Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002, Page 40
used the physical sight of Samuel to really get to her. He was obviously losing much weight
and becoming much weaker. .She had become very worried about Samuel‘s well-being
and doubted if the Lord would take care of him.‖
The last entry reports God urging Karen to trust her son‘s fate to Him: ―It would please me
if you took Samuel and left him in the palm of My hand. Fear not and believe. I don‘t care
about the flesh. I can spring up Samuel like the trees. I don‘t care about Samuel right now.
I‘m working with you to believe without doubt.‖ (Paul Edward Parker, Prividence Journal,
6/7/02, Internet)
In a letter to a couple that belongs to a similar group in Florida, Robidoux urged them to
withhold treatment from their own son, who was dying from 200 bee stings. ―The Lord sees
not physical suffering,‖ he wrote, ―but spiritual suffering,‖ adding that the father and mother
in the Florida case ―are the ones He is concerned with.‖
Robidoux‘s attorney, Frank O‘Boy, called the case ―grossly over-indicted,‖ saying that death
was not the intent. The sect rejects mainstream society, including doctors, and practices
home births and herbal healing. ―There‘s no question there was some degree of
undernourishment of the child, but that doesn‘t mean starvation,‖ O‘Boy said. ―Rather than
talking murder, we should be talking negligence, or reckless conduct at the most.‖
Another Attleboro Couple
Samuel Robidoux was missing for months before sect member David Corneau made a deal
for immunity and led authorities to a makeshift grave in rural Maine, where the group had
buried both Samuel and Corneau‘s infant son, Jeremiah, who had died during a home birth.
Corneau, and his wife Rebecca, have been jailed since February for failing to cooperate with
a probe into what happened to their latest baby. Authorities believe that the child — Mrs.
Corneau seemed pregnant during one court appearance and had apparently delivered her
child before the next appearance —may have been killed, or is being hidden out of state.
The Corneaus‘ other children, as well as more than a dozen other children from the group,
have been in state care since charges were first brought against them last year. (Dave
Wedge, Boston Herald, 6/3, 5/02, Internet)
Lifestyle
According to Dennis Mingo, whose wife‘s ―prophecy‖ allegedly led to Samuel Robidoux‘s
death, the rules of life in the group — founded by his wife‘s father — forbade wearing
glasses or visiting doctors. All books except the Bible had to be discarded, family
photographs were destroyed, and familiar holidays and birthdays were forbidden. Mingo‘s
questioning of the rules made him unwelcome in his own home, which he left in 1998. It
was he who, on a visit there last year, found the journal pages in which Jacques Robidoux
described the situation of Samuel‘s‘ death. (Paul Edward Parker, Prividence Journal, 6/7/02,
Internet)
Sect Leader Sentenced to Life in Death of His son
Jacques Robidoux, the leader of The Body, accused of starving his year-old son to death in
obedience to God‘s will, as he explained it, was found guilty of first degree murder in
Superior Court in Taunton (MA) and sentenced to life in prison, the maximum allowed under
state law. The jury, which might have returned verdicts of second degree murder,
involuntary manslaughter, or assault and battery, made its decision in less than 7 hours.
Robidoux acted on fellow sect member Michelle Mingo‘s vision from God instructing Jacques
and his wife Karen to take infant Samuel off of solid foods and give him only water and
whatever breast milk his pregnant mother could provide. When the child died, in April 1999,
after 51-days of this regime, the parents and other sect members secretly buried Samuel in
rural Maine. The infant was disinterred, by authorities, only in October 2000.
used the physical sight of Samuel to really get to her. He was obviously losing much weight
and becoming much weaker. .She had become very worried about Samuel‘s well-being
and doubted if the Lord would take care of him.‖
The last entry reports God urging Karen to trust her son‘s fate to Him: ―It would please me
if you took Samuel and left him in the palm of My hand. Fear not and believe. I don‘t care
about the flesh. I can spring up Samuel like the trees. I don‘t care about Samuel right now.
I‘m working with you to believe without doubt.‖ (Paul Edward Parker, Prividence Journal,
6/7/02, Internet)
In a letter to a couple that belongs to a similar group in Florida, Robidoux urged them to
withhold treatment from their own son, who was dying from 200 bee stings. ―The Lord sees
not physical suffering,‖ he wrote, ―but spiritual suffering,‖ adding that the father and mother
in the Florida case ―are the ones He is concerned with.‖
Robidoux‘s attorney, Frank O‘Boy, called the case ―grossly over-indicted,‖ saying that death
was not the intent. The sect rejects mainstream society, including doctors, and practices
home births and herbal healing. ―There‘s no question there was some degree of
undernourishment of the child, but that doesn‘t mean starvation,‖ O‘Boy said. ―Rather than
talking murder, we should be talking negligence, or reckless conduct at the most.‖
Another Attleboro Couple
Samuel Robidoux was missing for months before sect member David Corneau made a deal
for immunity and led authorities to a makeshift grave in rural Maine, where the group had
buried both Samuel and Corneau‘s infant son, Jeremiah, who had died during a home birth.
Corneau, and his wife Rebecca, have been jailed since February for failing to cooperate with
a probe into what happened to their latest baby. Authorities believe that the child — Mrs.
Corneau seemed pregnant during one court appearance and had apparently delivered her
child before the next appearance —may have been killed, or is being hidden out of state.
The Corneaus‘ other children, as well as more than a dozen other children from the group,
have been in state care since charges were first brought against them last year. (Dave
Wedge, Boston Herald, 6/3, 5/02, Internet)
Lifestyle
According to Dennis Mingo, whose wife‘s ―prophecy‖ allegedly led to Samuel Robidoux‘s
death, the rules of life in the group — founded by his wife‘s father — forbade wearing
glasses or visiting doctors. All books except the Bible had to be discarded, family
photographs were destroyed, and familiar holidays and birthdays were forbidden. Mingo‘s
questioning of the rules made him unwelcome in his own home, which he left in 1998. It
was he who, on a visit there last year, found the journal pages in which Jacques Robidoux
described the situation of Samuel‘s‘ death. (Paul Edward Parker, Prividence Journal, 6/7/02,
Internet)
Sect Leader Sentenced to Life in Death of His son
Jacques Robidoux, the leader of The Body, accused of starving his year-old son to death in
obedience to God‘s will, as he explained it, was found guilty of first degree murder in
Superior Court in Taunton (MA) and sentenced to life in prison, the maximum allowed under
state law. The jury, which might have returned verdicts of second degree murder,
involuntary manslaughter, or assault and battery, made its decision in less than 7 hours.
Robidoux acted on fellow sect member Michelle Mingo‘s vision from God instructing Jacques
and his wife Karen to take infant Samuel off of solid foods and give him only water and
whatever breast milk his pregnant mother could provide. When the child died, in April 1999,
after 51-days of this regime, the parents and other sect members secretly buried Samuel in
rural Maine. The infant was disinterred, by authorities, only in October 2000.
