Back in 2015, a girl named Joy Morgan started watching strange videos on YouTube. Videos of men with loud voices, draped in purple and gold robes, reciting fiery scripture from the Bible.
At first, she was simply curious. She was a teenager after all. But soon she started to believe what they were saying. The way they preached spoke to her. At school, she told a classmate he wouldn’t be going to heaven. Why? Because he wasn’t Black.
Just a few years later, Joy stopped celebrating Christmas. In fact, she hardly saw her family at all. She didn’t speak to her siblings, she stopped hanging out with her school friends and she adopted a whole new identity. All thanks to the men from those YouTube videos – members of a religious organisation named Israel United In Christ, or IUIC.
IUIC quickly became Joy’s world, the congregation became her family. Joy felt as though she’d discovered ‘the truth’ about Jesus. She felt safe, protected and loved. Nothing bad could ever happen to her. No harm could reach her. But IUIC wasn’t just a religious organisation: it’s been called a cult.
And on Boxing Day, 2018, Joy Morgan disappeared forever.
A new six-episode investigative series, told by Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff and Free Turn, The Missing Sister is a story about truth, lies, a young woman yearning to belong, and a family still waiting for answers.
Listen to episodes of The Missing Sister exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Start your free trial in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. https://wondery.com/links/the-missing-sister/