sugarcoat this stop dumbing-down all my emotions ♪ ♪ when it just sucks when you're holding on for your life ♪ ♪ to a rope that's just floating in the night ♪ [ cheers and applause ] wolves actor turned self-described medicine man. >> it's something sacred. it's a mystery inside his spiritual group, the circle. >> all i can say is really makes me sick. he ran it like a cult. >> now, facing a litany of charges, he denies how authorities say he used his power to lure young girls from

california to canada. >> he said that it would cost me my virginity. >> the mother and daughter speaking out tonight. >> he uses the love for their parent as a weapon. who does that? >> chasing horse currently behind bars. >> do you think of yourself as a survivor? >> the person i was did not survive that. so no, i'm not a survivor. >> this special edition of nightline leaving chasing horse nightline leaving chasing horse will be right back a good throw? ♪ now with vitamin d for the dark days of winter. (vo) for over 50 years purina cat chow has been helping cats feel at home. now with vitamin d with trusted nutrition, no wonder it's the number one dry cat food in america. come home to cat chow.

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>> this special edition of nightline leaving chasing horse continues here now. juju chang. >> it was a stunning fall from grace. police raiding the home of nathan chasing horse, an actor and self-described medicine man once revered in indigenous communities. now reviled and behind bars, indigenous culture is beautiful. >> it's the people that misuse it that are ugly. he didn't help a person. >> you can't question the guy. he's the all knowing. >> the former child star once acted in the oscar winning dances with wolves alongside kevin costner. >> the actors that were in dances with wolves really became celebrities in indian country. they were heroes, right? >> an indigenous actor who broke through in hollywood again in

shows like dreamkeeper. >> let's get the hell out of here. >> gene and steven spielberg's into the west. he transformed himself from a respected actor to a respected medicine man in a video posted online. a young chasing horse describes how he viewed the role of a healer. >> ceremony is what taku wakan. it's something sacred. it's a mystery. >> now 48, he's accused of luring young girls from california to canada, allegedly raping them and making some of them his spiritual wives under the false guise of traditional practices. awaiting trial in las vegas, where he faces 18 counts, including sexual assault of a minor and kidnaping of a minor. he's pled not guilty. >> he makes me sick. he ran it like a cult. >> just think about how hard it was for women in hollywood to come out publicly about what they had suffered at the hands of harvey weinstein. it's the same thing in indian country and in our tribal communities. when you have someone that has that

much power and influence, it is very hard to speak out. >> tonight, inside chasing horses controversial spiritual group, the circle and the former followers now bravely speaking out. >> who uses a child? he uses the love for their parent as a weapon. who does that? >> do you think of yourself as a survivor? >> no, i did not survive that. the person i was did not survive that. so no, i'm not a survivor >> this is your baby shower? yeah. >> she was in my tummy. there she is. she's cute. >> when melissa leone gave birth to her daughter, ren leone lacroix, she wanted her to be rooted in native culture. something melissa says she didn't have since she'd been adopted. >> i was really raised in a white home. i wasn't raised

native. >> how important was it to rediscover that? >> oh, it was like the lights being turned on in a dark room. it felt so open. it felt so loving. >> soon she met chasing horse, who, like her, is lakota. the largest tribe of the sioux nation, known for fabled warriors like sitting bull, who defeated the u.s. army at little bighorn. ren says from the moment she met him, chasing horse drew her in. how old were you when you first met him? >> i was seven, and i remember thinking he was one of the most beautiful people i'd ever seen. he had a way of just, like swallowing the energy wherever he was. >> ren and melissa say they believed chasing horse for more than a decade, traveling with him around the u.s. and canada. videos on youtube showing him speaking about his spiritual ways. >> there is nothing impossible. >> chasing horse kept his inner circle close. ren and melissa a part of it, accompanying him in videos posted online.

>> he used our spirituality to trap us. we were told as a circle that the eighth was the day we fill the pipe like a tithing of sorts. >> melissa estimates she gave chasing horse between 15 to $20,000 a year, so the circle was financing his world. according to the arrest report, chasing horse allegedly had as many as seven spiritual wives at the same time. >> he had told us that it was like traditional for holy men to have multiple wives, because they medicine men needed more help than most people, and so that's why he needed more love and more care. >> as she got older, ren's talent in traditional dances like jingle dancing was often showcased at powwows. chasing horse would have her upload these videos to youtube. in 2012, melissa says she was given a grim cancer diagnosis and she

turned to her spiritual leader chasing horse. >> he said it's okay, sun ren and asked for ceremony. >> so ren obeyed. just 14 at the time, she went to see chasing horse at his vegas home. she says she had no idea she was walking into danger. >> he had always been my safe space. the things that i couldn't tell my mom, i could tell him. he had taken me into a closet and the spirits in. there was a rattle. they had said that my mom had gotten sick because of her own anger. >> so you were asked to sacrifice yourself to save your mom? yeah. >> he said that it would cost me my virginity. i had tried saying no at first, and he said that if i didn't, that my mom would die and she wouldn't get help. he had raped me. shortly after that. yeah i just kept. remember thinking. that this is for your

mom. >> as a 25 year old, you know what consent means. did you give consent? no. were you able to give consent? no after that day, ren says chasing horse made her stay with him for several months. according to a police report, she said he took her on the road with him and raped her every night. in court documents chasing horses, defense attorneys say ren did not testify that she told nathan no and did consent to sex with nathan in a transactional manner to help her mom. during that time, melissa, still a believer in nathan's alleged spiritual power, recovered and says she had no idea about what her daughter later described enduring. >> it makes me feel like the worst mother on the planet. like it's unforgivable. and i how she held that for so long. >> can you articulate why you didn't tell her?

>> he said that it was a sacred promise between him, me and the spirits, and that if i told that my mom would get sick again. >> mary kathryn nagle is a citizen of the cherokee nation. she's an attorney who works closely with indigenous victims of violence and sexual assault. >> our religious leaders, our spiritual leaders, they are trusted. and when they violate that trust, it's incredibly damaging. >> more than 50% of american indian and alaska native women will experience sexual violence in their lifetimes. >> individual perpetrators have to be held accountable. it's hard, though, because i think the stigma on our communities is so incredibly strong, so there's a lot of pressure to shove it under the rug, hide it. >> my name is tasha horstman but my english name is arvol. looking horse. >> chief arvol looking horse is a respected spiritual leader of

the lakota sioux nation. the same tribe is chasing horse. his family has been charged with protecting the sacred lakota traditions for 19 generations. >> we have to deal with the abuse of a medicine person and our ceremonies should be the most safest place you can be. it's about health and healing. >> chief looking horse recently convened members of standing rock and cheyenne river reservations about the misuse of lakota practices by both native and non-native people. >> six doesn't have anything to do with our ceremony. our tradition. the women are the backbone of our nation, he says. >> taking multiple wives is no longer a lakota practice. in 2003, he spoke out against chasing horse. >> all i can say is really makes me sick. he ran it like a cult. >> when asked about allegations that chasing horse misused spiritual practices, his attorneys replied no comment.

ren says that when she was 16, after years of keeping chasing horses alleged physical advances secret, she told her mom that she was in love and wanted to become one of his spiritual wives. >> i looked at it as an honor. when she told me that she loved him, that was enough. >> i've heard some people suggest that perhaps your mother should have been able to protect you. >> i get really upset when they try saying that, because there's no way my mom could have known the way he disconnected all of us wives from our families. i had to make myself so small to be there. >> coming up, the moment that changes everything for ren. plus, the former helper of nathan chasing horse. what he says he saw it was the beginning of the end for him. stay with us >> homeowners, when your water

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>> for melissa leone and ren leone, la croix, this is how silence breaks. you ruined everything. billie eilish blasting in the car. her song happier than ever, an anthem for the duo, made all my moments your own. and as the final chorus crescendos, so too does courage. and on that note, emboldened as they enter a las vegas court to see one of the most notable names in their community, actor and

self-described medicine man nathan chasing horse. three years after leaving him, ren, now face to face with the man she says abused her. >> i'm not worried about the waiting as long as he's not out. >> the 48 year old stands charged with 18 counts, including sexual assault of a minor, kidnaping and lewdness. he's pleaded not guilty. >> it felt so good to see him behind bars. that was his karma. >> fernando trujillo thought he'd found healing with chasing horses spiritual group. the circle. >> the majority of the people in these ceremonies were not lakot, so we couldn't really question him on anything. >> he saw many women and girls, including ren, around chasing horse. and while fernando says he never saw any physical abuse, he began to feel uncomfortable. >> his wives had to wear these noisemakers bells so that we could hear them when they're

coming and look straight down to the floor or turn our backs and not look at them because we'd go blind. that's how controlle everybody was. >> unbeknownst to fernando, when he joined the circle in 2006, there had been whispers of misbehavior for years. in 2005, tribal authorities on the fort peck reservation in montana notified the fbi of the possible sexual assault of two children. a 13 and a 14 year old. when interviewed by the fbi, chasing horse denied the allegations and ultimately no charges were filed. fernando left the circle in 2014, the same year chasing horse made ren leone lacroix one of his spiritual wives. she was 16. >> he had had me change my name when i was 18. >> what did you change it to? >> chasing horse. we all couldn't get married to him legally, so he had us all legally change our last names. >> did you have conflicts with

the other wives? >> we all did not get along. he was always putting us against each other. she cooks my meals like this. she folds my clothes like this. see if you really loved me. you would braid my hair like so. and so does ren. >> says he encouraged them to get tattoos to match his why? >> spiders. >> the spirits that he believed in. they were spider spirits, according to ren, chasing horse even erupted in fits of violent rage at times. he had choked me and like, slammed my head on the ground to the point where i had been out for three days. i was never allowed to go to the hospital for any of my injuries. if the bruises started to fade, he always made more chasing. >> horse has not been charged for physical assault. when asked about ren's allegations of physical abuse and being denied medical treatment, chasing horses attorney had no comment while chasing horse traveled across the u.s. and canada with ren and his other alleged spiritual wives. some reservations began to raise the

alarm. at least three banished him, including fort peck in 2015. what was the breaking point for you? when did you decide, okay, i'm out of here. i had found out i was pregnant. >> i remember instantly thinking like, oh, i can't keep it. my baby wouldn't be safe. why am i staying knowing i'm just as unsafe and i'm just as unloved and i'm just as unprotected? like, why don't i value myself more? that was intense. >> after nearly a decade, ren finally left the circle in 2021, when she was 23. do you think of yourself as a survivor? it's interesting. >> no, i did not survive that. the person i was did not survive that. so no, i'm not a survivor. >> and then a year later, a tip that would knock the criminal investigations into chasing horse wide open. a woman

reported to the royal canadian mounted police in british columbia that chasing horse allegedly raped her. in 2018, a call was placed to las vegas metropolitan police department talking about investigation that was taking place in canada. stacy collins is a prosecutor with the clark county district attorney's office. after the call from canadian authorities, las vegas investigators found this facebook post from ren where she wrote there would be several times he recorded himself raping me and would take pictures, and all i could do was just lie there. >> you could tell she was so ingrained in this way of life and for her to finally come out of the other side and find her voice, i mean, it's very powerful. i think she's inspiring to other victims. >> when police officers in north vegas raided chasing horses home early last year, they say they found firearms and a memory card

that contained a disturbing video, according to the arrest report. the recording showed a sexual act with a minor between the age of 11 and 13, and the adult male clearly observed and identified as nathan chasing horse. the fbi has filed a criminal complaint alleging sexual exploitation and possession of child. when abc news asked chasing horse's attorneys about the alleged video and the fbi complaint, they replied no comment. in the nevada case where ren's testimony is critical, he could face life behind bars if convicted. chasing horse pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have appealed to the nevada supreme court, arguing prosecutors failed to present exculpatory evidence, submitted illegal evidence and abused grand jury proceedings. >> the state will be ready to go to trial when and if that happens, but the cases are only mounting. >> authorities in canada and montana have also issued warrants for chasing horses

arrest. >> we anticipate that there will be more victims come forward. >> chasing horse has been behind bars in las vegas for more than 19 months. in court, his supporters and alleged spiritual wives a visible presence, seeing him in chains and seeing him be the one that listened to other people for once has been a strange reward. ren now still healing. she's worked with other indigenous youth and is learning to love dancing again. >> dancing was always something i really loved. i think there's like this weird sense of lack of connection physically when you go through abuse. so when i dance, it's like i'm telling my body what to do. you're in control. it is. we'll be right control. it is. we'll be right back and joints, count me in. along with clearer skin,

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>> all rise. >> the nevada supreme court still hasn't ruled on nathan chasing horse's latest appeal to have his criminal case dismissed. ren, determined to see the case go to trial, is ready to testify if called. >> it took me a long time to realize the full extent of what he took from me. he took my whole life everything i ever knew. and i want that for him >> more americans