‘I told mom my stepdad was sexually abusing me and she said I had to practise forgiveness’: Woman who grew up with 41 siblings tells of horrific childhood in cult

MEXICO
Daily Mail (UK)

Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-two children, growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turn a blind eye to the practices of her community. She lived in ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity.

After Ruth’s father – the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony – was murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarried, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant.

At their church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible.

That is what life was like on Colonia LeBaron, the polygamous compound in Chihuahua, Mexico, where Ruth lived until she ran away at the age of 15, taking her three younger siblings with her.

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