Rick Rodriguez was a former member, and son of the current leader, of the infamous Children of God (now known as The Family) cult. He left in 2001 and went on to write several accounts exposing the sexual and psychological abuse at work in the cult before dying in a tragic murder-suicide in 2005, shortly before his thirtieth birthday.
This video gives an account of his life inside the cult, his experiences after leaving, and the events of the night when he chose to end it all.
Update: video now removed from YouTube. However, it may be viewed online or downloaded via xfamily.org (a group for former members of the Children of God/The Family.)
May 18, 2008 at 2:34 am
i kind of like this guy…
June 11, 2008 at 7:45 am
I just watched the story on MSNBC. This man was totally sane when he was going to kill himself. He talked about how his mother messed up his life… and all the horible things that he had to go through. At least he new the truth and that it was wrong. It’s very sad that we as a community can’t find these people and help them. He could have been alive today helping other children who have gone through this kind of abuse….
No one should have to have lived the life that those people did…. and it’s sad that the children had no choice….
it’s not their fault….
but guilt is a terrible thing and it can kill you as a person… that’s what happened to him
terrible, terrible thing that happened.
he wasn’t crazy! He was one of the only ones that was sane.