Rodriguez and his parents David Berg and Karen Zerby, both of whom were cult group leaders, traveled across the world while they were members of the cult, which was formerly known as Children of God (COG). Berg believed Rodriguez was called upon to become a prophet during the biblical End Times. During his early childhood, Rodriguez was brought up in a heavily promiscuous environment and was sexually abused by numerous people, including a cohort of nannies, as described in the COG-published document titled "The Davidito Book". In 1999, he married, left The Family and went to live in the United States but he struggled to adjust to life outside the cult and sought revenge for his abuse. Rodriguez left his wife in Tacoma, Washington, and traveled across the U.S. in an attempt to find Zerby. After learning his former nanny Angela M. Smith was in Tucson, Arizona, he stayed with people he knew there until he settled in an apartment. On January 7, 2005, he recorded a video, saying he needed to take retribution for abuse in The Family—including his own—alluding to murder. The next day, Rodriguez invited Smith to his home for dinner, where he stabbed her to death before driving to Blythe, California, and committing suicide.