Female Florida ‘Cult Leader’ Charged With Murdering Toddler; Allegedly Murdered Other Children

A female leader of a supposed religious boarding school in north Florida has been accused of murdering a toddler in the 1980s, and may have been responsible for the murder of numerous other children in the 1980’s and early 1990’s.

In 1983, the House of Prayer for All People opened in Micanopy, just south of Gainesville. That school, a supposed “outreach ministry run from their home,” existed for roughly ten years under the supervision of Anna Elizabeth Young, aka “Mother Anna,” and her husband Jonah. Alachua County authorities assert that children left at the compound were tortured and abused in a religious cult atmosphere. According to The Washington Post, that atmosphere included exorcism and chemical baths.

Art Forgey, a spokesman with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC 20, “Witnesses came forward from the House of Prayer alleging brutality and even some children being murdered. It’s not just one isolated incident of beatings. There were numerous children that were beaten, locked in solitary confinement, food-withheld.” He told the Gainesville Sun, “We think there are many, many more. We can document other states and other missing children that we believe are tied into this. They ran a religious institution — exorcising demons and other things like that. We have documentation involving her clear back the ’60s. We did extensive forensic examination on the property this summer. We are still analyzing the evidence that we gathered.” He told ABC 20,“This is just the tip of the iceberg that we know of.”

Last week, Young, 75, was arrested for the premeditated first-degree murder of a child in the 1980s, as the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office law enforcement announced. The Gainesville Sun reported that the child was Emon Harper, whom authorities believe was either two or three when he was allegedly murdered.

In 1992, Anna Young was charged in Alachua County with felony child abuse; authorities alleged she had bathed a 12-year-old girl with chemicals in a steel tub, leaving her with severe burns. Those charges prompted Young to flee the state; eight years later she was found in an attic in a relative’s house in Illinois.

The Post reports:

In the last year, children who stayed with Young at the House of Prayer, now in their 40s and 50s, have approached authorities with stories of torture, punishment, caging, and starvation. Those allegations led to the charges in the Harper death.