial of Arne Johnson & The Conjuring 3 True Story
The True Story Behind The Conjuring 3
The Connecticut courtroom was silent. Everyone leaned forward as defense attorney Martin Minnella rose and delivered the most shocking claim a jury had ever heard:
It was 1981, and nineteen-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson stood accused of murder. But his lawyers weren’t arguing self-defense or insanity. Instead, they claimed something no U.S. court had ever heard before — that Arne was not guilty because he was under the control of a demon.
This unprecedented case would become known as “The Devil Made Me Do It” trial, later dramatized in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. But what really happened that day in Brookfield, Connecticut? Was Arne Johnson possessed, or was this a desperate attempt to explain a brutal killing?
The Glatzel Family’s Nightmare
The story began months earlier with the Glatzel family. Debbie Glatzel and her fiancé, Arne Johnson, had recently rented a house together in Brookfield. Debbie’s younger brother, eleven-year-old David, was asked to help clean up the new property. That’s when things took a terrifying turn.
David told his family that he saw a strange old man at the house. According to his mother, Judy, David described him as having “burnt-looking skin, with a plaid shirt and torn blue jeans.” But this was no ordinary intruder — David said the man vanished into thin air. Soon after, the boy began having night terrors, waking up screaming, and reporting that the old man was threatening to steal his soul.
As weeks went on, David’s behavior grew more disturbing. He would growl, hiss, and recite passages from the Bible or John Milton’s Paradise Lost — texts he had never studied. He claimed invisible hands choked him, leaving red marks on his neck. His family also reported strange noises in the house: knocking, footsteps, and growls that seemed to come from nowhere.
Terrified, the Glatzels turned to the Catholic Church for help. When local priests couldn’t resolve the disturbances, they contacted two paranormal investigators who were already gaining a national reputation: Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The Warrens Step In
The Warrens were no strangers to demonic cases, but even they described David’s situation as extreme. Lorraine, a self-described clairvoyant, said she saw a “black, misty form” standing next to the boy. Ed claimed the demon spoke through David, at times snarling in multiple voices.
According to the Warrens, David was possessed by not one, but 43 demons. They documented the case extensively, insisting this was not psychological but supernatural. The family said several priests performed minor exorcisms on David, though the Catholic Church later denied that a full exorcism ever took place.
During one of these rituals, something extraordinary happened. Witnesses reported that Arne Johnson, desperate to help his future brother-in-law, shouted at the demon: “Leave him alone! Take me instead!”
Lorraine Warren later told reporters, “It’s dangerous to challenge a demon. But Arne was reckless. He put himself in peril that day.”
The Warrens were no strangers to such chilling encounters. They had previously investigated other infamous hauntings, including the Perron family in Rhode Island — the case that inspired the first Conjuring film — and the terrifying Smurl Haunting in Pennsylvania.
From that point on, David’s condition seemed to improve. But Arne began acting strangely. He would slip into trances, growl, and have sudden fits of rage. Lorraine claimed she warned him not to confront the demon directly. Arne didn’t listen.
The Day of the Murder
On February 16, 1981, Arne called in sick to work. He joined Debbie at the Brookfield kennel, where she worked for their landlord, Alan Bono. Bono, 40, was known to be a heavy drinker but generally friendly.
That afternoon, the group — Arne, Debbie, Bono, and a few others — had lunch together. Bono began drinking heavily and grew belligerent. Later, an argument broke out between him and Arne.
Witnesses said Bono grabbed Debbie’s nine-year-old cousin, refusing to let her go. Arne stepped in. According to testimony, his eyes “glazed over,” and he began growling. Suddenly, he pulled out a 5-inch pocketknife and stabbed Bono more than 20 times, mostly in the chest and stomach.
Bono collapsed and died at the scene. Arne fled into the woods but was arrested within hours.
Police Chief John Anderson, baffled by the brutality of the crime, told reporters: “This was not an accident. To call it self-defense doesn’t fit. Something snapped in him.”
“The Devil Made Me Do It”
Arne was charged with first-degree murder, the first in the history of Brookfield, Connecticut. But his defense would make legal history.
Minnella, his lawyer, declared that Arne was not guilty because he had been possessed at the time of the crime. “The courts have dealt with the existence of God,” he argued, “now they’re going to have to deal with the existence of the devil.”
The Warrens supported the claim, publicly stating that Arne had been targeted by the demon that once tormented David. Lorraine told the press, “Arne wasn’t himself when he did this. The demon had him.”
The media swarmed the case, calling it the “Demon Murder Trial.” Reporters from across the country filled the small courthouse, eager to hear how possession might be argued in a court of law. Some mocked the defense; others leaned in with fascination.
But Judge Robert Callahan swiftly rejected the possession defense, ruling that such a claim could never be proven in a court of law. Possession, he said, was “irrelative and unscientific.”
With the supernatural defense struck down, the trial proceeded on more conventional grounds. The defense pivoted to arguing self-defense. Still, the jury deliberated for only 15 hours before finding Arne guilty of first-degree manslaughter.
He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years but served just over 5, released in 1986 for good behavior.
Skeptics and Believers
To this day, the case divides opinion.
Skeptics argue that David likely suffered from a psychological disorder, and that Arne’s crime was the result of alcohol, rage, or both. Psychiatrists noted that many possession symptoms resemble dissociative or psychotic episodes.
Critics also accused the Warrens of exploiting the tragedy for fame. One author who studied the case said bluntly, “They turned a brutal killing into a sideshow about demons.”
But believers remain convinced something darker was at work. Debbie, who married Arne while he was in prison, never wavered in her support. She said, “I’ll never forget what I saw in my brother. And I’ll never forget how Arne changed after that night. Something happened to him.”
Lorraine Warren, even years later, insisted the case was authentic. “Arne made a mistake in daring the demon,” she said, “but he wasn’t in control that day. Evil was.”
She compared the forces at work in Brookfield to other sinister entities she and Ed claimed to have battled — from Bathsheba Sherman, tied to the Perron haunting, to the demonic nun-like presence later known as Valak.
Life After the Trial: Where Are They Now?
Arne Johnson served just over five years of his sentence before being released on parole. By all accounts, he was a model prisoner, working with the prison ministry and keeping out of trouble. Debbie remained devoted to him throughout, marrying him while he was still behind bars. After his release in 1986, the couple settled quietly in Connecticut, determined to live a normal life away from the spotlight.
Lorraine Warren stayed in contact with the family and often spoke publicly about the case. Until her death in 2019, she maintained that Arne was genuinely possessed when he killed Alan Bono. “He was a good young man,” she told reporters years later. “What happened that day was not him. It was the devil.”
Not everyone agreed. In later years, David Glatzel himself distanced from the Warrens’ account of his possession. Along with other family members, he even sued over the book The Devil in Connecticut (co-authored by Gerald Brittle and the Warrens), claiming it exaggerated events and caused lasting trauma.
Debbie Johnson continued to stand by both her husband and the Warrens, insisting the events were real. She passed away in 2021, shortly before the release of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Arne has stayed out of the public eye since her death, and little is known about his life today.
The Conjuring Connection
The story of Arne Johnson became one of the Warrens’ most famous cases, inspiring books, documentaries, and in 2021, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
The film dramatized the events, portraying Arne’s possession, the murder, and the trial with Hollywood flair. While it took liberties, it reintroduced the case to a new generation and reminded audiences that behind the movie was a very real crime.
It also became part of the Warrens’ larger body of work on the demonic. Beyond hauntings and possessions, they were known for collecting cursed objects, including the infamous Annabelle doll, which still draws fascination in their Occult Museum.
Legacy of the Devil in the Courtroom
The trial of Arne Johnson remains the only U.S. murder case where demonic possession was formally claimed as a defense. While the court refused to entertain the idea, the phrase “The Devil Made Me Do It” has lived on in both legal and paranormal circles.
Was Arne Johnson truly possessed, or was he just a young man who lost control in a moment of violence? The jury chose the latter. But for those who knew the Glatzel haunting, the answer may never be so simple.
For the Warrens, however, this case was just one part of a larger battle with the demonic — a battle they documented across decades of hauntings, possessions, and cursed relics.
As Ed Warren once said, “The devil works in disguise. And sometimes, the disguise looks just like us.”
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