S5 E7 - Standing Tall

Summary

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American Nightmares: "Gardens of Evil: Inside The Zion Society Cult"

Season 5, Episode 7 – Standing Tall

Release Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Aaron Mason

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

"Standing Tall" deeply examines the aftermath of the Zion Society cult’s unraveling in Ogden, Utah, focusing on the path to justice and healing for survivors — especially for Shelley, the daughter of a leading perpetrator. Through personal testimony and investigative detail, the episode spotlights the courtroom battles, the trauma of testifying as a child survivor, the legal system’s limitations, and the long-term effects for those who escaped. Notably, the episode details how survivors—from trauma and isolation—have come together, highlighted by a potent scene at the dedication of a new Children’s Justice Center. The narrative balances raw emotion with a clear-eyed look at flaws in both law enforcement and victims’ services, ultimately ending with hope and ongoing recovery.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. The Challenge of Prosecuting Cult Crimes

• Aftermath of the Raid:
  • Following Arvin Shreve’s arrest—leader of the Zion Society—authorities had over 750 felony charges in hand, with 13 individuals arrested and many more implicated. The complexity and scale led the prosecution to prioritize the "most egregious" offenders first.
    “We had arrested now 13 individuals, and we had probably 750 felony charges that we could have leveled against those individuals.” (Mike King, 03:05)
• Community in Shock:
  • The raid transformed the reclusive cult’s quiet neighborhood into a hotspot for police and media attention; reporters struggled to get responses, as residents denied involvement.
    • “You knock on the door and they, they would feign ignorance and they say, oh no, we're not part of the group.” (Paul Murphy via Mike King, 05:01)

2. Arvin Shreve in Court: Manipulation & Justice

• Swift Justice for the Leader:
  • Shreve pled guilty to a small subset of charges (two counts of sodomy of a child, two counts of sexual abuse), despite confessing to far more. Host Aaron Mason notes the negotiation was partly to spare victims the repeated trauma of testifying. Shreve never admitted to abusing boys, consistent with the cult’s beliefs, but survivor accounts confirm he did abuse boys as well.
  • “He thought that he was smarter than the system and that his charisma…would carry him through this.” (Mike King, 07:06)
  • “Arvin Shreve was given 20 years to life in prison…his countenance changed dramatically.” (Mike King, 09:46)
• Unique Sentencing Scene:
  • In an odd turn, Shreve requested Detective Mike King stand beside him at sentencing, further evidence of his manipulative persona.

3. Legal Barriers for Child Survivors

• Trauma on the Stand:
  • Survivors, including Shelley, were retraumatized by harsh cross-examinations that often led children to withdraw from proceedings, resulting in dropped charges.
    • “When you're the victim sitting on the stand and they're just so horrible to you, you're ashamed and you're scared and you feel like a perpetrator yourself by the way they treat you.” (Shelley, 02:22)
    • “The defense in those days could be more aggressive with the witness…we would see children having to really take the brunt of some pretty direct and hard hitting questions from the defense.” (Mike King, 26:30)
  • Prosecutors cut plea deals to minimize repeated testimony, trading the full scale of potential convictions for survivor protection.
• A System Ill-Fit for Kids (28:14):
  • Children might have had to testify "13 times"—once for each defendant. The emotional toll led to strategic plea bargaining.
    • “If you can get what you think is the maximum you'd get anyway, and do that without having to put the kids through the trauma of testifying…that's a win win in my mind.” (Mike King, 32:01)

4. Spotlight on Carla: ‘Ghislaine Maxwell’ of the Zion Society

• Betrayal by a Mother:
  • Carla was Shreve’s lieutenant and an active abuser and facilitator. Her daughter Shelley’s testimony was critical in building the case against her.
    • “While she actively participated in the sexual abuse of children, Carla also identified, groomed and facilitated their abuse for Arvin in a way that might draw comparisons to Ghislaine Maxwell's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.” (Aaron Mason, 13:51)
  • Shelley’s candid, agonized recollections detail psychological manipulation, being forced to both endure and perpetrate abuse, and the harsh reality of testifying against her own parent.
    • “She made me show my grandpa my underwear. And the whole time I'm eating, I'm just sick…my grandpa, I want to do this, you know, it's terrifying. It's, she's, she's just gross.” (Shelley, 23:31)
• Inadequate Punishments:
  • Many women perpetrators—Carla included—received light sentences. Carla served only a few years of her 10-to-life sentence due to legal technicalities and good behavior.
    • “Many of the women predators were given lighter sentences than we had hoped for.” (Mike King, 34:59)
    • “Carla did not end up serving her full sentence and was released early due to good behavior.” (Aaron Mason, 38:14)

5. The Evolution of Victims' Rights & System Reform

• Law Changes Spawned by the Case:
  • Reed Richards, lead prosecutor, helped pass constitutional amendments allowing children’s recorded statements in place of live testimony—directly tied to the difficulties experienced during the Zion Society prosecutions. (53:10)
    • “One of the amendments passed said that in preliminary hearings, recorded interviews of children could be used instead of forcing them to testify.” (Aaron Mason, 53:23)
• Children’s Justice Center Ribbon Cutting (51:37–56:06):
  • Survivors, officials, and prosecutors gather at a new CJC—a trauma-informed space inspired by the failures of 1991. Testimonies from survivors like Dawn and Andrea highlight how outreach and safe environments have improved recovery prospects for the next generation.
    • “It's not just a building, it is a lifeline…It sends a message to children being removed from abuse right now: we are here for you.” (Andrea, 55:12)

6. Healing & Survivor Empowerment

• Shelley’s Trajectory:
  • Shelley describes suicidal episodes, lack of self-worth, and long-lasting shame, but finds new hope and connection at the survivor gathering, realizing, “I don't need to be a victim anymore.” She joins in with a support network and speaks out for others.
    • “It was a healing. Healing that I didn't even know I needed…As I sat there and I listened to some of the women tell their stories…I had people who understood and like someone actually knows, like I did. I forgot that someone went through what I went through.” (Shelley, 64:30)
• Lasting Impact of Justice & Community:
  • The episode closes on the difference that support, visibility, and acknowledgment make for survivors—demonstrating ongoing recovery, advocacy, and system improvement as a legacy.

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MEMORABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

• Shelley on Testifying as a Child Survivor:
  “It was cruel. How do you stand there in front of someone that you're scared to death of or that your whole life just wanted to please... oh, my gosh, scary as heck.” (Shelley, 32:17)
• Mike King on Shreve’s Manipulation:
  “It's like he hasn't skipped a beat in being able to...try to manipulate through word and emotion.” (Mike King, 43:48)
• Shelley, on Rediscovering Connection at the CJC Event:
  “They were beautiful. They wanted to hug me...they were just very beautiful about seeing each other again after so long.” (Shelley, 58:53)
• Mike King on Insufficient Sentencing:
  “So in some cases, we were seeing sentences that were so light that it was almost laughable...that was really troubling, especially to many of the victims who said, are you really telling me that I went through all of this and...this individual only spent three or four months behind bars?” (Mike King, 34:59)
• Shelley, on Healing & Belonging:
  “If we can stand together and be brave, we can beat it.” (Shelley, 66:16)

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TIMESTAMPED SEGMENT HIGHLIGHTS

• [02:02]–[10:05]: Shelley’s courtroom ordeal, Shreve’s arrest and sentencing, media coverage.
• [13:51]–[24:08]: Carla’s role as Arvin’s lieutenant; Shelley’s grooming/abuse and family betrayal.
• [26:11]–[33:41]: Legal system’s impact on child victims, plea deals, and testimony trauma.
• [34:17]–[39:36]: Sentencing outcomes, legal technicalities, post-release Carla, resurgent cult contacts.
• [39:36]–[45:10]: Shreve’s life in prison, failed remorse, survivor reactions to his death.
• [51:37]–[60:28]: Dedication ceremony for Children’s Justice Center, survivors’ public reflections, transformation in support systems.
• [62:03]–[66:16]: Lunch gathering, survivor community building, Shelley’s realization of empowerment and healing.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

This episode masterfully interweaves individual trauma and resilience with the broader failures and reforms of the criminal justice and child advocacy systems. Shelley’s voice, authentic and unflinching, is central—her courage in sharing her story and connecting with other survivors becomes a metaphor for the ongoing process of healing. The dedication of the Children’s Justice Center stands as both a literal and symbolic milestone, underscoring the power of community, visibility, and solidarity in confronting the darkest chapters of abuse. The episode concludes with a message of hope for survivors: “You’re not alone. We’re here and we’re family and together. If we can stand together and be brave, we can beat it.” (Shelley, 66:16)

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Transcript

[Mike King]

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[Shelley]

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[Aaron Mason]

Some of the subject matter in this podcast is difficult, including suicide and sexual abuse of adults and children. While the more graphic details will be left out, the specifics can be triggering. Please take care when listening.

[Shelley]

I mean, I just felt annihilated on that stand, you know, it was really hard. So that for me, made it the whole thing worth it, you know that through my struggles and the hard time I had, how many other children won't have to do that? You know,

[Aaron Mason]

Shelly was 15 years old when Arvin Shreve was arrested.

[Shelley]

When you're the victim sitting on the stand and they're just so horrible to you, you're ashamed and you're scared and you feel like you feel like a perpetrator yourself by the way they treat

[Aaron Mason]

you as the prosecution's reluctant star witness. Few people had it harder during the Zion Society court proceedings than Shelley. But before I introduce her, I want to talk about the days and weeks immediately following Arvin's arrest, Detective Mike King, his partner Dave Lucas, the Weber County Attorney's Office, the newly formed Children's justice center, and the Ogden City Police Department were all running at full tilt.

[Mike King]

We had arrested now 13 individuals, and we had probably 750 felony charges that we could have leveled against those individuals.

[Aaron Mason]

And there were even more people that they were waiting to interview and charge.

[Mike King]

But our focus, because it was such a. A huge undertaking, was to get those most egregious people first.

[Aaron Mason]

While a dozen or so adults were now in custody, many more were not, which meant that the Zion Society children were still in harm's way. Many had been released back to their parents, who, who often counted among their abusers. But getting warrants was a long and laborious process.

[Mike King]

And keep in mind with, with every interview where you might spend an hour interviewing someone, you could potentially spend four to eight hours just prepping for that one single hour so that you know every nook and cranny and, and every angle that they might take.

[Aaron Mason]

As if that wasn't enough to do. When the local community learned that Arvin and other adults from this group in Northwood were being arrested, a whole new floodgate of information opened up.

[Mike King]

The phones didn't turn off at that point. They only intensified.

[Aaron Mason]

From postal workers to paper boys. People called in things they had seen while in the neighborhood. Things that maybe wouldn't normally raise any major flags, but now in this new context, seemed much more sinister. The once secret sect was now in the news. One of the journalists who covered the story was Paul Murphy.

[Mike King]

It was completely under the radar until then.

[Aaron Mason]

Paul first learned of the Zion Society on the day of the raid. I was watching everything going on, and

[Mike King]

I was working for a station that decided there were other things going on that day and so they didn't need to send a crew up. And then I would, I went to

[Aaron Mason]

the neighborhood often and tried to like,

[Mike King]

knock on doors of the people who had not been arrested and didn't get really anywhere with anybody. You knock on the door and they, they would feign ignorance and they say, oh no, we're not part of the group.

[Aaron Mason]

I asked Paul if he ever had the chance to talk to Arvin, just when he was going in and out

[Mike King]

of court, but he would never say anything. Mr. Shreve, is there anything you'd like to say? Are you sorry?

[Aaron Mason]

I mean, it just seemed like this

[Mike King]

friendly old man, but he was marrying

[Shelley]

13 and 14 year old girls.

[Aaron Mason]

Another reporter haunting the courthouse hallways during all of this was Mike Watkus with the TV show A Current Affair.

[Shelley]

And we did several stories while Arvin was making his way through, you know, the, the criminal justice system.

[Aaron Mason]

We met Mike last episode, one of

[Shelley]

the days he was in court. We were trying chasing him around because we still thought we can get him on camera. This is, you know, before they lock

[Aaron Mason]

him up, you want to get perp walk.

[Shelley]

So I'm chasing around and he was

[Aaron Mason]

trying to duck us and everything, but.

[Shelley]

And the last minute he slid. We see him slip into an elevator and so just like, you know, linebackers, we go crashing into that elevator door, pull it open, and now we're in there with Arvin. Poor little guy was scared to death. I mean, you know, it made great television. And when you're, when you're sort of an ambush artist like me, it's something that I love to do make, you know, if he wasn't going to talk to me, but he was gonna have to at least hear the questions. We got him in this elevator for a couple of floors and opened up and his lawyer got him out of there. And I thought, you know, whatever happens to this guy, I can honestly say to his victims, we scared the out of him in that elevator.

[Aaron Mason]

Unlike the other adults involved, Arvin moved quickly through the court process. He had already given his taped confession to detectives Mike King and Dave Lucas. So he skipped a handful of appearances one usually makes before their actual trial date.

[Mike King]

It was very clear in my mind that Arvin Shreve thought that he was smarter than the system and that his charisma that he had used over and again throughout his life would carry him through this. That someone would just say, oh, the guy made a mistake and he's a good guy and let's move on.

[Aaron Mason]

I mean, it had worked pretty well for him so far.

[Mike King]

I don't think he ever expected that it would hit him as hard between the eyes as his charges hit him.

[Aaron Mason]

Arvind Shreve, the serial pedophile and self proclaimed prophet, pled guilty and was convicted of two counts of sodomy of a child and two counts of sexual abuse of a child. Now, if you're wondering why, why a man who committed thousands of acts of child abuse was only brought up on four charges. There is a reason. It's an important part of the story, and I'll explain more in a bit. But a quick side note, Arvin admitted to many of the allegations against him, but something he refused to own up to was his sexual abuse of boys. The Zion Society believed homosexuality was Wrong.

[Shelley]

And.

[Aaron Mason]

And they were adamant that sex within Sister Councils was not considered lesbian. Arvin just flat out denied doing anything with boys, but we know he did. One of them was his own grandson, whom I spoke with. And he confirmed to me at least one instance of Arvin sexually abusing him and another boy when they were both around 5 or 6 years old. Regardless, Arvin Shreve was now a convicted child predator. And all that was left was determining his punishment. Mike King, as he did with all the Zion Society cases, attended Arvin's sentencing when Arvin did something unusual.

[Mike King]

Arvin asked if I could come and stand next to him during the sentencing. And again, I mean this. I'm the guy that has just spent a long, long time putting him in prison for the rest of his life. He didn't know how long it was going to be. And I think he still fantasized in his mind that he could control the narrative, that he could manipulate the court, and that he would somehow show, look, I'm a changed man. To show you how changed I am, I'm going to even have the investigator come up and stand with me. And so I looked at the county attorney who said, why not?

[Aaron Mason]

Arvind Shreve was given 20 years to life in prison.

[Mike King]

And when the judge leveled those sentences on his shoulders, his countenance changed dramatically. And it was really quite an experience. I remember reaching up and patting him on the back and saying, good luck to you, Arvin. I'll check on you in prison.

[Aaron Mason]

All in all, from his arrest to his sentencing, Arvin's time in the court system was only about three months. And although he was responsible for far more than he was actually charged with, it was clear that the 61 year old Shreve was going to die in prison. The same cannot be said for the cult's other abusers.

[Shelley]

Foreign

[Aaron Mason]

I'm Aaron Mason and this is Gardens of Evil Inside the Zion Society Cult Episode 7 Standing Tall.

[Shelley]

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[Mike King]

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[Shelley]

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[Aaron Mason]

There was another member of the Zion Society that you could argue was just as if not more responsible for the abuses that occurred within the cult as Arvin, his loyal lieutenant Carla. While she actively participated in the sexual abuse of children, Carla also identified, groomed and facilitated their abuse for Arvin in a way that might draw comparisons to Ghislaine Maxwell's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Unlike Arvin, Carla's case dragged on for years. But at every step, there was someone who stood up to her the entire way. Her daughter, Shelley. When this podcast project began, I knew getting people to talk about this time in their lives might be difficult. Many said no, and I was respectful of that. There were few people, though, who I really wanted to hear tell their story in their words, but were firmly in the absolutely not column. One was the woman who blew this case wide open, who we're calling Erin Anderson. From what little information I've been able to cobble together, it seems like Erin has decided to move on and has no interest in looking back at this period in her life. Another was Jeff Peterson and Carla's daughter, Shelley. Shelley and her younger brother were at the center of Jeff's battle to get his kids out of the cult and away from their mother, Carla. Remember the private investigator's wife who went undercover and videotaped the lingerie fashion show? 15 year old Shelly was one of the models.

[Mike King]

This is Shelly, the youngest sailor on this ship.

[Shelley]

She's modeling the sailor girl fantasy.

[Aaron Mason]

When I first talked to Jeff in early 2024, I asked how his kids were doing all these years later.

[Shelley]

They're pretty good, as long as you don't bring it up, even talk to

[Aaron Mason]

my daughter about it.

[Mike King]

She falls apart, literally falls apart, he said.

[Aaron Mason]

His son, Shelly's younger brother, was the same way.

[Shelley]

They can't, they can't talk about it.

[Aaron Mason]

They can't, they can't do it. Shelley couldn't physically could not even talk to her dad about her past. But I believed her experience was unique and, and important. So I told Jeff if his daughter ever opened up, I'd listen. To be honest, I never expected to hear from her. But I did. Something happened which you'll hear about later in the episode, and Shelly decided she wanted to share her story. It started when she was 7 and her mom, Carla, abandoned her family and moved in with the cult.

[Shelley]

And that's when I used to leave little notes for my dad telling him I wanted to live with my mom.

[Aaron Mason]

Visitation continued on and off for another three years until Shelly said they stopped going to Northwood altogether.

[Shelley]

And then I secretly started calling her on the phone when I was 12 and sending her notes. I'd mail her out notes.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelly's stepmom, Kate, found out about the messages and and confronted her stepdaughter. Shelly copped to the clandestine communication and said she wanted to visit her mom.

[Shelley]

And so they let me go and I turned 13. And I refused to get out of the car. When my mom and I don't remember which other ladies were with her. Whoever I was in the car with and they were dropping me off, my dad, I just said, no, I'm not getting out. And I went home with my mom.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelly had a great relationship with her stepmom. So I asked her, why were you so determined to leave?

[Shelley]

I wanted my mom. I wanted a mother. I mean, she was my mom, she was my stepmom. She was amazing mom. But every little girl wants her mother. And I just wanted her to hold me and tell me it was pretty, walk me through life.

[Aaron Mason]

But her desire to be with her mom wasn't part of Arvin's plan. The Zion Society intentionally kept children away from their families.

[Shelley]

They don't do parents. I'm sure you've found that out. There's no parents. So just, I think it was a facade to get me in. Here's your mom. There she goes. You know, she's there, she's gone. They had a house in my mom's name. So I thought I was going to live there. But I just bounced between. There's four houses that were in the sisterhood and I just bounced between the four houses.

[Aaron Mason]

I just want to address something quickly. Shelly is a nervous laugher. I do it too. The American Medical association says that nervous laughter, smiling or joking during the disclosure of traumatic events is a common involuntary coping mechanism or stress response. It can happen for all kinds of reasons, but it's not a sign that the story is untrue or unimportant. So she was no longer just a visitor. Shelley was there to stay. And that is when things began to change.

[Shelley]

I always remembered a little weirdness from day one. But it wasn't until I came back when I refused to get out of the car that I got the full blown knowledge of things.

[Aaron Mason]

They sat 13 year old Shelley down and opened up the volumes of teaching materials. They began with the more religious stuff, sisterhood and premortal existence. Those things didn't shock her. Shelley says it's what came next, the porn.

[Shelley]

They pulled out porn and I immediately freaked and was like, you guys are perverted. I was pretty upset and they would push me in a room and isolate me, tell me that I was the one that was wrong, make me feel like I was like this terrible person for even implying things like that. And I couldn't come out until I'd agree with them and do what I was told. And so that happened quite a few times where I Would I, you know, dig my feet in and say no? And they would be like, oh, okay, well, you're the one that, you know. And I always felt like I was locked in the rooms. But as an adult, I realized it probably, probably wasn't even a lock on the door. I just didn't know I could leave, so I never tried. I just sat in the corner and just wept, you know.

[Aaron Mason]

So Here we have 13 year old Shelley trying to stand her ground, trying to establish a boundary. But the pressure from the group was just too much for her to withstand.

[Shelley]

It was just a lot of emotional abuse. It was hard because you'd learn from the older girls and you have to teach the younger girls or you'd learn from the adults. You have to teach the younger kids.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelley recalls one of the young girls specifically.

[Shelley]

I loved her so much and it was so hard to like have to train her in something. I was just bolting about myself, you know, like I was locked in my room because I wouldn't do this. And now I have to teach you, like stripping, you know, I didn't want to do it. And then I turn around and teach her and. And I loved her and I didn't want to, you know. It was hard. It was, it was exhausting.

[Aaron Mason]

Victims of abuse forced to perpetrate abuse who then blame themselves and suffocate under a lifetime of shame is an incredibly destructive loop.

[Shelley]

But at the same time, I look at people like the girls that are older than me and I don't harbor any animosity towards them. I know what they were going through. I went through the same thing.

[Aaron Mason]

Remember in many of these instances we're talking about children and teenagers.

[Shelley]

It's people like the ladies, the adult mothers that you're. I have to remind myself every day that I need to forgive for me, not for them, but so that I don't destroy my body and hate, you know, I have to let go. But, but they're the ones that I, I struggle with.

[Aaron Mason]

One of those women was her own mother, Carla. Now, I don't believe in ranking traumas. I would never look at two people's hardships and say this person had it worse than that person. But your experience can be different if your parent is in a position of authority. And being Carla's daughter, that is what Shelly's time in the Zion Society was like.

[Shelley]

I personally felt picked on because my mom couldn't see me anyway. And when she did, it was a demand of some stupid sexual thing she needed me to do for someone. It was you know, it was never. If she came walking up, you were, you weren't excited. But I think sometimes other people saw it as I got attention, you know, and it wasn't attention I wanted. I don't know that they knew some of the stuff I had to do. I don't know if the other girls had to do some of it. So like if they took me in a car for a ride, I don't know if they knew that they were taking me to a hotel room with another man, you know, I don't know if they had that experience. I've never heard, but I know I was told I couldn't talk about it. I just felt like she always used me as the guinea pig for crap. But they sent me out dancing for the other couples in the group too. That was weird. Would you send your wife out to dance for your neighbor? It's stupid. And then the couple of guys, and then she made me show my grandpa my underwear. And the whole time I'm eating, I'm just sick because I know this is something I have to do before the end of the day, being able to see him. So at the very end I just hurry and just like, hey, look, I made these and put my dress down and ran to the car, you know, my grandpa, I want to do this, you know, it's terrifying. It's, she's, she's just gross.

[Aaron Mason]

Carla either sexually abused or facilitated the sexual abuse of some of her other children too.

[Shelley]

And she'd tell me what she did to my little sister when she was a baby, you know, and she'd laugh and you're just like, why is that funny? You know, like how I don't, I can't comprehend the mentality of these adults.

[Aaron Mason]

Nowhere and no one was safe for the children of the Zion Society. But in the summer of 1991, things changed.

[Shelley]

They were teaching us to teach the kids not to talk. And then one day my mom puts me in a car and sends me up to Idaho to my aunt. They must have known there was a raid because they were preparing everything. They were like, they're going to come. They can't get you if you're in Idaho.

[Aaron Mason]

Not long after the raid, police tracked down now 15 year old Shelley.

[Shelley]

Two cops. One I think was my king and then another one that he was just mean. He was so mean. And I just sat there with my lips shut and just, you know, like, go away.

[Aaron Mason]

She did exactly as she had been taught to do. But after a week or so, Arvin lifted the gag order he had given the group about talking to law enforcement, probably in an attempt to appear cooperative, even if it meant throwing everyone else under the bus.

[Shelley]

And my mom sent me that card, and she was like, go ahead and talk. Tell them whatever. Tell him everything. And I'm like, okay. But I remember I told them I would only talk to Mike. I was like, I will only talk to this one detective. That was nice to me. And I told him everything.

[Aaron Mason]

In Ogden, the wheels of justice were turning. A couple days after someone is arrested, they go before a judge for a formal reading of the charges against them, after which the judge sets a date for a preliminary hearing. That is where the prosecution probably presents enough evidence that a judge says, yeah, let's take this to trial. Weber county attorney and lead prosecutor Reed Richards, Defense attorneys at the time found

[Mike King]

that as a convenient forum to try to scare the daylights out of a victim.

[Aaron Mason]

Remember when I said there was a reason Arvin was only charged with four counts as opposed to the many, many he could have been? Well, this is why Mike King says the prelims often got ugly.

[Mike King]

The defense in those days could be more aggressive with the witness on the stand than they would ever dare try to be in front of a jury. So we would see children having to really take the brunt of some pretty direct and hard hitting questions from the defense. And in some cases, not all cases, but some cases, that interrogation of the victim became so strenuous that the victim no longer wanted to go into court for trial.

[Aaron Mason]

They said, we don't care if he goes free.

[Shelley]

We don't want to go through that again.

[Aaron Mason]

Criminal charges depend on the testimony of the victims, who, in this case, were children. If defense attorneys could shut these kids down at the preliminary hearing, they might be able to get the charges tossed before their clients even have to enter a plea. Not to mention, if they did make it through this gauntlet, the kids would have to do it all over again at trial and this time face to face with their accused abusers. Things have changed since 1991, but back then, children were dragged through this process over and over and over again. In the Zion Society case, 13 different people were charged with crimes.

[Mike King]

That would mean 13 different hearings for an original initial appearance, 13 preliminary hearings, and potentially 13 trials.

[Aaron Mason]

Not to mention, many of the child victims would have to testify multiple times about several different people.

[Mike King]

And the idea of not only having him do it 13 times, but if it goes to trial, having him do it 26 times is. Is too tremendous of a cost.

[Aaron Mason]

One instance really brought this home Carla's son, who was the other boy abused alongside Arvin's grandson, was scheduled to testify against a number of adults, including his mother. He was interviewed first at the Children's justice center, where he answered their questions. But his stepmom, Kate, says, he was in a very fragile state.

[Shelley]

I warned him. I said, you know, he's gonna. He probably won't last on the stand. There's no way this is gonna be something he's gonna withdraw from. Oh, but we can't do it any other way. The accused have got to be able to meet their accusers. I says, he's seven years old. Give me a break. You know, it was just one of those things. I kind of get mad at him. Can't you use the video? Can't that be enough? You know? And when he heard that he had to go to court, he. He was really, really unhappy. Of course, when we got in there, he got up on the stand, took one look at the one gal, and shut down, and I got nothing.

[Aaron Mason]

Here's Kate's husband, Jeff Peterson.

[Mike King]

My son,

[Aaron Mason]

he's sitting on a.

[Mike King]

The chair in court, and he curls

[Shelley]

up in a little ball, starts crying. It's wrong. I mean, the court system's wrong to

[Aaron Mason]

require that out of the kid. It should have been done in private nether room. Jeff then refers to the boy's mom, Carla, and she had been gone for a long time. If he had testified the stuff that happened to him. There were things Carla was accused of that carried big sentences that didn't stick because her son couldn't testify. Stepmom Kate believes Carla trafficked her son as well. She said the boy told her Carla would take him out to a house,

[Shelley]

to a man's house, and she would leave him. And I said, well, why would she leave you at a house? He says, well, she told me I had work to do and that I was to go do some work. Oh. I says, what kind of work was it? Was it in the yard? And he says, oh, no. And then he wouldn't tell me. And I. I immediately was like, oh, boy, you know, this is not good. And so I said, so at what point did you go home? And he says, well, when I went home, I went out in the driveway to get in the car, and she gave money to the man, and then we left. And then later, he did tell me that that's what was going on.

[Aaron Mason]

So Reed Richards devised a strategy to keep the children away from as much harm inherent to the court system as they could while still getting maximum Penalties for their abusers. In exchange for pleading guilty, the accused could avoid Most of the 750 felony charges that Mike says could have been leveled against the group.

[Mike King]

And that became a very powerful bargaining chip. And that led to a number of the defendants deciding to plead guilty, which

[Aaron Mason]

kept many of the Zion Society children from having to testify.

[Mike King]

And that was probably more on our mind than the trying of the cases. You've got all these kids that now are in the process of hopefully recovering. I don't know that we did as good a job then as we would now, but at least they were out

[Shelley]

of the group for the time being

[Mike King]

and out of the influence of Arvin. And try to keep them from having to go back to court and actually testify in court meant a lot. And there was a lot of reason

[Shelley]

to try to do what you can do.

[Mike King]

If you can get what you think is the maximum, you'd get anyway, and

[Shelley]

do that without having to put the

[Mike King]

kids through the trauma of testifying and

[Aaron Mason]

going through the court process. That's a win win in my mind. But not all the children were spared.

[Shelley]

There's just no right way. There was nothing that could have been right.

[Aaron Mason]

That's Shelly.

[Shelley]

It was cruel. How do you stand there in front of someone that you're scared to death of or that your whole life just wanted to please and, you know, like, oh, my gosh, scary as heck.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelley did what many of the others couldn't or wouldn't.

[Mike King]

The children were not terribly helpful. Shelly certainly was. But many of the others either wouldn't talk or would just talk in a limited way. They'd been trained to not answer questions,

[Aaron Mason]

and many of them didn't answer questions.

[Mike King]

Some of them did. So we had good cases against some and not such good cases against others.

[Aaron Mason]

Like I said, victim testimony is often the difference maker. As the defense dragged her character through the mud, called her a liar, and tried to discount all of her experiences. Shelly stood tall again and again for years as they worked through all 13 charged adults.

[Shelley]

I know I didn't want to do any of it. I changed my last name. I used my aunt's last name in Idaho. It became like a really hidden person. I just didn't want to be seen. And I just remember being asked the same thing over and over and over. Then you'd have to relive it and relive it. I was scared to death that the people I was charging were going to come get me.

[Aaron Mason]

The county attorney's office did every. Everything it could to bring charges against Carla. And over A dozen other Zion Society adults that would compel them to plead guilty so as to spare the 32 children involved in these abuse cases from repeated traumatization while seeking the maximum penalty. Eventually all saw their day in court. But you might not like the result.

[Shelley]

With vrbocare, Help is always ready before, during, and after your stay.

[Aaron Mason]

We've planned for the plot twists, so support is always available because a great trip starts with peace of mind. The punishment is supposed to fit the crime. That's the core of justice. Now, I don't know what exactly should be done to people who commit the vile and despicable offenses the adults in the Zion society committed, But I do know in this case, justice was not served.

[Mike King]

So in some cases, we were seeing sentences that were so light that it was almost laughable where they would be sent to prison and do their 30 day orientation and then be allowed to go into a halfway house and. And then with good behavior, get a shortened sentence. Well, that was. That was really troubling, especially to many of the victims who said, are you really telling me that I went through all of this and, and this individual only spent three or four months behind bars? Particularly, many of the women predators were given lighter sentences than we had hoped for.

[Aaron Mason]

One possible explanation is that most of the defense attorneys portrayed their clients not as perpetrators of child abuse, but as victims of Arvin Shreve.

[Mike King]

One of the places where I feel like I may have written really felt in this entire investigation was not spending more time on the behavior of the predator. That showed that this was not a mistake or a belief in a. In a religion, that this was truly predatory behavior, and that they were people who understood what was right and wrong, and they chose to do it anyway.

[Aaron Mason]

Carla Arvin's second in command, promise, pleaded guilty to charges of sodomy on a child, Attempted aggravated sexual abuse, Sexual exploitation of a minor, and dealing harmful material to a minor, which landed her a ten year to life sentence.

[Mike King]

Personally, I felt like she was still getting off with an awfully light sentence, considering the magnitude and the role that she played in the Zion society cult. And yet we had committed that we would not level the many, many, many, many felony charges that could have been leveled against her in exchange for that guilty plea. I just don't think we ever anticipated that the court would be as lenient with the women predators as they were at that particular time.

[Aaron Mason]

An article from the associated predator press dated March 31, 1996, that's roughly four years after she was sentenced, says, quote, a first degree felony conviction for child sodomy was overturned last December by second district judge Michael Glassman. He ruled she had been incorrectly charged by the state with child sodomy because her alleged victim, her daughter, was 14 years old at the time, not 13. End quote. It's a heck of a technicality.

[Shelley]

When she was in prison, my family moved to Texas, and I felt pretty alone. We connected, and I thought, maybe this is when I get to have my biological mother, you know, maybe because in the group, she was very spacey, like she couldn't see you. She couldn't respond. She was in another world all the time. We didn't call her mom, but she just wasn't available emotionally, ever.

[Aaron Mason]

Carla did not end up serving her full sentence and was released early due to good behavior.

[Shelley]

So I thought, oh, my gosh, maybe I can have my mom. She's changed. She's a different person. So when she came out, we did have contact. We did reconnect, and I was pretty hopeful that it was going to be good. My brothers were extremely reluctant, but we tried to reformulate a family with her. She's just not there and not. She's not healthy, and she's not safe. She just lives in the town next to me, probably five minutes away. And there are people who go in and out of her door that are from this cult that I don't want to see, that I am scared to death of.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelly says some of the leopards haven't changed their spots.

[Shelley]

It sounds like they needed to be in there longer than they got. They didn't learn any lessons. So maybe that's too much of a blanket statement, Because I don't know where everybody is. But in talking to the women, none of them seem to feel like any of their parents were healed or no one's like, oh, my parents, great. You know, I don't hear that.

[Aaron Mason]

Although he was behind bars, Arvin continued to exert influence over his followers. Phone calls in prison are recorded, and Mike King kept tabs on Arvin by reviewing his.

[Mike King]

And what I found was very disturbing, that he was continuing to meet with members of the cult on a regular basis through phone calls, through visits to the prison by family members and others. And during those visits, there were recorded conversations that supported the idea that he was still running the cult from inside the prison.

[Aaron Mason]

The time Arvin spent incarcerated was, by prison standards, pretty good.

[Mike King]

In fact, they used him at the prison to do landscaping for the prison. I believe, because of this grandfatherly figure and, frankly, his ability to manipulate others, I think that he created some friends around him, and oftentimes child abusers are treated poorly. But he was in the sex offender unit at the prison, so he was not with other violent predators who might, you know, look at that much differently than other sexual predators.

[Aaron Mason]

An article in the Deseret News mentioned Arvin spent his early years in prison recording narration for the state's Books on Tape tape program and that those tapes were sent out to libraries all across Utah. I figured since we've talked so much about his oratory skills and the way people responded to his voice, it would be interesting to hear him. As I've mentioned before, all audio from the investigation was destroyed. So I tried to track down one of those books on tape, but couldn't find anything. That said, I do have one recording of Arvind Shreve, and this is difficult. I debated playing it on this podcast for two reasons. One, there are people involved in this story who are going to hear this and could be very triggered by hearing their abuser's voice. I want to protect them. The other reason is selfish. I want to hear Arvin sad, defeated, miserable. I once schadenfreude, but that is not what this is. In episode three, I played for you the only audio I had of Aaron Anderson's real voice. It was from a training Mike King organized in the early 2000s, where around 500 law enforcement officers could get insights on how cults recruit and operate from people who were directly involved with them. Well, Arvin was there, too. One of the reasons Mike King wrote his book Deceived, the one this podcast is based on, was to learn what law enforcement could do differently so that the tragedies of the Zion society would never be repeated. It was in that spirit that Mike asked Aaron and Arvin and others to speak that day. He told me it's rare that cops hear directly from leaders of these coercive groups. I'm going to play a clip of Arvin just this once, and I won't cut back to him again. It's about 45 seconds long.

[Shelley]

I'm not asking you to accept my past. I'm just asking you, can we have a rapport as two human beings? And that's what would have solved an

[Mike King]

awful lot of problems in the past.

[Shelley]

And you're going to be facing an awful lot of these communities. Are all of these people going to turn into child abusers? Of course not.

[Mike King]

If you go out with the attitude

[Shelley]

of law enforcement that anybody who's banding together as a group have some skullduggery going on, you may Find that you're wasting an awful lot of time. Talk to them. Get to know them. I congratulate you, Mike, on what you're doing with that group in Manti. It is the proper approach. I don't know whether they've got problems or not. I don't suspect.

[Aaron Mason]

Suspect anything.

[Shelley]

But for heaven's sakes, don't isolate them.

[Aaron Mason]

Mike recalls being in the room and being surprised as Arvin, who had been locked up for 10 years at this point, began to speak.

[Mike King]

It's like he hasn't skipped a beat in being able to. To talk to the crowd and try to manipulate through word and emotion. And we had to remind ourselves this was a debate champion when he was a young man. And so he was clearly very good at being very bad.

[Aaron Mason]

Even after spending so much time learning about this story and telling you that things aren't always as they seem, I still had an idea in my mind about what this predator must have been like and was wrong. Something else that struck me about that clip was Arvin's plea for connection. Odd, from a man who spent years isolating people from their loved ones. But what I think he's really doing there is trying to squeeze into a spot to control the situation when he tells a room full of cops. Don't assume that every group is doing something bad. Get to know them. What I hear is, get close to me so I can try to exert my power over you. Arvin Shreve would spend another eight years incarcerated in the Utah State Prison until he died of natural causes on August 10, 2009, at the age of 79.

[Shelley]

I had a dance. Boy, did I have a dance.

[Aaron Mason]

That's Erin Anderson's Aunt Judy from episode two.

[Shelley]

You shouldn't be glad someone dies. But I was hysterical, ecstatically happy.

[Aaron Mason]

I asked everyone I interviewed for this story where they were and how they felt when they learned Arvin died. The reactions varied, but they usually fell into one of two categories. Catharsis or indifference.

[Mike King]

The first thought I had is how little I had thought about him. I was very grateful that I could have cared less what happened to Arvin Shreve after that. But I hoped that it brought some semblance of justice to the victims.

[Aaron Mason]

Jeff Peterson, Shelley's dad, was, let's say, not sad.

[Mike King]

Oh, we had cupcakes.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelly told me she heard the news from her mother, Carla.

[Shelley]

I didn't care. Like it, whatever, you know, like. I didn't even want to talk about him. Don't even bring him up to me. I was just Even offended that she'd even think that I would want to hear that. Like, I don't care. Why are you even telling me?

[Aaron Mason]

She was telling her because Carla was concerned about Arvin's first and only legal wife, Joanne, who was now in her late 70s.

[Shelley]

She was worried that Joanne needed somewhere to live. Like, what are they gonna do? Joanne? What about Joanne? I'm like, this is when I started connecting that my mother was still the same person. And so it was. I just. It was. I was more mad at her. You know, I was in Switzerland.

[Aaron Mason]

This is Carrie, who you met in episode five. She talked about having reoccurring nightmares about Arvin and being with him on the day of the raid.

[Shelley]

And my mom called me on the phone to tell me. I was like, oh, okay. I don't care. Thanks for letting me know. I mean, I think she was upset about it. Well, it's hard because my mom frequently treats me like I believe that stuff. Right. She still treats me like I'm going to outer darkness because I've rejected all of this stuff. And so I think she expected me to have some emotion for his loss, and I didn't. I was relieved that he was gone, and I was never have to run into him or see him.

[Aaron Mason]

We've heard from Andrea several times. She and Amber were the ones who first reached out to Mike back in 2018. And I'd say she had the most surprising response out of everyone.

[Shelley]

I had a whole dream about Ivran the night before he came to me. In my dream, when I was going to school in Santa Monica College, I was sitting at my table doing schoolwork, and my phone was there, and I got a text from Amber, and she said, arvin died last night in prison. And I'm sitting there doing my schoolwork, and I look at the text, and I process that. So I'm pretty convinced he came to me after he died. Yeah. Wild, right? Because the imagery in my dream was he was digging a grave. As he was talking to me, he was just digging a grave. Like, I'm just doing some labor here while we're chatting. And he wasn't coming to say, I'm so sorry for all my actions, which I think would have been less impactful. His message was, I was so wrong. I was wrong. I mean, I can't say it changed much for my life at the time, but it was really powerful to have that experience. It helped. It was helpful.

[Aaron Mason]

Arvind Shreve was dead, but the trauma he left behind was radioactive. And when he died in 2009. Many of those he abused were still suffering in darkness. Several of the cult's survivors you've heard from in this series have only recently been able to confront their pasts and talk about what happened to them. And one of the most powerful moments of healing came last spring in May 2020. It's the early afternoon of May 21, 2025, and I'm on a flight to Salt Lake City from my home in Seattle. For months, Mike King has been telling me I had to come to Utah for this ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Children's justice center, or cjc, and he says it's going to be something special. The CJC has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1991 when the Zion Society children arrived in vans after the raid in Northwood. It started out in an old house, moved a few times since then, but this new building was designed from the ground up, specifically to be a place where kids can be comfortable and safe with art and activities and toys while they go through the daunting process of investigating child abuse. As I pull up in my rental car, I am struck at how beautiful the setting is for this place. Perched atop a hill overlooking a river and flanked by mountains, the building looks like a fancy, small private school. There's stonework and landscaping and a roofless sculpture garden in the center. There's a big white tent set up in the parking lot, swaying in the gusty wind. On this warm, clear spring morning. There may be a hundred chairs set up underneath that tent, and by the time the dedication ceremony starts at 10am it is standing room only.

[Mike King]

Thank you everybody for being here. My name is Rod Layton. I've been the director for 22 years and I'm going to

[Aaron Mason]

I'm shocked at how many people are here. A nonprofit group is opening its new facility. Big whoops. I thought there would be a few suits and maybe some volunteers, but the community is here. It's my first glimpse that this thing is different. I crouch up beside the front row, adorned in my huge black headphones and awkwardly wrangling cables. While I point my mic at the podium, I see Mike King and former County Attorney Reed Richards. There are former and current directors, volunteers, CJC staff, as well as officials from local government and the LDS Church. Utah's Attorney General Derrick Brown, an Olympic Gold Medal skier, Peekaboo street friends and family are here, law enforcement, and a whole swath of people whose lives have been touched by this organization, including Zion Society survivors, half a dozen or so women in their 40s and 50s are sitting beside one another in the front row. A few I recognize from having spoken with them for this podcast. A few I don't. Reed Richards is at the podium talking about changes he's helped make in the law since the Zion Society case. And so I've worked now for 40

[Mike King]

years to try to change that.

[Aaron Mason]

We've passed two constitutional amendments providing for victims rights in the state of Utah

[Mike King]

under the state constitution. We've passed literally hundreds of pieces of

[Shelley]

legislation to assist victims.

[Mike King]

And part of that rolls over to

[Aaron Mason]

what we're talking about today. One of the amendments passed said that in preliminary hearings, recorded interviews of children could be used instead of forcing them to testify.

[Shelley]

And in the vast majority of the

[Mike King]

cases, that's the only time that the

[Aaron Mason]

child's testimony is heard. Most of these cases don't go to trial. So by passing those constitutional amendments that all of you voted on, we've kept

[Shelley]

the children from having to testify in

[Aaron Mason]

most cases at all during the criminal justice process. Also, we found that then Dawn Arvin's granddaughter got up to speak. She was one of the first Zion Society kids to arrive at the original cjc. The morning of the raid, I was

[Shelley]

walked into a little room that had child size tables and chairs and some toys and papers and crayons. And there was a TV on a roller cart with a VCR so we could watch Disney cartoons and a very nice lady who helped some of the kids make cookies. And I was stubborn and uncooperative and absolutely terrified. But what I didn't understand in that moment was that I had just been saved. And ultimately I've come to realize that a lot has been learned in 30 years. And seeing how the culmination of that knowledge is being put to use in this building behind me now has been very healing. Because what you do here and how you do it makes matters and makes an enormous difference in the lives of the children that have to come through here.

[Aaron Mason]

After dawn came Andrea.

[Shelley]

The slow rebuilding of yourself after trauma is a painful, messy and brave journey. It takes time and tenderness and a lot of support. That's why the Children's justice center is so important. It's not just a building, it is a lifeline. It's a place that meets children in one of the most disorienting, painful moments of their lives and offers them stability, safety, and hope. So to see this amazing building open today, it's deeply meaningful. It sends a message to children being removed from abuse. Right now, we are here for you, not just at the moment of intervention. But in the long, complicated journey that follows, you are not alone, and your life has value.

[Aaron Mason]

Now it's ribbon cutting time, and a big group of folks crowd around the giant scissors for a photo op. Then, with a snip, the center is open. As everyone filters inside the building, I see people from the Zion Society past. Cheryl Naugle, who went undercover as the lingerie buyer, talking with some of the women who were in the fashion show she recorded. Joan Hellstrom, who was there the day the children arrived at the CJC baking cookies in Grandma's house, is running around like a tornado pinging from person to person. Joan, by the way, is a force of nature. A truly incredible woman who I'd wager knew the name of everyone there that day. I walk outside and pass a cluster of survivors as Mike approaches them, escorting another woman over to the group who hasn't been mingling like the others. She has dark sunglasses on and is visibly nervous. I actually remembered seeing her sitting in the back during the ceremony, head down, shrinking back in her chair, like she would have disappeared if she could have.

[Mike King]

You remember Shelly?

[Shelley]

Hi. I know, right? Okay. Wow.

[Mike King]

Are you.

[Shelley]

Thanks for calling.

[Mike King]

A hug.

[Aaron Mason]

This was the first time Shelly had seen any of these women since their days in the country. Halt and vice versa. Remember when I said earlier that Shelly was in the Absolutely not column? Well, this was absolutely not Shelly. She was still having a really hard time, but she was here. She told me when Mike initially invited her to the ribbon cutting, it didn't even dawn on her that she'd run into anyone. She said if it had, she probably wouldn't have gone.

[Shelley]

But I showed up. I was in the back, typically very early person, so I was there for a while. I didn't just walk in. My dad wasn't there yet, so I waited outside for him so I could see Mike King. I was pretty sure that was him. And I thought I started seeing other girls, but I couldn't place them. And Mike came back and asked me if I would meet them and. And my entire body just started shaking. I was so scared. And he brought me in and pushed me into him. And it was just shaking. My knees were shaking. Everything was shaking. And they were beautiful. They wanted to hug me. And they were just very beautiful about seeing each other again after so long.

[Aaron Mason]

Shelly's stepmom, Kate, we sat in the

[Shelley]

back and she held my hand hard and was shaking. And I thought, this is going to be okay. I'm not going to say anything to her. This is going to be okay. She's working through this. And pretty soon she moved away from me, and pretty soon she's standing over there by Mike, and pretty soon she did great. And it's been great ever since.

[Aaron Mason]

Mike begins to wrangle the Zion Society folks over to a big wall just inside the main entrance and asks me if I can help him find any stragglers. So as I walk down one of the back hallways, I run into Joan Hellstrom and Andrea. Andrea is holding a small quilt, sobbing, yeah, Joan, tell me what you're doing right now.

[Shelley]

I want her. These quilts were made for the children when they get interview or after. So when I came and saw them the brooms, I went, no, we got to have quilts because they're stitched together for love and comfort. Yeah. So as I'm talking, I thought, you've got to come and choose your quilt and take a stuffed animal.

[Aaron Mason]

Joan has an army of volunteers who make quilts that are then given to each child that comes through the cjc. Love and comfort when they need it most.

[Shelley]

I needed more of it 34 years ago, and I didn't quite get it, and I had to give it to myself. And that's okay. Thank goodness I figured it out. But to get it right when you leave the scene is extraordinary. This is all extraordinary.

[Aaron Mason]

The survivors I've talked about in this podcast didn't feel like they had the support they needed after the Zion Society case was over and the goal of the CJC is that the Andreas of the world aren't left on their own ever again. Back at the wall by the entrance, Mike has everyone gathered around a small bronze plaque. He reads the inscription, dedicated to the survivors of the zion Society cult first to benefit from the Children's Justice Center, 1991. I've noticed something in the last hour or so, people's faces have changed. The air is lighter. I get the feeling that some of them don't feel as alone as they once did. It's really powerful. There's a lot of love in this place. As things wind down, Mike pulls me aside and invites me to lunch with the survivors and their families at a nearby restaurant. So I put away my gear and go to meet them. There must have been 25 of us at the Union Grill that afternoon, sitting shoulder to shoulder on benches and booths at one gigantic table in the back. If a new person walked in, someone would shimmy over and make just enough space for the new arrival to be crammed in and handed a menu

[Shelley]

to

[Aaron Mason]

be around that Many remarkable people fighters was inspiring. I saw a wider spectrum of human resilience than I ever had. No one here is defined by their experience. They are dynamic, intelligent, accomplished, caring, brave people. And no one had the same path to get here. It reminds me that there isn't one type of person who gets caught up in cults or abusive situations. It truly can happen to anyone. Here they were as children, flowers plucked from the only soil they'd known. But did they wither and die? No. They found purchase in good earth and began to grow again. I didn't record at lunch. It was a safe space and I wasn't going to puncture it. And I'm glad I didn't. It was incredibly special. When I started making this podcast, I was on the outside. Many of the people I reached out to were hard no's in the beginning, but here I was being invited to the inner circle. I will forever be grateful to each of them for trusting me with their stories and sharing themselves with all of us. I'll never forget looking across the table at Shelley, flanked by family and new friends, thinking about how she arrived only hours before, terrified and sunken into herself. Now laughing and smiling and full of joy, able to shed more of the weight she'd been carrying for so long.

[Shelley]

I suicidal quite a bit through my life, I struggled with self worth. If a boy were to tell me I was pretty, I would have done anything for him, you know? I had no self worth at all. It was terrible. It was awful. I didn't want to be. I didn't want to be me. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to. I didn't. I just didn't want to be anything, you know?

[Aaron Mason]

It's been a long road for Shelley, but she has a family who loves and admires her and now a new group of friends to lean on.

[Shelley]

It was a healing. Healing that I didn't even know I needed. After, I reminded myself that I don't need to be a victim anymore. I'm not 15 and I'm safe and I. It's awkward. You're not sure how to speak to anyone, so it was very awkward. And now we're on text message group together, so I'm getting to know them a little bit. As I sat there and I listened to some of the women tell their stories and I watched my. Because I had my stepmom and my dad with me and I watched them, I just. It opened my eyes to see how many other people were victims. I had people who understood and like someone actually knows, like I did. I forgot that someone went through what I went through and could understand how I felt. You know, I think the hardest thing about being a child of abuse or of any type is, is just feeling like maybe you're not worthy and nobody cares that you deserve it. Those are just really hard things to deal with and to overcome. But it's not your fault. It's hard when these things happen to us and we don't feel like we have anywhere to reach. But you're not alone. I would have liked to have known that I wasn't alone. You're not alone. We're here and we're family and together. If we can stand together and be brave, we can beat it.

[Aaron Mason]

This is where our story ends. But for the survivors, healing is a continual process, and over the next several weeks, Detective Mike King will sit down with the women who survived the Zion Society, sharing their truths, their pain, and how they're reclaiming their lives after their experiences in the cult. There is much more to share with you, so stay tuned. If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual violence, contact the Rape, Abuse and Incest national [e-mail] that's R A I N N.org or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE. Both services are free, confidential and available 247 gardens of inside the Zion Society Cult was written, narrated and audio produced by me, Aaron Mason. Original music by Alison Layton Brown. No generative AI was used in the writing or production of this podcast. My sincere thanks to the entire Gardens of Evil editorial team. Your feedback was invaluable. Gardens of Evil is based on the book An Investigative Memoir of the Zion Society Cult by Michael R. King. Available at profilingevil.com on Amazon or IngramSpark. Mike donates all of his proceeds from the book and this podcast to fund child advocacy efforts and criminal justice scholarships. Check out Mike's podcast, Profiling Evil, where he explores unsolved criminal cases from around the world and dives deep into the minds of predators. Find profiling evil on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts Executive producers John Goforth and Jeremy Sinan. Gardens of Evil is a production of the Gamut Podcast Network.

[Shelley]

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