THEN: In 1998, The Register-Guard's Jeff Wright wrote about Anna Flowers of Eugene having joined a cult and her mother, Diane, flying to Philadelphia in an attempt to find and free her.

Two years later, he followed up the story with one about Anna leaving the group known as The Brothers and Sisters...

...NOW: Anna, 28, has two children and a goal to become a nurse...

...Her husband, she says, turned out to be the same kind of controller the leaders of The Brothers and Sisters were, even though he'd never been part of the group...

..."I was 17 when I left and 21 when I got back," she says...

...Flowers has a heightened concern for others who might be susceptible to cults. "I saw a 'brother' two days ago. They're here, probably for the (Oregon) Country Fair. When you travel with these folks for four years, you easily recognize them."...

Lawrence, KS -- ...Lahla Hunsaker

...a letter in Lahla's handwriting arrived home, revealing she had joined the man's group. Lahla was gone, sucked into an underground world few people know and even fewer are willing to discuss. Jim Guerra, a member of the group for more than ten years, is breaking the silence.

Guerra says the group, often called the Roberts Group (after the group's leader Jim Roberts) or the Brethren, closed members off from the rest of the world. Members hitch-hiked, hopped trains and always traveled in secret...

...Members were told to avoid contact with people on the outside, including friends and family...

...Over time, Guerra grew cynical of Jim Roberts' motivations. Once he started asking questions, he says, the doubts took over and he eventually left the group...

...The Church of the Brethren, which has congregations in Kansas and Missouri, is not affiliated with the Brethren cult.

A Lawrence man who thinks his daughter joined a cult and left town has received a letter from her...

...Two to three weeks ago, she joined a Bible study group, which she called The Brethren...

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A Douglas County woman disappeared Sunday, and her family believes she left to join a cult.

Sam Hunsaker told KMBC's Chris Nagus that the cult is made up of religious fanatics described as nomads. Hunsaker is worried that his daughter, Lahla, is starting a new life with them...

...He said he started researching a group known as The Brethren...

Father says daughter joined The Brethren, then disappeared

Sam Hunsaker says his 20-year-old daughter, Lahla, has disappeared.

He thinks she joined a cult called The Brethren...

...According to several Web sites that monitor cults, The Brethren is a secretive, nomadic group formed by Jim Roberts, an ex-Marine, in the early 1970s. It's also known as The Roberts Group and The Garbage Eaters....

...they have developed a system for locating cult members and arranging surprise family visits. As a result, some 50 members have left the cult...

Jim Guerra

Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing Company, 2000, 232 pages.

Jim Guerra deserves the gratitude of readers interested in cults for his plain-spoken, vivid, and harrowing account of the 10 years he spent under the control of a self-proclaimed Christian preacher known as Brother Evangelist. Jim was a sophomore at Harvard in 1975 when he was proselytized by members of Brother Evangelist's group. After just one meeting with these itinerant soul-gatherers, and before he could say "pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd," Guerra was living the life of a fugitive, camping illegally, hitchhiking illegally, stealing food from dumpsters illegally, and preying on college students like himself...

...I noticed a bearded guy in shabby brown clothes holding a sign saying something about God in front of the Lory Student Center. His name is Jerry Williams and he is the leader of a local branch of a national religious group called The Brethren...

On a typical day, Jerry Williams is seen outside the Lory Student Center...

From his initial visit to Fort Collins, controversy has surrounded Williams and his group -The Brethren - because of a complicated court battle...

They have been called kidnappers, the Brothers and Sisters, but they are best known to the public as The Brethren, and they have been in the public eye ever since the group organized in 1971.

The traveling ministry was formulated by Jim Roberts, an ex-marine who is still the current national leader of the group...

...Parents of members of The Brethren accuse the group of brainwashing their children, because members often cease communication with family members, or contact them very little. The Brethren is considered a psychologically destructive cult by most who study them, but members tell a different story...

...Hal Mansfield, director of the Religious Movement Resource Center in Fort Collins, calls the Brethren "our most destructive cult."...

...Through his work, Mansfield has found the group to be the most damaging between the individual and the family. However, Mansfield said the group is non-violent and law abiding...

...Jerry Williams, 39, disagrees with critics. Williams is considered an elder brother and has been with the Brethren for 22 years...

..."No one is obligated to stay with us. And members are not discouraged to cease contact with their family. That is their decision," said Williams in response to Mansfield's claim the group controls the members in a coercive way...

DALLAS - On college campuses everywhere, members of a secretive religious cult are targeting some of the brightest young students. Some of those who join, never see their family and friends again...

...Herigodt was shocked to learn his outgoing son had been lured into a secretive religious cult near the University of Texas...

...The group Sean joined is called "The Brethren." It's a Christian-based, nomadic and secretive cult. Members are required to cut off contact with their families, their only communication is an occasional letter saying they want to be left alone. Members live on the streets. That's why they're often referred to as the "Garbage Eaters."...

...The group heavily recruits bright, idealistic college students, usually 17 to 21 years old, who are in search of meaning in their lives. Sometimes they're lured into the group within hours...

...Jim Roberts, teaches if they leave they will be eternally damned...

...Parents of these missing children rely on the public's help to find them. So they've posted their pictures on several websites.

College kids across the country are disappearing, and angry parents say a man named Jim Roberts is responsible. While they claim Roberts is brainwashing their children, he claims he's bringing them closer to god. EXTRA shows how the debate is destroying families.

6 years ago Steve Johnson's daughter Tiffany vanished from a job training program in Oregon shortly before her 21 first birthday. But Steve does know whom she was with in 1993. Tiffany was drawn into a mysterious religious organization called The Jim Roberts Group, which many call a cult. Most of the Roberts recruiting is done on college and university campuses. Cult expert Ron Loomis has been tracking the Jim Roberts group for much of its 35-year history. He says members scour college campuses...

...Francesca Haney and her husband Phil were a young married couple searching for spiritual guidance back in 1975, when they were recruited...She left the group and now believes she was brainwashed. Phil remained for 2 more years before he too became fed up with Roberts Iron Rule...

(About The Brotherhood/Garbage Eaters/The Roberts Group)