karen zerby was a hooker for jesus, one of the first. on one trip to tenerife, she records fishing 18 different men. one of them was a local waiter, rick s father. david berg wanted an heir apparent he could mold in his own image, so he adopted baby rick, celebrating the new messiah in the cult s publications and documenting his childhood in intimate family snaps. he was almost like, i don t know, what would you compare that to? i suppose he was just very famous, you know. probably one of the most famous, sort of like next to, next to his dad, you know. it s like their family was like royalty. you know, he was like a prince. and, you know, soon to be king sort of person. but the mantle of leadership came with a price.
be sarms as well. the woman rick killed wasn t his mother. it was her close confidant angela smith. smith had helped raise rick and features in the story of davidito under the pseudonym sue. he arranged to meet her early on the evening of january the 8th planning to force her to reveal his mother s whereabouts. i m not trained in torture methods, which is why i m going to have to make do. i don t know how to [ muted ] do this. i don t want to [ muted ] do this. as rick drove to his death, he called his wife, 1,500 miles away in tacoma, one last time. he said, the hardest thing about it is that as she was dying, he said, she didn t understand what she had done. and i m like, who? like, she didn t get it. these people don t get it. he says, i wasn t expecting that answer.
after you re gone oh, dad it s gonna break my heart the love you ve shown to me with the spread of aids and international authorities hot on his heels, david berg was finally forced to act. in 1986 he banned sex with children. eight years later, a new band of altogether more wholesome disciples were saying good-bye. in 1994, he was dead. oh, dad we re gonna carry it on god bless you. it s hard for me to quit. when i say good-bye, just start fading me out because i can t quit. rick s mother, karen zerby, took over as leader. at the time, zerby, rick and elixcia were living in portugal. zerby and her entourage left the
reached rick that his mother had recently visited his grandparents in a tucson retirement home. in september, he moved to the city and waited for her to make an appearance. he made contact with his aunt, zerby s sister who lives in tucson and shuns the cult. this must be very difficult for you because so much of his anger is directed at his mother, your sister, and you were caught in the middle of it? no, i wasn t caught in the middle. he was my nephew. he needed help. he was the one that was going to be helped. and any anger he had, he had a right to it. his mother didn t take care of him. he didn t have a mother. growing up in where he was and not doing drugs, getting out, you know, i thought you know, you re amazing that you ve gotten out. he sat one time and just said i don t know. i don t know if i can go on. this was probably a week or so before.
in the family s secret hq, rick s degradation reached new extremes. in his father s eyes, incest was virtuous and he encouraged rick s mother, karen zerby to join in their sexual games. i specifically remember a couple of accounts where we were all in the same bed. i was required to be having sexual interaction with the guru at the time, david berg, and i would be on his right side, masturbating him while rick would be having full sexual intercourse with his mother on the other side of the bed. but it would be like a big happy family time in bed between the four of us. there are a lot of things that i have sort of come to terms with and understand the issues of control in the family. but what i haven t come to understand yet is how such a large group of people, of diverse background, of diverse