Suvechha Sarkar
It was just a regular day in late 2017 when the quiet neighborhood of Micanopy, Florida, was shaken to its core as the dark past of a cult began to resurface. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Evil Lives Here: Murder in the House of Prayer’ chronicles the truth about a cult named House of Prayer, which was led by Anna Elizabeth Young in the 1980s. She ran a community that was religious and based on control over one’s fears, eventually leading to the tragic demise of several children. When her daughter, Joy Fluker, reported her to the authorities, Anna was finally brought to justice after over a few decades.
Anna Young’s Spiritual Leadership Descended into Tragedy
Anna Elizabeth Young’s affinity for religion began at a very young age. She turned to her faith to drive her life and began leading a community church in Micanopy in Alachua County, Florida, in the 1980s. The institution welcomed many single mothers who had children out of wedlock. Anna was referred to as “Mother Anna” and is alleged to have punished those she believed had committed sins. According to her daughter, the punishments would reportedly range from “whippings” to “starvation” and “isolation.” She further mentioned that Anna gradually began to inflict pain on her youngest followers. It was not long before it took a tragic turn when she decided to discipline Katonya Jackson, who was 2-3 years old at the time. The child was reportedly having seizures, which Anna alleged to be demonic possession.
Ultimately, Anna’s futile effort to whip Katonya ended up taking away her life in 1983. However, her abuse did not stop there, as the inevitable happened again with a toddler, Emon Harper, AKA Moses, around 1989. He reportedly passed away after days of starvation. She soon got involved with a family from Carolina, who valued Anna’s way of teaching. Hence, they sent their daughter, 12-year-old Nikki Nickelson, to the House of Prayer in hopes of her betterment. Anna reportedly came up with a punishment bath to cure Nikki’s eczema. She ended up suffering from burns after being bathed forcefully in hot water filled with bleach. This incident reportedly marked the fall of the cult, as Anna was charged with child abuse in 1992. She went on a run with her daughter, Joy Fluker, and had disappeared for almost a decade.
Anna Young Evaded Justice For Years Until Her Daughter Exposed the Truth
Anna began a job in nursing but turned up on the FBI’s most wanted list. In 2001, she was reportedly turned in after being recognized and served 6 months in prison for the child abuse case of Nikki Nickelson. After her mother’s release, Joy felt everything was returning to normal until she discovered she had a stepsister, Catherine Davidson, AKA Cathy. To her horror, she claimed to have found out that Cathy allegedly passed away under similar circumstances to Emon. She stated that Cathy was just 6 years old when she was allegedly strangled to death. Upon learning of the alleged incident, the guilt and sense of moral duty slowly took over Joy, who then reported her mother to the authorities in December 2016.
The police soon launched an investigation into Emon Harper’s murder, which opened up knots of mysteries and crimes. On December 1, 2017, she was charged with second-degree murder in the case of Emon and manslaughter in Katonya Jackson’s death. However, she was never charged with the murder of Cathy because the authorities were unable to find her remains. On February 17, 2021, Anna pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the death of Emon and negligent manslaughter in the death of Katonya. Ultimately, she was sentenced to 30 years for the first charge and a 15-year concurrent sentence for the second count. However, she passed away on March 31, 2021, just after 41 days of serving her sentence at the Florida Women’s Reception Centre in Ocala, Florida.
Bearing Her Own Unspoken Pain, Joy Fluker Became a Voice For Many
After Anna was sentenced to prison, Joy Fluker reportedly never spoke to her mother or looked back again. Less than two months later, Anna ended up passing away, which left her feeling that there were still unfinished words between them. According to her, turning her mother over to the authorities was one of the toughest decisions that she ever had to make. However, she did not receive the support of every family member on this path, who questioned her decision to expose the truth about her own mother. Speaking on this matter, Joy mentioned, “My pastor was telling me to think of it like this — you probably helped her make her peace with God. He said that maybe me speaking up helped save her and get recovered.”
Following this experience, Joy created a non-profit organization – Prevent the Pain. Her sole mission with this initiative is to support the individuals brave enough to speak out against someone they dearly love, who was or has been causing them pain or inflicting misery on someone else. Her initiative has also received several sponsors and support from authoritative figures like the commissioner and the sheriff’s deputy, who wholeheartedly supported her in this experience. As of writing, Joy has been living a quiet life away from the limelight with her husband and children. She has been focusing on a healing journey and lives as a daughter who chose the truth even in the face of unimaginable pain.
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