Former Cult Leader Anna Young Sentenced To 30 Years For Death Of 2 Toddlers

After more than 30 years, a former Florida religious cult leader has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the death of two toddlers.

Anna Young, 79, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of murder for the death of Emon Harper, who was 2 or 3 years old at the time of the crime, and manslaughter for the death of 2-year-old Katonya Jackson in the 1980s.

Young, who ran the religious cult group "House of Prayer for All People" near Micanopy, was arrested on Dec. 1, 2017, after her daughter Joy Fluker reported her to the authorities, reported local news outlet The Gainesville Sun.

Young started the cult with her late husband. They locked members in boxes, deprived them of food and water as a form of punishment and forced them to beat each other. There was also a report of a man whose penis had been cut off for having sex with a woman in the community compound.

The former cult leader has also been accused of starving and torturing many children over the years.

According to a report from First Coast News, Fluker told the police that her mother had starved, beaten and locked Harper until he died.

It was Sharon Pough, one of the residents, who found Harper's body in a straw clothing basket. "When I saw him, I remember there was a big water bug on his forehead. So when I saw that big water bug, I knew he was dead for a bug to be crawling on him like that. And his chest was, like, um, swollen because he was packed in it." Pough said.

In 1983, Jackson died after Young withheld her seizure medicine. The prosecutors found her death "preventable."

Lea Vera Jackson, the toddler's mother, said that her daughter had been beaten to death. "We were all beat. I'm here to stand up for my daughter and say justice was done. It hurts, but justice has been done," she said as per Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Young has also been linked to the death of her daughter Catherine in the 1970s. Her family was reportedly at a Michigan state park when Catherine fell into a river. Unfortunately, her body was never found.

Fluker believes that her mother has a mental illness. "I believe that if people had spoken up sooner, her disorder could have been managed and Moses, Katonya and my sister Cathy — all those deaths could have been avoided," she said.