Conviction New religious movements Messianic / communal movement Burnt River, Ontario, Canada · 1993

Roch Thériault / Ant Hill Kids: life sentence after spiritual rule, ritualized violence and murder

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Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

self-proclaimed prophet called Moïse, founder and absolute leader of the Ant Hill Kids commune

Organization

Ant Hill Kids

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

Thériault presented himself as God's representative and required followers to treat his word as sacred authority. Group rules governed confession, isolation, marriage and sexual relationships; violence was imposed as purification or punishment, and Thériault invoked spiritual and healing authority around acts that led to his assault and murder convictions.

Prophecy or divine command
Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
Ritual, oath, or initiation
Sacred sex, purity, or sexual-energy claim

Evidence structure

Proceedings

1989-10-11 · guilty pleas and sentence for aggravated assaults

Ontario Court of Justice, Canada. Thériault and three followers pleaded guilty to assault charges arising from the mutilation of an adult follower; Thériault received twelve years' imprisonment.
1993-01-18 · guilty plea and sentence for second-degree murder

Ontario court, Canada. Thériault pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of an adult follower and received life imprisonment.

Documented coercion mechanisms

claimed representation of God
apocalyptic prophecy
compulsory confession and isolation
control of marriage and sexual relationships
violent purification and punishment
claimed spiritual and healing authority

Cited record

Sources

international wire court reporting criminal disposition Reuters, 'Canadian Cult's Leader Sentenced in Maiming Case,' Los Angeles Times (Oct. 12, 1989).: Contemporaneous wire reporting records the guilty pleas and twelve-year sentence arising from the mutilation of an adult follower at the Ant Hill Kids commune near Burnt River.
university archive contemporaneous report murder disposition Université de Sherbrooke, Perspective Monde, 'Dévoilement d'un verdict condamnant Rock «Moïse» Thériault à la prison à vie' (Jan. 18, 1993; French; citing contemporaneous La Presse reporting).: The university chronology records Thériault's guilty plea to second-degree murder and the Ontario court's life sentence.
specialist research monograph authority and coercion analysis Mike Kropveld and Marie-Andrée Pelland, The Cult Phenomenon: How Groups Function, Info-Cult (2006), pp. 49–60.: The Canadian specialist study reconstructs the group's history and documents Thériault's sacred self-conception, compulsory confessions, control of marriage and sex, isolation, violent purification practices and resulting criminal proceedings.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-12-mn-328-story.html Corpus classification: international-wire-court-reporting; evidentiary role: criminal-disposition. SHA-256 252e6ad869223462c91f418229ee2f0b696a084993402b1c5631a29c2a2be588
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/quebec/evenements/21910 Corpus classification: university-archive-contemporaneous-report; evidentiary role: murder-disposition. SHA-256 2e4fc514f12a8402ec7ce639a7f4f01f265cd9ce1e207c4c6139009dfab0da20
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://infosecte.org/wp-content/uploads/Kropveld-M.-_-Pelland-M-A.-2006.-The-Cult-Phenomenon-1.pdf Corpus classification: specialist-research-monograph; evidentiary role: authority-and-coercion-analysis. SHA-256 582ab305f46f735e42db352bb79fb5a21a20852198cef290e054485f6e9f72ab
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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