Richard P. Rodriguez (January 25, 1975 – January 9, 2005), who was formerly known as David Moses Zerby, was an American member of a religious cult called The Family, formerly known as the Children of God (COG), who murdered one of his childhood sexual abusers, Angela M. Smith, and then died by suicide. During Rodriguez's childhood, he and his adoptive parents David Berg and Karen Zerby, both of whom were leaders of The Family, traveled across the world to convert followers. Berg believed Rodriguez was called upon to become a prophet during biblical End Times. From a young age Rodriguez was brought up in a heavily promiscuous environment and was sexually abused by numerous people, including a cohort of nannies, as described in the Family-published document titled "The Davidito Book". Despite leaving The Family and finding marriage, Rodriguez struggled to adjust to life outside the cult and sought revenge for his abuse. He left his wife in Tacoma, Washington, and traveled across the U.S. in an attempt to find Zerby. After learning his former nanny Angela M. Smith was in Tucson, Arizona, he stayed with people he knew there until he settled in an apartment. On January 7, 2005, he recorded a video, saying he needed to take retribution for abuse in The Family—including his own—alluding to murder. The next day, Rodriguez invited Smith to his home for dinner, where he stabbed her to death before driving to Blythe, California, and killing himself. The Family urged its members to disregard media reports about Rodriguez and Smith, and a spokesperson for the group said reports neglected to show Smith as a victim. Former members' reactions to the death ranged from calling it "a monumental event" in The Family's history to a devastating situation that was "the only way anybody's listening" to stories of abuse within the group. Experts on cults noted that while murder was unjustifiable, Rodriguez's anger towards members of The Family was understandable, with cult specialist Rick Alan Ross describing his suicide as one of the many major outcomes of someone who suffered in "one of the most horrifically abusive and destructive cults in American history". Early life Richard P. Rodriguez was born on January 25, 1975, in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, as David Moses Zerby. His mother was Karen Zerby, the spiritual leader of the religious cult Children of God (COG), and his father was a Spanish hotel