Inside the Criminal Mind (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Death Cult Leaders - full transcript

Horrible stories
of hundreds of people

trapped in a bizarre web
of brainwashing and terror.

Twisted tales
ending in horrific scenes of massacre,

murder, sexual abuse, and mass suicide.

All caused by madmen
and their maniacal teachings.

These are the cult leaders and their
all-powerful methods of mind control.

A remarkable journey takes us face-to-face
with pure evil, and venturing...

Inside The Criminal Mind.

These are the faces of cult leaders.

Their names are forever etched
in our consciousness.

Charles Manson.



Jim Jones.

David Koresh.

Their deeds are some of the most sickening
we have ever witnessed.

These people killed four
federal officials in the line of duty.

They were heavily armed.

They fired on
federal officials yesterday, repeatedly,

and they were never fired back on.

It was dangerous, irrational,
and probably insane.

Cults can take many forms,

including religious, political,
doomsday, polygamist, or satanic.

But there are four cults that exploded
onto the international scene

for tragic reasons.

These cases clearly demonstrated
how a faith group can go brutally wrong

when a demented leader spins
out of control.



These are the catastrophes caused
by psychopathic cult leaders

and their maniacal teachings.

Charles Manson
and his Helter Skelter vision...

responsible for the brutal slaying
of seven innocent victims,

including a woman
who was eight months pregnant.

Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple,

whose infamous poison potion
killed over 900 followers,

a third of them children.

David Koresh
and the Branch Davidians;

Responsible for horrible sexual abuse and
the fiery death of more than 80 people,

at least 20 of them children.

Warren Jeffs,

whose Fundamentalist Church of
Latter Day Saints polygamy cult

was rampant with unthinkable sexual abuse.

Sadly,
what draws attention to a cult leader

and makes them well known

is a tragedy.

Terrible things that have happened.

Mass suicides, murders, horrible abuse.

We talk about Jim Jones
over and over again

because almost 1000 people died

in November in 1978, in Jonestown.

Cult leaders come
in all sizes and shapes and forms.

One thing that they're able to do
is find a need that people have,

and are able to meet that need,

and sometimes even create needs

that the people didn't realize
that they even had.

These cults seem so strange
to most of us,

and they provoke so many questions
about their origins and their teachings.

Generally,
the common denominator in every cult

is there is a singular leader
within that cult

that has been able to convince those
inside to give up everything.

There are three core characteristics
that define destructive cults.

One is an absolute authoritarian leader
that becomes an object of worship.

Whatever the leader says is right,
is right.

Number two,
the group has a process of indoctrination

in which people are
broken down, changed,

and then reset in a mindset
as determined by the leader.

Finally, three,
if the group is destructive, it does harm.

What do these cults
typically look like?

How do they appear to the outside world?

When most of us think about
a destructive cult,

we think of a group hunkered down
in a compound,

ready to either commit acts of violence,

or mixing the Kool-Aid with cyanide
for mass suicide.

Often the cult members
seem like regular people,

just like you and I.

You know, people will often say to me,

"These people that join cults,
they must be crazy.

There's something wrong with them.
Something's missing."

That's not my experience.

My experience is, it could be anyone.

But members are lured
into the group at a time of weakness.

Cult leaders, in my opinion,
prey on people's vulnerabilities.

The cult leader exudes confidence
and happiness,

and also can be very sympathetic
and empathic with new members to the cult,

or people who were
considering joining the cult.

Sometimes the group
is recommended by a trusted friend,

and the cult leader appears to be
a wonderful person...

at first.

The harsh reality inside a group
can be sleep deprivation,

dietary control,

mind-numbing,
mind-stilling practices and rituals

where people basically shut down.

There can be physical
and sexual abuse inside of a group.

There can be harsh
corporal punishment of children.

There can be weapons being stockpiled.

So what we see on the outside
can be what the group wants us to see,

and on the inside can be
people really suffering.

People in a cult
are afraid to leave the cult.

They're afraid because
they either could be hurt or killed,

or something bad could happen to them,

just a general anxiety and fear that
they can't make it outside of the cult.

Cult leaders have absolute power
over all of the members

of the group that they lead.

One of the most notorious cult
leaders of the 1960s was Charles Manson.

He fashioned himself as a hippie outlaw
who was fighting against the system.

He fashioned himself that way
to have a popular hook

that would pull people in
and attract them.

And he was very glib, he was charismatic,
he was a good speaker,

and he would pull people in

based on his kind of outlaw,

poet, artist kind of image.

And they would come under his influence
with the understanding that

no one was his equal,

that he alone would be the leader,

and that everyone would submit
to his authority.

Manson and his followers
took up residence at Spahn Ranch,

a secluded location formerly used
as a movie set for old western movies.

Manson created a kind of family.

He was the patriarch.

They would retreat to a place he called
The Ranch out in the desert,

where he would give them
psychedelic drugs,

and he would act
as if he were taking the drugs,

even though he wasn't.

And he would manipulate their experience
in order to control them,

in order to embed ideas in their minds.

Manson devised a twisted philosophy

that he drilled into the minds
of his followers.

But eventually Charles Manson
started becoming delusional,

and he believed that the Beatles started
to convey messages to him

in their White Album.

One of them was
a song called "Helter Skelter."

And Manson believed that Helter Skelter
referred to a race war

between the African-Americans
and the whites,

and that the African-Americans
were going to kill the whites.

But he also believed
that the African-Americans

did not have the ability
to govern the world.

Only he had the ability
to govern the world.

He told his followers that they
would be the catalyst for this event,

and that it would begin
by them murdering affluent people,

people who were wealthy,

and then blaming those crimes

on African Americans,

on minorities, on the poor,

who were murdering these wealthy people.

On August 8, 1969,
Manson launched "Helter Skelter."

He dispatched four of his "family" members
to a home in the Hollywood Hills,

where they brutally murdered
five people...

including actress Sharon Tate,

who was the wife
of film director Roman Polanski.

She was eight months pregnant.

As they left the crime scene,

they scrawled slogans
on the walls in blood.

The next night, six Manson family members
murdered supermarket executive.

Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.

Manson was not present
at any of the crimes.

A movie star, Sharon Tate,

coffee heiress Abigail Folger,
and three others.

Two other people were stabbed to death
at their Los Angeles home

the following night.

The victims, by necessity,
had to be white,

and preferably in the white establishment,

but other than that,
there was no particular reason.

Directly after the Sharon Tate murders,

before they knew who did it,

the whole town of Hollywood
was panic-stricken.

They were getting guns.
They were getting mace.

They were getting bodyguards.

All kinds of
bodyguard companies sprang up.

Every party we went to,
there were guards at every door.

The panic was on for one year.

After Manson and his followers
were apprehended,

one of the cult members, Linda Kasabian,

cooperated with the prosecution
and testified against the other killers.

Manson's reaction was bizarre.

What were you thinking of
when you saw Linda Kasabian yesterday?

I was thinking of how pretty she looked.

- Are you upset with Linda?
- No, not at all.

Do you think she will testify
for the prosecution?

That's up to Linda.

But do you care?

- Care?
- Yeah, whether she does or not?

That's up to her.
She hasn't got anything to do with me.

But don't you have any feelings about it?

Feelings?

All my feelings are good.

- Sir, this is a chance for you...
- The sun was out this morning.

You notice it?

When you watch film
of the Manson trial

and you see Linda Kasabian,

or you see Patricia Krenwinkel,
or Leslie Van Houten.

They can be holding hands,

they can be singing,
they can be laughing,

they can seem surreal
in their calm demeanor,

in their detachment
from the grisly murders,

and the fact
that they're on trial for their lives.

Ultimately,
they would be sentenced to death,

and only because
the death penalty was erased

for a period of time in California,

would their sentences be changed
to life imprisonment.

So, you look at these people,
and they're on trial for their life,

and they seem detached from it.
They don't seem to care.

They don't seem to have
a care in the world.

And I would attribute that
to the influence of Charles Manson.

Susan, would you answer
a couple of questions for us?

What did you think of
this morning's procedures?

I didn't think anything about it.

- What about Linda Kasabian, Susan?
- I think she's awful pretty.

- Do you want a press conference, too?
- Do you fear for her testimony?

I don't fear for anybody's testimony.

Do you think Charles
should have a news conference?

I don't know.

Would you like to have
a news conference, Susan?

Sure!

What would you tell us?

They're kind of dead emotionally,

because Charles Manson
has controlled their emotions,

has controlled their thinking,

for... for a very long period of time,

before and, for a time, after the murders.

After 194 days of testimony,
only three are left in Los Angeles.

The rest are either in jail or in hiding,
taking care of the Manson children.

The three girls who are left
are Brenda McCann,

Sandra Good, and Kitty Lutesinger.

It's all a matter of time now.

We know where we're going.

- Where?
- To the desert.

Manson wasn't physically present
for these murders.

But he was convicted of murder
because the prosecution proved,

to the satisfaction of the jury,

that he had so much control...

over the minds
and the actions of his followers

that he had weaponized them...

that they had become
his weapons of choice.

And that even though
he didn't do the murders,

he was ultimately responsible
for the murders

because of the undo influence that he held

over each and every
participant and follower

that perpetrated those horrible crimes.

In the 1960s and 70s,
Reverend Jim Jones's ministry,

The Peoples Temple
of the Disciples of Christ,

was a popular, vibrant,
and respected church

in Northern California.

The Peoples Temple
was a megachurch,

and Jim Jones seemed to be
a very charismatic and likable guy.

They were helping drug addicts,

they were an interracial church
with all kinds of different people

from different backgrounds,

and the idea was that
they were building a better future

through all of their social action
in San Francisco.

Jim Jones's outer facade
was love and understanding,

but even when the church was
in San Francisco,

there was fear of being beaten.

Jim Jones would beat children
in front of the congregation.

He would use electric shock
as a form of discipline.

Jim Jones had the ability
to be able to reach people

on whatever level,

and to address the needs and concerns
of individuals at any given point in time.

So there were unreasonable fears
about being outside of that protection,

and there were fears, real fears,
about the discipline

and the consequences
of going against Jim Jones.

Jim Jones decided to move
his operation to Guyana, in South America,

to a paradise he called Jonestown.

The people that followed him to Jonestown,

they felt that
they were going to a utopia,

an experimental community
where they would live out their ideals,

that would be a wonderful place,
a place of joy and fulfillment.

They had no idea
where they were really going,

and what would really happen to them.

He just lied.

The pamphlets called Guyana
"the last paradise,"

and it showed beautiful,
tropic, lush places,

and a wonderful place
to raise your children.

Once they got to the compound,

they immediately knew
they had made a terrible mistake,

but he had already confiscated
their passports.

It was a compound designed
for 300 people now housing 1,100.

And they often went hungry.

There simply wasn't enough food for them.

But they're in Guyana,
and they have no passports,

they burned bridges with their families.
Their choices were limited.

It was not paradise.

It was a concentration camp. It was hell.

It was a plantation.

And there was things going on

that I knew were totally ungodly
and inhumane.

Jim starts reading my letter,

and soon as he started I was so scared

because I couldn't say
that's not what I meant.

It was very explicit to say I didn't
like it there, and I wanted to leave.

And that meant that,
all of the sudden, I was a traitor.

Jim Jones controlled his followers
in a classic style

that would be reiterated by destructive
cult leaders over and over again.

Ultimately,
he would isolate them in the jungle,

where the only communication
they would have

would be that which was filtered
through him, controlled by him.

There would be a loudspeaker system
they would hear information through,

but there would be
no newspapers, no television,

nothing except Jim Jones.

Jim Jones could control the minds
of his followers

by controlling
everything that went into their minds.

On November 17, 1978,

California Congressman Leo Ryan
traveled to Jonestown

to investigate the allegations of abuse.

So, when Congressman Ryan
came to Jonestown,

it was with an understanding
that he was coming,

that he was a welcome guest,

and Jim Jones tried
to kind of stage everything so that.

Congressman Ryan would get
a positive impression.

But, bit by bit, Ryan,
who was a school teacher

and a very intelligent man,

began to see that something was wrong.

And people were passing him notes,

and people were asking to leave with him.

And, ultimately,
that would lead to a meltdown.

Investigating allegations
of abuse of church members,

California Congressman Leo Ryan

was ambushed and killed
by members of the group.

It was about 6:30
last evening at the Port Kaituma airstrip,

the one nearest
to the Peoples Temple community.

Representative Ryan
and members of his party

were about to board their aircraft.

He was gunned down.

Leo J. Ryan was shot and killed
by a Jim Jones security force.

At that point, Jim Jones snapped,

and decided that everyone
in Jonestown must die.

Jim Jones was the mind
for all the people in Jonestown.

So when he slipped over the edge,
they all slipped over with him,

because whatever thoughts they had
in their mind, those were his thoughts.

He had determined
that this would be revolutionary suicide,

that this would be a kind of fulfillment,

and this would be a statement
for social justice.

And so, in their minds,

they believed that what they were doing

was the realization
of that social justice,

that purpose that he had
been preaching to them about for years.

Jones instructed everyone
to commit suicide

with a cyanide-laced punch.

Jim Jones,
who had the parents kill their children.

They would put the Flavor Aid drink,
the fruit punch,

in a syringe
that was laced with cyanide,

and they would put it
in their child's mouth,

or someone would do it for them.

And when these parents
saw their children dead,

they felt, "I have nothing to live for."

That's what Jim Jones orchestrated,
because he wanted everyone to die.

His paranoia just grew and became
just a malignant tumor upon him.

And he could have let
those people live,

but he wanted to make a point,
and a statement.

In the coming minutes,
members of Peoples Temple

gathered around the pavilion,

and surrounded us where we were.

And all eyes were on Jones,

looking for visible cues,

you know,
some sort of leadership or guidance.

And then I heard Jim Jones say,

"Mother, mother, mother,
mother, mother, mother."

And then there was silence,
and then I heard automatic rifle fire.

There were those that tried
to escape in the end, and he killed them.

There were people that were shot.

The children were all murdered.

It was not simply a mass suicide.

And many of them did not go easily.

They were killed. They were murdered.
They were massacred.

My mother, my older sister,

and my three baby brothers,
my baby sister, my little nephew,

three cousins, and little niece.

Reverend Jim Jones.
He is not God. He's only a man.

And when many people placed him
in a god-like role,

he then believed it.

That's the tragedy of Jonestown.

He had 917 chances to stop
the annihilation,

and yet he continued
to witness people die one by one.

By the end, not everyone
wanted to drink the Flavor Aid.

People had to be convinced
to take it by force,

and some people were shot.

Jim Jones, himself,
chose to have his guards shoot him,

because he did not want
the death through cyanide

that he had asked all of his followers
to take upon themselves.

The Branch Davidian religious
group existed outside of Waco, Texas

for many years.

But in 1993, the cult exploded
in a horrible tragedy...

There's no question about that.
He had those fires started.

He chose those children to die.

Under the authoritarian
leadership of David Koresh.

In 1993, I was one
of the four special agents in charge,

that were detailed to Waco, Texas
to handle the standoff

with the Branch Davidians,
and that was the first time

I really became intimately aware of cults.

The Branch Davidians were an offshoot
of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

They were formed in 1934

by a fellow named Victor Houteff
in California.

Because of his coming up
with a new interpretation of the Bible,

and starting a new group,

he was excommunicated
from the Seventh Day Adventist Church,

and he moved from California
to Waco, Texas.

In 1989,

a follower named Vernon Howell
took over the leadership of the group.

Vernon Howell eventually
changed his name to David Koresh.

David Koresh stood for David of the Bible,
and also King Cyrus.

But Koresh was more interested
in personal gain

than providing spiritual leadership.

He was using his position
to enrich himself,

to get sexual favors
from women in the group.

But it escalated.

The more power he got,
the more power he wanted.

And year after year,
as I followed the group,

it just kept getting worse.

Koresh's memorization
of the Bible

enhanced his position as a divine leader.

David Koresh's followers were in awe
of his command of the Bible.

I mean, he had virtually memorized
whole sections of it.

He could quote it chapter and verse.

He had the ability to do what they called
harmonizing the Scriptures,

in that, taking the Scriptures
from the New Testament,

and the Old Testament,

blending them together and coming up
with his own interpretation.

So what the people felt,
that he was

someone that had
supernatural prophetic powers.

And, ultimately,
they would see him as a Messiah

who had come to redeem the world.

They were dedicated to this religion,
and David became their prophet,

and, ultimately, he had them say
that he was, in fact, Jesus Christ.

They took people
and plied upon their weaknesses...

actually got money from people,
from followers.

One follower, he got almost
half a million dollars from them.

They were willing to give up
all of their worldly possessions.

They were willing to follow his rules

which control everything

from what they said, from what they ate.

Those who had wives
that David found to be desirable,

they gave up their own wives to him.

He would tell married men,

"You need to segregate,
and be separated from your wives."

He would have sex with their wives.
Their wives might even bear him a child.

But they would not have sexual relations
with their own husbands.

When he started this cult,
one of his prophecies was that,

"Everybody's wife is now my wife,"

and all the men in the compound
should remain celibate.

"But I, David Koresh,
am going to have sex with your wives."

Somewhere in his prophecies

he was told he was allowed
to have 140 wives, and to procreate,

with as many children as possible,

to build the cult. To build a pure cult.

They all admitted that David
had had sexual relationships

with some of the children as young as 12.

We had an instance of a young girl
as young as ten.

He had taken her to a motel,
away from the property.

The only person that could have sex
in the Waco Davidian compound

would be David Koresh.

That could be a minor child,
that could be a man's wife.

He told children
to call their parents "dogs."

And he told the children,
"I am your only parent.

I am your mother, and I am your father."

He called the compound
the Ranch Apocalypse.

He believed that the end times
were getting ready to take place.

The government,
he portrayed as Satan,

as the adversary,
the evil that will come against us.

So he believed that the end times
philosophy of the last battle

and the apocalypse
was getting ready to unfold.

And he was preparing his followers
for that last battle,

the battle for the apocalypse.

The outside world knew little
of Koresh's tyrannical rule,

or the rampant sexual abuse.

The initial reason

that the Branch Davidians
were brought to the attention

of law enforcement was that
there was a shipment of hand grenades,

that a box opened,
and the postal authorities called the ATF.

So, David Koresh
was stockpiling weapons,

and the Davidian group
had changed from a peaceful group

to a group led by a man
who had a violent vision for the future.

They were preparing for the apocalypse,

which David Koresh convinced,

which this cult believed
was going to happen.

The evil armies were coming to get them,

and to them, I believe that's what the ATF
and eventually the FBI represented.

On Sunday, February 28, 1993,
agents from the ATF decided

to execute a search
on the Branch Davidian compound,

looking for illegal weapons.

They used what we call
a Trojan Horse technique.

Rather than just rolling up with lights
and sirens and knocking on the door,

they could approach the compound
in this horse trailer,

because horse trailers are fairly common
in that part of Waco, Texas.

The Davidians, who were very well armed,

found out that they were coming,
and they were waiting for them.

David Koresh
and the Branch Davidians opened fire.

An FBI SWAT team and hostage negotiators
were immediately called to the scene.

When the FBI arrived in Waco,

we found what looked like
the remnants of a war.

We had four dead ATF agents.

We believe we had
five dead Branch Davidians.

Our approach from the very beginning
was to try to resolve this peacefully.

So we were trying to come up with
what would appeal to the people inside,

and the leader of the people inside,
of course, was David Koresh.

A standoff ensued as the FBI
and ATF surrounded the compound,

while Koresh and his followers dug in.

Over the next few days, Koresh allowed
a few of his cult members to leave.

He was getting rid of those people
that he, one, did not trust,

those that were the weak and infirmed,
or those that were not his own children.

But the standoff continued
for 51 grueling days.

The FBI would send in supplies
like milk for the children,

but Koresh insisted
the agents needed to go.

He was demanding that
we pick up and just leave.

We still had four dead ATF agents,

and we had 16 wounded ATF agents
that occurred on that day,

and they had the dead Branch Davidians.

So we had a major crime scene
where murders had taken place.

It was not something
from which we could just walk away.

At some point, a decision was made

that we would use a bit more force
to get the Branch Davidians out.

It was decided on April 19th,
at about 6:00 in the morning,

we would call into the compound,

basically asking the people,
the Davidians, to surrender now,

before we start inserting tear gas
into the compound.

But the act triggered the
decision for David Koresh to retaliate.

As soon as the tear gas
was inserted,

immediately,
thousands of rounds were fired at us.

We never,
during the entire time of the standoff,

fired one single round at the Davidians,

but they fired thousands of rounds at us.

And in the end,

very much like Jim Jones,
David Koresh decided...

"If I cannot be ruler of the compound,
if I cannot control my world,

I don't want to be alive."

And he decided to end his life,

and all the lives of the people
in the compound.

Then, David Koresh
made the fateful decision

to set the entire compound on fire.

The old wooden structures burned quickly,
and turned the grounds into an inferno.

He had been preaching
that the assault was coming.

Everyone was armed.
Everyone was prepared for the assault.

This was going to be the final battle
with the forces of evil,

which was the U.S. government.

And this would culminate the end times,
and the fulfilment of the Seven Seals.

We later learned that many of the people
inside had been shot to death,

some had been beaten to death,
some had been stabbed to death.

In the end,
approximately 75 people died

as a result of the final standoff.

Over 20 of those were children
under the age of 15.

David Koresh instructed
his second in command, Steve Schneider,

to shoot him in the head.

Schneider then turned the gun on himself.

I don't know
what David Koresh's strategy was.

I've always been of the opinion
that whether we tried to end this thing

at day five, day 15, day 51, day 510,
it would've ended about the same.

I don't think David Koresh
ever intended to come out.

Controversy has surrounded
the events of Waco,

prompting investigations
of how law enforcement handled the siege.

I think what's come out
with the civil trials over and over again

is David Koresh chose this end.

He chose to end everyone's lives
in the compound.

Because they're mine,
and in my mind, they are my possession,

and if they don't have me,
it's like a solar system without a sun.

He could've easily surrendered
or complied with law enforcement

when they showed up en masse
on Sunday February 28th,

and he chose not to.

So, yeah, it was David Koresh's fault,
nobody else's.

People that died the day of the fire?
David Koresh.

Not the FBI. Not the ATF.
Not the Texas Rangers. David Koresh.

The siege happened in 1993.

He still has hundreds of followers

who are still waiting for him
to return today.

There is a question about whether or not
that's a factor of his charm,

or a factor of their own issues.

When Warren Jeffs became
the leader of the FLDS Church in 2002,

membership was estimated to be
between six and ten thousand followers.

The main colonies of the isolated church

were in Colorado City, Arizona,
or in Hilldale, Utah.

Jeffs ruled the FLDS
with total authoritarian control.

In Colorado City, Arizona,
or in Hilldale, Utah,

the FLDS is in charge.

The police are FLDS.

The government is FLDS,
and over everyone would be the prophet,

Warren Jeffs, of the FLDS.

The idea of disputing that authority,
or thinking outside of that construct

is just unthinkable
for members of that community.

That is their whole life.

The isolation, control,
and teachings of the FLDS

created a strange life for the members,

but there was also a dark,
evil secret lurking in this community.

Warren Jeffs used his position
as leader, essentially, to hand out sex

as a reward to his congregants,

and to punish them by removing their wife
and children from them.

Either by sending the husband
out to one of his outposts

where they were isolated
and supervised until they repented

and pledged never to do it again,
never to disobey Jeffs.

He would determine who would marry,

who would even be the generators

of the group, sexually.

That is, who would be allowed
to have sex to produce children.

What got him into trouble
was not just his overarching control,

and his use of sex as a weapon,

but specifically his interest
in underage girls.

I don't think that was
clearly understood for quite some time.

He molested boys. He molested girls.

He subjected them to rape.

He would sexually abuse many
of the children in the group.

In that sense,
he was basically a predator, a pedophile,

preying on his own followers.

There was an anonymous tip put through
for one of his compounds,

which was a complete hoax.
But it brought the outside authorities in,

where they saw lots of young girls
carrying babies of their own.

Eventually, there was more scrutiny

of the activities of Jeffs and the FLDS.

Warren Jeffs then created a compound,

the Yearning for Zion Ranch,
which, ironically, would be near Waco.

And some of the people
in El Dorado, Texas,

would think about that.

They would think, "What is this?"

Is this like another
Waco Davidian Compound?"

But unlike David Koresh,
Warren Jeffs controlled a lot of money...

by some reports,
more than 100 million dollars

in property and assets.

So, the Yearning for Zion Ranch
became quite a construction project,

with a lot of concrete,
and buildings, and housing

for what would be

his handpicked population for that ranch,
isolated in Texas.

Within Yearning for Zion Ranch,
Warren Jeffs would do horrible things.

There would be rituals and practices

that were little more
than rape and sexual abuse.

When the compound was raided,
Jeffs fled the Yearning for Zion Ranch.

Warren Jeffs was arrested driving
in a late model Cadillac Red Escalade,

which is interesting because
he forbid his followers to wear red.

The color red was sinful.

But when he was arrested, he was
in a red Escalade with a lot of cash.

In that car, he had an audiotape
of his sexual instructions to his wives,

where this religious leader
encouraged them

to participate together
in orgies with him,

and to have orgies when he's not around,
and let him know how they are going.

He also had one audiotape

of a sexual encounter with his wives,

including his new bride,
who he had just married

a few days after her 12th birthday.

And on this tape,
she can be heard sobbing.

And he encourages her to look
past the pain to her place in Heaven,

which she is currently earning.

I can tell you that, as of this afternoon,

Child Protective Services
has now taken temporary legal custody

of 401 children.

They would take hundreds of children out,

but then they wouldn't know
what to do with them.

And eventually,
the children would be returned

to their families within the FLDS

because the government
was ordered to do so,

and also because
they had no one on the outside.

Warren Jeffs continues
to run the FLDS from prison,

and he rules over it harshly.

He demanded that all of his followers
give away all of their toys, bicycles.

Everything they own that the children
could enjoy as part of childhood

should be given away.

He's also announced that all the women
and young girls in his compound,

should now use the last name "Jeffs."

They're now all to be considered his wife,

and they are to wait for him
for his release.

And he stopped eating.

At the moment, Warren Jeffs
is on a medically induced coma

because of the damage he was doing
to himself through hunger strikes.

So, what is
the overarching psychology

that drives these heinous cult leaders?

Can experts pinpoint
common characteristics

lurking inside
their twisted criminal minds?

Mental health professionals

have repeatedly described cult leaders
as psychopaths.

Margaret Singer,
the noted psychologist,

who was one of the top experts in
cultic studies during the 20th century...

I once asked her,
"Is David Koresh a psychopath?"

Her answer was,
"Rick, they're all psychopaths."

Cult leaders are people
that are narcissistic,

have little guilt or remorse about
what they put their members through,

and ultimately victimize
the members of the cult.

But the question remains...

Are these despicable people
considered sane or insane?

People tend to confuse
abnormal moral values,

which certainly Manson had,
with being insane.

I don't think Manson was insane.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

He was insane the way
Adolph Hitler was insane.

It's almost part of the job description

that a destructive cult leader will be

a narcissist without a conscience,

with little, if any, empathy.

Some of the worst destructive cult leaders
receive pleasure from the pain of others.

They inflict suffering because the pain
and suffering is like their oxygen.

But don't you have
any feelings about it?

Feelings?

All my feelings are good.

- Sir, this is chance for you...
- The sun was out this morning.

You notice it?