Was Chloe Driver having a psychotic break triggered by her cult leader husband, or did she purposefully kill her 13-month-old daughter?
A Georgia jury answered that question when it returned a verdict on Nov 20.
The 24-year-old mother was found both mentally ill and guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in one of the most bizarre and horrific cases in recent memory.
Prosecutors paint a disturbing picture of Chloe Driver’s family life — involving abusive rituals and urine drinking — before it all came to a bloody end on Dec. 8, 2020. That day, she grabbed a knife from the kitchen of her Canton, Georgia, home, locked herself in the bedroom with her daughter Hannah, and slashed her baby to death, according to trial testimony revealed in an investigative report by The Independent.
A closer look at the events leading up to the tragedy uncovered a rabbit hole so deep it shocked even the police.
Driver lost it after a minor confrontation with her husband, Benyamin Ben Michael, who had two other wives. He had thrown a dirty shirt at her when she asked for something clean to change Hannah.
“From that moment on, I snapped,” Driver told Dr. Jacquelyn Zahm, who evaluated her mental state after the murder.
Ben Michael attempted CPR and called the police, who found the mother and baby covered in blood on the mattress. They were rushed to the hospital, where the daughter succumbed to her injuries, according to the investigative report.
The ER doctor who treated Hannah testified that the baby was “empty of blood” when she arrived at the hospital.
Prosecutors said the young mother killed her baby because she was tired of her unconventional relationship and wanted her husband all to herself. They read excerpts from an alleged confession letter to the court.
“He didn’t do it. I did it,” Driver wrote about her husband, Ben Michael, who also went by “Z” or Brian Joyce. “I was going insane and no longer wanted to be with his friends but kept coming back for him. I only wanted my baby and husband but he refused.”
“She wanted to be with him, and he was never going to give up his polygamist lifestyle that they had adopted,” argued the prosecution.
Driver’s defense team attempted to raise an insanity plea, citing a long history of abuse and several mental health issues, including paranoia, borderline personality disorder, cannabis use disorder.
“She believed she was downloading her sin – all the bad parts about her, into her child through breastfeeding,” testified Dr. McLendon Garrett, a forensic psychologist who interviewed her after the slaying.
Dr. Garrett added that she suffered delusions that her husband — and his wives — wanted her to kill herself and her baby. Driver also revealed disturbing details about the rituals she claimed she was subjected to.
This included a punishment called “dark therapy,” where she was restricted to a bed in a dark bedroom and denied bathroom access which forced her to urinate on herself. The cult-like group also had extreme health practices, including drinking their own urine, according to witness testimony.
When Driver first met Ben Michael at age 17, he was 21 years her senior and the leader of a roaming religious group.
“She was incredibly isolated and mentally unwell,” said Dr. Garrett, according to The Independent. “Her relationship with the group and its dynamics created a perfect storm.”
Though the revelations about her personal life were shocking, they did not sway the jury, who came back with a guilty verdict to charges of malice murder, felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, and aggravated assault. Driver will be sentenced on Dec. 12.
