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Samuel Bateman is incarcerated in a federal facility serving a fifty-year sentence. He maintains regular telephone contact with followers. A meaningful number of the women and girls removed from his FLDS offshoot — including individuals Christine Marie personally helped extract — have reportedly returned to his sphere of influence. Adult wives continue to identify him as their prophet. The conviction and sentence have not disrupted his operational control over the belief system he constructed.The pattern has direct precedent. Warren Jeffs has maintained influence over FLDS members from a Texas prison cell for over a decade. Bateman is replicating the same dynamic with the same psychological infrastructure — what Christine Marie characterizes as an "IV of indoctrination" delivered through regular telephone contact.Christine Marie addresses what she has learned about the content of Bateman's prison communications with followers. She identifies the division between women who have permanently separated from the group and those who have returned — and the social consequences for those who left, including potential reclassification as fallen or as enemies of the faith. She confronts the clinical and moral question she returns to repeatedly: whether some adults who have been conditioned within high-control religious environments from birth can be reached through intervention, or whether some individuals are functionally unable to construct identity outside coercive structures.Short Creek remains structurally intact. The theology, the isolation mechanisms, and the obedience hierarchy that produced both Jeffs and Bateman continue to operate. Robin Dreeke and Shavaun Scott examine why the FLDS persists when comparable organizations — NXIVM, Peoples Temple — collapsed following their leaders' removal. They address Faith Bistline's circumstances — having lost her family to Bateman and now raising the children affected by his conduct. They evaluate what intervention methods demonstrate efficacy with children in high-control religious environments and the competing harms of removal versus continued exposure. Both experts address directly whether the conditions at Short Creek are likely to produce another leader operating on the same model — or whether the community possesses the capacity to interrupt the cycle.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ShortCreek #TrustMeNetflix #ChristineMarie #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #CoerciveControl #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
From inside a federal detention facility, Samuel Bateman maintained sufficient control over his followers that three women risked life sentences to execute his directives — communicated through a shared electronic tablet. That detail anchors the behavioral analysis of a case where the mechanisms of coercive control operated across physical separation, institutional confinement, and the threat of decades-long sentences for the people carrying out his instructions.Robin Dreeke, retired chief of the FBI's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott examine the operational playbook Bateman employed to construct his FLDS offshoot in the Short Creek community on the Utah-Arizona border. Bateman — homeless and without resources — entered a community still destabilized by Warren Jeffs' imprisonment. He appropriated Jeffs' prophetic authority by claiming Jeffs communicated through him. His requirement of public confessions functioned as a compliance mechanism: each confession created psychological investment that made departure increasingly costly. His insistence on being filmed reflected identity construction — the need for an external audience to validate the role he'd assigned himself. Law enforcement questioned him on two separate occasions and did not pursue charges.Christine Marie was inside Bateman's world with a camera for an extended period. She and her husband had relocated to Short Creek to document the community's recovery from the Jeffs era. Bateman identified their presence as an opportunity and granted access. Christine had previously experienced coercive control under another self-styled religious leader and recognized Bateman's behavioral patterns from firsthand experience. She understood what performance of trust was required to maintain access and preserve the evidentiary record she was building.In her first extended interview, Christine addresses the operational and psychological cost of sustained embedded access — the process of earning trust within a paranoid community, the daily discipline of entering an environment where documented harm was occurring, and the internal transition from documentary filmmaker to active participant in building the evidentiary foundation that contributed to Bateman's fifty-year federal sentence.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #CoerciveControl #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
Following their removal from Samuel Bateman's FLDS offshoot, the rescued minors were interviewed by trained forensic specialists. They disclosed nothing verbally about the conduct documented in the case. Their journals — recovered during the FBI's execution of search warrants — contained detailed accounts: dates, descriptions, and names, recorded in their own handwriting. The dissociation between written and verbal disclosure represents a specific clinical phenomenon in cases involving prolonged coercive control during childhood development.Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott, with more than thirty years of experience in forensic mental health, domestic violence, and coercive control, examines the psychological mechanisms at work. Bateman's "atonement ceremonies" — group acts conducted under the framework of divine commandment — functioned to normalize harm within a closed belief system. The behavioral presentations visible in documentary footage that viewers have interpreted as voluntary participation reflect clinical indicators of conditioned compliance, not choice. Eight minors went willingly with Bateman's wives when they were removed from foster care — a fact that demonstrates the depth of the psychological infrastructure Bateman had constructed.The co-defendants' cases present an unresolved moral and legal question. The women convicted of facilitating harm to children were themselves raised within the FLDS system, married off as teenagers, and conditioned from birth within the same coercive framework they subsequently perpetuated. Scott and retired FBI Behavioral Analysis Chief Robin Dreeke examine whether the legal system's binary framework can adequately address individuals who are simultaneously perpetrators and products of the same system.The investigative timeline preceding the FBI's intervention compounds the case's complexity. Christine Marie provided footage to local law enforcement repeatedly. The responding sergeant reportedly found the material credible but declined to act. The Short Creek community had normalized practices that constituted criminal conduct for decades. The recording that precipitated federal action came in late 2021: Bateman's own voice describing the transfer of wives to his male followers, including a minor. Christine subsequently facilitated the cooperation of Julia Johnson, a mother whose four daughters had been placed with Bateman, and assisted in physically removing the girls to enable the federal operation.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #ShavaunScott #RobinDreeke #CultTrauma #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Christine Marie risked everything to get them out. Some of them walked right back in. Samuel Bateman is serving fifty years in federal prison. He still calls. The women still answer. Some of his adult wives still call him their prophet. Some of the girls Christine helped pull out of his house have returned to his sphere. The conviction changed nothing about his hold on them. The sentence changed nothing. One phone call at a time, the certainty keeps flowing — what Christine describes as an IV of indoctrination right into their veins.The same pattern held with Warren Jeffs twenty years ago. He ran the FLDS from a prison cell. Now Bateman is doing the same thing with a different phone and the same psychological infrastructure underneath it.Christine addresses what she actually knows about what Bateman feeds his followers from inside. The split between the women who got out permanently and the ones who returned — and whether the ones who left are now treated as traitors, as fallen, as enemies of the faith. Why some women can walk out of a coercive group and build a real life the way Christine did, and others can't. The question she keeps coming back to — whether some adults can be reached at all, or whether some people only feel at home inside something broken. And what real change at the federal and state level would even look like.Short Creek is still standing. Same theology. Same isolation. Same obedience structure. Every co-defendant in the Bateman case was convicted. Robin Dreeke and Shavaun Scott examine why the FLDS survives when NXIVM and Peoples Temple collapsed after their leaders fell. They talk about Faith Bistline — who lost her entire family to Bateman and is raising the children they helped destroy. What actually works to help children still inside high-control religious groups. And the question both experts answer point-blank: is Short Creek going to break the cycle, or is the machine just waiting for its next operator?Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #WarrenJeffs #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Christine Marie brought tape after tape to local police. The sergeant believed every frame. He wouldn't move. Short Creek had spent decades looking the other way — polygamy was lifestyle, not crime — and the local department had stopped seeing what was in front of them long before Bateman declared himself a prophet.The recording that changed everything came in late 2021. Bateman, in his own voice, describing handing three of his wives to three of his men — one of them a minor. That tape crossed a line local reluctance couldn't absorb. Christine flipped a mother named Julia Johnson, whose four daughters had been given to Bateman. She helped pull the girls away so federal agents could finally act. Every month the wall held was another month those girls weren't safe — and Christine still carries the weight of that timeline.The girls who were rescued sat across from trained forensic interviewers and said nothing. Their journals — seized by the FBI — told a different story. Dates. Details. Names. Written in their own handwriting. They could put it on paper but they physically could not speak it. That gap between what a child can write and what they can say out loud is where the psychological damage lives.Shavaun Scott has spent thirty years in trauma work, domestic violence, and coercive control. Robin Dreeke ran the FBI's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. They examine what the documentary footage reveals about body language viewers are misreading as consent or choice. What Bateman's "atonement ceremonies" — group acts framed as divine commandment — did to his followers' capacity to recognize harm being done to them. Why eight girls went willingly with Bateman's wives when they were removed from foster care. And the moral calculation that makes the co-defendants' cases the hardest question in this entire story — women who were raised FLDS, married off as teenagers, conditioned from birth to obey, and then convicted for facilitating harm to the next generation of children.Christine addresses what she'd do differently to get Bateman stopped faster. The regret isn't about what she did. It's about every month the system refused to listen.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #ShavaunScott #RobinDreeke #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #FBIRaid
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
A broke, homeless man walked into a fractured religious community on the Utah-Arizona border. Three years later he was driving Bentleys, commanding fifty followers, and fathers were handing him their young daughters as spiritual wives. The behavioral question isn't whether he was evil. It's how he did it — and why every system that should have stopped him didn't.Robin Dreeke spent decades at the FBI studying exactly this kind of manipulation. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott has worked in coercive control and forensic mental health for over thirty years. Together they pull apart Samuel Bateman's behavioral playbook — the one now at the center of Netflix's Trust Me: The False Prophet.Bateman read the vulnerability of a community still reeling from Warren Jeffs' imprisonment. He claimed Jeffs was speaking through him. His demand for public confessions wasn't about accountability — it was about manufacturing complicity. Every person who confessed became invested in the system because admitting it was false meant admitting what they'd given up for it. His obsession with being filmed reveals how he saw himself — not as a con artist but as a figure of historical significance. Police questioned him twice and walked away both times. From a federal detention cell, he maintained enough control that three women risked life sentences to carry out his orders through a shared tablet.Christine Marie was inside his world with a camera every day. She didn't go to Short Creek looking for Bateman — she and her husband moved there to document a community recovering from Jeffs. Then Bateman appeared and saw two outsiders with cameras as the path to the audience he wanted. He let them in. Christine had survived coercive control with another false prophet years before. She could read every move he was making because she'd seen it done on her. She knew exactly what trust to perform to keep his guard down.In her first extended interview, Christine describes the cost of living that double life — gaining the trust of paranoid believers, walking into that house every morning knowing what she was watching, and the moment "documentary maker" became "mole" inside her own head.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #WarrenJeffs
This week, we're joined by soon to be author, advocate, and all-round legend Luke Bateman for one of the most important conversations we've had on the podcast. What starts as a chat about smutty books, modern dating, and our obsession with romance novels quickly turns into a deeper discussion about some of the biggest issues facing society today. We unpack violence against women, the male loneliness epidemic, the state of male friendships, modern masculinity, and the role men can play in creating positive change. Most importantly, we discuss practical action steps men can take to be better mates, better partners, and better people. This episode is honest, challenging, hopeful, and packed with conversations we believe more people need to be having. If you've ever wondered what men can do to make a difference, this is the episode for you!! Join Patreon for an extra episode every week BECOME A BADDIE HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Robin Dreeke ran the FBI's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. He's spent decades studying how people manipulate, recruit, and control. Samuel Bateman's playbook is one he recognizes — and the behavioral fingerprints are visible in every move the self-proclaimed prophet made on his way to fifty years in federal prison.Bateman targeted a community still fractured from Warren Jeffs' imprisonment. He claimed Jeffs was speaking through him — borrowing existing authority rather than building his own from scratch. His requirement of public confessions wasn't spiritual discipline. It was a compliance trap. Every person who confessed became invested because admitting the system was false meant admitting what they'd surrendered to it. His insistence on being filmed wasn't vanity — it was identity construction. He needed an external audience to validate the role he'd assigned himself. Police questioned him twice. They walked away both times.Even from a federal detention cell, Bateman maintained enough control that three women risked life sentences to carry out his orders through a shared tablet. Dreeke and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott examine what that level of remote control reveals about the psychological infrastructure he'd built — and whether it could survive his incarceration.Christine Marie saw it all from the inside. She sat at Bateman's table every day with a camera. She'd survived coercive control with another false prophet years earlier and could read every move he was making because she'd experienced the same techniques firsthand. She knew what trust to perform. She knew when his guard dropped. She knew the difference between a man who believed his own prophecy and one who was running a con — and she has an answer to that question.Christine describes the cost of maintaining the double life — earning the trust of paranoid followers, walking into the house every morning, and the moment her role shifted from documenter to something closer to an operative inside a closed world she'd entered voluntarily. That transition — and what it did to her — is the part the documentary couldn't fully capture.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #FBI #BehavioralAnalysis #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
The girls who were rescued from Samuel Bateman's FLDS cult sat across from trained forensic interviewers and said nothing about what happened to them. Their journals — seized by the FBI — were full of it. Dates. Details. Names. Written in their own handwriting. They could put it on paper but they physically could not speak it.Robin Dreeke and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott examine that gap — what it tells you about the depth of psychological conditioning inside Bateman's world, and why the standard tools forensic investigators rely on to build cases involving minors broke down completely when applied to children raised inside coercive religious control.Scott has spent thirty years working with trauma survivors and people escaping coercive environments. She examines what Bateman's "atonement ceremonies" — group acts framed as divine commandment — did to his followers' ability to even identify what was happening to them as harm. The body language in the documentary footage that most viewers are reading as choice or compliance is neither — Scott explains what it actually represents clinically. She addresses why eight girls went willingly with Bateman's wives when they were removed from foster care, and the impossible question at the center of the co-defendants' cases: women raised FLDS, married off as teenagers, conditioned from birth to obey, now convicted for facilitating harm to children who were in the same system they'd been raised inside.Christine Marie saw the conditioning up close for months. She brought footage to local police repeatedly. The sergeant believed it. He wouldn't act. Short Creek had normalized what was happening for decades — the local department had stopped seeing it as crime. The recording that finally broke through came in late 2021: Bateman in his own voice describing handing wives to his men, one of them a minor. Christine flipped a mother named Julia Johnson. She helped pull the girls out so the FBI could move. Every month the system refused to act was another month those girls weren't safe.Christine addresses the regret she still carries — what she'd do differently to get him stopped faster, and what that delay cost the children she was trying to help.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #ShavaunScott #RobinDreeke #CultTrauma #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
The legal case is closed. Samuel Bateman is serving fifty years. Every co-defendant was convicted. And Short Creek is still standing — same theology, same isolation, same obedience structure that produced both Warren Jeffs and Bateman. The machine didn't break. It just lost its current operator.Robin Dreeke and Shavaun Scott examine why the FLDS survives when other cults collapsed after their leaders fell. NXIVM dissolved. Peoples Temple ended in mass death. The FLDS keeps regenerating. The theology provides the framework. The isolation provides the barrier. The obedience structure provides the pipeline. And the community has now demonstrated twice that when a leader is removed, the conditions that created him remain intact.They talk about Faith Bistline — who lost her entire family to Bateman and is now raising the children they helped destroy. About what actually works to help children still inside high-control religious groups when removing them causes devastating psychological consequences and leaving them in produces worse ones. About whether Jeffs can maintain control of the FLDS indefinitely from a prison cell — and whether Bateman is doing the same thing right now.Because Bateman is still calling. Every day. From federal prison. The women still answer. Some of his adult wives still call him their prophet. Some of the girls Christine Marie helped rescue have returned to his sphere. The sentence didn't end his control. The conviction didn't end his control. Christine describes the phone calls as an IV of indoctrination — certainty flowing one conversation at a time into people whose entire identity was built inside a system designed to make leaving feel like dying.Christine addresses the split between the women who got out and the women who went back. Whether the ones who left are now treated as enemies of the faith. The ugly question she can't stop asking: whether some adults can be reached at all. And what real systemic change would look like — or whether this is just the cost of a country that lets people believe whatever they want, even when what they believe is destroying children.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ShortCreek #TrustMeNetflix #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #FaithBistline #WarrenJeffs #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
June 12, 2026 - Nicole Bateman of the Economic Development Corporation joined Byers & Co to talk about the lack of seasonality in economic development, approaches to adding power to the grid, and data centers. Listen to the podcast now!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Netflix docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet introduced the world to Christine Marie — the cult psychologist and survivor who walked into Samuel Bateman's FLDS inner circle, gathered the evidence the FBI used to put him in federal prison for fifty years, and is still living in Short Creek today. The documentary couldn't tell you everything. This conversation can.This is the complete extended interview — all three parts in one continuous sit-down. Christine takes Tony through how she got inside. She and her husband Tolga moved to Short Creek in 2016 to film a different project entirely, and then Bateman emerged from the post-Warren Jeffs FLDS community and declared himself the next prophet. He let them in because he thought their cameras would make him famous. He had no idea Christine had once fallen for a false prophet herself, years before, and could read every move he was making.She walks Tony through the years of getting local police to do nothing despite watching her footage. The late-2021 recording — Bateman describing "the Atonement," three of his wives, one a minor, handed to three of his men — that finally moved the FBI. Julia Johnson, the mother she flipped, whose four daughters had been given to Bateman. The morning of the raid, and how the girls were pulled away from him before agents moved. And the part the documentary can't end on — that fifty years in federal prison hasn't broken his hold, and a number of the women Christine risked her life to save have walked right back to him by choice.It's the deepest dive into this case anyone's published. The full story, from the only person who lived it all.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrueCrimeToday #TrustMeFalseProphet #ShortCreek #WarrenJeffs #Cults #TrueCrime #Netflix
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
All three parts of our interview with Christine Marie, woven together into one extended conversation — the cult psychologist and survivor who walked into Samuel Bateman's FLDS inner circle, fed the FBI the evidence that ended his freedom for fifty years, and is still living in Short Creek today doing the work nobody else will.She wasn't even supposed to be there for him. She and her husband Tolga came to that stretch of the Utah-Arizona border in 2016 to film a different story entirely. Then Bateman stepped out of the post-Warren Jeffs wreckage, declared himself the new prophet, and started taking "spiritual wives," some of them girls. He let Christine in. He thought she was going to make him famous. He didn't know she'd already lived through coercive control herself, years before, with a different false prophet — and that everything he was doing, she'd seen done before.In this extended interview, she takes us through it all. How she pulled off the cover. What it cost to live that double life. The wait — years of local police who believed her tapes and refused to act. The recording she captured in late 2021 that finally moved the FBI. Julia Johnson, the mother she flipped. The morning of the raid. And then the part of the story that doesn't fit on a documentary's ending card — that fifty years in federal prison didn't end Bateman's hold on those women, and a number of the ones Christine risked her life to free are calling him their prophet still.It's the longest, most honest version of the entire arc — getting in, taking him down, and the unfinished fight afterward.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillers #TrustMeFalseProphet #ShortCreek #WarrenJeffs #Cults #TrueCrime #Netflix
The complete three-part conversation, all in one extended sit-down. Christine Marie — the cult psychologist who walked into Samuel Bateman's FLDS world with a camera and a hidden agenda — sits down with me to tell the whole story from start to finish.Christine and her husband Tolga moved to Short Creek in 2016 with a completely different project in mind. Then Samuel Bateman rose out of the post-Warren Jeffs FLDS community, declared himself the new prophet, took "spiritual wives" — some of them girls as young as nine — and made the decision that would cost him fifty years in federal prison: he let two outsiders with cameras into his house. He thought they were going to make him famous. He didn't know Christine had been under a false prophet's spell herself, years before, and could read every move he was making the second he made it.In this extended interview, she walks me through the entire arc. The cover story. The mole identity. The years of going to local police who believed her tapes and refused to move. The Atonement recording she captured in late 2021 that finally turned the case federal. Julia Johnson, the mother she flipped, whose four daughters had been given to Bateman. The morning of the raid. And the hardest truth of the whole story — that fifty years in federal prison didn't break Bateman's grip on the people who believe in him, and a meaningful number of the women Christine risked her life to save are calling him their prophet still.If you've only seen the Netflix documentary, you've only seen the surface. This is the long version.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillersLive #TrustMeFalseProphet #ShortCreek #WarrenJeffs #Cults #TrueCrime #Netflix
Samuel Bateman is in federal prison, serving fifty years, and his hold on his followers has not loosened. Some of his adult wives still call him their prophet. Some of the women Christine Marie risked her life to pull out of his house have returned to him on their own. He picks up the phone from his cell every day and the indoctrination keeps flowing right into their ears.In this third and final part of a three-part conversation, Christine Marie sits down with Tony to tell the part of the Bateman story the documentaries struggle to land. The conviction didn't end it. The sentence didn't end it. The exposure didn't end it. Warren Jeffs went to prison for life and his followers never let go either, and now the same population, in the same town, is doing the same thing with the next prophet who rose to take his place.Christine takes Tony through what she actually knows about what Bateman is telling those women from inside. The split between the women who left and the women who returned, and whether the ones who got out are now treated as fallen, as enemies of the faith. Why some women can walk out of a coercive group and rebuild — Christine herself did exactly that, years before she ever met Bateman — and others cannot. The point at which she's had to ask herself whether some grown adults may only ever feel at home inside something broken. And whether any change at the federal or state level would actually stop the next prophet from rising in Short Creek next.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrueCrimeToday #ShortCreek #CultPsychology #CoerciveControl #TrueCrime #WarrenJeffs #Netflix
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
The end of the Samuel Bateman story isn't the end. He's behind bars for fifty years and the women he claimed as wives are doing something almost nobody wants to talk about — going back to him. Not all of them. But enough of them that the question stops being a fluke and starts being a pattern.In this third and final part of our three-part conversation with Christine Marie, we get into the truth the Netflix documentary couldn't fully hold. Some of the people Christine risked her life to save have returned to Bateman by their own choice. Some still call him their prophet. He communicates with them by phone from federal prison, and the same indoctrination he was running on them before the raid keeps flowing right through the line. Warren Jeffs' followers never let go of him either, and now the same pattern is repeating, with the same population, in the same town.Christine tells me what that's been like to watch. What she actually knows about what Bateman is telling those women from inside. The split that's opened up between the women who got out for good and the ones who returned — whether they still speak, whether the women who left are now treated as the fallen, the enemy, the betrayers. Why some women can leave a coercive group and rebuild, the way Christine did herself, and others physically cannot. The point — if there is one — where you have to accept that some grown adults may never want what you're offering them. And what real systemic change would even look like for the next prophet who rises out of this same community next.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillers #ShortCreek #CultPsychology #CoerciveControl #TrueCrime #WarrenJeffs #Netflix
He's locked up. He's still calling. And his wives are still picking up.In this third and final part of a three-part interview, Christine Marie walks me through the part of the Samuel Bateman story that doesn't fit on a true crime documentary's ending card. The arrest didn't free those women. The fifty-year sentence didn't free them. The conviction didn't free them. A number of the people Christine risked everything to get out have walked right back to him by their own choice, the same way Warren Jeffs' followers never let go even after his life sentence.Christine has called what Bateman is doing from inside an IV of indoctrination — the certainty fed directly into the believers' veins, one phone call at a time. She tells me what she actually knows about what's being said on those calls. The split between the women who got out for good and the ones who returned, and whether the ones who left are now seen by the others as traitors to the faith. Why some women in coercive groups can leave and rebuild — Christine herself did exactly that, years earlier, with a different false prophet — and others cannot. The hardest question of the whole conversation: when grown adults keep going back to something that's hurting them, how long do you keep trying to get them out, and when do you have to admit some people may only feel at home inside something broken? And whether anything at the federal or state level would actually keep the next prophet from rising out of the same town.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillersLive #ShortCreek #CultPsychology #CoerciveControl #TrueCrime #WarrenJeffs #Netflix
In this episode of Psychology and Stuff, host Alison Jane Martingano sits down with Dr. Neema Trivedi-Bateman, senior lecturer in criminology at Loughborough University and founder of the Compass Project, an innovative intervention designed to strengthen moral development and promote prosocial behavior in young people. Neema shares how her research on empathy, shame, guilt, and decision-making inspired the creation of Compass, and explains why helping young people reflect on their emotions and choices may be more effective than focusing solely on rules and punishment. Together, they explore the role of moral reasoning, self-control, and social environments in shaping behavior, as well as the challenges of translating theory into real-world programs. From promising early results in schools to plans for international expansion, their conversation highlights how research-driven interventions can help young people make healthier decisions and create positive changes in their communities.
The Netflix docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet shows Christine Marie repeatedly bringing footage to the local police on the Utah-Arizona border — and the local police repeatedly sending her home. In this second part of a three-part conversation, Christine tells Tony what was really happening on the other side of that door.Short Creek had spent decades teaching itself to look away from its own children. By the time Samuel Bateman declared himself the new FLDS prophet and started taking "spiritual wives," some of them girls as young as nine, the local authorities had long since stopped seeing the patterns that were sitting right in front of them. The sergeant in the documentary believed Christine's footage. He still wouldn't move. Christine has thoughts on whether that was incompetence — or whether the town was quietly protecting one of its own.She walks Tony through the entire wait. Why she stayed with local cops as long as she did. What finally pushed her to skip them and go to the FBI. The recording in late 2021, where Bateman described handing three of his wives — one a minor — to three of his male followers, that finally broke the case open. The conversation she had with Julia Johnson, a mother whose four daughters had been given to Bateman, that turned her into a federal witness. The morning of the raid. And what she'd do differently if she could go back, knowing every month it dragged on was another month those girls were still in that house.It's a conversation about how a community can know what's happening to its own children and still find a way not to act.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrueCrimeToday #ShortCreek #PoliceFailure #FBIRaid #TrueCrime #Cults #Netflix
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Samuel Bateman wasn't hiding. He was operating in the open, on a street where the local police knew his name, in a town where the sheriff drove past his house every day. The most disturbing question about his case isn't how he got away with it. It's why everyone around him let him.In this second part of a three-part conversation with Christine Marie, we get into the wall that almost saved him. Short Creek, the FLDS community where Bateman built his sect, had spent decades teaching itself to look the other way. Polygamy was "how things are out there." Child marriages were "their lifestyle." By the time Christine and her husband Tolga arrived with cameras, the local authorities had stopped seeing what was happening in plain sight long before. The sergeant in the Netflix documentary all but says it himself — he believed her tapes, but moving on what they showed meant going to war with the way the town had always done things.Christine takes me through what that wait did to her. The moment she stopped trying to convince local cops and reached for the FBI. The recording she captured in late 2021, where Bateman described "the Atonement" — handing three of his wives, one a minor, to three of his men — that finally broke through. The mother she sat with and helped flip, Julia Johnson, whose four daughters had been given to Bateman. The morning of the raid, and how she pulled the girls away from him before federal agents moved. And the regret she lives with — what she'd have done differently to make it move faster.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillers #ShortCreek #PoliceFailure #FBIRaid #TrueCrime #Cults #Netflix
Late 2021. Christine Marie's camera was rolling. Samuel Bateman started talking. And what he said in his own voice on that recording finally became the thing the FBI couldn't ignore.In this second part of our three-part interview, Christine tells the story of building a case against a man the local police would not touch. Short Creek — the FLDS community on the Utah-Arizona border where Bateman built his sect — had spent decades training itself not to notice what was happening to its own children. Polygamy was "their lifestyle." Underage marriages were "how it is out there." The sergeant Christine kept going to in the Netflix docuseries all but admits, on camera, that he believed her tapes and still couldn't move. The reasons he gives sound a lot less like incompetence the longer you listen.Christine walks me through the wait. Why she didn't go to the FBI sooner. What it cost her to keep going back to local cops who kept sending her home. The exact moment she captured Bateman describing the so-called "Atonement" — three of his wives, one a minor, handed to three of his men — and knew the dam had finally cracked. The conversation she had with Julia Johnson, a mother whose four daughters had been given to Bateman, that flipped her into a federal witness. The morning of the raid, and the precision it took to separate the girls from Bateman without tipping him. And the question she still carries with her — what she'd do differently to stop him faster, knowing every month it dragged on cost those girls more.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillersLive #ShortCreek #PoliceFailure #FBIRaid #TrueCrime #Cults #Netflix
The Netflix docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet introduced the world to the woman who took Samuel Bateman down from the inside. But the documentary couldn't tell the whole story. There's a conversation behind that footage — about what it actually took to walk into a self-proclaimed prophet's house every day, lie about why you were there, and quietly build a case that would put him in federal prison for fifty years.In this first part of a three-part interview, Christine Marie sits down with Tony to tell that story.Christine and her husband Tolga moved to Short Creek on the Utah-Arizona border in 2016, planning a project that had nothing to do with Samuel Bateman. Then Bateman rose out of the post-Warren Jeffs FLDS community, declaring himself the new prophet, taking "spiritual wives," some of them girls as young as nine. He sized up the two outsiders with cameras and made a decision that would end his freedom — he let them in. He thought they were going to make a film that would carry him to the world. He didn't know Christine had once been under another false prophet's spell years earlier. He didn't know she could read him on sight.She tells Tony what it took to keep his trust. The double life she lived for years inside that community. The performance she had to put on for his wives. The moment "documentary" became "evidence-gathering" in her own head. And the strange truth she still wrestles with — whether Bateman knew, somewhere underneath all of it, that he wasn't really a prophet at all.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #TrueCrimeToday #ShortCreek #WarrenJeffs #Cults #TrueCrime #ColoradoCity #Netflix
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
A man who trusted almost no outsiders sat down across from Christine Marie and handed her the access that would eventually put him in federal prison for fifty years. He didn't know what she was. He didn't know her history. He didn't know what she could see.When Christine and her husband Tolga first moved to Short Creek — that quiet stretch of FLDS country along the Utah-Arizona border — they came for a completely different reason than the world now associates with their names. They had a different project, a gentler one, meant to humanize a community most outsiders had condemned. Samuel Bateman wasn't anywhere on their radar. Then, slowly, he became the entire story.He cast himself as the new prophet. He took "spiritual wives," some of them girls. He looked at these two outsiders with cameras and made a calculation: they could be useful. He let them film him. He let them sit with his women. He sat for the camera and preached, certain his words were about to be carried to the world.Christine carried them to the FBI instead.In this first part of a three-part conversation, she tells me how she pulled it off. What she pretended to believe. How she got him to keep handing her access. The moment she stopped thinking of herself as a documentary maker and admitted, even to herself, that she was a mole. Whether the women around Bateman were really performing or really believed. And the most uncomfortable question of all — did Bateman ever quietly know he wasn't who he said he was?LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillers #ShortCreek #WarrenJeffs #Cults #TrueCrime #ColoradoCity #Netflix
Christine Marie watched Samuel Bateman every single day for years. She sat at his table. She filmed his sermons. She listened to his wives recite their devotion to him. And she has an answer to the question true crime listeners keep asking about him — was he a true believer, or did he know, deep down, that he was a fraud?She's the one outsider who got close enough to actually know.Christine and her husband Tolga moved to Short Creek with a completely different project in mind, planning to film something else entirely in the FLDS community along the Utah-Arizona border. Then Samuel Bateman walked into their lives — a self-proclaimed prophet rising out of the wreckage of Warren Jeffs' imprisonment, taking "spiritual wives," some of them children, claiming Jeffs spoke through him. He thought Christine and Tolga were going to make him famous. He gave them access nobody else got. And the entire time, she was watching him with the eyes of a woman who'd once fallen for a false prophet herself, years earlier — a woman who knew every move he was making because she'd had them made on her.In this opening conversation of our three-part interview, Christine takes us inside Bateman's world. Why he trusted her. What it cost to maintain that lie every day. The performance the women around him put on — and the real belief underneath it. The moment she admitted, even to herself, that "filmmaker" had become "mole." And what she saw in Bateman that made her wonder whether even he knew the whole thing was a con.LINKS BLOCKJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDISCLAIMERThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.HASHTAGS#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ChristineMarie #HiddenKillersLive #ShortCreek #WarrenJeffs #Cults #TrueCrime #ColoradoCity #Netflix
Viktorya dönemi bahçıvanlarından, orkide çılgınlığının önemli bir figürü James Bateman'ın hikayesini konuşuyoruz
n this week's episode, we're reviewing Bad Words, the 2014 dark comedy where Jason Bateman plays Guy Trilby — a bitter, foul-mouthed adult man who finds a loophole in the rules and crashes a national spelling bee like the world's angriest eighth grader. Why? Revenge, abandonment issues, and apparently a deep need to emotionally scar children one word at a time. We dig into Bateman's directorial debut, the movie's uncomfortable humor, Catherine Hahn's chaotic journalist energy, Rohan Chand's surprisingly delightful performance as Chaitanya, and whether Guy's tiny little redemption arc is enough to make him lovable… or just slightly less awful. Along the way, we talk spelling bee trauma, bad parenting, wildly inappropriate jokes, questionable hotel room decisions, and why this movie somehow manages to be cringeworthy, funny, mean-spirited, and oddly heartfelt all at once. So grab your flashcards, lower your moral standards, and whatever you do…just don't look at us.
When Warren Jeffs, the “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a Mormon fundamentalist group whose members practice polygamy, stopped communicating regularly from prison where he is serving a life sentence for child sexual assault, his followers were at a loss. But, as Rachel Dretzin depicts in her powerful, eye-opening four-part Netflix series “Trust Me: The False Prophet,” Jeffs' silence created the opportunity for a new leader to fill the void. Enter Samuel Bateman, a seemingly unremarkable guy, who claimed that he was the new prophet. Rachel joins Ken on the podcast to talk about the consequences of Bateman's rise within the FLDS, his influence over a handful of adults and girls in the community, and the tragic consequences of his actions. The centerpiece of “Trust Me” and the key to Bateman's undoing is Dr. Christine Marie, a former Mormon who, along with her husband, the videographer Tolga Katas, grew close to the group with the intent of exposing Bateman's crimes. Relying heavily on Tolga's insider footage, as well as key interviews with women who eventually turned against Bateman, the series shows how far trust can take some people and a measure of justice that can occur when that trust is finally broken. “Trust Me: The False Prophet” is streaming on Netflix. The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix. Follow: @topdocspod on Instagram and X
The former Canberra Raiders player on hiding his fantasy reading habits as a kid in Western Queensland, the joy of doing hard things, and how books brought him back from the brink. Warning: Discussion of suicide.Luke was a sensitive kid, growing up on a cattle station in Western Queensland. He loved being transported by fantasy novels — following the quests, battles and magic they offered him.Luke found release in these books, beyond the hard work and zipped lips of the strong men he saw around him.Luke didn't fit into that mould, though he did plenty of work on the farm and loved playing footy. The sport helped him find a place to belong in his world.As a young man, he scored a place in the Canberra Raiders NRL team, and was introduced to the world of gambling.This quickly spiralled into an addiction, and Luke abused drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of this period.Despite being at the height of his young life, and earning hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, Luke couldn't pay for his groceries. He couldn't put fuel in the car. He was spending all his money on betting.When things hit rock bottom, Luke relied on the strongest, most loving person he knew — his mum.He understood, somehow, that to get out of the deep hole he was in, he had to find his way back to reading.Further informationLuke is writing his first two fantasy novels, which will be released in early 2027 under Atria Books Australia, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.If you need someone to speak to, you can always call or chat online with Lifeline on 13 11 14.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The Executive Producer is Eliza Kirsch.This episode touches on suicide, gambling, having a flutter, addiction, rehab, love mum, strong mum, single mum, horse racing, the trots, syndicate, racing horse, borrowing money, Newcastle, rock bottom, hitting rock bottom, powerless over addiction, hero's journey, MDMA, cocaine, alcohol abuse, relapse, recovery, non-linear journey, toxic masculinity, self help, sensitive man.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.
Greg Huss is joined by Iowa Cubs broadcaster Jason Kempf! Topics include:What coaches think about Pedro Ramirez's breakoutHas BJ Murray Jr. been just as impressive as Pedro?Why is Jonathon Long struggling so much at the plate?How does Kevin Alcantara fit on the MLB roster?James Triantos is doing typical James Triantos thingsIs Brett Bateman the (second) most patient hitter in all of baseball?An insane revolving door of pitchers on the Iowa rosterWhy veteran pitchers continue to re-sign with the Cubs to play in Des Moines
Luke Bateman is a writer and book enthusiast.His own journey has been through many ups and downs. From early life in country QLD to making his way to the NRL, the Batchelor and now BookTok fame, Luke battled depression, gambling addiction and substance abuse that ripped through his life like a hurricane, before he took the courageous step to get help and begin rebuilding.An incredibly honest conversation that covers some heavy themes of shame, addiction and learning to be your realest self through it all.Luke also takes up my challenge and shares his own eulogy on the episode.You can follow both Luke & I on social media @bradleyjdryburgh @lukebateman_To support the channel, you can subscribe and share this with your mates!Big love,Brad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What would a quality stat line look like for Rashod Bateman this season? Bob thinks there's a lot more for him to give, but Nolan is more skeptical about who Bateman truly is.
Season 10. Episode 4. #OnTheSofaWithVictoria Maz Evans (Who Let the Dogs Out) & Luke Bateman (award-winning composer) discuss turning a novel into a musical.Recommended - Luke: Simply the Quest by Maz Evans. Maz: East of Eden by John Steinbeck.Victoria Selman is a Sunday Times and Amazon Charts #1 bestselling thriller author. She has written a number of critically acclaimed novels including the hit Ziba MacKenzie series and Truly Darkly Deeply which was a Spring 2023 Richard & Judy Book Club pick.Victoria has been shortlisted for the ThrillZone Award, 2025, the Fingerprint Thriller of the Year Award, 2023, CWA Short Story Dagger, 2022 and CWA Debut Dagger, 2017 and longlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year Award, 2023.Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3xmvMeSWebsite for news and giveaways: http://www.victoriaselmanauthor.comTwitter: @VictoriaSelmanInstagram: @VictoriaSelmanAuthorProduced by Junkyard DogProduced by Junkyard DogCrime TimeCrime Time FM is the official podcast ofGwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023 & 2025CrimeFest 2023CWA Daggers 2023-2026 & National Crime Reading Month& Newcastle Noir 2023 and 20242024 Slaughterfest,
In Part 2 of our interview with Nomz from the documentary Trust Me: The False Prophet, we continue her powerful story as she opens up about being given to Samuel Bateman and what life was really like under his control.Nomz answers questions about the documentary, shares details about her time in prison, and explains the emotional and mental process of breaking free from the beliefs she was raised with under both Warren Jeffs and Samuel Bateman.We discuss the fear, manipulation, and conditioning that kept people loyal for so long — and what it actually took for her to begin questioning everything she had been taught since childhood. She also shares what starting over has looked like, the challenges of rebuilding her identity, and how she's learning to create a new life outside of the FLDS mindset.This conversation is raw, honest, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at the same time.#SamuelBateman #WarrenJeffs #FLDS #TrustMeTheFalseProphet #ExFLDS #Polygamy #CultSurvivor #MormonFundamentalism #TrueStorySupport Nomz!Tiktok @nomzia_b Insta @nomzia_b Facebook Nomzia BistlineVenmo @nomzia_b CashApp $NomziBistlineIf you are struggling with hopelessness, fear, suicidal thoughts, or feeling trapped, please know you are not alone. In the U.S. and Canada, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for free, confidential support 24/7.If you or someone you love has left polygamy and needs assistance, please reach out to "Holding Out HELP" at 801-548-3492 or visit their website at www.holdingouthelp.orgAt Growing Up In Polygamy our mission is to "Create compassion for communities that have been misunderstood, marginalized and/or abused by their leaders, and to empower those who have left by giving them a platform to share their stories with the world."If you would like to DONATE to this cause you can do so here: https://donorbox.org/growing-up-in-polygamyInsta: @growingupinpolygamywww.growingupinpolygamy.comTheme Song created by @artcowles Please feel free to reach out to us!growingupinpolygamy@gmail.comCreate Shorts Easily like us with Opus Clips: https://www.opus.pro/?via=SamandMelissa
May 22, 2026 - Nicole Bateman of the Economic Development Corporation joined Byers & Co to talk about things to do in Decatur, companies investing in people locally, and workforce development. Listen to the podcast now!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In Part 1 of our interview with Nomz from the documentary Trust Me: The False Prophet, she shares what life was really like growing up inside the FLDS under the control of Warren Jeffs, long before Samuel Bateman entered her life.Nomz opens up about losing her father after he was sent away by the church, becoming part of the United Order, and living in an environment where individuality and creativity were punished instead of encouraged. She explains how fear, obedience, and control shaped every part of daily life in the FLDS, and how those experiences made her vulnerable to manipulation later on.She also shares the disturbing way Samuel Bateman began secretly targeting and harassing her, convincing her that terrible things happening around her were somehow her fault because she refused to “give herself” to him. Eventually, she felt trapped into believing that going with him was the only way to protect the people she loved.This is the beginning of a powerful and heartbreaking story about religious control, fear, grooming, and survival.#FLDS #SamuelBateman #WarrenJeffs #TrustMeTheFalseProphet #ExFLDS #Polygamy #CultSurvivor #MormonFundamentalismSupport Nomz!Tiktok @nomzia_b Insta @nomzia_b Facebook Nomzia BistlineVenmo @nomzia_b CashApp $NomziBistlineIf you or someone you love has left polygamy and needs assistance, please reach out to "Holding Out HELP" at 801-548-3492 or visit their website at www.holdingouthelp.orgAt Growing Up In Polygamy our mission is to "Create compassion for communities that have been misunderstood, marginalized and/or abused by their leaders, and to empower those who have left by giving them a platform to share their stories with the world."If you would like to DONATE to this cause you can do so here: https://donorbox.org/growing-up-in-polygamyInsta: @growingupinpolygamywww.growingupinpolygamy.comTheme Song created by @artcowles Please feel free to reach out to us!growingupinpolygamy@gmail.comCreate Shorts Easily like us with Opus Clips: https://www.opus.pro/?via=SamandMelissa
Dr. Christine Marie, who along with her husband Tolga helped expose a man named, Samuel Bateman, who claimed to be the self-proclaimed prophet of a religious polygamous sect, known as the FLDS. Samuel Bateman claimed the group's leader, Warren Jeffs, had died while in prison, and he was the now the prophet. It is reported that Bateman formed his own group within the FLDS, where his male followers not only gave their adult wives to the him, but also their underage daughters, as young as 9 years old, to become Bateman's “wives,” and who he would sexually abuse. Dr.Phil will speak with Dr. Christine, who along with her husband Tolga, would earn the trust of Samuel Bateman and his followers, and be invited to spend one and a half years filming hundreds of hours of footage with them. Dr. Christine and Tolga would eventually begin secretly working with the FBI, while continuing to be embedded within the sect. Samuel Bateman would eventually be arrested and sentenced to 50 years in prison for the crimes he committed against his underage wives. Many of his adult male and female followers were also held to justice. Christine, Tolga, and their footage are featured in the Netflix 4 part documentary series, “Trust Me: The False Prophet,” which chronicles the rise and fall of Samuel Bateman, and is streaming now on Netflix.This episode is brought to you by:Don't wait! If you're on Medicare or will be soon, reach out to Chapter: Call: (352)-845-0659 or go to https://askchapter.org to learn about your Medicare options and get help finding ways to save money.Diabetes doesn't wait. And the cost of waiting can be devastating. But there is another option you need to know about. Learn more: https://drphildiabetes.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A self-proclaimed witch in 1800s England used fake magic and poison to con her victims - until one murder too many brought her deadly schemes crashing down.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/YorkshireWitchFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: What if we just discovered we're sharing Earth with another intelligent species? Scientists have found something mind-blowing, and if they are right, nothing is ever going to be the same. (When They Arrive – Earth's First Contact Playbook) *** When a young boy stumbled upon a cave ritual in rural Mexico, he uncovered a terrifying cult led by a self-proclaimed goddess who had turned village farmers into willing executioners. (Blood Priestess of Yerba Buena) *** In the case of an 1816 murder, an old security guard recognized the attacker just by voice - but when the suspect ended up on death row, he swore they got the wrong guy. (Murder At The Pottery) *** When strange noises in an old farmhouse turned out to be a mongoose who could sing, spy on neighbors, and speak multiple languages, the Irving family's quiet life on the Isle of Man would never be the same. (The Strange True Tale of Gef The Talking Mongoose) *** There's something seriously strange about Saturn - a giant hexagon storm at its north pole that's got both NASA scientists and conspiracy theorists buzzing about what it could mean, strange radio signals that are unexplainable, and the odd history of how it was seen and interpreted by humans through the years. (The Science, Secrets, Strangeness, and Songs of Saturn) *** In 1800s England, Mary Bateman posed as a powerful witch to con desperate people out of their money - until her "magical cures" turned to murder. (The Cunning Crimes of The Yorkshire Witch)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:01:40.399 = Show Open00:04:03.792 = The Cunning Crimes of the Yorkshire Witch00:14:31.135 = When They Arrive: Earth's First Contact Playbook ***00:33:09.022 = Blood Priestess of Yerba Buena00:43:19.864 = Murder At The Pottery ***00:46:23.172 = The Science, Secrets, Strangeness, and Songs of Saturn00:53:45.030 = The Strange True Tale of Gef the Talking Mongoose ***00:59:43.434 = Show Close & Bloopers*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“The Cunning Crimes of the Yorkshire Witch”: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/577601/mary-bateman-witch-yorkshire-murder, http://winsham.blogspot.com/2016/05/murder-and-lies-mary-bateman-yorkshire.html,https://murderpedia.org/female.B/b/bateman-mary.htm“Blood Priestess of Yerba Buena”: https://the-line-up.com/magdalena-solis-high-priestess-of-mexico,https://murderpedia.org/female.S/s/solis-magdalena.htm, https://vocal.media/criminal/magdalena-solis-s-cult,https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/magdalena-sol%C3%ADs-the-high-priestess-of-blood-1278a81dea48“Murder At The Pottery”: https://hauntedpalaceblog.com/2024/11/29/the-ouseburn-murder-and-the-macabre-afterlife-of-charles-smith/“The Strange True Tale of Gef The Talking Mongoose”: http://gefmongoose.blogspot.com/p/the-story-of-gef.html,https://www.weirdhistorian.com/things-said-about-the-talking-mongoose-of-the-isle-of-man/,https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gef-the-talking-mongoose-true-story-nandor-fodor,https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2024/03/the-strange-and-deeply-unlikely-tale-of-gef-the-talking-mongoose/,https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/vh35kXxrrqPRYn1mMJJb17/the-curious-case-of-the-talking-mongoose“The Science, Secrets, Strangeness, and Songs of Saturn”: https://www.ufoinsight.com/conspiracy/historical/saturn-not-what-we-think, https://www.space.com/30608-mysterious-saturn-hexagon-explained.html,https://www.space.com/11205-saturn-strange-radio-signals-cassini.html,https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/hercolobus/esp_hercolobus_34.htm, https://www.mazzastick.com/saturn-moon-matrix/, http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2008/07/saturn-satan-and-666.html, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWHLCHv4PiI (sounds of Saturn)“When They Arrive: Earth's First Contact Playbook”: https://anomalien.com/guide-what-to-do-if-non-human-intelligence-is-confirmed-on-earth/, https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Cases/Official-UAP-Imagery/, https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/en/node/58792, https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/science/en/office-chief-science-advisor/sky-canada-project,https://www.congress.gov/event/118th-congress/house-event/116282/text, https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3965403/dod-examining-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena/,https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190390376/ufo-hearing-non-human-biologics-uaps,https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/,https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4008836/reports-of-drone-incursions-taken-seriously-dod-spokesman-says/, https://www.congress.gov/amendment/118th-congress/senate-amendment/2610/text,https://anomalien.com/aliens-sending-three-word-nuclear-warning-claims-ex-army-official/#google_vignette,https://anomalien.com/the-ongoing-interplay-between-non-human-intelligence-and-humanity/#google_vignette,https://anomalien.com/ufos-hacked-nuclear-codes-russia-and-usa-were-near-the-brink-of-nuclear-war/,https://www.christianity.com/wiki/angels-and-demons/are-aliens-demons-what-does-the-bible-say.html,https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-does-the-bible-say-about-aliens.html, https://weirddarkness.com/if-aliens-are-real-can-i-still-be-a-christian-churchoftheundead/(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.
In part 2 with Nomzia aka Nomz Bistline, from Netflix’s docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet (with Lola’s mom), Nomz shares what it was like getting raided by the FBI, how she felt about Lola’s mom when she learned Christine was the FBI informant, and why the “prophet” Samuel Bateman was obsessed with marrying the queen of England.She discusses the events leading up to her time in jail, how she began the painful process of deconstructing while in prison, and what life has been like since getting out–and finally being free of Samuel Bateman.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ken and Alhaji Bah (Baha) discuss expectations for Rashod Bateman and Jay Higgins.Our Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp and use my code betterhelp.com for a great deal: https://www.betterhelp.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
This week is part one with Nomzia “Nomz” Bistline, from the Netflix docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet (with Lola’s mom, Christine!). Nomz joins the girls to talk about what it was like growing up in polygamist group the FLDS after leader Warren Jeffs went to prison, how she was raised in poverty and taught to be paranoid about the outside world, and how many of the fathers in the community were sidelined and sent away.She explains how Samuel Bateman began claiming that he was the new prophet, and what it was like when he started targeting her and wearing her down over time, threatening her salvation and ultimately coercing her into becoming one of his wives. And next week, she’ll talk about the raid, Sam’s conviction, and her relationship with Christine now.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this exclusive interview, Kathryn shares her firsthand experience with Bateman's family, including her relationship with his ex-wife and the role she played in helping care for their children. She opens up about unsettling interactions she witnessed between Sam Bateman and his first wife, long before he declared himself a prophet.One of the most shocking revelations? The moment that pushed his wife to finally leave—and the disturbing request that changed everything.We also discuss Kathryn's thoughts on the documentary Trust Me: The False Prophet, and the current state of the FLDS community today—especially as members of her own family are still inside.This is an insider perspective you won't hear anywhere else.If you've been following this story or want a deeper understanding of what really happens behind closed doors in these communities, this conversation is one you don't want to miss.
Warren Jeffs will die behind bars. The FLDS he built is hemorrhaging members. Short Creek—the community he sealed off from the world—now has soccer games, bars, and a winery. But the story is not over. From a Texas prison cell, Jeffs continues issuing edicts. A hardened core of followers—scattered across multiple states—still considers him their prophet. Reports suggest plural marriage may be restarting in hidden locations.The final episode of the Hidden Killers five-part FLDS series covers the financial reckoning: a $152 million judgment, a $12 million food stamp fraud case, and Elissa Wall's years-long pursuit of hidden assets through shell companies. We cover the Bateman connection—how the FLDS vacuum produced another self-declared prophet who was arrested on federal charges and died in custody. And we cover the people rebuilding—the Lost Boys reclaiming the community that expelled them, the survivors who testified, and the organizations providing resources to those still trying to leave.For the true crime community, this is the question that refuses to close: the man is in prison, the money is hidden, the community is scattered, and the faithful are still waiting for their prophet to come home. Is it over? The evidence says not yet.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#WarrenJeffs #FLDS #TrueCrimeToday #FLDSToday #FLDSChurch #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #ProphetInPrison #CultSurvivors #CultExposed
First, Emily and Shane are going over some new revelations in the Anna Kepner case. The step-brother was a suspect from the start… Should the parents share some of the blame? Then, they’re diving into the FLDS man who inspired the new Netflix documentary, “Trust Me: The False Prophet”. Sam Bateman was a fake leader, master manipulator and pedophile. How did he meet his end? Plus, what led these other God-fearing men to follow a fake prophet? What happened to the victims in this story? Who were the true heroes?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When Dr. Christine Marie and her videographer husband moved to Utah, they befriended members of the polygamous FLDS church. With the community's former leader now in prison, Samuel Bateman claimed to be their new prophet and took on 20 wives. Concerned about the underage girls among them, Christine convinced Bateman to let them film a documentary about him. The couple recorded evidence that Bateman was trafficking the girls, but local police were reluctant to take action. Meanwhile, Christine worked secretly to convince the young wives — and the parents who allowed the marriages — that they were under the spell of a false prophet. The Netflix series “Trust Me: The False Prophet” provides a look at Bateman's crimes from the perspective of the filmmakers embedded in his home. Featuring their original footage along with new interviews, it shows Christine's efforts as a double agent, using the documentary to gather evidence while trying to free his devoted victims from his grip. OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "TRUST ME: THE FALSE PROPHET" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. In Crime of the Week: pick pocket. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The Samuel Bateman case is back in the spotlight with Netflix's Trust Me: The False Prophet — and the question the documentary raises but can't fully answer is the one that matters most: how did he do it? How does a man with no money, no institutional authority, and no special training convince fifty people to follow him, fund him, and hand him their children?In Part 1 of this three-part panel discussion, former FBI Behavioral Analysis Chief Robin Dreeke and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott join Tony Brueski to break down the specific behavioral strategies Bateman employed. The exploitation of a community in crisis after Warren Jeffs' imprisonment. The weaponization of confession and shame. The narcissistic need for an audience that led him to invite filmmakers into his own criminal operation. The construction of loyalty so complete that followers executed a kidnapping on his orders while he sat in a federal cell.This conversation goes beyond the documentary into the science of manipulation, the psychology of obedience, and the behavioral red flags that were present from the beginning — visible to trained eyes but invisible to the people inside the system. If you followed the Bateman case, if you watched the Netflix doc, if you've ever wondered how a cult leader gets that first person to say yes — this is the conversation.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #WarrenJeffs #ShortCreek #FalseProphet #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #CultAbuse #TrustMeNetflix #RobinDreeke
The prosecution of Samuel Bateman and his eleven co-defendants is the most thorough federal takedown of a cult-based child trafficking operation in recent memory. Every defendant convicted. Sentences ranging from time served to life. Restitution orders. Asset forfeiture. On paper, the system worked.But the FLDS has been raided before — in 1953, in 2008. Prophets have been arrested, tried, and imprisoned before. Warren Jeffs got life. And within a few years, the same community produced Samuel Bateman. The question this final segment of our three-part panel confronts is whether the Bateman prosecution represents a genuine turning point or another chapter in a cycle that the FLDS is structurally designed to repeat.Former FBI Behavioral Analysis Chief Robin Dreeke and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott join Tony Brueski to examine what comes next. The community members who are rebuilding — Faith Bistline raising rescued children, the Dream Center operating from Jeffs' former compound, survivors reclaiming their lives. And the structural realities that resist change — Jeffs still directing operations from prison, thousands of members still inside the system, a theology that interprets outside pressure as persecution.Both experts are asked directly whether another Bateman is coming. Their answers frame the question the true crime community — and the justice system — will be grappling with for years.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #ShortCreek #FaithBistline #CultJustice #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #FalseProphet #TrustMeNetflix #CultRecovery
The Samuel Bateman case is the most significant cult-based child trafficking prosecution in years, and Netflix's Trust Me: The False Prophet has put it back in the national conversation. In this full-length panel discussion, former FBI Behavioral Analysis Chief Robin Dreeke and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott join Tony Brueski to cover the complete arc of the case — from how Bateman built his operation to whether the system that created him is capable of producing another one.The behavioral analysis: how a man with no resources, no credentials, and no institutional power recruited fifty people and convinced fathers to hand over their children within three years. The trauma reality: what the documentary's footage reveals about the psychological conditioning of Bateman's wives and victims — the silence in forensic interviews, the journals that told the truth, the children who experienced rescue as a threat. The structural question: why the FLDS survives when other cults collapse after their leaders are removed, what Jeffs' continued influence from prison means, and whether the Short Creek community is at a genuine turning point or just in a pause between prophets.Robin and Shavaun bring decades of combined expertise in behavioral analysis, trauma recovery, and coercive control. Tony brings the case knowledge from Hidden Killers' five-part series on Bateman. Together, this is the most comprehensive conversation on this case outside of a courtroom.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #TrustMeNetflix #ShortCreek #FalseProphet #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #RobinDreeke #ShavaunScott #CultAbuse
Eight children were removed from Samuel Bateman's compound and placed in foster care. During forensic interviews, none of them disclosed abuse. Their journals — seized by the FBI — were filled with detailed accounts of what Bateman did to them. The written truth they couldn't say out loud. That single detail tells you more about the psychological power of cult-based abuse than any courtroom testimony ever could.In Part 2 of this three-part panel, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and former FBI Behavioral Analysis Chief Robin Dreeke join Tony Brueski to examine the internal damage the Netflix documentary Trust Me: The False Prophet reveals but can't fully explain. What happens to a child's mind when the person abusing them is presented as God's representative on earth. Why Bateman's "atonement ceremonies" — sexual abuse repackaged as sacred duty — make it neurologically difficult for victims to categorize their experience as harm. Why the girls went willingly when Bateman's wives kidnapped them from foster care.The conversation also tackles the most ethically complex element of the case: the adult wives. Women like Donnae Barlow, who was herself a victim of forced marriage and incest within the FLDS, diagnosed with extreme PTSD, who participated in kidnapping children because her conditioning told her the state was the predator and Bateman was the protector. The court gave her time served. Others got years. Whether that calibration was right is a question two experts in human behavior wrestle with in real time.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#SamuelBateman #FLDS #CultTrauma #ChildBrides #CoerciveControl #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #ShortCreek #TrustMeNetflix #ShavaunScott
Christine Marie, cult psychology expert, joins me to discuss Netflix's Trust Me: The False Prophet. This four-part docuseries follows Christine and her husband, videographer Tolga Katas, as they embed themselves in the FLDS community in Short Creek, a town straddling the Utah-Arizona border long associated with fundamentalist Mormonism. What begins as an effort to support a fractured community in the wake of leader Warren Jeffs' imprisonment turns into something far more dangerous. As they gain the trust of Samuel Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet who rises to power after Jeffs, Christine and Tolga begin documenting his inner circle. Bateman, believing he is being filmed for a project that will amplify his message, allows unprecedented access. But behind the scenes, Christine and Tolga are gathering evidence of coercion, control, and the sexual abuse of women and underage girls. The series captures, in real time, the unraveling of Bateman's authority. A 2022 traffic stop leads to his arrest, followed by a federal investigation and raid that exposes the full scope of his crimes. He was later sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reality Life with Kate Casey What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey Twitter: https://twitter.com/katecasey Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecasey?lang=en Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/113157919338245 Amazon List: https://www.amazon.com/shop/katecasey Like it to Know It: https://www.shopltk.com/explore/katecaseySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.