Inside the Chilling Satanic Obsession of Parents Whose Baby Lay Dead in a Grubby Adelaide Motel

Benjamin Nicholas Houghton published references to Satan before he and his partner, Yue Ning Lieu, were arrested on 10 October following the discovery of their baby's body at Adelaide's Tollgate Motel.

The couple appeared before Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday via a bedside hearing while receiving medical treatment following their arrest. Neither applied for bail, and the court remanded both in custody until 3 May 2027.

Lieu, 42, also known as Linda Lieu, and Houghton, 40, face charges of criminal neglect and concealing human remains. Houghton also faces a charge of hindering police.

The infant's decomposing body was reportedly found beneath blankets, with incense allegedly burning nearby.

Satanic References Preceded Adelaide Arrests

Houghton published material under the username Benjamin.Houghton666, including claims that secret agents were stealing children. In another post, he referred to himself as the 'Dark Lord' and declared, 'Hail Satan.'

One upload quoted the Book of Revelation about Satan and displayed pictures of celebrities and politicians alongside the question, 'Figured out who Satan's people are yet?' It also included images of dogs being butchered, accompanied by screams and other sounds.

Among his final posts was a video claiming 11 children had been reported missing in North Dakota over 17 days. Photographs purporting to depict three of them appeared alongside music from the ABC children's programme Play School.

Other uploads alleged that unknown people had hacked his electronic devices and were watching him. He also claimed that he had been 'born in the wrong family'.

The social media posts do not establish any connection to the infant's death, and the charges against the couple have not been proven in court.

He referred to Lieu as his wife, although neither of them appeared to have shared photographs of them together, her pregnancy, or their baby's birth on social media.

Adelaide Mother's Claims of Mind Control

In the weeks before the discovery, Lieu was reportedly posting up to 20 times a day about aliens, mind control and forces she believed were targeting her. She also sought cash donations to continue producing her online content.

Lieu described herself online as a registered traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. Her blog, Health in Lieu, carried lengthy posts about government surveillance and mind control.

Her last blog post, dated April 2025 and titled 'Help Me in My Fight Against Tyranny', accused governments of employing 'mind control' to 'enslave us'.

Earlier Disappearance Emerges in Adelaide Case

The Daily Mail also reported that Lieu and her then two-year-old daughter disappeared in 2021. Relatives last saw them at a home in Riverwood, in Sydney's south, on 11 May. Family members reported them missing to Campsie Police three days later.

Eight days after she disappeared, Lieu entered a Canberra police station alone, almost 300km (186 miles) away. Officers later located the uninjured toddler, who was staying safely with family relatives in Victoria.

Why Lieu disappeared with the toddler, and what prompted her relatives to raise the alarm, remain unclear. Her daughter, now seven, was not at the Adelaide motel and had not travelled to South Australia with her mother.

South Australia Police have urged anyone who observed the occupants of room four at the Tollgate Motel to contact Crime Stoppers immediately.