[Kehko]

Ricky Rodriguez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ricky Rodriguez, aka Davidito (legal names: Richard Peter Rodriguez, Richard Peter Smith and David Moses Zerby) (25 January 1975 - 9 January 2005) was a former member of the Children of God (COG), now known as The Family International (TFI), who committed a murder-suicide in 2005.

Childhood and sexual abuse
Rodriguez was born in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. He was the natural son of Karen Zerby and a Spanish hotel employee whom she "Flirty Fished". He was considered to be the adopted son of David Berg, Zerby's partner and leader of the COG, although no official adoption ever took place. Rodriguez later developed a deep-seated resentment towards Berg and Zerby, due to the sexual abuse he had suffered as a child. His sister Christina Teresa Zerby (aka Techi)[1], whom he grew up with and who is still a member of The Family, does not hold the same views.

The group published a childcare manual in January 1982 that described the education, home life, and care of Rodriguez. The 762-page book also included at least a dozen photographs depicting the child engaged in sexual activity with his governesses, particularly Sara Kelley (also known as Sara Davidito or Prisca Kelley). The COG later ordered this book to be heavily sanitized and, eventually, destroyed completely. In the late 90s, it was reprinted in heavily sanitized form. Copies of the original still exist in the collections of former members, some of whom have provided them to law enforcement agencies.

Adulthood and murder-suicide
When Rodriguez grew to adulthood, he married Elixcia Munumel, and together they separated from TFI in 2001. Shortly after this, Rodriguez wrote an article on the Web site MovingOn.org[2] in which he described David Berg's deviant sexual activity involving a number of women and children.

In September 2004, after separating from his wife, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, and worked as an electrician. According to accounts by his friends and relatives, he moved there because he heard his mother had visited and he wanted to find her, her location being secret even to him, due to his speaking out about his childhood. In January 2005, he arranged a meeting with a former associate of his mother's who was involved in his childhood sexual molestation, Angela Smith (formerly Susan Joy Kauten), and stabbed her to death in his apartment. He then drove to Blythe, California, where he shot himself in the head. He released a video to be distributed to friends, family and former members explaining his actions. According to an article in the New York Times, in the video, "he said he saw himself as a vigilante avenging children like him and his sisters who had been subject to rapes and beatings." "There's this need that I have," he said. "It's not a want. It's a need for revenge. It's a need for justice, because I can't go on like this."

[GODREKR]

I remember this. Too bad he didn't do them more damage.

[misheru]

Yes.. I also remember watching this documentary on TvNorway.. It's too sad that some kids actually are borg into cults like that :(

[MeaningOfAbuse]

Damn that's crazy shit....But heh some people are just like that. They believe some stupid shit.

[Hotstuff]

i just watched it again tho ive seen it before i feel so sad that shit like this is going on right now all around the world and the fuckers get away with it, they will surely all go to hell. RIP rick

[cadet-chaandler]

wow i actually sat and watched the whole thing...shocking, i hadn't heard about this!!

[woodsetton]

I was a member of the The Family International for about 3 years though I didn't actually live with them. I used to go out with them "tracting" "postering" and "CDing" which were when we gave out gospel tract leaflets, would ask for a small donation for a A4 coloured poster with a message on the back about some Bible topic or go into small independent shops to see if they would like to stock a few of the CDs that The Family's musicians would churn out.

I also was on a sort of beginner's course which taught their view of the Bible and their beliefs, most of which were taken from "Mo Letters" which was what their leader David "Moses" Berg had written over the years. When he died in 1994 his common law wife Karen Zerby aka "Mama Maria" took over leadership with her new "husband" Peter Amsterdam. They also write letters with teachings in them and no aspect of a member's life can conflict with these teachings. For security reasons, no one except the most loyal leadership know where Zerby and Amsterdam live. All their literature is distributed through offices around the world. They are referred to as "Queen and King" or "Mama and Peter." Berg himself is called either "Grandpa" or "Dad."

They taught that if something was done "in love" then it was okay which included sleeping with multiple partners. In my time there (in one household where there were about 20 children and about 5 adults) about 7 of them had babies. Most of the girls were around 16 when they got pregnant as that's when they could legally have sex in the UK but one of the leaders was having her 8th child and she wasn't more than 35. The children are home schooled (but only til they are 16 when they are discouraged from seeking further education) and a younger girl will be assigned to look after the children of leaders as they are busy with admin and church business.

The leadership say that using contraception is okay but in several memos and letters I saw, members are encouraged to "go for the gold" which means not using it and letting "God decide" when you have kids which means there are loads more kids in the church than adults. However, they do not claim any kind of assistance or benefits from the governments of the countries they live in. Instead they generate their own incomes, mainly from musical concerts, "postering" and dance shows. The household I was associated with had a professional level dance group made up of young people who were "Bollywood" style performers. They travelled all over the country doing shows but always had to do as much work around the house and on the streets as those members who weren't dancers. All the people who book these dancers to do shows know is that they represent a "missionary" group. They also go "provisioning" which means getting food that is out of date or surplus for free. So they might end up eating nothing but fish for 3 weeks until they can get something else for free.

The reason I left was because of something called "The Loving Jesus Revolution." This was a doctrine that Zerby claimed had come to her from Jesus himself. It basically said that since the church is the "Bride of Christ" that when a person had sex or masturbated, he/she should imagine that they were doing that with Jesus. Male members were told to imagine that they were female when doing it and both sexes were told to ask Jesus to "fill them" with his "golden seeds." This doctrine was taught to all members from the age of 12 upwards.

That was the final nail in the coffin for me. That and the fact that when I started to have mental health problems they told me that I was being attacked by the Devil and needed to be prayed over daily. Many years ago, one of Berg's daughters, Faithy was "exorcised" of demons by beatings and sleep deprivation. I think I got off very lightly!

There are several websites and and a wiki thing about this group. Some are made by ex-members and are very interesting. Any Q's, just ask me.

[Mutilatedmind]

I agree with this guy. People that do the shit out there that was done to him, are awful people and should be gased.

[Pink.]

Its heinous and uncalled for on all levels when a child is abused like that....but is worse when its done by so-called god's people.....That guy needs to be SLOWLY tortured and killed.

[güttsfükk]

that was a good documentary, the suicide video was so chilling... the celeste strip video was just... words cant even describe that shit, egh.

unfortunately the audio went all out of synch for me