Roch Thériault

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Roch Thériault (May 16, 1947 – February 26, 2011) was a Canadian cult leader who called himself Moïse (Moses). He founded the Ant Hill Kids in 1977 in Sainte‑Marie, Quebec, a doomsday commune that grew into a tightly controlled, totalitarian group. Thériault married and impregnated multiple women, producing 26 children, and forced followers to cut ties with their families and the outside world. The group wore identical tunics and endured brutal physical and sexual abuse.

Thériault’s abuses included severe punishments, dangerous “purification” rites, and amateur medical procedures. In 1989 he was arrested for assault after a follower, Gabrielle Lavallée, escaped and reported the abuse, receiving a 12‑year sentence. In 1993 he pleaded guilty to second‑degree murder for Solange Boilard’s death and received a life sentence. He died in 2011 at Dorchester Penitentiary after being stabbed by his cellmate, Matthew Gerrard MacDonald, who was also serving a life sentence for murder. Thériault is remembered as one of Canada’s most notorious criminals.