Lia “Amy” Carlson.Photo: Dr.phil
“I used to say I’ve seen it all,” Saguache County Sheriff Dan Warwick tellsDateline NBCin a broadcast airing Friday (9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT). “I don’t say that anymore.”
Because two children were inside the home at the time of the April 28 discovery, all seven adults also were charged with misdemeanor child abuse.
But Saguache County District Attorney Alonzo Payne later dropped all charges, according toThe Denver Gazette.
“You think these people should have faced charges for abuse of a corpse?“Datelinecorrespondent Keith Morrison asked the sheriff after Payne’s decision.
“I do,” says Warwick. (An excerpt from the show is below.)
Carlson’s mother, Linda Haythorne, also objected to the prosecutor’s decision, she tells the show.
“It seems like they’re kind of brushing it under the rug,” she says. “That’s the way I feel, anyway.”
The prosecutor defended his decision. “Our office looked at all the documents and everything that was provided,” says Payne. “And from our perspective the allegations could not be met beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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The affidavit states that Lamboy told investigators that five members of the group had asked to stay at his place on April 27. Lamboy ran several errands and when he returned, he found the deceased Carlson there.
Lamboy told authorities that Carlson’s eyes appeared to be missing, she looked “mummified” and her teeth were “exposed through the lips,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit further stated the corpse had “glitter type makeup on around the eyes” and “the mummified remains were decorated with Christmas tree lights” in what authorities described as a “shrine.”
Alivestreamfrom “Love Has Won” members on April 16 stated that Carlson was “very, very, very close to dying” and that “she’s slowly, slowly going out of her vessel.”
Inanother livestreamon April 21, members claimed Carlson was “in stasis” and refusing medical care.
The Saguache County coroner who identified Carlson’s remains through DNA testing said in July that he had not been able to identify a cause of death, reports theDenver Post, because he was still searching for a lab that could test the body for heavy metals such as those that sect members broke down through electrolysis to sell online as health aids.
“I watched some of their YouTube videos,” coroner Tom Perrin told the outlet. “It seems like they were claiming it would cure certain things or improve your health.”
The two-hourDatelineepisode, “The Ascension of Mother God,” airs Friday (9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT).
source: people.com
