Erik Hawkins

The controversial Cedu School had roots in the violent cult Synanon, as explored on the podcast “Lost Kids” and Oxygen’s “Deadly Cults.”

Polygamous doctor Rulon Allred’s 1977 murder was found to be one of several hits ordered by fanatical cult leader Ervil LeBaron.

Trailer park cult leader Gerald Cruz led his followers in a brutal rampage that killed four in Salida.

Twins Alexandria and Anastasia Duval had a tumultuous relationship that ended in a fatal car wreck and a tense murder trial.

Marshall Applewhite's Heaven's Gate cult shocked the world in 1997 with a mass suicide in a mansion near San Diego.

Amanda Smith’s husband claimed she shot herself during sex, but her parents fought to prove her death was a murder, not suicide.

Barbara Rogers claimed her boyfriend, Steven Mineo, asked her to kill him after he was ostracized from a strange online cult.

Ellen Greenberg sustained 20 stab wounds, including to the back of her neck, before her death.

“Cold Justice: Sex Crimes” investigators had to leave Rogers, Arkansas before solving the 1997 rape of Amy Harrison. But last year, justice came.

Lou Castro lived extravagantly in Kansas with his cult-like family and was found guilty of rape and the murder of Patricia Hughes.