In the summer of 1984, the quiet Long Island town of Northport became the center of one of the most disturbing crimes of the decade.

Seventeen-year-old Ricky Kasso, known locally as the “Acid King,” had developed a reputation for heavy drug use, fascination with Satanism, and increasingly bizarre behavior. Then his friend Gary Lauwers disappeared.

Weeks later, police uncovered Lauwers’ body in the woods.

According to investigators and witness accounts, Kasso had brutally attacked Lauwers while demanding that he profess his love for Satan. Kasso later reportedly interpreted the call of a crow as a sign of Satan’s approval. Within days of his arrest, Kasso was dead, found hanging in his jail cell.

The murder exploded into national headlines and became one of the defining stories of the emerging Satanic Panic. But alm ...