At least eight children among those missing from cult-like group [Updated]

 

Authorities late Saturday released the names of more than a dozen missing people -- including at least eight children -- linked to a cult-like group.

Law enforcement officials, fearing of a mass suicide, launched a major search. The group was believed to be traveling in three vehicles: a white 2004 Nissan Quest, a 1995 white Mercury Villager and a newer-model, silver-colored Toyota Tundra, according to the California Highway Patrol, which issued an alert for them. The group was last seen at 1 a.m. Saturday at a prayer meeting in a Palmdale church at 158 East Avenue, R-4.

[Updated at 12:48 a.m.: While the search continues, Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker cautioned that letters left behind do not mention suicide. Parker says the information left in a purse belonging to one of the group's members refers to the rapture, the end of the world and "going to heaven." He says the missing people have no history of violence or harming themselves.

Sheriff's deputies began investigating when two husbands of group members reported about 1:45 p.m. that they believed their wives had gone off with the cult-like group led by Reyna Chicas. One of the men told investigators he was ordered to guard and pray over the purse, but that after some time he became concerned and looked inside. There he found five cellphones, many IDs, deeds and letters, officials said.

The husbands told investigators they believed Chicas had brainwashed those missing and that they may be at risk. The cult-like group formed among a small part of a local Christian church, and all of its members are of El Salvadoran descent. The adults missing include three sisters and an adult son.]

[Updated at 12:11 a.m.: One person previously listed as a missing child is in fact an adult, so the missing include eight children.]

Here are the names of the missing, from the California Highway Patrol:

REYNA MARISOL CHICAS

EZEQUEL CHICAS

GENISIS CHICAS

NORMA ISELA SERRANO

BRYAN RIVERA

JOSE CLAVEL

STEPHANIE SERRANO

CRYSTAL CLAVEL

ALMA ALICIA MIRANDA PLEITEZ

HUGO TEJADA

JONATHAN TEJADA

MARTHA CLAVEL

ROBERTO TEJADA

-- Richard Winton and Robert Faturechi

Photo: At her Palmdale home, Jisela Giron, a former neighbor of alleged cult leader Reyna Chicas, 32, contemplates the religious group's fate and the well-being of the missing children. Giron attended the Iglesia de Cristo Miel church with Chicas and said she never noticed anything unusual about her behavior. Credit: Allen J. Schaben  / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[captbilly]

I was brought up as a Catholic but it was always my nature to question everything that I heard or read, and put it to a rational test. Eventually I simply could no longer overlook the obvious nonsense that is at the heart of every religion. When I was a kid (I am now 50) it seemed that religion wasn't taken nearly so literally or seriously as it is today, and it didn't seem as though people were quite so crazed by religion. Ever since mainstream politicians started pandering to religious fundamentalists things have been getting scarier and scarier in American society. We are not almost last among western countries in people who understand evolutionary theory. We have elected officials who openly state that they do not understand scientific theories that explain the age of the earth, evolution of species, psychological theories that explain our irrational beliefs in Gods and religion.

It is perfectly normal to wonder about life and death and what happens to us after we die or before we are born. What is not normal or useful is to literally and fully "believe" something for which there is not testable theory. Belief in gods may make us less frightened but it also leaves us open to massive manipulation by those who claim to have the direct line to these gods. How many times have we seen some priest or pastor or cult leader turn out to be a lunatic or obvious charlatan? And conversely has any religious leader ever been able to make any direct measurable prediction of future events based on their knowledge of their god? If it makes you feel better to sort of imagine that their might be some sort of god that has some interest or control over our destinies that is fine but when one starts to truly believe in something for which there is no testable evidence, you know they have crossed the line into delusion.

I don't know for sure why the founding fathers were so adamant about keeping religion out of government but it was the best idea they ever had and we can thank our lucky stars that they had the foresight to do it. Let's keep these latest crop of religious fanatics out of our government and away from controlling our lives.

[jmpgodiva]

Captbilly is right. Our Forefathers kept religion out of Government for a good reason.

[u know]

Omg I know Reyna and Norma, although I haven't heard from or seen them in a couple of years. They did not seem to be the religous type, as a matter of fact they were pretty wild. The three of us used to get together and have some crazy parties, they sure didn't behave as if they were religous or married, there was a lot of drugs and sex involved. People who are religous do so as a reaction to being immoral or leading an uncontrolled lifestyle at some time of their lives.

[ex cult member]

It seems that what is expanding isn't necessarily religion per se-the Catholics and Lutherans are seeing massive membership declines-but extreme cultlike versions of Christianity, such as Christian Dominionism (look it up) and various way out there interpretations of Christianity that are usually called "fundamentalist" or "Evangelical" or such, when in fact it's really a cult. The same phenomenon has been happening in Islam and Judaism too-people forsaking the mainstream for fringe sects that promise immediate armageddon and the return of heaven on earth within a few years. And then there's the 2012 thing, which is a cult along the same lines.

People have apparently decided that this physical world is beyond redemption and that they must destroy it NOW for humanity to go to heaven. When you have somebody like Ahmedinajad who is building nuclear weapons, and he says that he will use them to bring about the end of the world, you have to worry. I grew up in a famous cult where many actively packed their garages with dried food and barrels of wheat so they could eat during the Tribulation. They are still sitting there with their Mountain House food and wheat, waiting for Jesus.

It seems that people are getting crazier and crazier about religion, maybe due to pollution affecting their brains in the same way that Romans went nuts after too much lead "flavoring" in their wine. Eventually somebody will touch off the end of the world and drag the rest of us along with them, whether we want the world to end or not.

By the way, the name of the church is being written as Iglesia de Cristo Miel. Are you journalists sure it's not "Mil", Spanish for "thousand"? Some dialects can make the word "mil" sound closer to "miel".

[Jamie J]

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