‘We’re not going to live in the shadows’: How the daughter of a cult leader is helping others
Published By admin with Comments 0
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. — Some of Joy Fluker’s mother’s crimes happened before she was even born. Others she lived through.
In 2016, she turned in her mother, Anna Young, for the murders of Emon Harper and Katonya Jackson. She also believes Young killed her step-sister, Catherine “Cathy” Davidson, whom she never met. Cathy’s body was never recovered, but her mother was able to learn what likely happened to her after Young’s crimes were exposed.
Fluker lived through a cult called the House of Prayer, based in Alachua County, which was helmed by her mother. Young believed in purging sins through punishment, with many cult members suffering abuse and horrific injury. One woman was forced to leave her son on a park bench at Young’s command.
READ MORE: What really happened inside the House of Prayer cult in Alachua County
Young was convicted in 2021. She then died 42 days into her prison sentence. The end of the House of Prayer came years ago, but for Fluker, the story is still going. It’s just that it’s her story now.
Fluker still appears on true crime TV shows to talk about her mother’s crimes. She often talks about the duality between the mother she knew and loved and the horrific crimes she committed. She recently appeared on “Evil Lives Here,” in an episode that released at the end of March.
Fluker’s mission isn’t to profit off her history. She says she doesn’t get paid for TV experiences, she just wants others to know that she survived reporting her mother. That way, others who are considering reporting a loved one might make the same choice.
Preventing pain
This is Fluker’s mission now. She founded a charity called Prevent the Pain in 2021, with the goal of helping people like her who are considering turning in a loved one. “When I was going through speaking up against my mom, I was just desperate to try to find someone, some organization or somewhere I can meet other individuals who have been through what I’m going through – the turmoil, the burden of loving someone, caring about them, knowing this other amazing, beautiful side of them, but also knowing the horrors of the crimes they committed,” she told First Coast News.
Content retrieved from: https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/crime/were-not-going-to-live-in-shadows-how-the-daughter-of-a-cult-leader-is-helping-others/77-592d52f9-b6d6-4283-82ae-fc4b0c8531c5.
