Trey’s investigation leads him to a survivor whose own family helped hide her abuse. Another survivor reveals evidence that may trace back to a top Jehovah’s Witnesses leader. Victims get an overdue shot at justice in New York State.
1:27:36
The Watchtower
S1/EP1
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Aired: 02/08/2020
After receiving leaked documents Reporter Trey Bundy sets out to expose a cover up of child sexual abuse among the Jehovah’s Witnesses. When he meets abuse survivors and an attorney fighting for justice he learns the conspiracy goes much deeper.
1:27:36
S1/EP2
Law professor Marci Hamilton describes how civil litigation is the “only effective weapon” against systemic child sexual abuse, while also highlighting recent changes to statute of limitation laws.
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A former Watchtower employee reveals details about the Jehovah’s Witnesses new world headquarters in Warwick, New York including where the governing body live and work, using a drone to capture footage of the property.
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Ex-Jehovah’s Witness Jordan Johnson describes his former “highly controlled” life living in the “nerve center” or headquarters of the organization known as the Bethel complex, saying residents were told how to dress, how to style their hair and had frequent room checks.
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As a teenager, former Jehovah’s Witnesses member Sarah Brooks felt helpless to stop her sexual abuse but has become a powerful advocate for herself and others as an adult.
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After Chessa Manion was allegedly sexually abused as a child, her father wrote to Stephen Lett, a governing board member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, to question some of the organization’s policies on child abuse and got a hand-signed response in return.
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Robert Brooks believed his sister was a “lost cause” after she left the Jehovah’s Witnesses and began a downward spiral, but he would “feel terrible” years later after discovering the truth about her past.
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Former Jehovah’s Witnesses Member Sarah Brooks talks about the artwork that helped her heal and process the trauma of being sexually abused as a teenager.
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Former Jehovah's Witnesses Member Debbie McDaniel describes hiding her sexual identity from her family before finding love with another woman: “You live this lie and you hate yourself for it.”
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Former Jehovah's Witnesses Member Debbie McDaniel recounts how she was disfellowshipped by the organization at 18 by the same man who had once abused her.
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Debbie McDaniel finds peace after marrying her wife Crystal McDaniel and moving to Tulsa where the couple “just don’t have to live under a cloud anymore.”
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Former Jehovah’s Witnesses Member Debbie McDaniel describes the painful process of being shunned by her family after making the decision to leave the religion.
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Debbie McDaniel said that after suffering years of sexual abuse, she tried to restart her life but soon discovered her former abuser peering into the windows of her apartment.
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Investigative reporter Trey Bundy describes a case of sexual abuse within a Pennsylvania congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses with “layers of cover-up” not only from the religious institution but from the victim’s own family as well.
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Former Jehovah’s Witness Chessa Manion holds a protest outside a Jehovah’s Witness building during the Memorial, a sacred day in the religion where they commemorate the death of Jesus Christ, sparking a response from the organization.
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Investigative reporter Trey Bundy talks with former Jehovah’s Witness elder Martin Haugh, who says top elders within his former congregation bought a shredder and were instructed to destroy their personal notes about the sexual abuse of Sarah Brooks before police arrived.
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After being “silenced for so many years” former Jehovah’s Witnesses member Sarah Brooks now uses art to work through the trauma of her sexual abuse creating a “timeline” of her abuse and recovery.