Christina Teresa Zerby
Christina Teresa Zerby (born March 19, 1979) is the daughter of Karen Zerby and Michael Sweeney (aka Timothy Concerned), and step-daughter of David Berg. She is also the half-sister of Ricky Rodriguez. Known throughout Family publications as Techi (more recently, Keana, and other pseudonyms have included Chris, Tessy, and Terry), her legal name, likeness and location have long been closely guarded secrets — as is the case for most members of World Services.
In May 1982 The Family published a book written by Techi's nanny, Dora Techi, entitled Techi's Life Story. Portions of it were later order destroyed (see pubs purge).
During her early teenage years she was the subject of the Techi Series of internal publications, which helped lead to mandatory Open Heart Reports for many Family children.
In 1987, in a Family-produced book titled Heaven's Children, David Berg published sexual fantasies about Techi (see Berg on Incest).
Pregnancy
Techi is married to Nat (SGA; not his legal name, son of Paul Theophilus) and they have a son named Trevor who was born late 1995 or early 1996 in Texas, USA. In Don Lattin's book, Jesus Freaks, there is speculation that Techi was really impregnated by a "Swiss man with blonde hair and in his 40s". This man went by "Frank" and has since left the cult. She was 14-years old when she became pregnant while living in Portugal with her mother. After she became pregnant, they sent her to live in Canada (near Vancouver, BC) and encouraged her to find someone around her age to marry and claim to be the child's father.
In Not Without My Sister, Celeste Jones, who lived with Techi and Karen Zerby, wrote:
[describing a telephone conversation with Rick Rodriguez in early January 2005]
'You know, I feel so bad for Techi," I told him. 'When I was there in Mama's Home she lacked any desire or ambition. She didn't take care of her appearance, her room was in an appalling state, and she always seemed so depressed.
Davidito choked up. 'But you should have seen her before they broke her. She was so full of life and was a completely different person.'
He talked about the Techi Series and blamed his mother for destroying her mind. He also told me something even more shocking. The father of Techi's son was unknown and she had said officially that it was between two older teen boys, but Davidito told me that he believed that the father was most likely Frank, an older man in his late thirties. I had met Frank in Mama's home when I first arrived, but he left shortly after.
What makes me the most angry is that it was our own mother who tried to entrap and control her. Techi wanted to leave the Home because there were no other young people, so our mother arranged for Frank to have dates with her. She was barely sixteen. And you know what the hardest thing about it is? Frank was my friend. It's just so fucked up.'
[...]
I talked with Elixcia about what Davidito had said about Techi and Frank, and she confirmed that she knew about it. I got Frank's email address and wrote to him, asking him to come clean and answer these charges. He never replied.
Instead Elixcia got a frantic call from Frank, who now lived in Switzerland. He had a new life outside the cult, a good job as a businessman and admitting his past would be devastating. He could not do it.
What a coward, I thought.
- Source: Celeste Jones. "Is Justice a Dream?" in Jones, Celeste, Kristina Jones, and Julianna Buhring. Not Without My Sister. London: Harper Element, 2007, 356-357,360-361.
Writings by Christina Zerby
- Techi Speaks Out — In defense of The Family International
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