In a joint operation between Australian detectives and FBI Special Agent Hilda Kogut, the delusional cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne and her husband William Hamilton were arrested at an isolated farmhouse in Hurleyville, NY. Hamilton-Byrne, a former glamorous yoga teacher, had convinced her New Age disciples that she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. However, it was her extensive plastic surgeries that struck Agent Kogut upon the arrest, with her hairline pushed back due to numerous facelifts.
The arrest shed light on the sinister activities of Hamilton-Byrne’s cult, known as “The Family,” which had illegally adopted over two dozen babies and young children between 1968 and 1975 in the Melbourne area of Australia. She manipulated the children, telling them she was their mother and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and indoctrinated them with the belief that they would be responsible for re-educating survivors after the world ended.
The Family boasted more than 500 well-educated professionals, including doctors, nurses, lawyers, and psychiatrists, who followed Hamilton-Byrne’s deluded and cruel teachings. Among the survivors of the cult was Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, whose family had to go on the run for years due to their association with The Family.
Assange’s mother, Christine Assange, had a tempestuous relationship with Leif Meynell Hamilton, a cult member and amateur musician. Assange described Hamilton as a manipulative and violent psychopath, alleging physical abuse towards his mother and himself. The custody battle over Assange’s half-brother further intensified the situation, with Leif allegedly stalking the family using cult connections.
While Assange’s connection to The Family has been the subject of rumors and conspiracy theories, it is confirmed that he was not among the children rescued from the cult’s compound in 1987. The survivors, including Ben Shenton, who was placed in the cult at 18 months and freed at 15 years old, endured brutal abuse, isolation, and forced drug use.
Despite the efforts of investigators like Lex De Man, who described Hamilton-Byrne as the most evil woman he had ever known, the cult leader and her husband received only a $5,000 fine for falsifying a statutory declaration. The survivors, including Shenton, have worked to overcome their traumatic pasts and find healing.
Hamilton-Byrne lived out her final years in a nursing home with dementia, unaware of the survivors who visited her. Shenton’s own mother, who had initially remained loyal to Hamilton-Byrne, passed away in the UK last week.
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The arrest of Anne Hamilton-Byrne and her husband William Hamilton at an isolated farmhouse in Hurleyville, NY is like unraveling the layers of an intricate web. Just as detectives and the FBI worked together to expose the delusional cult leader, they carefully untangled the threads of deception and manipulation that had been woven by Hamilton-Byrne. Like peeling back the layers of an onion, they revealed the truth hidden beneath the surface, bringing an end to the darkness that had enveloped