'Mother God' Amy Carlson's Corpse Was Found Mummified Months After Her Death

It's been half a year since the body of Amy Carlson was first discovered in Colorado. Amy's body was wrapped in Christmas lights, and it appeared to be the subject of worship by members of a religious sect. Mow, months after the body was first discovered, Amy's mother is still trying to figure out what happened to her daughter.

Amy, whose real name was Lia, was known as "Mother God" by the followers of the now defunct Love Has Won movement, which used to share Amy's spiritual teachings on YouTube. Now, new light is being shed on the case thanks to interviews that were done with Amy's mother Linda Haythorne, and with Saguache County Sheriff Dan Warwick that will be airing this Friday on Dateline.

Seven of Amy's followers were arrested following the discovery of the body. Three were charged with abusing a corpse, and four on charges of tampering with a deceased human body. Authorities claimed that Amy had died in California, and had then been transported to the group's headquarters in Moffat, Colorado.

Two children were also inside the home when the body was discovered, so all seven members were charged with misdemeanor child abuse.

Saguache County District Attorney Alonzo Payne later dropped all the charges against the group members, a decision that has proved controversial, and is one of the reasons that Dateline took an interest in the case.

"Our office looked at all the documents and everything that was provided," Alonzo said in defense of his office's decision to drop the charges. "And from our perspective the allegations could not be met beyond a reasonable doubt."

When asked whether he believed that the group members should have faced charges for abusing a corpse, Dan Warwick said he believed that they should. "I used to say I've seen it all," Dan said during the Dateline interview. "I don't say that anymore."

Amy's mother agreed, saying: "It seems like they're kind of brushing it under the rug. That's the way I feel, anyway."

The sheriff's department was first alerted to the body by Miguel Lamboy, a man who was believed to be a former member of the group. The department also added that they had "received many complaints from families within the United States saying that the group is brainwashing people and stealing their money."

In April of this year, a livestream from "Love Has Won" suggested that Amy was close to death, and added that she was refusing any form of medical care. The county coroner has not yet been able to determine a cause of death for Amy, in part because they are still searching for a lab that could identify the kind of heavy metals that the group often broke down through electrolysis and sold as health aids.

"I watched some of their YouTube videos," coroner Tom Perrin said in an interview with The Denver Post. "It seems like they were claiming it would cure certain things or improve your health."