Welcome back to an all-new mystery and murder analysis by Dr. Phil, where we dive, deep dive into some of the most infamous criminal minds and headline-making true crime news stories.

Now, in the next episodes, we're going to unpack the unsettling story of Amy Carlson,

known to the world as Mother God.

Now, at first glance, she appeared to be a free-spirited hippie with a mission to spread love and happiness.

But beneath that facade, she was leading what would become widely regarded

as an infamous cult, built on sleep deprivation,

forced labor, and financial exploitation. In a twist, I never saw coming, her movement would ultimately

lead to her shocking and tragic demise.

Now, this story hits close to home for me because before Amy's case became the subject

of a widely publicized HBO documentary, her family turned to me in desperation.

About four years ago, prior to Amy's death, her mother and sisters appeared on Dr. Phil,

seeking a way to reconnect with Amy, if at all possible, and plead with her to stop her disturbing downward spiral

and get some help, any kind of help.

Amy herself did her first ever television interview with me,

and let's just say it's one that I'll never forget.

Now, I wanna pull the curtain back on how this happened on Dr. Phil.

We've done a lot of work on cults, and it's estimated, get this, that there are anywhere

between 5,000 and 10,000 cults actively operating in the United States at any one time.

And you think, how is that possible?

It's possible because of the Internet.

So many of these operate and reach people through the Internet.

People up late at night and they start listening and they start paying attention and they're

...