They were brainwashed by an apocalyptic cult leader. Then the FBI stormed the gates | CNN

The wind whipped her face and her little legs stretched higher and higher, pulling her into orbit. As she reached the skies, for one intoxicating moment, she could see everything: The cars. The trees. The people. The real world. It was right there; visible, in flashes, beyond the compound’s fence. She didn’t know this feeling, but she allowed herself to feel it anyway. Freedom. But then the swings fell back to earth. The world was different down here: A cult leader was grooming Alexis to be his wife, she recalls. Her sister had been banished to the House of Scorn, and her brother was out on watch, tasked with keeping intruders at bay. Her friends were spying on her: one slip-up and she’d be beaten, exiled, or worse. Life was good, of course: The world was about to end, and the prophet of God had promised her passage into heaven. But sometimes, secretly, it didn’t feel right. So 10-year-old Alexis pushed herself back into the skies, gripping the swing set tight as she went. Over the fence, she saw suburbia in all its boring and beautiful hues. And then, on one trip into the clouds, she saw something else: “Men,” she recalls. “With machine guns.” “They were complete

May 28, 2026 → May 28, 2026