Show Notes
In January 2022, two parents were arrested on the front lawn of their Toowoomba home and charged over the death of their eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Struhs. In the months that followed a disturbing story unraveled of a religious cult with extreme beliefs, rejecting medical assistance and placing their complete trust in divine healing. In a rare and deeply personal interview, Elizabeth’s sister opens up about how their mother’s unwavering devotion to the cult leader shaped their childhood. She shares chilling details of life inside the cult, the suffocating control, and blind faith. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The cult is now locked behind bars, but is anyone else to blame for Elizabeth’s death? In this episode, host Pippa Bradshaw is joined by legal experts to examine allegations of multiple failures by the Child Safety Department and the many lingering questions in this case. Why were warnings from medical experts ignored? Why was Elizabeth's case closed? And why was Elizabeth left in the care of two parents convicted over allowing her to almost die the first time, especially after her mother confessed that she would continue to withhold vital medication. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Estranged loved ones of ‘The Saints’ share surreal and heartbreaking accounts of losing family to a cult. This episode reveals that The Saints isn't an outlier, but a textbook example of how cults take hold. Pippa Bradshaw is joined by forensic anthropologist and criminologist Dr. Xanthé Mallett to unpack the formation, impact and far-reaching consequences of fringe religious sects quietly embedding themselves in communities nationwide. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The 14 cult members reject legal representation and let their police interviews do the talking in the Supreme Court of Australia. Court reporter Anna Rawlings takes us inside the unprecedented mass trial, where The Saints are confronted with testimony from medical experts, police officers and family members. After a nine-week trial, the Judge delivers a shocking verdict that will set legal precedent in Australia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Just weeks after her mother’s release from prison, and with her father now in the grip of the cult, Elizabeth is left vulnerable. Deprived of her insulin, she suffers a slow and painful death. After her parents are arrested, Pippa Bradshaw tracks down the cult in Toowoomba to find answers. Months later, 12 other adults are also charged and we hear them attempt to justify their actions, through hours-long police interviews, steadfast in their belief that God will miraculously bring Elizabeth back to life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Serious red flags loomed long before Elizabeth Struhs' tragic death. In 2019, she was rushed to the hospital on the brink of death. Court documents, police interrogations and expert medical testimony expose the events leading to Elizabeth’s diagnosis. Her case was so extreme, having been neglected to the point of critical illness, that her mother was jailed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.