Amy Carlson, Cult Leader: Mother God, Death, and Splinter Groups

Amy Carlson was the cult leader behind Love Has Won, a fringe New Age group whose followers called her “Mother God” and believed she was a divine being on her 534th incarnation. She died around March 2021 at age 45 from a combination of alcohol abuse, anorexia, and chronic colloidal silver ingestion, and her mummified body, wrapped in a sleeping bag and strung with Christmas lights, was discovered weeks later in a follower’s home in Saguache County, Colorado.¹

From Kansas McDonald’s Manager to “Mother God”

Carlson was born in 1975 outside Wichita, Kansas, and lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and eventually Texas.² Before anything strange entered her life, she was a straight-A student, a choir member, a McDonald’s manager, and a mother of three.³ Her oldest son, Cole Carlson, later called that version of her life “very average.”⁴

The shift started in the mid-2000s on Lightworkers.org, a New Age message board.⁵ There she met Amerith WhiteEagle, legal name Robert Eugene Saltsgaver, a Mount Shasta, California resident she called her “twin flame.” Together they launched the Galactic Free Press, an online outlet for spiritual and UFO content, and WhiteEagle became the first in a series of men she designated “Father God.”⁶

In 2007, Carlson left her three children with their fathers and moved to Crestone, Colorado, to be with WhiteEagle.⁷ Her sister, Chelsea Renninger, said the family had never seen it coming. Carlson eventually broke with WhiteEagle, said she had been “fired” from the Galactic Free Press, and cycled through replacement “Father God” partners as her own claim to divinity hardened into the center of the group.⁵

What Love Has Won Taught and How It Operated

Love Has Won formed in the late 2000s around a single premise: Carlson was God in human form. She told followers she had lived 534 past lives as figures including Jesus Christ and the Hawaiian goddess Pele, could cure cancer, communicated with the spirit of Robin Williams, and absorbed the pain of the world. The theology mixed New Age ideas, conspiracy theories, alien mythology, and messiah worship, and promised an escape from the “3D” world into a “5D” existence, possibly by UFO.³⁸

The group ran on the internet. Love Has Won produced roughly 2,700 livestreams, blending daily spiritual sessions with QVC-style sales shows pushing crystals, colloidal silver, and “etheric surgeries” that supposedly cured cancer, brain tumors, and autism.⁹ It was registered as a 501(c)(3) charity and sold colloidal silver supplements the FDA has deemed medically dubious. Carlson sold paid life-coaching sessions as “Mother God.”

Former members described tight control. Followers slept as little as four hours a night and were pressured to turn over their income and savings. The group targeted people struggling with addiction and mental health problems.¹⁰ Cult expert Rick Alan Ross reported allegations from former members and families that Carlson sexually exploited followers by designating them as temporary romantic partners; similar allegations were made against Jason Castillo, the group’s final “Father God.”⁹ One former member, Alex Whitten, was allegedly abandoned in the mountains for not having the “right energy” and later found naked, dehydrated, and covered in cactus-needle injuries. The Saguache County Sheriff’s Office said it received complaints from families across the country alleging the group was “brainwashing people and stealing their money.”³

Her Physical Decline and Death

By late 2020 and into early 2021, as the group moved between California, Oregon, and Colorado, Carlson was visibly dying.¹¹ Former members and family described her as severely underweight, unable to walk, and gray-blue in complexion from chronic colloidal silver use.⁷ Her sister had gone on The Dr. Phil Show to beg her to see a doctor. Carlson herself reportedly asked to be taken to a hospital. Her followers refused, treating her deterioration as a spiritual process. She continued consuming large quantities of alcohol and colloidal silver, and allegations of drug use within the group included claims that Castillo used methamphetamine.⁹

Carlson died around March 2021, likely in California. The Saguache County coroner listed the cause of death as a combination of alcohol abuse, anorexia, and chronic colloidal silver ingestion.¹ Rather than call authorities, her followers kept vigil over the body for weeks. Investigators later concluded the group transported her remains from California to Colorado in a Nissan Rogue; the back seat had been laid down in a position consistent with carrying a body.¹²

The Mummified Body in Colorado

On April 27, 2021, the group arrived at the home of Miguel Lamboy, a former “Father God,” near Moffat in Saguache County. The next day, Lamboy found Carlson’s body and, after being prevented from leaving with his two-year-old son, contacted the Salida Police Department.¹³ Saguache County Corporal Steven Hansen executed a search warrant and found her mummified remains in a back bedroom. The body was cocooned in a sleeping bag, strung with Christmas lights, with glitter makeup applied around the eye sockets. The scene appeared to be arranged as a shrine.³ Decomposition was advanced enough that the coroner could not pull fingerprints and had to confirm Carlson’s identity through dental records. Two children were in the home: Lamboy’s two-year-old son and the 13-year-old daughter of member Karin Raymond.

Why No One Was Convicted

Seven people found at the home were arrested and booked into the Rio Grande County Jail: Miguel Lamboy, Jason Castillo, Christopher Royer, Sarah Randolph, Ryan Kramer, Karin Raymond, John Robertson, and Obdulia Franco.¹³ Each was initially charged with abuse of a corpse and two counts of child abuse. Prosecutors later upgraded some charges to tampering with a deceased human body.¹⁴

None of it went to trial. In September 2021, District Attorney Alonzo Payne moved to dismiss all charges against all seven defendants, saying prosecutors did not believe the abuse of a corpse charge was constitutional in these circumstances, particularly as applied to the decoration of Carlson’s body.¹⁵ A Saguache County judge granted the dismissals. No member of Love Has Won has been convicted of any crime connected to Carlson’s death or the treatment of her remains.¹⁶

Splinter Groups Still Operating in Her Name

Carlson’s death did not end the movement; it split it. Jason Castillo and John Robertson, who had held the titles “Father God” and “Father Multiverse,” relocated to Wisconsin and started a group called Joy Rains. It runs a Facebook page, offers sessions called “Christic Awakenings,” and posts photographs and memories of Carlson. Its theology centers on a combined “Mother-Father God” blending Carlson’s spiritual essence with Castillo’s physical presence.¹⁷¹⁸

A separate offshoot, 5D Full Disclosure, was founded in Florida by former members Lauryn “Aurora” Suarez and Ashley “Hope” Peluso. It promotes similar teachings through online healing sessions, podcasts, a web series, and merchandise, and its website includes an “About Mom” tab stating Carlson “accomplished her mission by achieving physical ascension.” Former member Ryan Kramer runs an affiliated Telegram channel with more than 40,000 followers.¹⁷

Carlson’s oldest son, Cole, was 10 when she left in 2007. After her death he said the details about her body were “very disturbing” and expressed anger that the group’s work continued in her name. He said the family was exploring legal options to seek justice for former members and families who had paid large sums to the organization.¹⁹

1
CBS News Colorado. Amy Carlson Death Autopsy Complete Cult Leaders Death Crestone Alcohol Anorexia Silver Ingestion
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Rolling Stone. Love Has Won Amy Carlson Mother God
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BBC News. Love Has Won Cult Leader Found Mummified
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Fox 4 Kansas City. Son Speaks Out After Alleged Love Has Won Cult Leader Found Mummified in Colorado
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Time. Love Has Won True Story HBO
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Literary Hub. Leah Sottile on Amy Carlson Aka Mother God and the Creation of a New Age Cult
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Marie Claire. Love Has Won Cult Amy Carlson Stroud Death
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Warner Bros. Discovery Press. HBO Original Documentary Series Love Has Won The Cult of Mother God Debuts November 13
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Business Insider. Inside Bizarre Cult Love Has Won Mother God Amy Carlson
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Reformed Journal. Webs of Belief Mother God the Divines and the Age of Internet Cults
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Denver Post. Love Has Won Colorado Cult Mother God HBO Series
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Colorado Sun. Love Has Won Amy Carlson Murder
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WJTV. Cult Leader Found Mummified Wrapped in Christmas Lights in Colorado Home
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Denver Post. Love Has Won Cult Followers Criminal Charges Dropped
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Denver Gazette. Charges Dropped for All Seven Love Has Won Cult Members
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CBS News Colorado. Love Has Won Cult Charges Dropped
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Yahoo Entertainment. Love Has Won Cast Where Former Members Are Now
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The Independent. Love Has Won Mother God Cult
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KDVR. Son of an Alleged Cult Leader Speaks Out After She Was Found Mummified and in a Shrine