Roch Theriault - Cult Nation online - Ross Laver - This Day in History online - The Record online -
Prepare. His power and anger will destroy everything. Roch Theriault
Roch Thériault was a man with a mission: to save himself and his followers from the coming apocalypse. As a child, Thériault dropped out of school and started teaching himself the Old Testament. He was convinced that a war between good and evil was about to come, and that this would bring about the end of the world. Thus, he converted to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and lived by their rules: no tobacco, no unhealthy foods, no alcohol or drugs. Thériault was a charismatic man, good at persuading others to do his bidding. While organizing seminars for the Adventists, he convinced an entire group of people to quit their jobs and form his religious following called The Ant Hill Kids (named for their ant-like hard work). He was no longer Roch to the world, he was ‘Moses.’ It was 1977, and Thériault and his followers formed a commune that was free of sin and stood for equality and unity. Of course, just as with every other cult, the good times would quickly come to an end, which started when the Adventists kicked them out for their weird-ass behavior. Thériault forbid his followers to contact their families, and against Adventist rules, developed a drinking problem. Rules for followers became stricter and stricter, up until the point where the members were restricted from speaking to each other without Thériault present. Cult Nation online article 11 April 2017
Roch in that period of time managed to convince his followers that he was some kind of latter-day Moses. And he began to preach to his followers and present himself as some kind of an Old Testament prophet which gave him enormous power over the people gathered around him. Ross Laver, co-author Savage Messiah
His father was a very very militant conservative Catholic belonging to a sect called The White Berets. And partly as a result of that Roch grew up hating the Catholic Church. He became attracted to the Seventh Day Adventist Church ... He was recruited by the church in part because he proved to be an absolutely brilliant sales-person. ibid.
Roch Theriault fatally wounds Solange Boislard in Ontario, Canada. Theriault, the leader of the most bizarre and violent cult in Canadian history, often physically abused his followers. Obsessed with anatomy and medicine, Theriault performed crude intestinal surgery on Boislard by slicing open her abdomen and ripping out a piece of intestine with his bare hands. He then ordered another follower to stitch up the wound with a needle and thread. When she died the next day in agonizing pain, he sawed off the top of her head, and then sexually assaulted her. Before burying the woman, he removed a rib, which he wore around his neck.
Theriault was arrested and charged with murder the following year after another cult member, whose arm had been hacked off by Theriault with a meat cleaver, told hospital authorities what had happened. At his trial in 1993, even more horrific tales came to light. The cult leader had burned women with a welding torch, put vice-grips on their nipples, and cut their fingers off with a wire cutter. The alcoholic and delusional Theriault apparently thought he was driving the devil out of them.
Theriault also demanded sex from all of the women members in an attempt to increase the number of cult members through children. After a new member of the cult, an escapee from a mental hospital, beat a child at the compound, Theriault performed ‘surgery’ on the child. When the child then died, Theriault castrated the man as punishment. After authorities learned about some of the activities at the ranch, they removed all of the children.
The 1993 trial came to an abrupt end when Theriault pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison and remains incarcerated. This Day in History online article September 28th 1988
DORCHESTER N B — Former cult leader Roch Moses Theriault was found dead Saturday in his cell at the correctional centre in Dorchester, NB.
RCMP say Theriault, 63, was involved in an altercation early Saturday morning and died as a result of his injuries.
Police are calling his death a homicide and have launched a murder investigation.
A 59-year-old inmate at the penitentiary was arrested in connection with the incident and later released back into the prisoner population.
Sergeant Greg Lupson of the RCMP said he expects the man will face charges shortly.
‘The investigation is ongoing and to date no charges have been laid,’ he said. The Record online article 27 February 2011