Investigations in Ritual Abuse: An Overview of the Hamblin Case

Goel
Introduction

The public revelation of a criminal investigation into ritual abuse by then-Utah County
Attorney David Okerlund Leavitt at a press conference preceded the arrest of former therapist David
Lee Hamblin and his ex-wife Roselle Stevenson. Leavitt’s press conference came after he was
provided a 153 page victim statement from an earlier investigation and prosecution of Hamblin, who
was both a distant relative and a close personal friend. The victim statement named Leavitt as a ritual
abuser, and combined with seven other victim’s statements written by Hamblin’s daughters Rachel,
Eliza, and Katherine Hamblin, it painted an extraordinary picture of a group of adults who had
committed nearly daily abuse against their own children.

David Lee Hamblin was a central figure in that abuse; as a clinical psychologist, he allegedly
utilized his expertise as a therapist and a ritual abuser to train parents and children within his group in
ritual abuse, with an especial emphasis on training children to comply with ritual abuse. This was
done through the creation of “parts” or specific personalities designed to fulfill a certain purpose
within the group’s scheme of abuse. Hamblin’s eldest daughter Rachel alleged that her father had
created a part named Tabitha, which cued her to comply with his demands to perform sexually for her
parents and for other adults within the group. The utilization of parts was clearly designed to induce
dissociation within the children of the group, so that they would be responsive to the demands of
adults in mental, physical, and sexual contexts.

The children were to be compartmentalized into a distinct parts or personalities, each

serving a specific purpose or role within their obligations as group members. The goal of the adults
was to ensure that the children would grow up into adults who would perpetuate the group into the
future, ensuring its continued activity and success within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. Members of the group, which referred to itself as the Group, or the Church of Satan, were
tasked with maintaining an outward and public persona as faithful Latter Day Saints, in addition to a
secret persona as members of the Church of Satan. The former persona would provide cover for the
latter, and the members would have the credibility and reputational benefits of membership within
the LDS to immunize them from exposure for their activities within CS.

The members of the group were high functioning and high achieving individuals of notoriety.
They were artists, medical and psychiatric professionals, academics, and successful businessmen.
They held high callings in their wards and stakes within the LDS, and were either related to or friends
with individuals who held even higher callings in the upper echelons of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. They were bishops, stake presidents, high councilors, and held familial relationships
or personal friendships with Area Seventies, Quorum members, or even First Presidency members.

Despite the overall tendency within the group for high functioning or high achieving lives,
there were members who showed signs of abuse and its effects. These members failed academically,
took longer than normal to matriculate in their undergraduate and graduate studies, and had
extensive mental and physical health issues. The children of David Lee Hamblin were chronically
absent or tardy in their school aged years, a fact which was documented in his divorce. The divorce
proceedings also yielded confirmation of the Hamblin sisters’ allegations that their father had forced
them to ingest peyote, a controlled substance, as well as confirmation of their allegation that their
father had moved a mentally ill adult patient into the family home in Provo, where he forced Rachel
Hamblin to participate in the patient’s therapy at the expense of her own education.

Hamblin’s devolution from a respected therapist and member of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints was also chronicled in his divorce, as well as the investigation by the Division of
Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) which resulted in the loss of his license to practice
psychology. His association with known sexual predators was both professional in his treatment of
convicted child sexual abuser Sterling van Wagenen, and familial in the case of his in-law Timothy
Nathan Tuttle, who was convicted of sexually abusing his adopted daughter. The court in Hamblin’s
divorce found by clear and convincing evidence that he had sexually abused his eldest two daughters
Rachel and Eliza. Two of the adult female patients that Hamblin had sexually abused testified at his
custody hearing.
 The court heard of Hamblin’s descent into a peyote-fueled exploration of Native American
religion, which he integrated with his peculiar combination of psychology and the Mormon
priesthood, subjecting his patients and his own children to the blend of beliefs and practices.
Hamblin was utilizing hypnotherapy, peyote, and the mixture of his various belief systems into a
method of convincing his adult patients that they were ritually abused as children. Hamblin would
follow those efforts with a proposed therapeutic regimen that involved sexual contact with him,
under the guise of healing his patients from their alleged childhood ritual abuse. His male patients
would be subjected to sexual contact with Hamblin under the rationale that the semen of a righteous
man could drive out the semen of the unrighteous ritual abusers, which Hamblin explained was
causing the mental trauma and sexual identity issues that plagued his male patients. This would in
turn enable Hamblin to cast out the parts that he claimed were causing mental illness and
homosexuality in his male patients.

Those patients described a pattern of abuse that involved manipulating them into consent
for the initial sexual contact, followed by increasingly more violent sexual assaults in Hamblin’s home
office in Provo. When the patient did not comply with Hamblin’s desires, he would forcibly rape and
sexually assault them. David Lee Hamblin was not a pedophile, or an exclusively heterosexual or even
bisexual man. He was a situational offender, a man whose proclivities were contingent upon situation
and convenience. In his home, his sexual access to his own daughters was unchallenged due to his
status as the Paterfamilias, a man who owned his wife and children and exercised total dominion over
each member of his family.1 2 His wisdom in such matters was unchecked, and members of the Church
of Satan would routinely invoke “The Wisdom of Parents,” which decreed that parents knew what
was best for their children without question.3 4 5

This wisdom extended to total control of meaning itself, in semiotics and semantics. The
symbols utilized by the Church of Satan’s membership held a common meaning with universal
significance among Latter Day Saints. In the hands of the CS, those symbols held a hidden meaning
conveyed only to the members of the group. The meaning of language held the same dual purpose:
CS members used the term Lord in mixed company, which to other faithful Latter Day Saints meant
Heavenly Father, but the CS members understood Lord as a reference to Lucifer or Satan. 6 In this
way, CS members could communicate without attracting suspicion even among the most orthodox of
Saints.7

For CS members, the game around meaning was of great significance for their attempt to
maintain their cover. The quote from Alice in Wonderland comes to mind: “Nothing would be what it
is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn’t be, and what is
wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” As with all ritual abuse groups, the CS depended on a common frame
of reference from which to draw hidden meanings and symbols; in their group, the common frame of
reference were the doctrines, ordinances, and culture of the Latter Day Saints. Their children would
be raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where they would learn the Primary Songs
used to convey the earliest forms of doctrinal lessons to young Saints.

Those same songs and the principles conveyed by the songs would in turn be the basis for
teaching the mutually exclusive lessons of the CS to the children of CS members. If this was confusing
to the children, the confusion worked well within the wider practices of the CS. 8 The adults would

1
VS 1, pg. 41
2
VS 1, pg. 17
3
Ibid.
4
VS 2, pg. 17
5
VS 3, pg. 108
6
VS 2, pg. 17
7
VS 1, pg. 43: We became extremely skilled at hiding our life and talking in code about our family’s faith. The
titles "Christ," "Savior," "Redeemer," "Lord," "God," "Father," "Holy Ghost," etc. all meant Lucifer/Satan. If we had
to say anything to another CS member in public we often said the opposite of what we meant. If we had to refer
to the Church (CS), we would usually call it "The Group.”
play the “Scaring Game” or the “Opposites Game” precisely because they wished to instill in children
a dualistic epistemology from which the children could know the world as the CS knew it.9 10 11 12

Victim Statement #1 in the Hamblin case, written by David Hamblin’s eldest daughter Rachel
Hamblin, detailed the use of LDS songs, materials, and references 3 to 10 times a week in abuse. 13
The use of “As I Have Loved You” was coupled with David Hamblin wearing a white sheet, dressed up
as Jesus, while forcing his daughters to lick his anus and suck his urine out of his penis. 14 Rachel
Hamblin detailed the use of other Primary songs with hand motions in the abuse her parents inflicted
on the children. She alleged that her mother started abusing her sisters as infants, stimulating their
genitals while singing “My Heavenly Father Loves Me,” while also employing “Genealogy-I am doing
it” as she talked about the superiority of the family bloodlines, which Roselle Hamblin and her mother
Carma Anderson claimed were of a royal lineage.15 16

These common frames of reference were critical to the systematic abuse CS members had
developed over generations to produce children who would comply with the abuse, while growing up
to become adult perpetrators of the abuse on future generations. Everything, including physical
objects such as heirlooms, was sublimated to reinforce the concepts of the CS in children. Rachel
Hamblin wrote of an inherited secretary desk that had originally belonged to her great grandmother
Rosabelle de Jong, who was said to be her guardian angel in the CS, with the use of the desk a means
of bringing Rachel closer to Rosabelle de Jong.17

The systematic methodology of abuse within the CS enabled parents to “reinforce doctrinal
concepts in young children,” as Rachel Hamblin described in her second victim’s statement:

“What Church (CS) members call "love," the rest of the world - or at least
the law - would call the opposite. "Love" was sexually satisfying Redacted,
8
VS 1, pg. 42: “"Opposite day!" Redacted and relatives would use this code phrase as a threat when they heard
us say anything in public that exposed our secret life and beliefs.”
9
VS 1, pg. 21: “Another "game" variety our elders loved was to play "opposites"- and they made countless
varieties of it. For example, once we learned the real names of objects, people, animals, genders, colors, etc.,
they would purposefully ask us a question and then tell us the opposite answer was correct. I remember the
feelings and saw Redacted experience this often and how upset and adamant they would be that they were
correct. If you gave the "wrong" answer (actually the right answer) you would be tortured and abused, often
violently and immediately.”
10
VS 2, pg. 23: “Also (in my experience), the elders will use "Opposite Game” variations in ceremonies with young
children. For example, they do something horrible to the child or make the child do something horrible and then
completely change their manner and comfort the child and tell them there is nothing to be afraid of, etc. Then
they repeat the act or do something else traumatizing.”
11
VS 2, pg. 92: “They called us in for "games,” they said. Redacted explained the "opposite game” and started
playing it with Redacted and Redacted. Redacted did not understand what was happening and became terrified.
Redacted and Brian took turns yelling at him for different things and then smiling and being kind. Redacted and
Susanne copied the men’s expressions, so Redacted had no one to comfort him. After doing this for a while, Brian
made Redacted lick his penis while Redacted lay on his hack with Brian’s legs and arms pinning him down.”
12
VS 2, pg. 108: “Part of the horror of the torture Redacted and I received was that we never really knew how
Redacted or other elders wanted us to react - and it usually was the opposite of whatever we did first.
Sometimes the more I cried, the more they mocked me and hurt me. Other times I would try to hide how much
pain or anguish I was in and they intensified the torture, saying it must not be "enough.""
13
VS 1, pg. 2
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
VS 2, pp. 1-2:” We were taught our families were of a royal birthright and among Lucifer’s elect and elite in the
pre-mortal world. Redacted and Redacted Anderson especially stressed this about their superior generational
lines. They would show us stapled pages of geneology that had been marked for CS ordinances and other
significations. They said they had their own system of red and black dots that they would put next to their names.
Our charge was to bring as many souls to Satan as we possibly could. This was done through the living and the
dead. Our Redacted Carma spoke often about her Redacted, Gerrit deJong, Jr., who had learned about many,
many languages and was, they said, “helping us” proselytize in "the spirit world” and bring more spirits to Satan.
Redacted also worshiped Oliver Cowdry as having been an elect member of the Church (CS) in his day. They also
spoke about some prophecy they hoped to see fulfilled about Joseph Smith’s decedents joining.”
17
Ibid.
 for example, and "hate" was going against the Church (CS). They would
never even think of what they did to us as "abuse." They said they could
never be caught "abusing" us because they were doing "the right thing" and
what was “good” and "best" for us. To them, they were glorifying their God
(Lucifer) and "raising up righteous seed" to him. Church members (CS)
fully believe, at least we were taught this, that killing a person outside of the
group and especially one (or the child of one) who has gone against the group
in any way is "righteous" and “furthering the Lord’s (Lucifer’s) work on the
earth." Murder is not murder in their minds. If anyone committed "murder,"
it was us, they said. They said this was so because our hearts were not fully
loyal to Lucifer "yet." They also do not believe they or Lucifer is “evil.” That
is just a designation, we were taught, by God and Jehovah to justify what
they did to him.”18

The CS sought to invert the common frame of reference to indoctrinate their children with
an oppositional ideology to that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The songs, lessons,
and materials used by ordinary Saints to teach their children about Heavenly Father and Christ were
taken by the CS membership and utilized to teach children within the group about Satan, and the
doctrinal significance of complying with the abuse of their parents. That abuse was characterized as
love, which children should submit to as the right course of action by their parents.

The narrative that emerges throughout the Hamblin Victims’ Statements, police reports, and
court records is one that confirms a systematic methodology throughout the group for conditioning
children to commit abuse as well as submit to abuse. That methodology was under constant
refinement due to the innovations of men within the group such as David Lee Hamblin, who utilized
his expertise as a clinical psychologist to advance the methodology with respect to children:

In addition to seeing struggling children of CS members in "therapy," another

side business Redacted ran was "training" parents to create obedient, faithful
(to Lucifer) children. I think they might have gotten the idea from Gordon Bowen.
Sometimes one or both parents would come, sometimes they brought their
child or children, sometimes they purchased "training" videos Redacted made
with us, and/or sometimes Redacted would make us do live "demonstrations."
Redacted knew about this "training” business and encouraged relatives and
friends to take the "courses" with their children.”19 20

David Lee Hamblin’s trainings were both an advancement of the CS’s existing methodology
and a reinforcement of CS practices, as the training of LDS artist and alleged CS member Brian
Kershisnik’s son Noah would indicate:

More experiences with Brian and Suzanne between the years 1990 and 1998
—we went to their home/studio at least 1 other time, however, they also both
came to Redacted's events at "the house" (the Spring City house) and at least
twice to the Provo house for "training" (see below). David and Rosie also did the
same kind of training in the Provo and Spring City houses. I remember two
different times in the Provo house: once when they taught Brian and Suzanne
other torture games, how to scare the kids and torture them during the day,
and the other time is when they gave Redacted his other name, a "part" of him
that would in their words, one day take over and be the main portion of his
spirit to "rule his body." 1 also remember a time in Provo where they came to
18
VS 2, pg. 1.
19
VS 2, pg. 88.
20
VS 2, pg. 92: “Redacted and Redacted had another side business where they offered courses/training for
parents on successfully raising children in the Church〔CS) and making them obedient. These were specific
techniques, they said, beyond what the Church taught. They said Redacted and I were walking advertisements
and we were threatened to always act as such - to make it clear to other adults that Redacted were very effective
in manipulating Redacted and so that Redacted (and we) would get a lot more clients and money.”
 our house and they did a sacrificial ceremony where they sacrificed a dog. They
prayed over it offering it to Lucifer and then forced Redacted to kill it. The
dog was a short-haired, whitish-grey, small dog. Redacted was terrified as his
dad forced him to cut its belly and throat with a knife. He held his hand for most
of it. friends to take the "courses" with their children.”21

The consistency and complexity of the Hamblin Victims’ Statements belies any attempt to
characterize the statements as an obvious lie. Over hundreds of pages in eight separate statements,
written out while the sisters were segregated from each other, the statements relay a narrative that
consistently details the same methodology throughout the abuse of each sister. The same events are
relayed in the various statements without inconsistencies or contradictions. It is entirely possible to
influence a memory on a small scale, to convince someone that they saw a man with green eyes
rather than brown eyes. It is entirely impossible to construct an abuse narrative spanning hundreds
of pages via hypnosis or implanted memories, which is why false memory syndrome has never been
recognized as a psychiatric illness or condition.

False Memories: An Etiology

The concept of false memory syndrome was pioneered in the aftermath of Jennifer and
Gwen Freyd’s accusations against their parents Pam and Peter Freyd.22 The Freyd sisters alleged that
Peter Freyd had sexually abused them. Peter and Pam Freyd vehemently disputed the allegations,
and started the False Memory Syndrome Foundation as a means to combat the allegations. The
Freyds characterized their daughter’s allegations as the product of hypnotically recovered memories,
but Jennifer Freyd denied undergoing hypnosis.

In the aftermath of Peter and Pam Freyd’s establishment of the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation, more details emerged about Peter Freyd. Freyd was an admitted alcoholic who had been
sexually abused by an older man during his childhood. He was also a closeted gay man who had made
advances towards his student, who recalled Peter Freyd responding to rejection by going through the
kitchen drawers and pulling out knives. The Foundation suffered more bad publicity when two board
members, Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield, were exposed as the subjects of an interview
with the Dutch magazine Paidika, which argued for pedophilia to be normalized. Underwager argued
that pedophilia was an “acceptable expression of God’s will for love and unity among human
beings.”23

Underwager and Wakefield’s fellow board member James Randi would be exposed for
propositioning teenage boys on a recorded phone line.24 Randi was also a member of the Committee

21
VS 3, pg. 62
22
Katie Heaney, The Memory War, The Cut, January 6, 2021, availale at: https://www.thecut.com/article/false-
memory-syndrome-controversy.html
23
Paidika Interview: Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager Pt. 1, available at:
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/Underwager2.html “Certainly it is responsible. What I
have been struck by as I have come to know more about and understand people who choose paedophilia is that
they let themselves be too much defined by other people. That is usually an essentially negative definition.
Paedophiles spend a lot of time and energy defending their choice. I don't think that a paedophile needs to do
that. Paedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose. They can say that what they want is to
find the best way to love. I am also a theologian and as a theologian, I believe it is God's will that there be
closeness and intimacy, unity of the flesh, between people. A paedophile can say: "This closeness is possible for
me within the choices that I've made." Paedophiles are too defensive. They go around saying, "You people out
there are saying that what I choose is bad, that it's no good. You're putting me in prison, you're doing all these
terrible things to me. I have to define my love as being in some way or other illicit." What I think is that
paedophiles can make the assertion that the pursuit of intimacy and love is what they choose. With boldness,
they can say, "I believe this is in fact part of God's will." They have the right to make these statements for
themselves as personal choices. Now whether or not they can persuade other people they are right is another
matter.”
24
Byrd v Randi (Civil Action No. MJG-89-636 in the United States District for the Court for the District of
Maryland.] Transcripts of the tape are also part of the court record in Geller v Randi, (Civil Action No 91-1014-SSH
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), which was chaired by Paul Kurtz,
a professor of philosophy at the University of Buffalo. Kurtz also ran Prometheus Books, which
published Randi’s books as well as books on human sexuality edited by Vern Bullough, another
CSICOP board member who served as Dean of Natural and Social Science at the State University of
New York. Bullough was a board member of Paidika, the same pedophile journal Underwager
expressed his apparently pro-pedophilia remarks to during an interview.

Underwager later stated that “sexual contact between an adult and a child is never
acceptable nor can it ever be positive.” 25 He claimed that his remarks were taken out of context to
indicate that he approved of pedophilia, which he denied even as he cited academic literature
indicating that “some individuals perceive their childhood sexual experiences with adults as positive,”
while also citing a review article by Kendall-Tackett, Williams, and Finkelhor that claimed “a
substantial proportion of abuse victims show no symptoms.”26 Underwager and Wakefield argued
that this single article could be used to show that the experience of childhood abuse was neutral.27

The reality of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation was simple enough: it was founded by
a man who was attempting to deflect sexual abuse allegations against him by his daughters. Neither
Paul or Pam Freyd were psychologists, even though media outlets frequently-and erroneously-
referred to Pam Freyd as a psychologist. The board members of the FMSF were drawn from
academics and activists whose sympathies for pedophilia were oft-documented as a result of their
own statements, affiliations, and writings. The board members and the Freyds frequently expressed
their conviction that child sexual abuse was not inherently negative, and was often neutral or even
positive.28

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation managed to overpower a recognized diagnosis,

psychogenic amnesia, or traumatic amnesia, which had fifty years of academic research to
substantiate it, which in turn led to recognition by the American Psychiatric Foundation which false
memory syndrome never achieved in the thirty years its proponents argued for its validity.29 The
condition has since been renamed dissociative amnesia, and is classified under Dissociative Disorders
in the DSM-V.30 Put simply, while the APA recognizes traumatic amnesia that can result in the inability
to recall autobiographical information that goes well beyond ordinary short term recollection issues,
while rejecting the notion of false memory syndrome altogether due to the failure of its proponents
to establish an clinical, empirical basis for the concept.

Those who attack the claims of ritual abuse survivors under the auspices of false memory
syndrome, or who attempt to generally disparage memories of childhood sexual abuse as the product
of recovered or false memories, do so from a foundation of purely polemical, unscientific, and

in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The transcripts are contained in Exhibit 40 to
Exhibit U].
25
Underwager, R; Wakefield H (1994). "Misinterpretation of a Primary Prevention Effort". Issues in Child Abuse
Accusations. 6 (2): 96–107, available at: http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume6/j6_2_5.htm
26
Ibid, citing from Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children: A Review and
Synthesis of Recent Empirical Studies, Psychological Bulletin 113(1): 164-80, February 1993 available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14772184_Impact_of_Sexual_Abuse_on_Children_A_Review_and_Sy
nthesis_of_Recent_Empirical_Studies
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid, Heaney: “Peter, in fact, professes to be nonchalant about what the older artist did to him when he was 11
years old. It was “technically abuse,” he tells me, but he isn’t angry or upset about it. “Studies have been done,”
he insists, that show “many, many people aren’t terribly bothered” by the sexual abuse they suffered as children.
He and Pam entertained the artist who molested him as a guest in their home, and Peter says he was “quite
open” about it with Jennifer and Gwen when they were children. “This was an extremely important person to
him,” Jennifer recalls. “Maybe his most important person.”
29
Mike Stanton, U-Turn on Memory Lane, Columbia Journalism Review, July/Aug 1997; 36, 2; ABI/INFORM Global
pg. 47, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20201103022119/https://www.jimhopper.com/pdf/
stanton1997.pdf
30
Hosein and Treisman, Dissociative Amnesia, Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide, last updated May 2, 2017,
available at: https://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_Psychiatry_Guide/787157/all/
Dissociative_Amnesia#ref1387739357597
unproven theories advanced by the likes of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and other such
organizations, many of which have a documented membership of pedophile sympathizers and abuse
apologists who have routinely attempted to argue that childhood sexual abuse is not always harmful
or negative. In some instances, the individuals have attempted to argue that childhood sexual
contact with adults can be positive.

False Memories and David Lee Hamblin

A recurring theme in interviews with former patients and clients of David Lee Hamblin is that
he attempted to convince them that they had been sexually abused as children. In many cases,
Hamblin allegedly attempted to convince his adult patients that they had been ritually abused by
family members or family friends. The wider investigation into ritual abuse within the state of Utah
turned up other instances of therapists, either clinical psychologists or licensed clinical social workers,
who were attempting to convince their patients that they had been ritually abused as well despite the
patient’s firm rejection of the idea. One such therapist attempted to convince his female patients
that they had suffered from childhood sexual abuse, and that they had dissociative identity disorder.

Every single therapist who allegedly engaged in such activity employed hypnotherapy. The
therapists informed their patients after the hypnotherapy session that they had divulged claims of
abuse under hypnosis, and if the patient rejected the claim, the therapist would leverage the patient’s
desire to heal from their accepted problem-usually a problem of sexual identity, orientation, or a
marital difficulty-by stating that a refusal to accept the claim of recovered sexual abuse memories
while under hypnosis would impede the patient’s progress towards their goal of overcoming gender
dysphoria, same sex attraction, or marital discord. In certain instances, the therapist would leverage
the vulnerability of the patient further by engaging in sexual abuse as a therapeutic modality. The
initial contact involved manipulated consent, but if the patient physically resisted, the therapist would
inevitably prove willing to physically overpower the patient in order to forcibly sexually assault them.

As a situational offender, David Lee Hamblin displayed no clear sexual preference beyond an
available victim. Very often, the victim was a child he held authority over, such as his own daughters
or a patient in his therapy practice. Within the wider group of families that made up the CS, Hamblin
could access child victims, as well as adult victims who were severely mentally ill, such as Angela
Fenton, the thirty plus year old dissociative identity disorder patient who lived in Hamblin’s home
during treatment. Fenton’s alter CJ, a five year old boy, was her dominant personality during much of
her time with Hamblin. Fenton was from a family in Alpine who allegedly belonged to the CS, whose
abuse had caused Fenton to mentally break down and develop an incapacitating form of DID.
Hamblin had been hired to reintegrate Fenton and turn her into a functioning adult member of the
group.

Another patient of David Lee Hamblin would realize during an interview that their family
lived directly adjacent to Angela Fenton’s family home in Alpine. Both Fenton and the other patient
had been recommended to Hamblin by their bishop, Conrad Gottfredson. Gottfredson informed one
patient that Hamblin had helped him overcome his same sex attraction, as a means of commending
Hamblin to the patient on the matter of sexual identity issues. Hamblin’s treatment of gay men who
wanted to overcome their sexual attraction to men was extensive: he treated advertising executive
and alleged CS member Gordon Bowen, as well as Sundance co-founder and convicted child sex
offender Sterling Van Wagenen. Both Bowen and Van Wagenen were tied to Robert Redford, who in
turn was married to Van Wagenen’s cousin, Lola Van Wagenen. Bowen briefly worked at Sundance
before a falling out with Redford.

Sterling Van Wagenen was the nephew of Hamblin’s uncle in law, Dean Van Wagenen, who
was married to his mother in law’s sister Belle Felice de Jong. The familial and personal ties among
Hamblin’s network were extensive, as were the coincidental connections among ritual abuse victims.
In many respects, the investigation into Hamblin turned up one loop after another in the way of
familial and social connections, which were expected based on prior research projects. If the ritual
and sexual abuse memories were false, those connections would not be present.
 Memory alone is never enough to substantiate an allegation of sexual abuse. In the criminal
justice system, the standard to convict is beyond a reasonable doubt, and it is the highest possible
standard in our legal system. Accusers bear the burden of proof, and so their memories must be
corroborated with physical evidence and circumstantial evidence. Physical evidence consists of
evidence of an injury consistent with sexual assault or abuse, obtained through medical and
psychiatric examinations. Examples might include impacted colons, vaginal tearing, and extreme
rectal or vaginal trauma. Physical scarring, bruising, and other injuries are also corroborative of the
abuse allegation.

Circumstantial evidence consists of corroborative testimony demonstrating a pattern of

abusive or inappropriate sexual behavior. Other forms of circumstantial evidence include prior
allegations against the alleged perpetrator, a familial history of sexual abuse or sexual abuse
allegations, and behavioral patterns such as an addiction to sexual material or the possession of
sexual material up to and including material which depicts or captures sexual abuse. Each of these
items must be weighed carefully in context, together, to determine if they are indicative of an overall
pattern of behavior that could be indicative of a propensity for sexual abuse.

In the case of David Lee Hamblin, the following circumstantial and direct evidence was
immediately available to indicate a propensity for sexually abusive or inappropriate behavior by
Hamblin and his alleged accomplices:

 Hamblin’s brother in law Timothy Nathan Tuttle was convicted of sexually abusing his
adopted daughter.31 The court in Tuttle’s divorce barred him from being alone with his
daughters, and further barred him from housing his male children in the same room with
his female children during visitation.32 It is unclear why the court felt the need to draw a
line for Tuttle’s male children and female children in addition to Tuttle.
 The court in Hamblin’s custody trial found by clear and convincing evidence that he had
sexually abused his daughters Rachel and Eliza for an extended period of time, while not
reaching any conclusion as to his daughters Katherine and Miriam, who did not testify in
the proceeding.
 The court in Hamblin’s custody trial found that he had administered peyote, a controlled
substance, to each of his daughters by his own admission. His youngest daughter would
have been around five years of age at the time she was forced to ingest peyote.
 The court in Hamblin’s custody trial found that he had not respected the laws of the state
of Utah by encouraging or requiring his children to attend school, which was corroborative
of their claims that they were frequently late or absent from school due to their parents
sexually abusing them into the morning hours or upon waking up in the morning.
 Sterling Van Wagenen, Hamblin’s in-law, pleaded guilty to aggravated abuse of a child in
April 2019. Van Wagenen had been David Lee Hamblin’s patient during an earlier interview
with the police related to a separate allegation of child sexual abuse.33 34
 In Gordon Bowen’s divorce, his minor children alleged that he had forced them to sleep
naked in the bed with him. His minor daughter alleged that he had put his finger in her
rectum.35

31
State of Utah vs. Timothy Nathan Tuttle, Case No. 151402819, 4th District Court-Provo, April 19, 2016:
Disposition: Guilty.
32
Kristin M. Tuttle vs. Timothy Nathan Tuttle, Case No. 154402788, Decree of Divorce, Judge James R. Taylor,
January 15, 2016.
33
Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Case No. 93-91448, Initial Report, available at:
https://mormonleaks.io/wiki/documents/8/8c/1993-07-26-SALT_LAKE_COUNTY_SHERIFFS_OFFICE-93-91448.pdf
34
Detective Steve Jentzsch and Sterling Van Wagenen Interview Transcript, Case 93-91297, available at:
https://mormonleaks.io/wiki/documents/c/c6/1983-08-04-93-91297_DETECTIVE_STEVE_JENTZSCH-
STERLING_VAN_WAGENEN.pdf
35
Box 68, Folder 5, Documents 48-50, Collin Timothy, Eric Timothy, and Barbara Timothy Bowen as Guardian for
Caleb and Lily Bowen, minor children, vs. Gordon Bowen avalable at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gjq5dbp923o6l91ltsljv/Box-68-Fold-5-Doc-48.pdf?
rlkey=8j5xz1qh74bba39xg843ujwb7&dl=0
  Both of the Bowen children demonstrated sexually inappropriate behavior among their
peer group, exposing their genitalia to other children and urinating and defecating in areas
around their home and yard.
 Bowen’s stepsons both accused him of sexual abuse, including the following:
 When one stepson was masturbating, he alleged that Bowen watched him from the
door, came into the room, and put his hand around the boy’s penis.
 Bowen frequently demanded that his stepsons share a bed with him on trips, a pattern
of behavior corroborated by many of Bowen’s male coworkers and associates. 36 37
 During business trips, Bowen would insist on his male coworkers sharing a single bed with
him, and during the night he would attempt to fondle their genitalia.
 Bowen would routinely make sexual advances to male coworkers and associates, telling the
boyfriend of his secretary that he had hoped the boyfriend would return to his apartment
and rape him.
 Bowen’s secretary Michelle Avantario detailed the presence of teenage boys around the
work cafeteria at his advertising agency, with those boys waiting for Gordon Bowen to
come down. When she queried one boy, the boy told her that Bowen had offered to pay to
fix his teeth if he would stay at Bowen’s apartment.
 The wife of one of Bowen’s associates, Annie Pratt, provided a statement attesting to her
and her mother witnessing “a young, sickly boy” in Bowen’s Salt Lake home before a dinner
party38. The boy told the wife and her mother that he was staying with Bowen, but he was
not in attendance at the party.
 Bowen’s associate Adrian Pulfer testified to Bowen sexually assaulting him in a shared bed,
and Pulfer’s friend provided corroborating testimony of the aftermath of that incident the
next morning, including the fact that Pulfer had informed him of what had occurred.
 Bowen’s journals contained passages which blamed his homosexuality on female spirits
that needed to be exorcised, which was a service he sought from David Lee Hamblin, Mel
Fish, and Kisi Watkins.39 Bowen had denied being a homosexual before his marriage to
Barbara Timothy when confronted by Timothy and her father Alma Boyce.
 Bowen also discussed his homosexuality with his stepson Collin Timothy, and in that
conversation he stated that Bowen had told him that his homosexuality was due to “some
sort of evil presence that inhabits his body.” 40 Eric Timothy alleged that his stepfather had
left a journal out, and that the journal contained an entry describing evil female spirits
which had caused his homosexuality. 41
 Despite the fact that David Hamblin had been stripped of his license to practice psychology
by DOPL, in 2003 Gordon Bowen retained Hamblin and a woman named Kisi Watkins, flying
them to New York to assist in him over three days in an effort to convince Eric and Collin
Timothy that their mother was insane, that their deceased father Steven Timothy was a
sexual deviant, and that they inherited their biological father’s sexual deviancy. Bowen
took their passports, plane tickets, and threatened to end their internships in New York City
if they did not comply with his demands and the ongoing efforts of David Hamblin and Kisi

36
Box 68, Folder 2, Document 26, pg. 29, Lynn Dangel Written Statement, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z64sre18iuwsj1mh43ny3/Box-68-FOLD-2-Doc-26.pdf?
rlkey=zeev124l0tf1bkc65xseqt9uz&dl=0
37
James Alan Bogner Statement, Screenshot available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fqyvq546r23eqeik4om9u/Screen-Shot-2023-10-31-at-11.01.54-PM.png?
rlkey=s94i1vs6iee559it1mtkk2um0&dl=0
38
Box 68, Fold 2, Doc 26, pg. 27, Annie Pratt Statement, January 9, 2003, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z64sre18iuwsj1mh43ny3/Box-68-FOLD-2-Doc-26.pdf?
rlkey=zeev124l0tf1bkc65xseqt9uz&dl=0
39
“Gordon’s Involvement with Evil Spirits screenshot of statements from journal and writings, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d3kyxz4agjg8a5dptd4qg/Screen-Shot-2023-11-04-at-6.28.14-PM.png?
rlkey=9wgf6fmzrb4zemg6bx4tvdvea&dl=0
40
Affidavits 2, 3, and 4, Eric and Collin Timothy, excerpts available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/etj8gfb9fkw50g7bbnt1b/Extracted2Bowen-Executive-Summary-Final-with-
Graphics-and-Source-Material-Attached-with-Omission.pdf?rlkey=dzqtzjm8vq76512e7daru27pc&dl=0
41
Ibid.
 Watkins. Bowen claimed that Eric and Collin needed to have evil spirits exorcised from
them by David Lee Hamblin.42
 In Bowen’s journal, he wrote that his stepson Eric had felt sexual desire towards him, and
that Barbara’s sons with Steven Timothy were “sexually wounded” due to Steve Timothy’s
genetics.43
 In the same journal entry, Bowen writing as God stated the following: “You were under
oath to powers of darkness for sure but they did not steal your agency.” Bowen wrote that
he was the boys’ chance for redemption, sent to heal the Timothy and Boyce lines, even
though he “broke sacred covenants” with regards to his estranged wife.44
 Bowen’s phone records confirmed that he had made thousands of phone calls over a few
months to gay male escort services.
 Bowen told his coworkers that his father Wesley Bowen had sat by and watched as a family
friend raped him in the pool during his childhood. Bowen later stated in a deposition that
the sexual assault did not rise to the level of rape.45 46 47
 The records of Bowen’s divorce contained multiple letters and communications from
licensed therapists who characterized Gordon Bowen as a sexual deviant, a predator, and a
pedophile who should not be allowed unsupervised access to his minor children.48 49 50 51 52
 Bowen’s coworkers and former employers alleged that he had missed a critical client
meeting at his agency due to the fact that he was chained up and smeared with feces after
a sexual encounter.53
 Bowen’s ex-girlfriend detailed finding homosexual pornography in his apartment, which
corroborated his stepson’s allegations that they had repeatedly found his pornographic
material in his apartments in New York and Boston.

42
Ibid.
43
Ibid.
44
Ibid.
45
Screenshot of Bowen’s Second Deposition referencing abuse allegation, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2tamobxt1diygunkv3wj0/Screen-Shot-2023-10-26-at-4.35.05-AM.png?
rlkey=jgq5fatk5nw4jo4zmnwkcyx0l&dl=0
46
Screenshot of Bowen’s Second Deposition referencing journal entry “Have I made the older boys sick? As my
father did me?” available at: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6nxto1v5y9etztafs53hl/Screen-Shot-2023-10-26-
at-4.35.30-AM.png?rlkey=eycdsy9q2a7cr5a58m20e4gew&dl=0
47
James Alan Bogner Statement, available at: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fqyvq546r23eqeik4om9u/Screen-
Shot-2023-10-31-at-11.01.54-PM.png?rlkey=s94i1vs6iee559it1mtkk2um0&dl=0
48
Box 68, Folder 4, Document 37, pp. 6-10, Letter from Dr. Bruce A. Kahan to Kathleen McConkie, July 10, 2009
Re; Eric Timothy, available at: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gpdczy5184j9zog8zc8ff/Box-68-Fold-4-Doc-
37.pdf?rlkey=dv2c4awpisav2338jeu7b9pg9&dl=0
49
Box 68, Folder 4, Document 36, pp. 6-7, Letter from Dr. C. Haydee Mas to Kathleen McConkie, October 13,
2008, regarding Caleb and Lily Bowen’s therapy, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t3f51d1965km9uzdhjc7k/Box-68-Fold-4-Doc-36.pdf?
rlkey=o7onmj63u22rkj7j1w5pbw9gz&dl=0
50
Box 68, Folder 4, Document 36, pp. 10-21, Letter from Dr. Juan A. Mejia to Dr. Monica Christy, regarding Bowen
MMPI-2 test and MCMI-III Tests for Bowen, January 30, 2009, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t3f51d1965km9uzdhjc7k/Box-68-Fold-4-Doc-36.pdf?
rlkey=o7onmj63u22rkj7j1w5pbw9gz&dl=0
51
Packer Box 68, Folder 1, Document 6, Affidavit of C. Haydee Mas, Ph.D, PC, Bowen vs. Bowen, Civil No.
034904059, Judge LA Dever, Third Judicial District Court for Salt Lake County, State of Utah, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kkfv5xgvauakzofql7tr3/Packer-box-68-Doc-6.pdf?
rlkey=kkw38tccca0vzfb68gk6eu67q&dl=0
52
Affidavit 9, paragraph 42, Affidavit of Thom Harrison: “…Gordon’s probable Dissociative Identity Disorder
crfeates Gordon’s report of hearing inner conversations and the voices of other personalities, which often
comment on or address his family conflicts. These voices can be experienced as hallucinations. In Gordon’s
journals, he often becomes the voice of God, and this voice tells him to destroy Barbara and take no captives.”
available at: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/etj8gfb9fkw50g7bbnt1b/Extracted2Bowen-Executive-Summary-
Final-with-Graphics-and-Source-Material-Attached-with-Omission.pdf?rlkey=dzqtzjm8vq76512e7daru27pc&dl=0
53
Box 68, Folder 2, Document 26, pg. 26, Tom Pratt November 8, 2002 Statement, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z64sre18iuwsj1mh43ny3/Box-68-FOLD-2-Doc-26.pdf?
rlkey=zeev124l0tf1bkc65xseqt9uz&dl=0
  Bowen’s journal contained passages detailing his belief that his sins were foreordained by
God so that he could learn the secret codes and combinations, which is Latter Day Saint
speak for Satanism.54
 His writings also included a screenplay describing a young blonde girl in the presence of
men performing penis exercises, with the girl said to be under threat of execution for
sexual wrongdoing. One of the men was said to resemble Bowen’s own fathe.55

In an interview with a survivor who confronted Hamblin, the survivor alleged that one of the
men in Hamblin’s office during the confrontation was none other than Gordon Bowen, who was
introduced as Hamblin’s bishop at the time. The other man present was Hamblin’s alleged CS
accomplice Joe Bennion of Spring City.

 Bennion had conducted sweat lodges throughout the Nineties, some of which were
attended by teenage girls under the age of 18.
 Multiple witnesses corroborate that the lodges involved disrobing and a sexual component,
as well as the interweaving of Latter Day Saint and Native American religion, with the
consumption of peyote.
 This would place Bennion in the same pattern as Hamblin: administering peyote to minor
children in a ritualistic setting.
 It would also place the adults in those sweat lodges in proximity to female children who
were unclothed in a ritualistic setting.

In simple terms, the allegations made by the Hamblin sisters in the years between 2012 and
2014 were not sufficient by themselves to prove anything. However, with the recorded apology of
David Lee Hamblin to his daughter for raping her, those allegations took on added credibility. The
facts outlined in the preceding paragraphs further demonstrated the credibility of the allegations with
respect to certain individuals named in the victims’ statements. There was a familial history of sexual
abuse and impropriety towards minor children within the Hamblin family network. There was a
history of sexual abuse and impropriety towards minor children within Hamblin’s social network. The
added documentation with respect towards sexually inappropriate and illegal conduct towards adults
only serves to bolster the credibility of the Hamblin sisters further.

There was little to indicate that the Hamblin sisters were the victims of false memory
syndrome, a scientifically invalid concept introduced into popular culture by alleged child sexual
abusers, apologists and advocates for the normalization of pedophilia. There was and is ample
evidence to suggest that the Hamblin sisters were likely testifying to behavior that actually occurred.
This evidence will be presented throughout this report with respect to named members of the Church
of Satan in the Hamblin Victims’ Statements, as well as other individuals within the networks of those
individuals.

54
Extracted Source Material from the Executive Summary on Gordon Bowen, available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/etj8gfb9fkw50g7bbnt1b/Extracted2Bowen-Executive-Summary-Final-with-
Graphics-and-Source-Material-Attached-with-Omission.pdf?rlkey=dzqtzjm8vq76512e7daru27pc&dl=0
55
Lynn Kenneth Packer, OUR Op ED No. 23: Satanic Ritual Abuse Allegations, YouTube video available at:
https://youtu.be/FdHBP9DHXbk?si=jQ71GMUztgXm-iOS&t=1109