Stumped Coroner Wants Metal Tests Done on Cult Leader’s Mummified Remains

Authorities have not yet been able to determine a cause of death for the figurehead of a Colorado religious movement described as a cult, whose mummified remains were discovered this spring festooned with Christmas lights and glitter but missing both eyes. Now, Saguache County Coroner Tom Perrin wants to test Love Has Won leader Amy Carlson’s body for heavy metals—which were a component of various “health” potions the group sold online—to see if that’s what killed her. However, Perrin told The Denver Post that he can’t find a lab to do the work.

Sheriff’s deputies in Moffat, Colorado found Carlson’s preserved, bedazzled corpse in late April. Investigators believe Carlson died in California, and was then transported to Love Has Won’s Colorado compound by a group of followers. Four of them are facing charges of tampering with a human body. Carlson was known as “Mother God” by her acolytes, and told the group that she would one day ascend to a “fifth dimension” in order to save humanity.