Since L. Ron Hubbard himself died, David Miscavige has been the leader of the Church of Scientology. Handpicked by the church's founder himself, Miscavige is one of the best-known — and most powerful — Scientology figures in the world, having clawed his way to the top with ruthless tactics and alleged violence.
For a decade, no one has seen his wife in public.
Shelly Miscavige — her real name is Michele — rose through the ranks of the church along with David Miscavige and became what Vanity Fair called "the First Lady of Scientology." She was a member of the Sea Organization, an elite group that requires members to contractually commit to a billion years of service. And after a botched reorganization project in 2006, according to Vanity Fair, she disappeared from public life. Ask a Scientology member about her, and they won't say anything.
Karin Pouw, the director of public affairs for the Church of Scientology, declined to discuss Shelly Miscavige's whereabouts with Business Insider. She cited their security, noting that "the Church leader and its parishioners have been subjected to numerous violent threats, including death threats."
But there is an alternate theory: Many Anti-Scientology activists and whistleblowers think she's being held in a private bunker run by the church, in a fenced-off compound.
It's near Twin Peaks, California, about a 40 minutes' drive from San Bernardino.
It is, of course, possible that's entirely wrong. Shelly Miscavige may be working for the Church alongside her husband. She just may be doing it in secret.
Or not.
One anti-Scientology activist, who goes by the pseudonym "Angry Gay Pope," visited the compound earlier this year and shared his photos with Business Insider.
He found spiked "ultrabarrier" spiked fences, razor wire, motion detectors, infrared spotlights, and satellite dishes.
Pope also noted pink ribbons. Were they a memorial?
Taken together, the compound's perimeter was designed so that it isn't easy for visitors to get inside.
Or out.
Shelly and David Miscavige clawed their way through the ranks of Scientology in tandem.
At 12 years old, in the early 1970s, Shelly Miscavige, born Michele Barnett, joined the Sea Organization, a sector of the Church of Scientology where members pledge their lives for a billion years of service. She was one of Hubbard's most devoted followers, according to a 2014 issue of Vanity Fair.
She and David Miscavige got romantically involved, married in 1982, and worked alongside each other in the upper echelons of the organization.
Her mother died in 1985 under mysterious circumstances. Mary Florence Barnett's body was found dead with three bullet holes in the chest from a rifle, one bullet hole in the head, and both of her wrists slashed. She left two suicide notes. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide.
"For decades, Shelly Miscavige had been the First Lady of Scientology," Ned Zeman wrote Vanity Fair. "Graceful and smiling, she was always by Miscavige’s side — during virtually every meeting, every trip, every photo op."
Shelly held watch over Tom Cruise when he married Nicole Kidman.
One way to look at Shelly's power is that she held watch over Tom Cruise, Scientology's most famous adherent.
When Cruise married Nicole Kidman in 1990, Shelly was personally responsible for interviewing members of their household staff, Lawrence Wright writes in "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief."
Former executives of the church told Wright that the church offered "unpaid clergy" to renovate their home and, in doing so, "installed a sophisticated audiovisual system.""Scientologists who worked for Cruise and Kidman reported to the church about whatever they observed," Wright writes.
Some Scientology insiders say Shelly and David were never really romantic.
Several observers said that there was little love between the two. Vanity Fair said that David was more of a boss than a husband, and that the two slept in separate bedrooms.
"I never, ever, ever saw them kiss," a former Scientologist and Sea Org member, told Vanity Fair. "I had plenty of opportunities to witness them together and never, ever saw them affectionate with each other."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider