All language subtitles for Stolen.Youth.Inside.the.Cult.at.Sarah.Lawrence.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[teapot whistling]

SANTOS:
Oh, my God.

Yeah, that's college.

[laughs]

That's funny.

I don't even remember what
we were doing in this photo.

It's like I almost
don't recognize us.

It's bittersweet because
it's hard to think of

these times and,
like, enjoy the memory

just because I know
what's coming.

It's like a, I guess,
a sense of impending doom.

It's like, "Oh, that was fun,"

but what comes after
was not so much fun.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

PERSON: For so many of us
and our children,

college is supposed to be
a time of self-discovery

and newfound independence.

A chance to explore and learn

all within the safety
of a college community.

[chatter and laughter]

[indistinct singing]

NEWS REPORTER:
Stunning allegations

against a New York dad.

He's accused of
orchestrating a sex cult

made up of his daughter's
college classmates.

♪ ♪

PERSON: But as the alleged
defendant exploited

that vulnerable time
in these victims' lives

through a course of conduct
that shocks the conscience.

[indistinct shouting]

PERSON 2: Please...

PERSON 3: My God,
it's a nightmare.

PERSON 2: Don't!

♪ ♪

[sirens wailing]

PERSON: Today, we announce
criminal charges

against this man, Lawrence Ray,

who for nearly a decade
exploited and abused

young women and men
for his own financial gain.

LARRY: Remember, you are
the one that has hurt me.

You are the hurter.
I am the victim of your hurt.

PERSON: Ray sometimes
recorded his victims

to extort hundreds of
thousands of dollars

from their parents'
savings accounts.

SANTO: Just give me
until Monday.

I mean, I'll get your money.

VICTIM: I'm scared they're
gonna do something to me.

♪ ♪

PERSON: When he was arrested,

one of his daughter's
roommates and one of

the female victims were
in the residence at the time.

REPORTER: Do you have
any comments?

PARENT 2: [speaks Spanish]

[car engine revs]

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

SINGER:
♪ I'm feeling rough ♪

♪ I'm feeling raw ♪

♪ I'm in the time of my life ♪

- I can't even.
[laughter]

♪ ♪

SINGER: ♪ Let's make some
music, make some money ♪

♪ Find some models for wives ♪

♪ ♪

RAVEN: We called it
the Sarah Lawrence bubble.

It feels like
its own little world.

Like, a old, tiny,
like, village.

Things are a little bit
magical and special.

MAX: Their slogan
at the time was

"You are different.
So are we."

And they were trying to
attract the kind of students

who were maybe outcasts
of some kind in high school.

The nerds or the artists.

SINGER: ♪ We got the vision,
now let's have some fun ♪

RAVEN: Everyone's expressing
themselves

and dressing how they want
and reciting Shakespeare

and climbing trees.

You know, 18 year olds
starting your new

way in the world,
building your new identity.

DAN: You know, having
a chance free of the places

we'd all come from
and the families

we'd all come from
to, like, self-determine.

JULI ANNA:
We were all seekers.

We were all really open
to possibilities

and actively looking
for new things.

DAN: All these people
were so different

and they were so vibrant.

All I wanted to do
was just hang out.

♪ ♪

GABE: We would get drunk
and dance

pretty much
every afternoon we could.

None of us were
good at dancing.

I would say
definitively terrible.

♪ ♪

SINGER:
♪ I said yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

RAVEN: One night
after staying up super late,

we were, like,
kind of cuddled up

in sleeping bags together
watching the sunrise.

And we made a joke about how
we're four legs of one animal.

It felt like a little
separate family.

Like a new family.

♪ ♪

GABE: I think we'd all sort of
had the general idea,

like, we should all
live together.

We'd all been having so much
fun our first year.

It was like, well,
let's just keep doing this.

♪ ♪

DAN: Slonim Woods,
it was a huge step up.

♪ ♪

It's, like, eight people,
everyone gets a single room.

MAX: I was at the end
of the hall upstairs.

Next to me was Dan, Gabe,
and Claudia.

Downstairs was Juli Anna,
Santos, Isabella, and Talia.

And Raven was
basically living there.

I mean, she was around
all the time.

JULI ANNA: I liked being
close to the woods.

You were far enough away
from main campus that

security wouldn't be called
on you for noise complaints.

No one patrolled over there.

MAX: It felt like living
in a real house

just with no supervision.

- It was great.
I had a great time.

Just it's hard to try
and think of those memories.

It's like the memories
are, like, pale

because we're talking about
a very different Santos.

You know, with a completely
different path.

JAMES: Can you tell me
about meeting Talia?

Can you tell me that story?

SANTOS: It was
a Roman literature class.

Egypt, Caesar.

Afterwards, it was,
like, a running joke

'cause she was saying
I smiled at her first,

but I was saying
you smiled at me first.

I was like,
hey, I'm just gonna go

chat to this girl
after class.

I'm like, let's, like,
let's go get lunch together.

JAMES: That seems like
a pretty bold move.

- Yeah, never done that
in my life.

[producer laughs]

- [laughs]

I quickly felt like I could
talk to her about anything.

You know, this was
my first girlfriend.

I felt like, oh, I'm so lucky
'cause she's beautiful,

she's smart,
and she's, like, awesome.

You know, it's like,
what more could you ask for?

- Talia was not really like
me or my friends.

- Talia had a mission.

She knew exactly
what she wanted to do.

JULI ANNA: Talia wanted
to be a lawyer.

She wanted to help people
like her dad.

RAVEN: Pretty much the first
and only thing that

she talked about whenever
it was her turn to talk

it was my dad this,
my dad that.

JAMES: And this would
happen, like, at a party?

- Yeah, at like--when we're
trying to have fun.

Like that's when it started
to feel weird.

[indistinct chatter]

DAN: Santos was
the perfect listener

and she needed
to be listened to.

[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

JULI ANNA: Talia characterized
her dad as a hero.

He was in some
special military operations.

Parachuting into places.

He was practically James Bond.

- She was talking all about
how her dad was in jail

and how unfair it was

and how he never had
done anything wrong.

DAN: Fairly soon
after we moved in,

we started hearing her dad was
getting out of jail finally

and they were gonna be
reunited.

RAVEN: I remember Talia being
like, just don't judge him.

He's been in jail.

He's been through
a lot of hard things.

JULI ANNA: All of his things
had been confiscated.

It didn't seem odd then that
he would crash on our couch.

RAVEN: We were in agreement
that we were gonna be,

um, accommodating, and...

it was gonna be fine.

[curious music]

♪ ♪

MAX:
The image I have is of him

walking up the stairs
into the living room.

Talia had said,
"Hey, guys, this is my dad."

- He just looked like a dad.

DAN: I have the image
in my mind of Talia

jumping into his arms.

Larry's actually
not that big of a guy,

but in my memory,

he's big and she just,
like, vanishes in his arms.

- He talked for hours and
everyone was just transfixed.

DAN: Larry talked about
being in the marines.

It was a huge part
of his identity.

MAX: He talked about
his time in the CIA

doing psyops against
foreign leaders.

Infiltrating the inner circle
of their, you know, top brass

and messing with their minds.

SANTOS: And he talked about
how he had worked with NATO

to help in the Kosovo crisis.

He says all these
outlandish things

and you're wondering,
did this really happen?

And then he would
pull out this letter

and you're like, okay.

DAN: He talked about
how he was Gorbachev's guide

when Gorbachev came
to the U.S.

- And then he would pull out a
picture with him and Gorbachev,

and you're like, what the hell?

- I remember
I didn't really care,

but everyone else
was like, wow.

- I thought it was
the coolest thing ever.

[laughs]

- He brought up
Bernie Kerik that night.

GABE: He talked about
how there were corrupt

law enforcement
who were working against him.

I Googled.

[keyboard clacking]

NEWS REPORTER: Kerik is
a former New York City

police commissioner
who was a familiar face

in the days after
the September 11 attacks.

NEWS REPORTER 2: Larry Ray
is the FBI informant

who was once
Bernie Kerik's close friend.

MAX: Larry had blown the
whistle on some major scandal.

- Anything I say,
I have documents to support.

MAX: And they had gotten

retribution against him
for that.

According to Larry,
these very powerful people

had put him in jail
on trumped up charges.

JULI ANNA: They had tried
to ruin his life

and now, he could
pick up the pieces

and, like,
fight the good fight.

- I don't know if Talia
ever actually sat us down

and was like, "Look, my dad
is going to be staying here

"four out of seven days a week

for an extended period
of time."

It just slowly, like,
snowballed until he was there.

JAMES: Was it weird
that he was around?

DAN:
I mean , it sounds stupid,

but mostly I was just like,
oh, you know,

they're like taking up
the living room couches again.

So we, like, can't play
"Super Smash Bros."

And also, just like, so what?
Like, what am I gonna do?

We're not gonna separate
Talia from her dad.

- It was so weird, and also,

everyone's, like, a little bit
stoned all the time.

So like, we're just, like,
am I weird, or is this weird?

And, like, we weren't,
like, really sure.

- He made it seem normal
that he was there.

It just felt like
a fact of life.

JULI ANNA: Larry was totally
the funny dad of the house.

He had tube socks bunched up
around his ankles.

He'd put on one of Talia's
frilly aprons

to do the dishes.

He actually keeps the kitchen
clean which is a nice change.

He, like, buys us pizza,
cooks us dinner.

He was contributing to our
little household in his way.

MAX: You know, when you're
a college student eating

dining hall food and instant
ramen and peanut butter,

a nice home-cooked steak
is a welcome change of pace.

SANTOS: Anyone who would
come in, he'd be like,

"Hey, you want some?
Come, sit down.

Eat with us."

You know, very, like,
gracious approach.

- He did sort of exude
a sense of authority.

Like, oh, like,
you have a problem?

Larry probably has a solution.

He's seen the world.
He can tell you what to do.

MAX: One day, Larry spreads
the news to everybody.

House meeting later tonight.

We're all gonna gather
in the living room.

MAX: He unveils to us
his philosophy

called Quest for Potential.

DAN:
Larry told us,

"You have a person that
you're capable of being.

"A true self.

"That person, your potential,

is held back or restrained
or clouded."

DAN: He could take away the
things that were in the way,

resolve the confusions,
and untie the knots.

And then you could just
be who you are.

SANTOS: Really what it
translated to was

just like this is
how you have clarity

because you guys
don't have it right now.

And you don't have it right now
because all this, like,

gunk in your head
from, like,

your parents
and how you guys grew up.

- He could help identify,

articulate, and then process

repressed memories,
trauma, abuse.

[thunder clap]

If we went through
that process,

we would be healed.

That's what it means
to have clarity.

- As a 19 year old,
it was attractive

because, like, oh, look,
there are answers.

DAN:
The first person that

Larry started helping
was Isabella.

♪ ♪

MAX: Talia and Isabella
were best friends.

They were pretty much
inseparable.

SANTOS: She lived in
Slonim Nine with us

and she was effectively
a social recluse.

JULI ANNA:
She hid a lot.

She hid in her room.
She hid behind her hair.

She always had hair just,
like, hanging in her face.

SANTOS: She came from Texas
and had nobody.

You know,
and her one friend, Talia,

her father, who seemed
to be this awesome guy,

took her under his wing.

♪ ♪

DAN: Somehow, I became aware
of the fact that Larry was

in Isabella's room
and had been for many hours.

According to Santos,
she was going through something

really intense
that was, like, private--

something about her family,
and Larry was helping her.

I believe he was in her room,
like, overnight,

and the idea was that
they had just been talking

for, like, 12, 16 hours.

- It seemed like
there was a lot of, um...

a lot of bonding happening.

CYNDI:
Isabella had been

talking up Talia
and her daddy.

JAMES:
What was your impression?

- That he was a good man.

And then right before
the Christmas break,

the phone rings
and Isabella tells me

that she's not coming.
I said why.

"Well, I'll let you talk to
somebody for me, Mom.

It's Talia's dad."

He said, "Well,
I don't know if you knew this,

but she was molested
when she was, uh, younger."

I said,
"What are you talking about?

I don't--
what are you talking about?"

And he said,
"Yeah, and she's--it's been--

"she's brought it up recently
and she said if she goes

"to San Antonio,
she's gonna kill herself.

She can't stand to be alive."

CYNDI:
I didn't know half the things

that he's saying went on.

Who knows if it's true?

But the way he acted like
he cared for Isabella,

I mean, he was gonna help her
because she deserved it

and she was such a good child.

You know, he was very
convincing on the phone.

- I did not have the money
to go up there.

I didn't even have--
what is it?

Talked to her
on the phone barely.

So I proceeded to tell him,

if she's gonna kill herself
if she comes home,

of course I don't want her
to come home.

I will tell her
she doesn't have to come here.

♪ ♪

SANTOS: All of a sudden,
she became vibrant.

That's the word I remember.
Like, she became vibrant.

She was smiling.
She seemed happy.

She was engaged and, like,

dynamic and interactive
with everyone around.

I mean, I saw him
having this, like,

incredibly positive effect
on a peer,

and that just kind of
reinforced the idea.

Like okay, this is a very good,
helpful person in general.

Like a very special person

who, like,
walked into our lives

who could help all of us.

It was one night.

I straight up asked him
if he could talk.

I told him about my family.

Both of my parents
are from Dominican Republic.

I have two older sisters.

I was closer to them
than to my parents

because my mom worked
seven days a week.

My father,
he would be out and about.

The implications were
that my father

is married to my mother,
but he cheats on her regularly.

And is that okay?

I assumed that it's not okay.

That's what I've learned,
that it's not okay.

Like, is there more
I don't know?

That confusion led to me
just feeling depressed

and not understanding why.

I couldn't figure out
the answers to these questions

and then I had no one to ask

because my parents certainly
weren't talking about it.

I really opened up to him
about all this stuff that

felt really heavy for me
at the time.

SANTOS: Larry hit
the nail on the head

for every, single part
of my family dynamics.

- And then he says,
"And then the effect on you

is that you've become
uncertain."

That resonated
like nothing ever before.

- I was like suddenly,
like, jolted awake.

It felt like
I understood myself.

I felt like I understood
my family a lot better.

Here was a kind,
compassionate individual

who made me feel that
he understood me.

I had been in therapy before

and no one had been able
to do that.

DAN:
Santos' posture changed.

He was puffing out
his chest more

and walking around with
his shoulders back a little.

He idolized Larry
as the type of man

that he could be
or wanted to be.

Strong, is able to provide,

is able to think clearly,
and solve any problem.

♪ ♪

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

RAVEN: At the beginning,
Claudia and I

would, like,
joke about how weird he was.

Why is he here all the time?

Me and Claudia,
we were really close.

She had, like, a messy,
chaotic, artist brain.

Just 'cause of her personality,
she had, like, an inclination

to be like, it's kind of
special and artsy and cool

to be a little damaged
and broken.

Larry fed into that with her.

Over time, he would
engage her in conversations.

I would go downstairs
to get something

and they'd be talking.

And I'd come up,
watch a few shows or a movie,

and come back down
and they'd be

in the exact same place
talking.

MAX: One night
we were all smoking weed.

Normally Claudia would have
participated,

but this time she declined.

She said, "Oh, 'cause I have
schizophrenia

and weed can exacerbate
schizophrenia."

And this was news to all of us.

- I said,
"This is ridiculous now.

"You really got to stop
listening to Larry.

"He doesn't know
what he's talking about.

You're fine."

She was like, "Telling me
that I'm not schizophrenic

is only harmful to me
getting better."

And she just insisted
and she started saying,

ever since I was little this,
and all my life this.

Stuff I'd never heard her
say before.

Everyone at the beginning
thought he was weird,

and then one by one,

he would get them alone,
have these conversations,

and suddenly they're like,
"Oh, he's not so bad,"

to, actually, he's pretty great.

Actually,
he's saving my life.

Actually, he's the best thing
that ever happened to me.

Actually, I'll never
not listen to him.

Actually, fuck you.

I'll never listen to you
if you talk bad about him.

And it happened steeply,
and it shocked me.

♪ ♪

DAN: A big part
of this process has been

to reconcile memories
and start to

put together a more complete
picture of the past.

JAMES: So your memory from
that time is incomplete?

DAN:
I don't know.

Part of it is just, like,
you don't remember things.

And...

but I think it's probably just
that something, like, so big

and so terrible and
that's so completely shifted

the nature
and character of my life

happened so soon after.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

It's towards the end
of the year at Sarah Lawrence.

Raven and I had been dating

and our relationship
was very, uh...

tumultuous,
didn't feel very good.

And I was like, I should be
able to just deal with this.

Like, I should be able
to know what to say

or what to do and I don't.

SANTOS:
I started saying to Dan,

"Larry's really been helping me
a lot and Claudia too.

I think he would make time
for you."

DAN:
It felt kind of exciting.

Like, he might provide
some insight.

So we met for coffee
in the city.

From the beginning, it was
like you'll have a coffee.

And, okay, and then like, this
is the best way to have coffee

is to have a little
half and half in it.

It's like, okay,

because also, like,
I felt like

I didn't know what was best.

It's like--he's like,
here is how to be an adult.

And we talked about how
the relationship was going

and how I felt
kind of freaked out.

He said, "You're
exceptionally intelligent

"and you can build
a more complex maze

"in your head
than most people.

"Why do you feel so insecure?

Why are you,
like, so...squirrelly?"

I had felt like since puberty

confused about sexuality.

You know, and one of the things
I worry about

is like whether or not
I'm gay maybe,

and then he said, "Well,
are you attracted to men?"

And I'd be like,
"Well, I mean, no.

I don't know."
[chuckles]

He said, "I know for sure
that you're not gay.

"That worry
is dragging you down,

so just leave it."

JAMES:
And how'd that make you feel?

- It took the weight off of me,
of my own life.

Like, you don't have
to figure it out anymore.

I'll figure it all out for you.

We had
this whole conversation,

and then kind of
an afterthought he said,

"Raven is in your way."

He had me call as we walked.

- I remember saying
something like,

"Oh, are you fucking Larry now?"

Like, I was--I got really
specific and mean about it.

- I said, "He's like actually
a really helpful guy

"who, like, cares about
all our friends and me.

"So if you don't care about
what he has to say,

then that means
you don't care about me."

- Well, what am I supposed
to say to that?

How am I supposed to respond?

Because it's like, again,
I'm between two big rocks.

Like, I can't say you're right,

I don't care about you,
'cause that's not true.

But I can't just go along with
something that I know is wrong.

That was our last conversation.

[somber music]

DAN:
We rounded the corner

and there was a limousine
waiting there.

♪ ♪

Isabella and Santos
and Talia and Claudia

were all sitting
in this idling limousine.

♪ ♪

And I realized
that they had been

sitting, waiting for six hours.

♪ ♪

There was no reason
not to get in the limo.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

JAMES: So Dan seemed
enamored by him.

Or what words...
- Yeah.

JAMES:
Would you use to describe--

- No, that--
enamored is a good word.

He seemed enamored by him.

- Or enthralled.

CHARLES: Yeah.
That's another good word.

It seemed like he was
developing a friendship.

This worldly man
was really interested

in his-his life and his issues

and what he was struggling
with.

And maybe he could say things
to him

that he couldn't say
to his parents.

But that summer, Larry says,

"Oh, you know, he can stay
in my apartment in New York."

Made sense.

'Cause then he wouldn't have
to pay rent

and he could just save
his money."

I didn't feel like he was gonna
be in danger there

or anything like that.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

DAN: The apartment's
on the 15th floor

of this building
on the Upper East Side.

There's an entryway.
A little, like, foyer.

There's a little bathroom
to your left.

A fairly large living room
with windows.

Very generous of Larry
to let me stay there.

SANTOS: End of sophomore year,
Larry's just like,

"Hey, what are you doing
this summer?

"You want to come
by my apartment

"and help me, like,
renovate it?

"I want to paint it
something nice for Talia.

It'll be fun."

I mean, the alternative was

either stay at home
and do nothing

or go hang out with my friends.

And spend time
with my girlfriend.

And Larry is there.

MARITZA:
[speaking Spanish]

- [speaking Spanish]

♪ ♪

SANTOS: I slowly start
spending more time there.

Then, Claudia, she's living
a few blocks away,

she comes over.

Now, it's me, Dan, Claudia,

Talia, Isabella, and Larry.

It was effectively a sleepover

because everybody
was in the living room

except, like,

Larry and Isabella
were in the bedroom.

JAMES:
And that wasn't weird?

- It was weird.

But the explanation
that Larry provided--

that he said it was like,
"Isabella needs a lot of help

and she's
in a very vulnerable space."

After the past year,

seeing how Isabella changed

and seeing how
he helped me and Claudia,

like, I took his word for it.

[bugle playing "Reveille"]

♪ ♪

[giggling]

♪ ♪

DAN:
Larry convinced everyone

that we should get
more on top of our shit.

And it was rooted
in the Marines approach

to taking anyone and making them
their best self.

[Black Angels'
"The First Vietnamese War"]

He put together this playlist
that he insisted

had to be played
every morning.

It was our, like, "Reveille."
You know?

And he's, like, waking us up
for boot camp.

SINGER: ♪ You give a gift to me
in my young age ♪

SANTOS:
We would get up at 7:00,

do five of 20 push-ups a week.

Then next week,
do five sets of 30

and then keep going up.

DAN:
That number sounds insane.

But then you can do
400 push-ups.

So you're kind of like,

"Well, it was kind of amazing."

- Yeah, we felt really good.
It was--like, it was great.

SINGER: ♪ Spent my time there
by the shore ♪

DAN: Larry believed
that it is biological

and it would make
you feel better

to just, like,
embrace your masculinity

or femininity.

Claudia started
to wear makeup more.

She was more interested
in being feminine

than she had been.

I remember shaving my head.

Brightly-colored polos.

Bright colors meant
that you were secure

in your masculinity.

Yeah.

[laughter]
So I can see

I'm having new experiences
in my 21st year.

LARRY:
[chuckles]

- Larry believed
that he was pushing

a kind of
progressive viewpoint,

which was that everyone
is incredibly sexual

and wants sex.

And we live
in a puritanical society.

- Another one for you...
- Everything was framed

around how I needed
to build confidence sexually.

LARRY: Well, Dan--so what
do you say to that, Dan?

- Uh, it's very nice.
I'm very moved.

He asked me if I found
Isabella attractive.

As if the assumption was
that I did, that I must,

because she was so attractive,
according to him.

[laughter]

I didn't want to be mean.
It was kind of like,

"Yeah, sure. Totally.
I don't know." Like, you know?

LARRY: Dan, you get--
you're gonna blow with her.

- [chuckles]
LARRY: Yeah?

♪ ♪

DAN: This one night,
somehow everyone was gone.

Isabella crept
out of the bedroom.

I was in my boxers,
asleep on the couch.

Uh, we...

I don't know how much detail
I need to go into.

But we--like, we hooked up.

And, you know, there was
a part of me that was like,

"Uh, this is cool
that someone is,

like, randomly performing
a sex act on me, I guess."

Um...it just was so hard
not to feel like

she had been sent out.

What came to pass
soon after that

was that I was, like,
explicitly being enrolled

in this, like,
sexual education.

And Larry was my professor.

And, like, Isabella was his TA.

[Gregorian chanting]

♪ ♪

Larry said the best music
for this kind of thing

were these 13th-century
Gregorian chants.

He would be talking about
how it's really important

to tease someone.

So he'd trace his fingers
along her back.

And then, like, you know,
he'd be like,

"Now, you know, you try."
It was like Simon Says.

♪ ♪

And she seems to be, like,
moaning in pleasure.

No one's ever reacted, like,
quite this intensely

to anything I've done.

Like...maybe I--
like, yeah, there's, like,

something to learn here,
you know?

♪ ♪

It did grow into, like,

him having sex with her

and me having sex with her,
all three of us together.

But this is where, like,
my brain starts

to, like,
lock up those memories.

♪ ♪

But I do remember that
there was part of me

that felt special, you know?

I had been brought into
the, like, royal court.

♪ ♪

And I remember the feeling
of leaving the room.

'Cause it wasn't like
I would sleep there.

And I would wonder
what would happen

after I left.

[door closes]

♪ ♪

[tape player clicks]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

SANTOS: We would go
to school during the day.

And at night, we would go back
to Larry's apartment.

Larry's offered
a sense of, like, community

for me and my friends.

Because Larry was helping
all of us,

that made me think like,
"Hey, I want him to talk

my sister Yalitza too."

She just seemed sad.

- That was, like, the darkest
period of my life

up until that point.

I'd been working
to get to college

since I was 10.

But it wasn't anything
that I thought it would be.

I didn't have any friends
at Columbia.

It was very lonely for me.

[car honks]

I went to the apartment

where Santos and his friends
were staying that summer.

And I saw how
in this small apartment,

all--like,
all these people were, like,

able to live together.

It felt like
it was full of life.

People having conversations
in this corner

and in another corner.

There was music playing
all the time.

It was like,
"Whoa, so much color."

It was fun.
[chuckles]

[thunder rumbles]

I didn't feel bad
about being depressed

or feeling like-like something
is wrong with me,

um, because everybody
in the group

had something
that they were working on.

YALITZA:
It's pretty dissimilar.

PERSON:
Hey, Larry.

LARRY:
I'm getting candid video.

ISABELLA:
Oh. [chuckles]

Lare, it's your ornament.

PERSON:
Oh, okay.

- Your disco days.
YALITZA: [giggles]

LARRY:
What do you mean, disco days?

Disco lives!

- Oh, my God. Disco's dead.
[chuckles]

I gotta say.

TALIA: Ooh, I want to
put on Tinkerbell.

JOHNNY:
♪ Everywhere you go ♪

PERSON: She had one of these.
GABE: I remember, like,

I would invite them
to hang out

and they just would
either flake

or say they were busy.

I wasn't concerned at the time.

I was more just, like,
sad, you know?

I was feeling like,
"Okay, they're moving on.

"You find new friends.

That's a choice
they're making."

MAX:
I went to the apartment once.

I was absolutely weirded out.
That was--

I mean, I-I had never seen
anything like that before.

I didn't realize at the time,
before I got there,

but all of my friends
were living

in that apartment with him.

Why were they there
instead of on campus?

Why would they rather
be piled into this

little, cluttered apartment
with this guy?

PERSON 1: Heard it, you are.
PERSON 2: You are.

You actually are.
PERSON 3: I got you.

MAX:
We would make jokes.

Say, "Oh, you know,
just all those kids

living in that apartment.
That's weird, huh?"

I mean, it's college.
People spread rumors.

And I just assumed
it couldn't be that bad

because that kind of stuff
doesn't really happen, right?

LARRY:
Leave it to Santos.

RAVEN: I was sure it was
an unhealthy attachment

to a manipulative person
who was using them

for something
that I didn't understand.

And I think that's what
drove me crazy

is I couldn't tell
what he wanted out of it.

I couldn't see
what he was getting out of it.

YALITZA:
The state of the apartment.

It was, like,
a weird combination

of, like,
there was a lot going on

and it felt, like, exciting,
but at the same time,

there was, like,
underlying, like,

"This is, like, not tenable."

It was very cramped.

There's a lot of stuff
in there.

- Even though it's disorganized,
we're gonna clean it up.

It'll be a group project.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

DAN: Larry would tell us,
"I can see it.

"There is a way to perfectly
organize all of this.

I'm just waiting for you
to figure it out."

Okay, so we're gonna pull
this out now.

We would say like,
"Maybe we need to put up

more shelves
or get more bins."

This is the bin

which does not have locks
on it.

YALITZA:
He would cut up Adderall.

It was supposed to help us,
like, be more focused

for the rest of the day.

DAN: He said
he had to keep us awake

for long periods of time

because when we were
really exhausted,

we were like raw nerves.

And that made it more possible

for him to, like,
help us advance.

He was putting so many things
in the space,

we were bound
to do something wrong.

DAN:
In the apartment,

there was this set of pans
that just kept getting ruined.

It's, like,
hairline scratches.

YALITZA: Larry had
this really big thing

about accountability.

So if you did something wrong,

you had to be honest
and be held accountable

so that you can feel
like a real person

in the real world

and have, like, an actual,
like, decent life.

SANTOS: It would be like,
"Why did you damage the stuff?"

Like, and I would say,
"I didn't."

YALITZA: Given his skills
and experience and knowledge,

it's like, "Wait,
if he's asking me about it

then there must be
basis for it."

Except I don't remember
doing it.

- And then I'd be like,
"I don't--

I don't really remember."
He'd be like, "You remember.

Think about it."

SANTOS:
The entire time,

Larry gave me no reason
to question him

or doubt his good intentions
towards me and the rest of us.

So if he says that I did it,
then I must have done it

and I just don't want
to remember.

So I'm just gonna try and think
about what happened

and just say it
as soon as I think of it.

- Maybe this is what it means

to, like, access
a repressed memory.

If someone's helping you,
I mean, it's like,

"There it is."

I'm wondering if it's true
and I'm thinking like,

"Is this true?"
And, like, there's the doubt.

But then I would, like, say it
and Larry would accept it.

And it'd be like,
"Okay, Larry is

"the arbiter of truth.

Like, if he accepts it,
it must be true."

SANTOS:
Then he leaves it at that.

A pat on the back.
"You did great.

"Good thing that you're, like,
being honest

and straightforward
and, like, forthcoming."

LARRY:
Do I need to get--

do I need to come in
and fix this situation?

DAN:
Over time, Larry got obsessed

with woodworking.

LARRY: You guys put
that saw back yet?

[indistinct].

He started filling
the apartment with tools.

[saws buzzing]

It just accrued.

And there'd be bigger
and bigger tools.

And then
the 1,000 pound band saw

that I cannot remember
how that--

we got away with getting that
into the apartment.

LARRY: I'll flip
this thing over by myself.

Got it?
DAN: Yeah.

LARRY: You guys are
embarrassing, man.

See how easy it is, gentlemen?

YALITZA:
Every item is precious.

It's either really expensive
or, like, really high quality.

DAN: It felt kind of like
Santos had committed

the sin of dating
Larry's daughter.

He would be the first one
sort of accused.

- He was not happy
with any of the answers

that I gave him.

So he just, like,
cranked it up.

[dishes bang]

SANTOS: I remember
at that point, like,

not knowing what was true
and what was not.

Like, I had completely lost,

like, uh...like, a compass.

- It's like everybody else
is silent

as, like, Larry is doing it.

Unless he, like,
prompts people to be, like,

"What do you think about that?"
Like, "That's messed up."

Or like,
"What's wrong with you?"

SANTOS: Isabella would back up
anything Larry said.

- Talia would jump in
whenever she was around.

- She and Isabella were, like,
the "safe ones" with Larry.

Like, they ne--sh--
they never had to worry.

And everyone's, like,
staring at you

and telling you to,
"Come clean. Come clean.

Come clean."

- This is a list
that Santos made...

Of all of the things
that he supposedly damaged.

This, like, poor guy.

Fuckin' hell.

SANTOS:
I would spend several hours

and I would email it to him.

I would be like,
"Hey Larry, here's the list."

He's like,
"Santos, just make sure

"that that list is complete.
Are you being forthcoming?

I don't feel like
you're being forthcoming."

And I'd be like, "Oh, God,
I must not be being forthcoming

"if that's what he's saying.

Let me go back
and revise the list."

[sighs] At a--
at a certain point,

I literally--on that list
of the supposed stuff

that I damaged of his,

I literally put down every
single item in that apartment

that I could have conceivably
come into contact with

and I said that I damaged it.

I was so desperate
to, like, do the right thing

that I clung onto the idea,
like, "Okay, if I--

"if I can replace the stuff
that I damaged,

then I'll be okay
and I can move past this."

But then how do I know
what to replace?

I look at my list.
And what's on the list?

A ridiculous number of items

with a ridiculous
ending price tag.

And then that's when I started
asking my parents for money.

$750.

SANTOS: At a certain point,
he was like,

"You don't really want
to pay this back.

"Like, who are you asking
to help you?

Just your parents?
They don't want to help you."

So I was like,
"Okay, I'm gonna ask

everybody that I know."

♪ ♪

JULI ANNA:
Get a call from Santos which

puzzled me because I hadn't
talked to him in months.

He told me he needed $5,000.

But my suspicion was
that it involved Larry.

And so I--I, you know,
politely refused the money.

- Santos called me
out of the blue

and he asked
for either $2,500 or $25,000

as a loan.

And, like...
[chuckles]

I was working
at, like, a drugstore.

I didn't have $25,000.

He never talked to me again
after that.

RAVEN:
I did believe

and said to multiple people
on campus

"I think there's something
very inappropriate

"happening with Larry Ray,

and I'm worried
about my friends."

I said that to a lot of people.

Probably not in those words,
but I expressed that. Often.

JAMES: What words
do you think you used?

Um, "He's a pervert
and a sicko.

And something fucked up
is going on in there."

MAX: I was worried about
my friends at that point.

I had no idea
what was going on.

And then we all got this email
from Claudia

with the subject line
"The Truth."

It was addressed
to the dean of students,

but it was an open letter.

She CC'd it to everyone
who lived in the house.

And Larry.

It was just kind of
out of the blue,

very out of character for her.

JULI ANNA:
It's basically her...

Confessing to...

I--you know, so much of this,
when I got this email, was--

it was just like...

MAX:
It was an email taking back

numerous slanderous
allegations

she had supposedly made
against Larry.

But I had no idea

about any of the allegations
in the first place.

RAVEN:
When you try to read it,

it doesn't make any sense.

She never said this stuff
to anybody.

If you look at the words,
these are Larry words.

It's Larry's attempt to undo

what I was saying
all around campus.

♪ ♪

MAX: I mean, who writes
an open letter to the dean

and CC's their entire dorm?

The fact
that one of their students

would send an email like this

should have absolutely raised
alarm bells.

They didn't even
reach out to us.

They didn't ask any questions.

JULI ANNA:
I mean, I was shocked

and really confused,

and frankly just thought

Claudia had gone off
the deep end.

GABE: I tried to get
in contact with her.

I got no response

until all of a sudden
she called me.

Out of the blue.

- That was when I think
I would have first started

using the word "cult"
to talk about what was going on.

- I talked about it a lot,
especially to Max.

I would say, "Do you think
this is happening?"

"Do you think
he's abusing them?"

"Do you think
that they're okay?"

Like, I had a lot of theories

about what could be going on.

But none of them
were as elaborate

or horrible
as what was actually to come.