Good Morning America: Family International Cult Under Scrutiny After Murder-Suicide
Family International Cult Under Scrutiny After Murder-Suicide
Good Morning America/2005-01-18
CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS
We're going to turn next to a religious cult which is called The Family International, and it is coming under intense scrutiny this morning because of a murder-suicide in Arizona and California. Now, the group, which was formally known as Children of God, used to condone sex between adults and minors. And last week, the son of the group's leader killed himself after stabbing to death a long-time cult member. His loved ones say it was the final act of a young man that was tortured by his past.
RICKY RODRIGUEZ, CULT MEMBER
This is my weapon of choice.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Voice Over) This chilling video, obtained exclusively by "Primetime Live," was made by Ricky Rodriguez just hours before he murdered his former nanny, and hours before he would take his own life.
RICKY RODRIGUEZ
I don't want it to go on. I want it to just be over.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Voice Over) The 29 year-old sat in his kitchen calmly explaining that he was seeking revenge against people he says sexually abused him as a child.
RICKY RODRIGUEZ
How can you do that to kids and sleep at night?
CHARLES GIBSON
(Voice Over) Police say Rodriguez went to the apartment of his former nanny, 51 year-old Angela Smith, a member of the Children of God, and killed her with the knife that he proudly displayed. Rodriguez was once viewed as the prince of the Children of God, and it was assumed he would lead the group one day. But their alleged practices were too much for the troubled young man. On a web-site, visited by former members of the cult, Rodriguez made this statement in the year 2002.
[graphics: text from website]
CHARLES GIBSON
(Voice Over) He said, "It gives me hope that one day The Family leadership's evil legacy will die with The Family, and it will be only a distant, or better yet, forgotten bad memory." The Family International issued this statement.
[graphics: the family international statement]
CHARLES GIBSON
(Voice Over) "In hindsight, it became clear that potential problems arising from our liberal stance toward sexuality should have been anticipated and stringent rules established earlier on. This was corrected officially in 1986 when any contact between an adult and a minor was declared an excommunicable offense."
RICKY RODRIGUEZ
I can't go on like this.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Voice Over) So, friends of Ricky Rodriguez hope he'll be remembered as a victim and not just a murderer.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) And joining us now is Don Lattin, he's an ABC News consultant who has written extensively on children raised in cults. He's also "The San Francisco Chronicle" religion writer and author of a book, "Following Your Bliss," which followed The Family International and many other alternative religious movements. And he is joining us this morning from San Francisco. Don, this group, now called The Family International, still exists, but the group practice of condoning sex between adults and minors, as they said in their statement, stopped just about 20 years ago?
[graphics: caught on tape]
[graphics: cult murder & suicide]
DON LATTIN, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) Well, that's, that's what they, that's what they say, Charlie. There's, there's, there's evidence that some of this has gone on well past 1986, but as a policy, they, they, they announced that they're no longer condoning that or allowing that. The group has changed a lot in recent, in recent years, but there's lots of evidence that said this was still going on into the 1990's.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) Well, they, they ...
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) There are children who were born.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) They, they gave us a statement which said The Family leadership officially addressed concerns in regard to questionable past practices regarding sexual misconduct. These apologies were published and have been reiterated numerous times. The policies may have stopped some years ago, but was anybody held accountable? Weren't they, weren't they legally culpable for such things?
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) Charlie, that's the amazing thing about this story is that no one really is being held accountable. One of reasons is that this, this group, most of this abuse took place overseas, (clears throat) excuse me, and, and also, 10 to 20 years ago in many cases, so the statute of limitations has expired in many of these cases, and this group is a moving target. It's very hard to find the leadership and even the local organizations, missionary organizations and communes around the world, they're very secretive and they're moving around. So, because of -'cause so much is overseas, it's hard to, hard to prosecute.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) And we didn't see the full tape that this kid made on the eve of this murder-suicide, but, but he obviously was haunted by the abuse against him by his former nanny, the woman that he killed, right?
DON LATTIN
(Voice Over) He -he was. I have, I've been covering religious cults in this country for 20 years and -I've never seen stories like, coming out and continuing to come out of this, of this group, Charlie.
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) It wasn't just the sexual abuse. I mean, he was supposed to be the, the new prophet. He was supposed to be one of the two witnesses mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Incredible pressure was put on his shoulders. Not just -to be this prophet and at the same time having this abuse. So, you can imagine how he was torn in these different directions.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) And, and he had left the group, right?
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) Yes. Yes. He left the group about five years ago.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) And was he shunned, excommunicated by them?
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) Yes. Well, you have to remember, his mother, he's the only son of Karen Zerby who goes by the name of Maria David, and, and he knows, he knew a lot and he said a lot on this tape, it's a 40 minute tape, and he's definitely shunned, as have other children, second generation members of this group who are leaving. And they're leaving in droves.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) You said there's a lot of stories coming out of this and I know you've written about the possibility that there had been more suicides of people who left the cult. But the group ...
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) Yes.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) ... in the statement they gave us, says, look, the suicide rate of former members of our group, no different, actually lower than the rest of society. Do you have any evidence on this?
DON LATTIN
(Off Camera) Well, I haven't done the statistical analysis, but, but, but listen, there have been, there have been 10 or 20 suicides. And not -and of children of leading members. This is not, this is not a normal suicide rate by any means.
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) All right. Don Lattin, this is an interesting group and it is a very chilling tape. And I should mention, thanks for being with us, I should mention you can see more on this story next week on "Primetime Live." And if you want more on this investigation into this group, you can log on to our web-site at gma.abcnews.com.
[graphics: gma.abcnews.com]
CHARLES GIBSON
(Off Camera) Diane?
