Police have charged 12 members of a religious group with murder in connection with the death of Elizabeth Struhs, 8, of Queensland a few months ago. Police say he was denied care for days due to a hidden medical condition. After Elizabeth's death in January, her parents, Jason Struhs, 50, and Kerrie Struhs, 47, were charged with murder, assault and failure to provide for their needs. They face a life sentence for murder. They have not yet applied. On Tuesday, after a six-month investigation, police charged 12 other people with murder, all members of a small independent religious group. Authorities said the men, aged between 19 and 65, were with Elizabeth before her death but did not seek help as her condition worsened. Twelve people and Elizabeth's parents "were present within six days of the illness," Queensland police detective Acting Superintendent Garry Watts said on Wednesday. "They actively participated in that engagement and did not provide any medical assistance to the child in those six days." Police said they believed Elizabeth died on January 7 at her family home, but paramedics were not contacted until the next afternoon. Photographs released by the police show police raiding a house in Toowoomba on Tuesday morning and arresting 12 people inside. Elizabeth's sister Jayde Struhs, 24, spoke out against her parents' religious group. The oldest of eight children, Jayde Struhs said he left home to distance himself from his parents and the 16-year-old group when he realized she was a romantic woman. The group did not celebrate Christmas, believing members' intentions were to serve God and refusing to get involved in medical treatment, he said. "There is no outside help, no medicine, no Panadol, doctors, dentists, or anything," he said in an interview. It was all ‘God will heal. He added that the group claimed to be anonymous and simply called themselves "God's people or Jesus." He described his sister as a "very bright 8-year-old" who was prone to pranks, said he had diabetes and needed insulin. Police have not yet identified the medical condition that led to Elizabeth's death. Her family members were "saddened and saddened" when they heard of the death, Jayde Struhs wrote to GoFundMe which he started after Elizabeth's death to raise money to support his other siblings. "We are faced with the brutal fact that the people who should have been protecting him did not see him, and we may not be fully aware of what happened," he wrote. Charging 14 people to the murder of one child was unusual, Watts said. "I have never seen him in almost 40 years as a police officer."
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