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They would have remained buried, and most likely undiscovered, had it not been for Michelle Mingo's estranged husband, Dennis. A former member of The Body, he took some of the group's journals and turned them over to police. Investigators began a lengthy probe. When members refused to cooperate, several were jailed for contempt of court.

A breakthrough occurred in October 2000 when David Corneau told authorities where the children were buried. Prosecutors had given him immunity in the deaths.

After finding the bodies, police charged Karen Robidoux with second-degree murder, Jacques with first-degree murder, and Michelle Mingo with being an accessory before the fact. Authorities took 13 of the group's children into protective custody.

By all accounts, members of The Body lived simple lives before the deaths of Samuel and Jeremiah, sharing a house in nearby Seekonk and a gray duplex on Knight Avenue in Attleboro. The group would often spend evenings singing around the piano or in prayer meetings and Bible studies.

NEIRR's Pardon was appointed as guardian ad litem for the group's children. Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth Nasif asked Pardon to research The Body—to read through its journals and interview current and former members—to help him make decisions about the children's future.

Pardon, a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a former Congregational minister, started NEIRR in 1991. In recent years the institute has worked with former members of what Pardon calls "high-control destructive groups." The nonprofit ministry is helping five members adjust to life outside the group.

Pardon believes Robidoux and Daneau had good intentions when they started. "[T]hey were really trying to live a life that demonstrated true obedience to God," he says.

Things changed when members of the group read the works of a woman named Carol Balizet, Pardon says. Balizet runs Home in Zion Ministries of Tampa, Florida, which advocates home birth with no medical intervention.

About the same time, members of the group began to believe they were receiving direct revelations from God. Eventually the visions came to have more authority than the Bible.

"Parents who choose to rely on the direct intervention of God to heal their children, without human intermediaries, are not crazy or evil," Carter says. "They are doing what they believe the Lord requires. But they are, in their innocence, pressing the bounds of religious freedom beyond what a civilized society can allow, and that is why they must not be permitted to do it."

State officials continue to be concerned about any new children of Body members. Rebecca Corneau was jailed in August 2000 for refusing to accept prenatal care while pregnant with her daughter Katarina. Rebecca was released in October when her daughter was born and taken into state custody. Neighbors reported that Corneau was pregnant again in the fall of 2001, and the state's Department of Social Services began another investigation.

When the Corneaus appeared before Nasif at Attleboro District Court in January, they refused to testify and received a two-week jail sentence. The Corneaus told Nasif on February 5 that the child died in a miscarriage. When they refused to reveal where the child was buried, Nasif jailed them for contempt. When they still refused to cooperate during an April 10 hearing, the judge ordered them to remain in jail until at least June 4.

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May 21 2002, Vol. 46, No. 6