The Docket Ep. 317: Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult Podcast: Investigator Mike King Tells All

Defense Diaries

True Crime

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bob and Ali interview retired law enforcement investigator and criminal profiler Mike King about his new podcast Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult, releasing as Season 5 of American Nightmares on the Gamut Podcast Network. Mike led the 1991 investigation that brought down the Zion Society — a secretive cult of over 100 members hiding in plain sight in Ogden, Utah, where children were groomed for abuse under the direction of self-proclaimed prophet Arvin Shreeve. With 40+ years in law enforcement, FBI ViCAP advisory board experience, and his book Deceived as the foundation, Mike takes us inside the investigation, the raid, the prosecution, and why survivors reconnected decades later to tell their story. Mike is donating all proceeds from Gardens of Evil to child advocacy charities.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	We have a guest today whose career in law enforcement, criminal profiling, and investigative storytelling is nothing short of extraordinary.
0:12.0	And he's going to get into the nitty, gritty details of the Zion Society Cult, which is the subject of his brand new podcast, Gardens of Evil, inside the Zion Society cult, which dropped today.
0:30.0	I love to live.
0:33.3	Where are you going?
0:36.9	I'm going to tell me. Hello and welcome to Defense Diaries.
0:49.1	I am Bob Mata.
0:51.8	This is Defense Diaries podcast.
0:53.8	And as always, I am joined by my beautiful and brilliant co-host, Allie.
0:58.2	What's up, girl?
0:59.2	Hey, babe.
0:59.8	Hey, all.
1:00.8	So really excited about today as we welcome just an absolute, first and foremost,
1:07.2	wonderful human being who is one of those people in the world that actually
1:13.1	goes out and tries to make this place where we live called the planet Earth a better place
1:21.6	to be.
1:22.9	Mike King has spent over four decades in the criminal justice field.
1:27.4	He started as a patrol officer in northern Utah, worked his way through motor,
1:32.5	motor enforcement, and SWAT and ultimately becomes an investigator in the Weber County Attorney's
1:39.2	Office under County Attorney Reid Richards.
1:42.4	He then goes on to serve in the Utah Attorney General's office, where he rose to the chief of staff under Attorney General Jan Graham.
1:50.6	Mike's expertise in criminal profiling was honed under retired FBI Special Agent Gregory Cooper,
1:56.7	and they together served as investigators for the hit Discovery and Emmy winning, I might add.
	...

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