Age: 19
Location: Japan

I have been born and brought up in The Family and I, like many others, was shocked and appalled when I heard the news about Ricky Rodriguez and how he had murdered Angela Smith in cold blood. This was not a spur of the moment thing that he did when he was overcome with rage as some of our apostates would have you believe, but this was a premeditated murder that Ricky had carefully planned out beforehand and carried out on this poor, innocent, unsuspecting woman.

Why would he do such a thing? What would drive this seemingly normal man to carry out this vicious act of terror? Was it his upbringing in the family? Was it the way his parents loved and cared for him and provided his every need? Or was this act of violence in direct consequence of his contact with those whose goal it is to destroy, defeat and overthrow The Family? I think the answer is obviously the latter.

I did not know either Ricky or Angela but being raised with stories of him and learning lessons from him, I did feel a sort of bond between us. He helped me learn so many things from the time I was a child even until now. I learned from his mistakes like many others did, and I know about his childhood from the time he was born until the time he left and eventually became an apostate.

From all his childhood books and his teen years and all that was published about him, you can see that he was always loved and cared for, had his every need taken care of, and had the love and attention of many who loved him and whose sole ministry was to care for him. Where did this sudden hatred for his family and The Family as a whole spring from? Why would a boy, who was so loved and cared for, suddenly turn on, and kill someone whom he had known since he was a child is unknown. Or is it?

There are others out there who would love to hurt and demolish The Family and these are the people who egged Ricky on in his hatred of anyone associated with the Family. These are the ones who are the true culprits, not Angela, not Mama, not Peter.

Let the truth be known, I love The Family and all those in it, those who are striving for the prize of the high calling of God. Nothing, nothing will be able to pry me away from those I love and call my family, not the lies of the apostates, not the threat of physical violence, not the bad publicity, nothing!!! I have never been more satisfied or fulfilled than where I am at right now. I will continue to stand up in the face of persecution and the lies of those who would have you believe that we are abused and tortured and methodically raped at the hands of those who say they love us.

The only torture that we must endure is that of which is done in the form of the lies from the apostates and acts of violence against the ones we love, like dear Angela. The real torturers are the apostates who threaten physical violence against my family, who blatantly lie to all those who will listen, and whose goal it is to destroy The Family even if it means physically killing us all. May God have mercy on their souls.

I pray that I will find it in my heart to forgive and forget and to react to their deeds of hatred with acts of love. I do not hate the apostate and ex-members; I don’t have time for that. I believe that I should TRULY “move on” with my life and continue to do my best for the Lord and The Family and to strive to maintain this safe haven, and heaven on earth that come in the form of my family, The Family.

Angela DeSantis is a second-generation member of the Family International.