Grand Blanc Twp. Mormon church attacker beset by twin demons

Burton — After living in the Utah desert for two years, Jake Sanford returned to Michigan a different person.

Gone was the lovable goofball, the high school cut-up who would do anything for a laugh.

In his stead was a man ravaged by crystal meth, said friends. He also bore something just as encompassing as a drug addiction — an abiding animosity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Authorities explored that antipathy as they investigated Sanford’s Sept. 29 attack on a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, killing four people and burning down the building. Police officers killed Sanford in a shootout at the church.

On Oct. 31, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the probe confirmed its suspicions that the assault was driven by Sanford’s hatred of the religion .