Aussie teenager reveals how she got tricked by violent online cult which ordered her to kill her cat
An Australian girl, who was sucked into a online cult, was ordered to kill her cat by her abusers. Warning: Graphic.
Crime in Focus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crime in Focus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An Australian teen was tricked and blackmailed into providing up to 100 sexually-explicit images of herself by members of a global online cult with satanic and neo-Nazi links.
The girl connnected with the mainly US-based predators for 10 months, between October 2022 to August 2023, and over time their demands became more and more extreme, culminating in an order for the girl to kill the family cat.
When she refused, revenge was swift.
The cult members made hoax calls to the family home from the US, on one occasion resulting in cops surrounding the house in a quiet NSW community with guns raised, demanding her father come out with his hands up.
What is so frightening is that for most of that period the girl’s parents had no idea what was happening.
The abuse would happen while she on her laptop in her bedroom, with the door open, sometimes during the day, and often all through the night, right under their noses.
The perpetrators, behind computer screens half way across the world, followed a well-worn manuscript.
“They know exactly what they’re doing,” the teen’s mother said.
“They know who to target. They know what to say. It’s like a playbook and then they share it amongst themselves. And a competition then to see who can get the worst stuff.”
At first they “love bombed” their new victim, who had unwittingly stumbled upon these monsters after clicking on a link on Discord, a chat app popular with gamers.
“I just saw a link on a random person’s account on Discord, it was a girl,” the quietly spoken teen said, when we met in a park.
That led her to other links and before she knew it, she found herself in chats with members of 764, one of a number of online child abuse networks with satanic and neo-Nazi links, that the FBI named in an alert last September.
She recognised some of them as being active on a computer game called Roblox, which they would trawl looking for new victims.
They tricked the teenager into handing over control of her social media accounts and then they started blackmailing her.
Their demands became ever more extreme.
Her abusers had a penchant for “hurtcore”, particularly showing children suffering, and enjoyed competing with each other to publish the most grotesque images.
She was forced into making at least 100 sexually explicit images, either taken herself or live streamed and recorded. She was also instructed to cut herself on her legs and torso with a sharp object, in what were called live “cut shows”.
Her mum said they also asked her to write their names in blood on her bedroom walls and in books. We found examples of other victims doing this on the internet.
These demands came in day and night. But the rules of the house meant all devices stayed in her parents’ room at night, so she would sneak in and take them, even from underneath her mother’s pillow.
Her mum knew something was desperately wrong, but only found out the true extent of the horror when the child porn ring published the images on her daughter’s social media accounts and her friends called her worried.
At this point, the teenager's mental state was so precarious she had to be hospitalised, and put on a drip because she had not been eating, drinking or sleeping.
Even then her abusers’ demands did not stop.
When she refused to kill the family cat, they made good their threats to “swat” her, making multiple hoax calls to police from the US, which on one occasion resulted in armed police coming to their home.
The shocking event was caught on their doorbell video cam.
The mum has decided to speak out after losing faith in authorities. She said the local police dismissed her as “hysterical” while the Australian Federal Police failed to remove abusive content of her daughter that she had reported to them.
The AFP said it does not have the authority to remove online content.
“I haven’t heard from the authorities in a very long time, at least six months,” the mother said.
The mum said her sole reason for speaking out was to warn others.
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” she said. “The violence is next level.
“It’s very explicit, awful, the worst things that you could possibly imagine. Every time I close my eyes, that’s what I can see.”
She said she won’t rest until daughter’s abusers are jailed.
While the family has managed to cut contact with members of the group, they’re still battling to remove images of their daughter online. This week the mum discovered a Telegram chat group with 3000 members, filled with pictures and videos of her daughter.
In the US, online abuse has turned into real world violence.
A 12-year-old victim was kidnapped and raped by Kaleb Merritt, 23, a member of CVLT, who drove 20 hours across multiple states to reach her in Virginia. She recently told her shocking story on a US TV show.
A Canadian father also told the program he found disturbing photos on his daughter’s phone after she tried to take her life, including one with 764 carved on her chest, as well as conversations with someone who appeared to be encouraging her to harm herself.
A German teenager who has also been accused of murder in Romania is suspected of participating in 764, according to overseas newspaper reports.
Victims should call Triple 0, or reports can also be made in confidence to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestoppers.com.au.
To get child sexual abuse material or harmful content removed go to esafety.gov.au.
Victims can get support at Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.
KEY PLAYERS
The FBI issued a public service announcement in September 2023 warning people about online groups who extort minors to self-harm and produce child sexual abuse material.
BRADLEY CADENHEAD
Baby-faced 764 cult leader, 17, from Texas was sentenced to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to nine counts including possessing and promoting child pornography. One video retrieved from Cadenhead’s computer showed one of his followers killing her hamster.
KALEB MERRITT
The 23-year-old member of CVLT was sentenced to 350 years in 2022 after he drove 20 hours to kidnap and rape a 12-year-old girl he had been abusing online.
ANGEL ALMEIDA
The 23-year-old was indicted last year on child pornography and child exploitation charges. US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said the “defendant’s alleged exploitation of minors has been extremely harmful mentally, emotionally and physically to his victims”.
RICHARD ANTHONY REYNA DENSMORE
The 47-year-old with alleged links to 764 has been indicted by a federal grand jury for sexual exploitation of a child, conspiracy to sexually exploit a child, coercion and enticement, and possession of child pornography.
KALANA LIMKIN
The 18-year-old was indicted by a federal grand jury in December on a charge of possession of child pornography. During an interview with the FBI, Limkin, who lives in Hawaii, allegedly “admitted to being the creator of Cultist, an online splinter group of 764.
More Coverage
Originally published as Aussie teenager reveals how she got tricked by violent online cult which ordered her to kill her cat
New law to block legal challenge to AN0M sting
New laws will prevent any legal challenge to one of Australia’s most successful covert stings in organised crime using the encrypted AN0M application.
Read more
How Assange’s father is derailing his chance of a pardon
Australia spent significant political capital to get Julian Assange out of prison while the US attempted to extradite him on spying charges — but now his father has intervened.
Read more