Was a member of the Children of God cult, which sanctioned adult sex with minors. She was one of the nannies to
Ricky Rodriguez, who was groomed by cult founder
David Berg to eventually take over the organization when Berg retired or died. Rodriguez resented the cult and grew angry at the abuse he experienced as a child and left the cult in his early 20s. Bitter and depressed, Rodriguez made a home video documenting his plan to kill his mother,
Karen Zerby on January 4th, 2005, if he could find where she was hiding. He managed to contact a former nanny who participated in his sexual abuse, Angela Smith, in order to pry information from her as to the whereabouts of his mother. Rodriguez didn't get the information he needed, however, and stabbed Smith to death on January 5th, 2005. Later that night a troubled man, Rodriguez phoned his wife and told her that as Smith lay dying, she "still didn't understand what she did that was wrong." Rodriguez placed a gun to his temple and committed suicide in Blythe, California.