The Cult News Network

Retired New Orleans priest sentenced to life in prison for rape dies in jail

Published December 28, 2024 By admin

Lawrence Hecker, an elderly and enfeebled former Catholic priest who pleaded guilty this month to raping a boy in a church gym in New Orleans nearly 50 years ago, died Thursday morning in prison only days after he began serving…[Continue Reading...]

How Teen “Vampire” and Cult Leader Rod Ferrell Became Youngest on Florida’s Death Row

Published December 28, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Cult Crimes Tagged cult leader, death row prisoner, murders, Rod Ferrell, vampire cult

The disturbing acts of 16-year-old self-proclaimed vampire Roderick "Rod" Ferrell beckoned local teens to the graveyard and eventually ended with the 1996 murders of two people, as once detailed in Oxygen’s Deadly Cults.Born in Murray, Kentucky — a little over…[Continue Reading...]

Co-founder of California white supremacist group to be freed

Published December 27, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Uncategorized Tagged California, criminal charges, hate groups, Robert Paul Rundo, White Supremacist

After a protracted legal battle — involving dismissals, appeals and extradition from Romania — the co-founder of a California white supremacist group accused of inciting violence across the state will be freed from federal custody, a judge ruled Friday. U.S.…[Continue Reading...]

200 Rescued from ‘Lev Tahor’ cult in Guatemala remain under welfare protection

Published December 27, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Cult Crimes Tagged child abuse, child welfare, criminal prosecution, cult, Guatemala, Lev Tahor

A week has passed since Guatemalan authorities rescued 200 children, teenagers, and women from the controversial Lev Tahor cult compound. The rescued individuals are currently housed in the Elida España welfare center in Guatemala City, where officials aim to ensure…[Continue Reading...]

Lev Tahor crumbling with leaders in jail, opponents say, as raid deals cult new blow

Published December 27, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Cult Crimes Tagged child abuse, criminal arrests, cult, Guatemala, Lev Tahor

NEW YORK — On the seventh night of Hanukkah in 2018, three men parked a rental car outside a home in the town of Woodridge in upstate New York. At 2:56 a.m., one of the men made a phone call…[Continue Reading...]

Former Lithuanian Jehovah’s Witness opens up about stolen childhood

Published December 26, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Jehovah's Witnesses Tagged childhood, suvivor story

Raised in a Jehovah’s Witness family, the photographer and stylist Deimantė Rudžinskaitė-Ivanauskė spent her childhood in a radically religious environment which held that a secular lifestyle was a sin. Now she published a book titled Secular (Pasaulietė). “Driven by [...]…[Continue Reading...]

Asian Insider: 20 years after Aceh tsunami | Orgies, beatings and child abuse in Malaysia cult

Published December 26, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Uncategorized Tagged abuse, cult, Global Ikhwan group, Malaysia

Where were you on Dec 26, 2004? On that day, giant ocean waves devastated Indonesia’s Aceh province, killing more than 160,000 people. Aqil Hamzah and Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja revisit the disaster zone 20 years on to see how the residents have…[Continue Reading...]

After girl, 14, gives birth, Lev Tahor member admits cult marries off children

Published December 26, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Cult Crimes Tagged child abuse, child marriages, cult, Guatemala, Lev Tahor

Cult member Michael Goldman admits in interview that in the compound, from which about 200 children and boys were rescued, girls are being married off; 'We are marrying off minors, for sure'; Release of interview comes as 14-year-old girl gives…[Continue Reading...]

Man accuses ISKCON of ‘brainwashing’ daughter, Gujarat HC seeks response

Published December 25, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Uncategorized Tagged brainwashing alegations, court case, Hare Krishnas, India, ISKCON

A retired army man has approached the Gujarat High Court seeking the return of his missing daughter, who has been allegedly ‘under the influence and brainwashing of priests from the ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple’ on SG Highway…[Continue Reading...]

Live updates: Lori Vallow jury selection for triple murder trial continues into third day

Published December 25, 2024 By admin

Categorized as Cult Crimes Tagged Arizona, cult mom, Lori Vallow, murder trial

Lori Vallow Daybell smiled in court several times during an Aug. 16, 2022 pretrial hearing. (Image via Law&Crime Network) The triple murder trial for Lori Vallow Daybell , 49, a “ doomsday cult”-connected mother of two dead children and two…[Continue Reading...]