During Rodriguez's childhood, he and his mother Karen Zerby and adoptive father David Berg, both of whom were leaders of The Family, traveled across the world to convert followers.

Despite leaving The Family and finding marriage, Rodriguez struggled to adjust to life outside the cult and sought revenge for his abuse.

The next day, Rodriguez invited Smith to his apartment, where he murdered her by slitting her throat and stabbing her, before driving to Blythe, California, where he died by suicide.

Another former member considered it, out of other suicides in the group, to be one of the worst moments in The Family's history, and noted that Rodriguez's accounts were corroborated with other victims' stories of abuse.

[3] Rodriguez was unofficially adopted by David Berg, the group's founder and Zerby's husband, and was given the nickname "Davidito" and often referred to as "the prince".

The book contains descriptions of adults sexually molesting the child Rodriguez, describing this abuse in a "celebratory" tone.

[10][11][12] One of his nannies, Angela M. Smith, who was also Zerby's personal secretary,[6] was included in the photos,[2] in one of which she is undoing his pants; the picture is captioned "Undressing ... for Sue!"

[7] Berg later ordered "Davidito" and similar documents that had been created to be purged or references to sex removed,[3] but former members were able to establish its existence by distributing the material via email.

[2][14] A British court, headed by Lord Justice Ward, issued a verdict during an investigation related to a 1995 trial, stating that the Davidito book was an example of Berg's promotion of pedophilia within the group, and that the leadership considered it a guidebook for adult–child relationships.

Rodriguez took a job on a fishing boat in Alaska, began to take knife-based martial arts lessons, and spent time at a shooting range while trying to obtain a gun permit.

[2][19] According to Munumel, however, when they first met in Budapest, Rodriguez began having reservations about Berg's teachings, which noticeably contradicted the Bible, and expressed his frustrations to her about the group as a whole.

[3] She said he heard stories from former members and carried guilt because of his position as a future leader of The Family, which he felt contributed to the abuse of other children.

[21] In 2002, Rodriguez made a post on the website "Moving On" accusing Berg of abusing his own daughters and granddaughter in the Philippines, and describing Zerby as apathetic and violent towards her children.

[23] Ex-member Sarah Martin, who corresponded with Rodriguez through the site, said that he carried this huge weight on his shoulders, never got over the Davidito prophecy and felt he had a need to put an end to Zerby's abuse.

[3] Rodriguez's friend, ex-member Daniel Nathan Roselle, advised taking legal action, but he was mostly concerned with finding Zerby and Amsterdam.

[26] On January 7, of that year, Rodriguez recorded a videotape in which he discussed his thoughts of suicide and his desire for revenge, describing himself as a vigilante.

[4] He presented numerous weapons including a Glock 23 pistol, a KA-BAR knife, a drill, a soldering iron, and duct tape, some of which he planned to use for torture.

Mark Fuller, who was in charge of the homicide investigation, assumed Rodriguez had killed Smith because she was responsible for his abuse; but because of scant details about her involvement in his childhood, authorities initially could not ascertain the real motive.

Carlos Valdez said Smith died shortly before her body was recovered[26] and that Rodriguez had left for Blythe twelve hours prior.

[30] Stephen A. Kent, a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta, said while Rodriguez was unjustifiable in the murder, one "can understand his frustration and rage" because "he and others from that generation" had never seen justice or resolve "from all the abuse they suffered".

[1] Don Lattin, a journalist and author who spent two years studying Rodriguez' motives for the murder, published a book called Jesus Freaks.

[1] Staff at Palo Alto's Restoration Hardware, Smith's workplace, remembered her as a kind person; her boss stated, "There was nothing creepy about Angela".

[1] The non-profit Safe Passage Foundation was established partially as a result of Rodriguez' suicide in an aim to protect minors from "high-demand organisations" and to provide them with support and resources to leave those groups.

[35] In an internal memo, Zerby told followers of The Family that reporters were trying to "make Ricky look like a hero and role model" rather than a perpetrator of a crime.

Claire Borowik, the spokesperson for The Family, said both deaths were tragic but that media reports portrayed Smith as an offender and Rodriguez as a victim.

[36] Borowik also compared Rodriguez' upbringing to one in "a nudist colony" and cited scholars who argue sexual practices similar to those of The Family do not harm children.