Press
Select News
The Guardian | What drives the heroine of Netflix’s hit documentary Trust Me: The False Prophet?
Marie, with her blond ponytail, pink cowboy hat, pink boots and pink glasses, was a former beauty queen, ventriloquist and escape artist, now finishing her psychology doctorate. Tolga, once a rock singer, was a videographer, a city dweller who had never been on a hike.
This is the starting point of the Netflix documentary Trust Me: The False Prophet – and unsurprisingly, the couple’s arrival is met with deep suspicion. What follows, though, is gripping TV, recorded as it happened, but paced like a thriller.
The Most Fascinating Person in ‘Trust Me: The False Prophet’ Isn’t the One You Expect
Esquire | “Marie, who only dresses in pink, is able to build trust among the community thanks to her obvious empathy and sensible nature. She’s the sort of person you’d go to with a list of problems and return with a crossed-out list.. .That’s in no small part down to Marie, a main character if ever I saw one. Among her past jobs? She was a Miss Michigan, an escape artist, a ventriloquist. Sure! And as we learn, Marie is so intrigued in FLDS because of her own history with such institutions. That comes to the fore in the finale, as Marie must both liberate and betray those around her. “
Where Are the Survivors of Trust Me: The False Prophet Now?
Netflix Tudum | Trust Me: The False Prophet follows cult psychology expert Christine Marie and her videographer husband Tolga Katas, who moved to Short Creek, Utah, to document and support a community in crisis. “Groupthink is so powerful,” Christine says. “It’s like superglue. You can’t just wake up when you’re getting your thoughts reinforced by other people you respect and love.”
Director Rachel Dretzin and I on CBS Mornings
It was an honor to be on CBS Mornings with Gayle King speaking about the new docuseries “Trust Me – The False Prophet.”
New Netflix documentary includes Salt Lake Tribune reporting as it examines abusive Utah polygamous prophet
Salt Lake Tribune | The documentary, “Trust Me: The False Prophet,” follows cult expert Christine Marie and her videographer husband, Tolga Katas. Their work gathering evidence helped lead to the 2022 arrest of Samuel Bateman — the leader of a breakaway sect of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
A New Doc Follows the Undercover Filmmakers Who Took Down a FLDS Cult Leader
When cult expert Christine Marie and her videographer husband, Tolga Katas, moved to Short Creek, Utah, they planned to support a fractured community still reeling from the imprisonment of Warren Jeffs,
Listen: A Predator in Prophet’s Clothing (Radio)
KUER’s RadioWest features Tribune journalists talking about their series on the polygamous leader in “A Predator in Prophet’s Clothing.” My work and Voices for Dignity
The FBI raided their homes and arrested their prophet. Then the polygamous group found out who the informants were.
Salt Lake Tribune | Part 2. Samuel Bateman, who led an FLDS offshoot, admitted he took 10 girls as his “wives” and sexually abused almost all of them.
How a Colorado City woman helped police bust polygamist leader Samuel Bateman
FOX 13 | The arrest and conviction of polygamist leader Samuel Bateman was the culmination of undercover work by a woman who has become an advocate for people in fundamentalist communities.
How a Colorado City woman helped police bust polygamist leader Samuel Bateman
\”The arrest and conviction of polygamist leader Samuel Bateman was the culmination of undercover work by a woman who has become an advocate for people
How I Infiltrated a Sex Trafficking Ring
Daily Mail | “The glamorous blond who brought down a monster who preyed on girls as young as nine under the guise of being a religious prophet.”
Arizona men found guilty of aiding religious child sex abuse ring
Brothers LaDell Bistline Jr. and Torrance Bistline were found guilty on 14 total counts including transporting a minor for sexual activity and destruction of evidence.