Karen Elva Zerby (born in
Camden, New Jersey,
United States on 31 July 1946) is the current leader of the group formerly called the
Children of God, a
new religious movement. The group is now called
The Family International (TFI). Zerby legally changed her name to
Katherine Rianna Smith in
1997, and uses the pseudonyms
Maria David,
Maria Berg,
Maria Fontaine,
Mama Maria and
Queen Maria.
Zerby joined the group, then called Teens for Christ, in 1969. After becoming a private secretary to David Berg, the group's founder, a relationship started between the two. Eventually Berg left his first wife Jane Miller and Zerby became his common-law wife. Soon after leaving Miller, Berg told the group about a prophecy called "The Old Church and the New Church", which was widely seen within the movement as his justification for leaving his first wife.[1]
In 1975 while living in Tenerife, Spain, Zerby had a son Ricky Rodriguez (known within TFI as "Davidito", which is Spanish for "little David"). While not Berg's son, he was thought of as an adopted son. Ricky's childhood was recorded in a book called The Story of Davidito, which was meant to be an example to other members on how to raise their children. The book is controversial for its encouragement of child sexual abuse.[2] In January 2005, Zerby's son Ricky murdered former group member Angela Smith, who had been involved in his upbringing and at one time served as Zerby's executive secretary. Hours later Ricky committed suicide. [3]
With David Berg's health declining in the later years of his life, Zerby began to take a leadership role within the group. Upon his death in October 1994, she assumed the spiritual leadership of the group and soon after married her long-time partner, Steven Douglas Kelly (legally changed his name to Christopher Smith, and is known in the group as Peter Amsterdam or King Peter).
