SAGAUCHE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — The estranged son of an alleged cult leader found mummified in a shrine in Crestone is speaking out to FOX31.
Seven people with suspected ties to the Love Has Won group, referred to as a cult in Saguache County, are facing charges for abuse of a corpse and child abuse after police were called to a home and found the woman’s body in Moffat.
Cole Carlson said 15 years ago, his mother Amy Carlson, also called Lia, left him when he was 10-years-old to become the leader of Love Has Won.
“I’m Amy’s oldest child, she’s my estranged mother,” Carlson said. “Everything in my life is very average except my mom is a cult leader, or was a cult leader, I should say.”
Former members tell FOX31 she was considered and called God by her followers.
“She was the earth incarnate, she is Mother God of all creation,” former member Andrew Profaci said. “She created the heaven and earth with Father God and she is it, she is G-O-D, that’s what she believed.”
“Some of the details that have slowly continued to come out have been rather shocking to me honestly, but they are also a cult, you kind of expect weird things to come out and I had been expecting for her not to be around much longer,” Carlson said.
Carlson is waiting for autopsy results to confirm this reported mummified person is indeed his mom who passed at 45-years-old.
“Mummified and eye makeup but no eyes, very disturbing that’s the best word I can think, the whole thing is so disturbing,” Carlson said.
“It makes me angry and very sad she’s passed, but really creeps me out and tells me there’s something very wrong going on here and these people have clearly lost touch with reality,” Profaci said.
Profaci says he joined the group’s chatroom online looking for some spiritual awaking, then moved in with the group for about 10 months in 2015. He said he planned to learn spiritual guidance and play a background role in the group’s website.
“Amy or Mother God had other ideas and told me I was going to be the vessel for this Father God consciousness to come into the planet,” Profaci said.
Both Profaci and Carlson are troubled by what transpired within the group. They shared concerns about the amount of money people paid into Love Has Won, plus the fact that police found children on the premises.
“It makes me mad, and I really don’t want to see this work continued, especially with her name attached, or in her honor,” Carlson said.
Carlson said his family is looking into potential legal pathways to find justice for families and former members who may have paid their life savings into the group.