Attleboro mom said to be cutting ties to cult

The Boston Herald, Oct. 12, 2002
http://www2.bostonherald.com/
by Dave Wedge

An Attleboro cult mom who is alleged to have starved her son to death is trying to sever her ties to the high-control group, which her attorney alleges forced her to stop feeding her baby.

“She has apparently woken up from the trance that she has been living under for so many years,” cult expert Steven Hassan said of Karen Robidoux. “And she is very angry, and she’s very, very devastated.”

Robidoux, who is locked up in MCI-Framingham while awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges in the case, has reportedly stopped talking to members of the fundamentalist sect, but she still writes letters to her husband, Jacques.

The leader of The Body, Jacques Robidoux is serving a life sentence for the 1999 starvation death of their 1-year-old son, Samuel.

Prosecutors say the couple stopped feeding the boy to follow a bizarre prophecy handed down to them by Jacques Robidoux’s sister, Michelle Mingo. Mingo is awaiting trial on accessory charges.

Karen Robidoux’s attorney, Joseph Krowski, plans to use a battered woman’s defense, alleging that his client was brainwashed by the group and pressured into carrying out her son’s heinous murder.

“This was not some kind of crackhead mother who decided to not feed her baby,” explained cult expert Robert Pardon, who has worked closely with investigators on the Attleboro case for three years.

“This is very clearly a case of thought reform and mind control,” he said.

During his trial, Jacques Robidoux testified that he forced his wife to stop feeding their child.

The cult leader also said that Karen Robidoux wanted to feed the boy, but he wouldn’t let her.

But prosecutor Walter Shea scoffed at Krowski’s defense, claiming Karen Robidoux is visited in jail by sect members weekly.

He called the defense “laughable,” saying she is simply changing her stance to save herself.

“It is, frankly, transparent,” Shea told the Sun Chronicle of Attleboro.

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