(Court TV) — Karin and Jacques Robidoux claimed they were following the word of God when they took their 10-month-old son off of solid food and placed him on rigid diet consisting of only the pregnant defendant's breast milk.

For 51 days, the Massachusetts couple allowed their son, Samuel, to slowly and painfully starve to death right in front of their eyes. The Robidoux's were part of a small religious sect called "The Body" that believed group members would receive direct messages or "leadings" from God.

It was a leading of one member — Karin Robidoux's sister-in-law — that led to the victim's death by starvation. Karin was also placed on an almost equally debilitating diet, required to drink a gallon of "almond milk" a day.

In 2002, a jury heard these claims and convicted Jacques Robidoux of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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Karin Robidoux was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial, but ultimately faced a Bristol County jury in January 2004.

While the prosecution maintained Karin Robidoux starved the infant to death, the defense insisted that the 28-year-old was a victim of a cult that mentally abused her. If convicted of the top count of second-degree murder, she faced life in prison.

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Prosecutors allege Karin and Jacques Robidoux began depriving their son, Samuel, of solid foods in March 1999 after Jacques' sister reported having a vision.

Michelle Mingo said she had a "leading" that Karen was vain because she was slim, and needed to eliminate such a vice. To do so, Mingo instructed Karin to drink a gallon of almond milk a day and only feed Samuel water and breast milk 20 minutes every hour.
On April 26, 1999, Samuel was dead.

Three months after Samuel's death, Rebecca Corneau, another sister of Jacques Robidoux, sister, and her husband David, both cult members, say she gave birth to a baby that was stillborn.

The group reported neither death to authorities. Prosecutors say that in October the cult took a trip to Baxter State Park in Maine for a religious celebration called the "Feast of Tabernacles," and that while there they buried the tiny bodies of Samuel Robidoux and Jeremiah Corneau.

Meanwhile, Robidoux's former brother-in-law, Dennis Mingo, who left the cult long before Samuel's death, turned over a 10-page handwritten account he found in his home detailing Samuel's deteriorating condition.

After meeting with Dennis Mingo, police began to investigate. The adults in The Body refused to talk. But police interviewed children of the cult members, who confirmed Samuel died. The children also told police of the camping trip to Maine, which was when Samuel and his cousin Jeremiah were buried.

With their evidence stacking up, police leaned on baby Jeremiah's father, David Corneau, who was an active cult member and Robidoux's brother-in-law. Police arrested Corneau and other members for contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with investigators. Corneau reluctantly agreed to help state police by leading them to the babies' remains after prosecutors granted him immunity.

The medical evidence could not confirm what exactly killed little Samuel Robidoux, but it was definitely linked his malnourishment.