Love Has Won cult followers face more severe charges in case of mummified body

Ark Valley Voice, Colorado/May 6, 2021

When you think the bizarre can’t get more so, that’s when they often do. The news that seven followers of the Love Has Won cult have been carting around the dead body of their spiritual leader known as “Mother God” (whose real name was Amy Carlson), was jarring enough. Now the courts have decided on more severe charges that carry a longer prison sentence.

During a Wednesday afternoon May 5 hearing, 12th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Alex Raines said that later this week he plans to amend charges to include tampering with a deceased human body, which would carry a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.

Seven people were taken into custody on April 28  following a report that first went to the Salida Police Department, who referred it back to the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office. Originally the charges included suspicion of abuse of a corpse, which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

The situation in which the cult followers commandeered a Saguache home, and appeared to set up a shrine of the dead body wrapped in Christmas tree lights was unusual enough. But when the home’s owner attempted to report them, they refused to allow him to leave with his two-year-old son.  They also face two misdemeanor counts of child abuse, including the 13-year-old daughter of one of the cult’s members.

The cult is not new to Saguache County or Crestone. It appears to have established itself there about four years ago and among its many beliefs was the idea that Mother God, who said she was 19 million years old, was communicating with angels and dead people, including actor Robin Williams, who died of suicide in 2014. The Saguache County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that it has regularly gotten calls from concerned family members across the country, concerned that their family member was a brainwashed member of the group.

The Saguache County Coroner Tom Perrin said he had not positively identified the body as Carlson’s. He could not obtain fingerprints because of the body’s condition and is awaiting dental records. He estimated she had been dead for four weeks or longer.

Six of the seven people arrested appeared in Saguache County District Court on Wednesday to hear the charges against them. There are unconfirmed reports that the seventh person who may or may not be the person who reported the body, took the group’s money and left the county.
 

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