Truth and Lies: The Doomsday Prophet (2024) Movie Script
1
was one of nine wives.
Growing up in a plural
marriage, I didn't really know
anything different.
We were just normal people.
We're not a big scary cult. Like the world likes to paint us as
there's much more to it than
the pastel dresses and the funky
hairdos.
f I want my children in the
afterlife, I'll approve of my
husband having other wives.
t's a requirement of god.
How can you believe that?
How can you do that?
How can I live my religion?
This was god's word.
wanted to be married.
just didn't want to be married
at 14.
The role of these young women
is basically to be breeding
stock for the prophet.
He could just have any woman he
wanted.
My sisters have been moved
somewhere.
s anybody here?
have no idea where to even
look for them.
Back off.
Back off.
When Warren took over, it
went from a church that believed
in a basic set of principles, to
just believing in a man.
The flds people considered
him next to god.
They believed Warren Jeffs can
do no wrong.
Warren issued this revelation
from his prison cell.
t says, within five years
the children will be translated
to heaven.
But the problem is, you have to
die first.
What's going on here?
s he talking about a Jonestown
thing?
Something like waco could
happen.
You'll be ready for me.
was actually born and
raised in salt lake until about
fifth grade.
Then our family moved to here.
've been here pretty much ever
since.
t's -- I loved living here.
t's a great place.
We have gorgeous mountains
around us.
We like to go hiking.
grew up in salt lake and
your friends and family are
spread out all over the place.
You gather for church, but you
don't see each other.
Here you get to be on a daily
basis with people who believe in
the same thing you do.
For the fourth of July we had
celebrations.
Everybody would gather together,
play games.
We had dances.
We had social functions.
t was one of those little
america towns that I loved
growing up in.
Flds means the fundamentalist
of latter-day saints.
t started out as a group of
people that wanted to believe a
certain way.
They believed in plural
marriage, which is having more
my name is Kristen.
Decker.
My father had 13 wives and 23
biological children.
had 8 mothers, 62 brothers
and sister.
'm 1 of 14 children and I
had two mothers.
come from a family with one
dad and two moms, 25 siblings.
Salt lake city, Utah, and the
home of the fundamentalist
believer in plural marriage.
The practice and preachment of
polygamy.
The origins of this story are
that this group came into the
western United States led by
brigham young settled in the
state of Utah and the practice
of polygamy became fundamental
to that territory, to that land.
When it became clear that Utah
was crosswise with the federal
government, the prophet said
we're done.
A lot of people said, we're
still practicing polygamy.
A whole bunch of them went to
short creek, in the middle of
nowhere.
This area is kind of
isolated.
Of course back then it was a lot
more isolated.
They wanted to go down there
and be left alone and continue
to practice polygamy.
We have been persecuted as a
people, but we still feel like
what we believe in is the truth.
There's a lot more to life than
just on this earth.
We believe in a hereafter.
We were always taught a man
had to have three wives in order
to get into heaven and seven if
you was in a leadership
position.
We are truly grateful for the
little one that gets to help out
and make the whole circle work.
We're very different in
personality and character, but
there are similarities that we
understand as a family.
t's a team.
There's a good phrase.
Many hands make light work.
Get as many hands involved as
possible if you want to get
something done.
t's been really fun having
the children in groups of two
and together.
think the little children
depend and lean on each other.
really wanted to have a boy
too so we could have two boys
together.
That didn't work out.
had two children before
Barbara was married to Richard.
Having her there to carry the
other side of the load when I am
not up and going, especially
with the new baby, I am so
grateful.
You know, I want to be there for
her.
There's so many heart aches
of plural marriage and our
husband taking another wife.
was married at the age of
was one of nine wives.
believe that polygamy breeds
abuse.
t starts with jealousy in the
women and it is control and
narcissist in the men.
was 17 when I got married.
Right off the bat my husband was
looking for other wives.
t's okay for them to look at
other girls and flirt with other
girls.
t was just heart breaking.
Plural marriage always is in
the eye of the beholder.
For some it's nothing but
patriarchal male-dominated
power.
For the men and women in plural
marriage, it becomes a profound,
daily act of faith.
You've got to be doing this
because you want to.
Do it because you love what
we're about.
There's a lot of people that
don't.
They believe truly, truly
believe that they are following
one of the doctrines of god
given uniquely unto a small
gathering of people.
f I want my children in
eternity, I will approve of my
husband having other wives.
We have to do this.
t's a requirement of god.
Yet it's hurtful.
There were times I thought I
would curl up and die, and
wanted to die.
t is a patriarchal order.
They do have a lot of control or
authority over the women.
t always has been that way.
t was always the cutest
girls and older men that wanted
those girls.
'll give you miff daughter if
you give me yours.
The decisions that were claimed
to be from god, I don't think
that god would have done that.
think the predtation of
young girls has been a hallmark.
These young girls are to be
breeding stock for the prophet.
Growing up in a plural
marriage, I didn't know anything
different.
was a child.
was a very happy, innocent
person.
t was what I knew.
t was the way I lived.
So I thought I had a great
childhood.
had a couple moms and my
mother was a wonderful mom.
My mother had 14 kids and my dad
had 25 all together.
They loved their children, but
they don't have a full
comprehension that the
environment they're in is not
safe for the kids.
had many tough days.
One of them would very likely be
the day I was married.
n this culture, in the flds,
it's a girl's greatest goal and
her ultimate accomplishment.
But for me it was very much the
opposite.
was at a family gathering with
lots of people.
All the family members and the
extended family members and my
stepfather just casually
announced to the family that
three of his girls were going to
be married.
Mind you, he had several, well
over ten girls in a certain age
range.
So at that point in time I had
no inkling that it would be me.
Then a couple days later he told
me I was going to be one of
those girls.
wanted to be married.
did.
knew in my culture how much it
was what I was working towards.
just didn't want to be married
at 14.
n most situations the
prophet would decide who they're
going to marry.
n many cases these girls and
men didn't even meet their
partners until the day of the
wedding.
We was taught you're married
first and then you fall in love.
met my wife on Sunday and
married her on Monday.
You know, I had no idea who she
was.
She didn't know who I was.
She told me later, I wanted to
swing in and see.
f it was your little brother, I
was going to keep on driving.
Then it was you and I thought I
could do this.
We got married the next day.
She didn't tell me that until
years later.
My father picked me up from
work.
We were driving out of the
parking lot and my father said,
you're going to get married.
turned to him and said, who am
I marrying?
Who is he?
What's his name?
He said, you want to know the
name?
As soon as he told me, I was
like, okay, he's not ugly.
That was my first thought.
t was a honeymoon phase for
about a month and then after
that it was really, really hard.
My aunt Dorothy was
devastated when she was 18 and
had to marry an 80-year-old man.
This was common over the years
for them to be assigned randomly
and just like that, real quick.
t was very patriarchal
society.
You were just obedient.
The flds was founded by men
who were very self-centered,
self-serving.
There's a picture of the
prophet, rulon Jeffs with his
wives.
don't know how many there
were, but it would fill half a
basketball court.
My name is Rachel blackmore.
My father is Warren Jeffs and
his father was rulon Jeffs.
was 3 years old when my
grandfather took over the
church.
feel honored in being able
to carry on the foundation laid
by that great and glorious
prophet.
We felt special that
grandfather rulon was the
prophet.
Well, shoot, it's a small
town.
We was hearing stories -- rulon
was married to a lot of young
girls, young girls.
These are vibrant girls.
So as a grandchild, it was
odd to me to see my grandfather
have 2 and 10 and 20 and all
these younger ladies.
Something just felt off.
Rulon Jeffs had his first
major stroke in cement of 1998.
That was compounded by more mini
strokes.
During this process his son
Warren Jeffs started to take
over.
Rulon treated Warren
different than he did the other
children.
Warren was born premature.
They fed hip with an eye dropper
to keep him alive.
They talk about how he was
born in a shoe box.
They liken that to the manger of
Christ.
This is a picture of our
family in 1990.
Warren, his first two wives,
Annette and Barbara.
That's me.
was embarrassed he was my dad.
just always felt like he was
weirder than most guys, and he
was.
He wore weird clothes.
He looked ugly.
Even though I didn't realize how
oppressive he was, he was very
oppressive.
Warren had been calling the
shots already.
Rulon was in decline.
The way he took control was
one teaspoon at a time until the
people were used to taking his
directive.
Warren puts rulon in
isolation where nobody could see
him or talk to him.
Warren Jeffs was manipulating
rulon Jeffs.
was at meeting where rulon
would be speaking and he
and say, did I say everything
you wanted me to say?
Did I get it all?
think Warren took advantage of
his helpless situation.
think Warren, as he slowly
gained power, is the one that
implemented the strict rules.
He didn't let us have TV.
He took all the books away.
Our world was a lot more
restricted.
Grandfather knew Warren was
doing these things and he let
them do it.
When rulon finally died at
92, there's a massive gathering.
t was the largest gathering of
the faithful ever in the history
of short creek.
6,000 people.
How big a loss is it to this
community, sir?
t's a loss, but it will be
continued on.
Warren became the prophet.
Things were starting to go
downhill.
Things were starting to get
dark.
Things did not match with the
teachings I had been taught my
entire life.
didn't particularly care
for him.
couldn't put my finger on it.
The hair on the back of my neck
would just stand up.
don't know why.
t's stuff you can't put your
finger on, but you know it's not
right.
Turns out there were things
going on that was not right.
want all of you to learn
the heavenly gentle touch and
every desire and prayer I will
be strengthened.
The key word is humility, the
humility of service.
Pray for me and you'll be ready
for me.
My name is Mary Holmes.
'm a certified family nurse
practitioner.
've been on the med surge
floor, intensive care unit and
life flight.
went back and got my masters
degree through westminster
college.
have been here doing primary
care for the past 11 years.
love it.
t's very enjoyable.
This is our first patient.
Levi is here to have his ears
looked at.
Last time we saw Levi he had an
ear infection that wouldn't go
away.
He hasn't had a cough or
anything?
No.
The perspective that people
have is how could you possibly
be intelligent at all if you
believe in this religion?
Why would anybody want it?
They can't understand us because
they judge us from their eyes.
Why would someone want to live
like that?
You did so good.
We're just normal people.
We're not a big scary cult that
the world likes to paint us as.
We do love our children.
We have five children, four
boys and this is our first
little girl.
hope that she will be a good
mother.
'm sure that she will want to
be a mother.
Most little girls like dollies.
They like to cuddle babies.
hope that she is a good
singer.
love music very much.
prefer Warren Jeffs' songs.
They're very sweet and lovely.
We will worship together
all for Thanksgiving and
prayer and with song
love keeps us in winter's cold
weather
with the summer heat faith
makes us strong
After his father died, Warren
Jeffs became the prophet.
The flds people considered him
next to god.
They believed that Warren Jeffs
can do no wrong.
t would be impossible for him
to make a mistake.
He's our spiritual leader and
the spiritual contact with the
prophet is what gives you that
fulfillment and happiness and
joy inside.
The women believe and trust
in the prophet so much, they
honestly believe -- and I did
and so did my mother -- that god
sent down inspiration from
heaven, like a strike of
lightning, down to the prophet
and he knew what was best.
When Warren took over, it
went from an organized church
that believed in a basic set of
principles -- it went in that to
just believing in a man.
Warren would say it was a
benevolent dictatorship.
After his father died, Warren
started marrying the wives that
were married to his father.
t really troubled a lot of them
to see Warren marrying his
father's wives.
That was -- you know, that was
completely inappropriate.
Warren Jeffs was interested
in a form of control that had
not been before seen in the
flds.
So many arbitrary rules and
regulations were imposed in
order to achieve that level of
unprecedented control.
No holidays, no birthday
parties, no board games, no
video games, no music, no
novels, no movies.
can't have any toys.
You couldn't ride bikes
either.
Some of us -- two of us kept our
dolls hidden in the closets.
always felt like you could
do the very best and it was
never good enough.
They always wanted more.
Part of the logic there is
that, when you have so many
rules to keep track of, your
brain space, your capacity to
push back or to question or to
think about other things becomes
limited.
They started putting cameras
up around town all over.
They would zero in on certain
people that they suspected might
not agree with what was being
said.
They would watch them.
n 2004 he came in in one fell
swoop he asked 21 men to leave.
was one of those.
He picked four of his big
brothers.
was kicked out right after
my father died.
was considered a -- well, I'll
put it very bluntly.
Warren wanted one of my wives.
They were like you leave, you
leave, you leave.
One was my grandfather.
We didn't know why.
We weren't allowed to ask why.
We're like, he must be a bad
person.
He would be sitting on the
edge of the bedrocking back and
forth.
He was like, I don't know why I
did.
Why?
He kept asking why?
He told us all we were
supposed to go and write a
letter of repenting and give it
to him and list every sin we've
ever done in our entire lives.
We were told that our wives had
been released from us.
f your family's with you at
this time, you're not to say
good-bye.
The wives were given to other
men and their children were
given to them as well.
Just like that there was
probably 1,000 children that
lost their dads that day.
They moved my mom.
They moved her three times now.
My dad's having a hard time
getting them back.
Yeah, this house right here is
where I grew up, this tiny house
on the left.
'm going to go and try to find
my mom.
'm not even sure she's here.
s anybody here?
Hello?
Wow.
They must have just cleaned out
the rooms.
None of my sisters' clothes are
here.
My sisters have been moved
somewhere.
This house is unoccupied as of
right now.
have no idea where to even
look for them.
Oh, this is a note that says,
dear father, I snuck in the back
door to get my sunglasses.
We are praying for you.
Uncle Warren loves you even more
than we do.
We miss you and hope to see you
on the right side.
t's about to make me cry.
t's so lonely in here.
Heavenly father loves us all the
most.
better get going.
Love you lots and lots.
They believe that anyone that's
not for Warren Jeffs is against
Warren Jeffs.
They believe it's a sin to talk
to ex members and outsiders
because they believe that we're
corrupt.
Now you realize they can just
tear people apart, play with
their lives, have any woman he
wanted, take his father's wives.
He went nuts.
desire here today
t was just really crazy.
t got worse and worse.
He would literally come up with
the most bizarre wicked things
and say you were doing them.
People were like, how could
you believe that?
How could you do that?
How could I do what?
Live my religion.
So its one of these situations where the leader
increasingly become more fanatical and the people
follow that fanaticism and they go off the cliff with him
nitially the walls around
Colorado city were constructed
to keep the outside world out,
to protect the true believers in
the community and keep them safe
within their faith, away from
prosecution.
Now they're viewed as walls of
retention, keeping people on the
proper path to make sure they
don't leave the faith, they
don't walk away from the faith's
beliefs.
This is not an open-dialogue
society.
This is a closed set with strict
operating orders.
You look at the way they dress.
Look at the way they interact in
a social setting.
t's finely defined down to
daily activity.
The reason most people think
we look alike is because, first
of all, we're in dresses, and
they're modest.
Well, give you an idea.
This was big last year.
They liked the pleats there.
Plain.
Works good.
t's easy to sew.
This was three years ago.
Everybody was into collars.
Everybody had an embroidery
machines.
This year everybody's selling
their machines.
As the styles and patterns and
fabrics change, then we change.
After rulon passed away,
Warren started attacking the way
we dressed.
God wants the women to remove
buttons from their dresses.
We can't have prints anymore.
t should be all solid colors.
Then it was all one color.
Before they weren't near as
strict when I was way younger.
mean, we wore prints all the
time.
remember seeing -- going to
the harvest fest and seeing
really frilly dresses and things
like that.
Zion is the pure in heart.
As uncle rulon says, Zion is
growing.
We keep it down past our
knees and up to our neck.
They're not allowed to wear
red.
When they said no red, people
threw away so much fabric and
stuff.
No, you're not going to see a
solid red dress.
t represents Christ.
thought it was silly.
We were just told we couldn't
wear red.
Then it was our hair.
He wanted the front of their
hair, the wave, he wanted it
higher.
Some were going so high, it was
like you need a building permit
for that wave.
The braids were okay.
t was French braids all the way
at that point.
You get used to it.
t's like -- it's a habit.
t's like putting on a shirt
every day.
You just put it on.
Coming out here, it was
really weird wearing pants
because I've always been taught
you keep your legs covered.
No one should see in between
your legs.
That was immodesty.
The girls were told you obey
your husband and do your job and
have as many children as you can
and do the best you can and keep
sweet and you will fall in love.
The class will sing one last
song, "keep sweet."
Keep sweet
keep sweet
if you're tried and true, keep
sweet
Keep sweet you could have no
emotions except for sweetness.
That was the only emotional
allowed.
You just need to keep sweet.
You need to be obedient.
That's what you need to be
working on, not worrying about
your mind.
As a kid, I didn't understand
what that meant.
was scared of it to be honest.
f I'm not sweet, then what?
What's going to happen if i'm
not?
Sweet is a word that we all
know.
t means kind.
But sweet meant something else
in flds terminology.
t meant obedient.
Keep sweet was used at every
turn to keep women, primarily
Warren Jeffs' wives in check, so
they wouldn't question and he
could remain in power.
The main purpose for women in
the community, probably bearing
and raising children, to
procreate like god said in the
Bible.
n this culture, in the flds,
it is a girl's greatest goal.
Her ultimate accomplishment.
For me it was very much the
opposite.
Once I found out that I was
going to marry Alan, something
in me Rose up and I really
resisted.
My mother and his father are
related.
They're brother and sister.
He's my first cousin.
He was my husband that they had
arranged for me to marry.
remember thinking she's got
to marry her cousin.
t's down to that same thing.
Don't question the prophet.
He in my mind was a bully.
n my mind he was one of the
worst people on the earth.
was trapped.
felt like I had nowhere to
turn.
so bad did not want to go
through with this marriage.
was crying out for help.
My mother, she couldn't stand up
and say no, you're not going to
do this.
You have to understand the
culture completely to realize
how powerless she really was and
how, because of her beliefs, she
had forfeited some of the tools
she needed to protect me.
was just so broken and I felt
so betrayed.
This I very much remember that
office sign.
Then the ceremony happened in
that little building I remember
the gravel, the crunch of the
gravel walking into that
building and stopping at the
doorway thinking, if there was
somewhere to run, I would.
was coming to the point of no
return.
Alicia wall was a little
younger than me.
She got married while
grandfather was alive.
t was grandfather and uncle
Fred who was supposedly her
stepdad and Warren were all
there and organized that
marriage.
All I know is she got married.
Came to the point where they
wanted me to take my vows and
say I do.
was quiet.
could not bring myself to say
it.
That should have been enough for
them to see how much I really
did not want this.
finally, after a lot of
silence, said, okay, I do.
By then tears were just falling
from my face.
just bowed my head.
was ashamed.
was ashamed and hurt and
Warren just looked right at me
and told me, you kiss Alan.
Finally I turned up and I kissed
in my mind, I now belonged to
Alan.
was his wife.
was to take his direction.
was his wife and property for
the rest of my life.
That's been the thing that
got these guys into trouble
chronically over the years, that
they just can't lay off the
little girls.
t's a model tried and true
keep sweet
As this little isolated,
dusty town grew, it morphed into
an actual municipality that is
completely controlled by a cult.
They got power companies, water
companies, a police force,
elected city officials.
All of them were basically put
in office by Warren Jeffs.
That's the way the town ran for
many, many, many years.
Get out of here.
You back off.
Back off!
We're trying to find out some
answers about the town, in terms
of whether Warren Jeffs is still
creating rules within all the
government buildings here.
Once again, a locked door.
t's becoming a theme here.
The police chief is out of town.
The mayor is out of the office.
The fire chief is not there
either.
We're not allowed to enter any
of the buildings.
Flds communities are very
much controlled when it comes to
the information that flows into
and out of families.
They hold the motto up in their
school classrooms, perfect faith
is perfect obedience.
Neither boys, nor girls were
getting educated.
They became dependent.
The girls because they got
pregnant and the boys because
they were working on work crews.
did construction from when
I was 6 years old until I was
18, when I left.
8-year-olds, 9-year-old
packing bricks all day long.
The girls were at risk for
being placed in marriage.
How old were you when you got
married?
16.
16 years old.
How old were you when you became
pregnant with your first child?
16.
Ruth is one of the most
historically driven people in
this whole drama.
Ruth was given to a police
officer when she was 16 and he's
32 and this man's third pride.
s Ruth's husband guilty of a
statutory sex crime against your
client?
Absolutely.
Sexual conduct with a minor.
My understand is you're a
sworn police officer in both the
state of Utah and the state of
Arizona.
have no comment.
And that you have teenage
brides and perhaps impregnated
this young woman when it would
be a statutory rape.
We don't have anything to say
except to the court.
They brought him to trial on
basically raping this young girl
and they found him guilty.
think women should have the
right to say yes or no or, you
know, I think they should have a
right to say what's going on
with their lives and what's
going to go on with their
children's lives.
Did you have any say like
that in your life?
No.
Warren realized at that
point, if they can come after a
certified police officer for
polygamy, it's only a matter of
time before they come after me.
This was one of the few times
that Warren Jeffs was prophetic.
He was shopping for places
where he could hide his wives.
That's when they went to
Texas.
A little town called El dorado.
t's a small town in west
Texas.
Population about 1,400 people.
You see your friends and
everyone from church and you see
them at the coffee shop.
We had a local businessman
convicted of defrauded the bank.
We had a bus wreck.
We had a murder trial.
On new year's Eve of 2003, I
told Kathy, we'll never have
another year like 2003.
Then in 2004 the flds landed.
t was like an alien landed.
They told the local folks
they were going to have a
corporate hunting retreat.
t didn't look like a hunting
retreat.
t looked like three very large
log cabin type buildings going
up with lots of other equipment
around.
t was pretty obvious that
something was going on.
From the information we had,
it was a religious-oriented
group.
We heard rumors of polygamy.
We hadn't seen any evidence of
that.
They were on our radar.
We weren't all that concerned.
We started hearing about the
yearning for Zion ranch in early
'03 I would say.
t wasn't until about 2005 or
2006 they realized there was a
temple being built.
They poured millions of dollars
into building the temple,
building the grounds, building
the houses.
The money for that temple came
from here.
They were charging businesses
here $2,000 a month per business
and $1,000 a month for every
adult man.
Then women could contribute what
they could.
That money all headed down to
Texas.
They were building a town.
Their intentions were to bring
in enough people that they could
effectively take over the
government of the county, which
would mean they could take over
the government of the school
district and the hospital
district and others.
When Warren went to Texas, we
didn't know he was in Texas.
We knew that Zion was being
built, that when you were
worthy, you would go to Zion.
People were slowly disappearing.
We knew then they were going to
a gathering place for those that
qualified for greater blessings.
Then I talked to people who
got called to go down to Zion
and work.
remember hearing from one
person, he says, I wouldn't wish
Zion on my worst enemy.
Warren would say you're going to
work 20 hours a day and pray for
the strength to work more.
These people were coming back
emaciated.
Warren Jeffs was mandating
that children be taken from the
community to the yfc ranch in
Texas.
t was supposed to be an
honored to have them called
forth.
All it was was heart ache.
When my oldest son Thomas was
called to Zion, I thought I was
going to die inside.
.
He didn't want the parents
raising the kids.
He wanted control over them.
He was sending parents away,
like, you are wicked.
You'll never come back.
The children belonged to the
prophet.
They don't belong to their
mothers and fathers.
'm not sure why Warren built
that Texas compound, other than
things were getting hot for him
in Arizona and Utah.
That turned out to be the
biggest mistake of his life.
The nationwide manhunt for a
polyigamist who become one of FBI's 10 most wanted has ended
police arrested Warren Steve Jeffs.
Texas blew up because those Bible--- folks down there
thought the devil had arrived
The perspective the people
have is how can you possibly be
intelligent at all if you
believe in this religion.
They can't understand us because
they judge us.
This predation on young girls
has spiralled under the
leadership of Warren Jeffs.
was a child trying to deal
with adult experiences.
just wanted to scream out to
the world how unfair it was.
Warren wants to control the
children because he's a
pedophile.
t's all about sex.
Has nothing to do with god or
religion.
Police are questioning more
than 200 women and children who
were removed.
can't leave my mother.
don't want to go.
They saw the underage girls
who were pregnant.
The world didn't know that
Warren stole those kids from
their mothers.
At the age of 18 I became the
65th wife of Warren Jeffs.
All of you need to become
more fervent.
He fathered a child with that
same 12-year-old.
f the world knew what I was
doing, they would hang me from
the highest tree.
After listening to that, you
wanted to go wash your brain out
with a bar of soap.
s he still in charge?
He is absolutely 100% still in
charge.
This is cult 101.
The end is near and only the
truly righteous are going to be
raised up.
f law officials, FBI,
doesn't stop Warren, thousands
will die.
t's a close-knit community.
You feel comfortable going for a
walk down the street and
nobody's going to be making fun
of you or yelling, saying things
out the window at you.
The isolation is such an
important element in groups like
the flds.
You need to create a sense of
solidarity within the group.
We are blessed.
We are heavenly father's
children.
We are unique from everyone on
the outside.
There's an environment that's
more protected from, say, the
influences that we don't want
our children exposed to.
Outsiders were ideologically
a threat.
You need to separate yourself
physically, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually from
those outsiders.
We see the gangs on the
streets.
You hear the reports of the
news.
t makes you glad to come home.
The flds has become
increasingly isolated,
increasingly inbred to the point
where they're having less and
less interaction.
Out there, they say why would
you want to dress modestly?
Why would you want your husband
to have more than one wife?
They think we're brain washed
and not capable of deciding this
is what we want.
We know it's a matter of time
before they're planning to come
do something to us.
There's been indications already
that have shown us that's going
to happen.
n 1953 the U.S. government
raided the town of short creek,
which is the city that borders
Utah and Arizona where the flds
members resided.
They came in to enforce the laws
against polygamy.
They came in with buses and
removed women and children and
arrested the men.
The flds children have been
taught from a very young age do
not trust law enforcement.
They have to accept
persecution and prosecution as
inevitable elements of their
lives.
They know society will come
after them because society has
come after the true believers of
plural marriage for more than
100 years.
n about 2003 Utah looked
into cases of polygamy and
underage sexual abuse.
We needed to find somebody
who could possibly be willing to
talk to law enforcement, and
that person that we identified
as a potential witness was Lisa
wall.
My half sister Lisa was
married at the age of 14.
had no idea she was married
off to her cousin, full-fledged
cousin.
When I was married, I truly
did not know that people did
more than sleep in bed.
For him to touch me, even in
just the private areas, very,
very hard for me to accept and
deal with and because I was his
property and I was his, he was
able to do what he did to me.
No one was there to stop it.
couldn't stop it.
t has taken years to get to the
point I am today where I can
talk about it and I finally
understand the weight of what
happened and the true meaning of
rape.
Criminal charges were brought
against Warren Jeffs for his
involvement in putting girls
into underage marriages with
other men.
He was placed on the FBI's ten
most wanted list.
They were looking for him.
The flds were hiding him and the
flds police officers were
facilitating all of that.
Warren Jeffs went on a massive
road trip.
He was living high on the hog
as a fugitive running around in
an escalade.
His young, cute, selected wife
Naomi and all kinds of things
that would sustain him on the
run for a long time.
People were sending him as
much money as they could and he
was off around the country
having a great time.
We were all told tighten up
your belts, pay your bills, buy
your food and turn in everything
else.
have a picture of him on a
couple motorcycles, expensive
motorcycles, $30,000, $40,000
bikes.
We had a jar with a picture
of Warren Jeffs and it was
called pennies for the prophet.
You found a penny or nickel,
yay, you can give it to the
prophet.
He was traveling all over the
United States.
He was going to Disneyland,
living high in Vegas.
think he was going to strip
clubs.
We thought he was in the
ranch being holy in the temple.
We had no idea he was doing
everything he told us not to do.
Warren was caught just
outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
There was a reward out for him,
I believe they were offered
about $100,000.
The nationwide manhunt for a
polygamist who is one of the
FBI's ten most wanted has ended.
He was arrested after the red
escalade that he was riding in
was pulled over for a traffic
stop.
Warren gets pulled over.
The trooper walks up to the car
and sees a vein on this guy's
neck pulsating.
He realized these guys are
scared.
He had, I don't know how
many, thousands of dollars.
t was a lot of money.
He had all kinds of phones, keys
to porsches.
He had tickets to Disney world
in his pocket still.
The flds people would see that
and go that's just made up.
t's fake.
t's not real, but it was real.
He was living two different
lives.
remember the day Warren
Jeffs was arrested like some
exactly where they were when
John F. Kennedy was shot.
would like to announce the
arrest of Warren Jeffs.
He's been arrested on federal
charges, two counts of rape as
an accomplice.
We were told that wasn't
possible.
How could it be?
Are you absolutely positive that
it was him?
He's like, yes.
They arrested him.
can tell you that Mr. Jeffs
did indicate to the interviewing
agents that he was being subject
to what he termed religious
prosecution.
The entire town went into
mourning.
When my husband called and
said the prophet was arrested,
what came to my mind is, he has
to pay for what he did.
remember getting a
telephone call about 2:00 in the
morning and thinking, elissa's
life is going to change.
She was going to testify against
the prophet.
was forced to face him, get on the stand
face him and say,
you did this.
Looking back at it, it's
almost -- it's almost like
watching someone else's life.
was no longer just an innocent
little girl who did everything
out of fear.
had a voice and it was
starting to become heard.
Let's wait until we can have
a preliminary hearing and a
trial.
They needed a case that
directly implicated Warren.
They found this young woman who
had been placed in a marriage
with an older cousin when she
was 14.
This seemed like a really good
case.
The purpose of a preliminary
hearing is to make a
determination whether a crime
was committed and if Mr. Jeffs
committed it.
did not know what he had
been arrested for at all.
We were instructed to stay off
let's wait until we can have
a trial in this matter before
people jump to the conclusion
that Mr. Jeffs is guilty of
anything.
Elissa wall is the bravest
girl I know.
She never wavered in a courtroom
and was able to testify and look
Warren Jeffs in the eye when
nobody else could.
That was when I was able to
start to throw the shackles he
had on me mentally.
We anticipate the victim in
this case who has been
identified as Jane Doe number
four will be present and
testify.
We'll confront the witnesses
against us.
There will be spirited
cross-examination.
was in their minds
testifying against their
prophet.
Who performed the ceremony?
Warren Jeffs did.
Why did you feel betrayed by
Warren Jeffs?
Because he completely
overlooked the fact that this
was something I did not want to
do.
Did you know at that point
how babies were created?
No.
Anatomically.
No, I did not.
That was just the beginning
of a very hard experience for
me.
What did Mr. Steve say to
you?
This was what he was supposed
to do to me.
This is what married people did.
t was so overwhelming and
very, very hard for me to
understand.
asked him to stop.
Then I was crying and I
was -- please, I don't want you
doing this.
t doesn't feel right.
Please stop.
Please quit.
Just begging him to stop or at
least explain to me what he was
doing.
We reached a point where I
couldn't take it anymore.
was a child trying to deal
with adult experiences.
just wanted to scream out to
the world how unfair it was.
Warren would tell me under no
circumstances do you ever, ever,
ever tell your husband no, and
don't you ever resist him.
was forced to face him.
was forced to get on the
stand, face him and say, you did
this.
He stared at me quite a bit.
stared right back at him.
looked him right in the eye,
and I would not break.
Ultimately it was him that shook
his head and looked down.
Justice would come later.
For me that was liberating and
so empowering to be able to look
him in the eye.
Has this jury reached a
verdict?
Would you hand that to the
bailiff please?
Mr. Jeffs, would you please
stand as the verdict is read.
Just a few hours ago in Utah
a jury found Warren Jeffs, the
leader of a renegade mormon
cult, guilty of being an
accomplice to rape.
The truth broke him.
That's what broke him.
did everything I could.
told the truth.
Without her testimony Warren
Jeffs would never have been
convicted.
He would have been released from
prison.
'm just -- I know many went
through that.
know that there are many out
there who spent nights crying
themselves to sleep.
Each generation a handful of
women stepped forward and said
hell no.
They were the instruments of
change.
This video into the newsroom
of Warren Jeffs on his way back
to the purgatory correctional
facility in hurricane, Utah,
where he's been incarcerated for
more than a year.
His predation of young girls
has spiralled under Warren
Jeffs.
Jane Doe number four now
speaking to the media.
hope all flds girls and
women will understand that no
matter what anyone may say
you're created equal.
You don't have to surrender your
rights.
know how hard it is.
Please, stand up and fight,
fight for your voice and power
of choice.
will continue to fight for
you.
We prayed.
We fasted.
We worked harder.
We did everything that we were
told down to the minute detail
because we knew the only reason
he was in prison is because we
hadn't kept sweet.
We knew that he would come out
of prison if we would keep
sweet.
We miss our prophet.
Warren Jeffs, we know he's
innocent.
We know he'll be delivered in
heavenly father's way.
We've always been taught that
law enforcement was out to get
us, that the government was out
to get us.
t was like these propheies are
true.
They're coming to get us.
The Utah supreme court
reversed his conviction in Utah
based on a faulty jury
instruction.
Texas raided the yfc ranch.
There were a lot of serving
pictures of him kissing underage
bride after underage bride.
More details emerging about
what happened inside the
compound and what's happening
now to the more than 400
children.
Warren Jeffs was arrested in
August of 2006 and while he was
being held for that, Texas
raided the yfc ranch.
The yfc ranch stand for
yearning for Zion.
t was to help us to become Zion
on earth and Zion means heaven.
Early April of 2008 a call
came in to a local battered
women's shelter.
t was from what sounded like a
young girl who was in distress.
Sarah Barlow claimed to be
age 16, mother of a child
already and pregnant with
another.
That is the domino that fell and
ended up with the raid at the
ranch.
Once the search warrant was
gathered, we began preparations
on how do we execute such a
large-scale operation?
Texas has a history with waco
and then Ruby Ridge happened.
We knew children were going to
be at the ranch.
We knew there was a large
population there.
The concern was they were
either going to attack outwards
or they were going to hurt
themselves.
t was April.
Spring was coming on.
We could see the temple from a
distance.
Even from there it had become an
ominous presence, like here I
am.
You knew going in wouldn't be
like any other search warrant
you ever served.
They rolled the armored
personnel carrier up and said,
you can either deal with us or
deal with this.
When the law enforcement made
entry to the ranch, their
initial goal was to find Sarah
Barlow.
We went up and made contact
at the front gate.
t was something out of "little
house on the prairie."
We received word there were
police officers at the gate
wanting to come in.
We had no idea what they wanted,
what they were after, what they
were doing.
When they came to our home to
take the children, they
literally brought an army with
them.
Our home was totally surrounded.
My sister, she had a nursing
baby and they literally ripped
that child off of her breast.
mean, they took that baby away
from her.
How can you just come in and
take them?
Like I said, we have a search
warrant.
Sarah Barlow was never
located.
Turned out later it was a hoax
call.
As they were looking for her,
they saw the underage girls who
were pregnant.
They saw scrapbooks and
letters supporting the fact that
these girls were being married
off at a young age and having
baby.
The adults at the ranch were
trying to hide those girls from
the authorities.
At that point the judge said to
get them off the ranch and we'll
sort it out.
They're in imminent risk of
harm, imminent risk of being
abused.
t would not be safe for those
children to remain in the
compound.
Texas rangers roll in.
The mothers are crying outside.
The optics of that were
terrible.
can't leave my mother.
don't want to go.
The world didn't know that
Warren had already stolen those
kids from their mothers and
reassigned women to other men to
marry.
State authorities now have
custody of the children, but the
legal battles are just
beginning.
t was right after the raid
and the kids were separated,
there was a day when they
invited every media in america.
They were brought in for the
show.
They put on a show.
A lot of the media just lapped
it up.
We were happy and peaceful
here and all of a sudden
attacked.
Our children are all we have
left.
Just a huge PR move was put
on to try to embarrass Texas,
and it worked.
t did work.
They selected several members
of the sect to go on national
television, Larry king.
To your knowledge, you have
never seen a younger girl marry
an older person?
Not that I'm aware of.
To look the camera in the eye
and say they had never witnessed
any underage marriages was
infuriating because one of them
was the midwife to one of the
underage marriages that we knew
about.
n Texas, lawyers
representing the polygamist
religious sect went to court
arguing officials did not have
enough evidence to raid a
compound and remove children
from their mothers.
We have interviewed all the
children involved.
The information they have given
us tells us we have more
victims.
t was a hot potato.
They didn't want to hold it.
So the kids were sent back.
n one fell swoop we lost
access to almost every single
one of our victims or potential
victims.
To his everlasting credit,
Attorney General abbott, now
governor abbott, did not fold
his tent.
He carried on with the criminal
prosecution.
always thought that
Warren's worst career move was
moving to Texas.
By that time Texas had
developed evidence of him raping
12 and 15-year-olds.
For many years, I mean, even
still sometimes, I have had
nightmares about Warren sexually
abusing me.
will be strengthened and
that's how you will be
strengthened.
've been shown that all of you
need to become more fervent.
need to know the heaven fire
is being reached for.
When Warren became prophet,
he had this dirty little secret,
but nobody knew.
How do I say this?
Warren wants to control the
children because he's a
pedophile.
He has a very sick, disgusting,
immoral desire towards kids.
t's all about sex.
Has nothing to do with god or
religion.
We welcome you to the high
school chorus program.
He ran the academy up in salt
lake in the '80s and '90s.
That's when he got a sense of
the power, you know, that he ran
the school.
That will take some getting
over.
My father put him as the
principal and president of the
private school.
That's when he started taking
interest in young girls.
He would be attracted to the
lambs, be attracted to the meek,
the quiet ones, the ones that
could easily be persuaded.
He would call the students to
his private office and that is
where he would molest them.
Obviously this is a pattern.
He was sexually abusing young
girls for a very long time.
The first time he sexually
abused me was in his office at
the academy school.
Particularly as far as my memory
serves me, it started for me
when I was 8 years old.
When he first started, I was
ashamed.
felt like I didn't want anyone
to know.
You want to keep that secret
because in the first place,
you're terrified your dad would
do that.
t's a shame on you too.
When your parent does something
like that, it feels shameful on
you too.
Then it kept happening.
So then I just would try to
avoid him and try to not be
alone with him.
Then I would just cry because I
really didn't -- I really hated
him for it.
Warren is a sexual predator
from early in his life.
That's not the kind of guy that
should be wielding that kind of
power.
He started marrying girls
younger and younger.
17, 16, started to hear about 15
and 14-year-olds.
t was like, whoa, this is
really getting radical.
When Warren became prophet,
he started what he called the
new law of Sarah, which was all
about group sex.
Everything he did he made it
seem like it was the holy way,
the law of Sarah.
This is the lord's way.
He would have the women
touching each other to get them
excited and ready for him.
He would have them hold the
young girl's hand and tell her
this is what god wants.
When you're called by the
prophet and told your daughter
needs to come to Texas and you
can figure out it's going to be
a marriage to the prophet, that
helps you have a punched ticket
to heavy.
Then the father would ascend
in the leadership after that or
the father would be rewarded
with a young bride of his own.
What the world perceived as
child rape was often considered
a great honor within the flds.
wasn't attracted to Warren
Jeffs at all.
That was a problem for him.
was one of his wives.
At the age of 18 I became his
65th wife.
was in the kitchen and I was
doing dishes.
The sister wife came in and said
that Warren wants you to come to
his room.
went into the room.
He put five people in front.
He told us at first to stare at
him and not look away.
We could hear the door opening
and closing, but we couldn't
look back there.
Then he said, if you believe,
then I want you to show me and
take off your clothes.
Remember there's a guard tower.
There's a gate around.
What can I do?
think I was the last one to
take my clothes off, but I
didn't feel like I had a choice.
After we did that, he said now I
want you to turn around.
When I turned around is when I
saw the entire room filled with
women in the same situation.
He was staring at somebody.
remember looking over there
and it was an underage bride.
remember feeling disgusted.
He actually fathered a child
with that same 12-year-old that
I saw in the room.
New details of what
investigators found inside the
polygamist compound in west
Texas.
Court documents showing
special beds were found on the
third floor of the temple behind
locked doors.
The first time that I saw the
temple, it was almost surreal.
The walls were thick and the
doors were 13-foot tall.
remember walking in on the
third floor and saw white.
The curtains were white.
The furniture was white.
The carpet was white.
The table was white.
The chairs were white.
We had information there would
be a bed up there.
t seemed an odd fit.
Why would a bed be up here?
Ultimately they found a
hidden door that led to a vault
door which was like a bank
vault.
t contained all the
priesthood records.
He dictated morning, noon and
night his every thought.
n Warren's priesthood
records, he directed the
construction of the bed and also
directed there be plastic placed
on the mattress for what he
considered what would occur on
the bed.
We strongly believe this is
the bed where the 12-year-old
was sexually assaulted with some
of her sister wives or Warren's
other wives standing around the
bed.
The 12-year-old was tied down
and raped by Warren in front of
other women, his wives.
was horrified.
At the same time I guess I lived
it.
knew.
already knew all that.
t wasn't new to me.
had lived through that with
him.
've been prosecuting cases
for a long time.
Rarely do we know what's in the
mind of defendant.
Here through the priesthood
records we had that.
n January of 2004 Warren put in
his priesthood records there's a
girl the lord wants me to take.
She's 13.
f the world knew what I was
doing, they would hang me from
the highest tree.
That quote was one that we used
at trial because it showed a
very clear consciousness of
guilt.
They found audio tapes of
Warren ceremonially raping a
little girl.
You have to know how to be
excited sexually.
You have to be prepared to be
trained to do this.
Polygamist and
self-proclaimed prophet Warren
Jeffs walked into this Texas
courthouse and in a bold move
told the judge he was firing all
seven of his defense attorneys
and that he would represent
himself.
n the latest testimony from
Warren Jeffs' trial on sexual
assault the prosecution revealed
DNA evidence allegedly shows
Jeffs fathered a child with a
15-year-old girl.
Texas tried him for having
sex with two minors, a
15-year-old and a 12-year-old.
Warren told everyone, no one
can hear the trials.
Nobody can be at the trials.
That's because there was proof
of him touching underage girls.
Warren himself married 24
underage girls and he presided
over the marriages of at least
67 underage girls to older men.
He was establishing an entire
pattern of sexual assault of
young girls within a whole
community.
They find these records of
everything that Warren has ever
done, all the marriages that
have ever been performed.
And they found the audio tapes
of Warren ceremonially raping a
little girl.
Hearing that in court I can
understand why cops said, our
case is made.
Come to know god and his
power and feel his presence.
Everything else let go of me.
Can you feel me?
We hear her ask him how does
it feel.
He says her name.
You hear her in a tiny child
voice say, it feels good.
n the end you hear another
prayer and you hear her little
voice say thank you.
n the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
The flds people didn't hear
that.
As soon as they said they were
going to play an actual
recording of an actual rape,
they all packed up and left.
remember when I was on the
stand we played the audio of the
sexual assault.
looked at the jury panel and
two of three women in the front
row were leaning forward and
tears were streaming down their
face.
From that moment I knew guilty
is where you're headed.
For Warren Jeffs judgment
day.
Late today we learned a jury
in Texas found polygamist leader
Warren Jeffs guilty of child sex
assault.
His final sentence was life
in prison plus 20 years.
To this day I think, if he
hadn't had been stopped, his
next age would have been 11 and
then 10.
After listening to that
stuff, you wanted to go and wash
your brain out with a bar of
soap.
He ain't getting out.
Howdy.
Hey.
Another beautiful day.
Warren was convicted and in
prison.
His power grew even from behind
bars.
Warren has been able to lead the
flds.
The only ones that become
gods and goddesses --
after Warren was convicted is
when really bizarre rules
started coming out.
How you hand to wash your
hands, right hand only and then
left hand.
f you did it out of order, you
were out of order of the lord's
way.
He told us we couldn't have
marital relationships.
We could only shake our
husband's hand.
We couldn't sleep together.
We could no longer hug our
kids, kiss our kids.
He's now been behind bars for
15 years and so he's stewed in
his own insanity in this Texas
prison cell and it has taken
this unstable man and made him
crazier.
s he still in charge?
He's absolutely 100% still in
charge.
We live in such a wicked day.
Prophets have declared I would
rather have my son or daughter
in the grave than commit sins of
immorality.
What we're concerned about is
that Warren Jeffs from his jail
cell in Texas seems to be
running the church through his
son helaman.
He's been given revelations from
his father.
The revelations say within five
years the children will be
translated to heaven.
The problem is you have to die
first.
This is cult 101.
The end is near.
The big outside world is there
to take us down and only the
truly righteous are going to be
raised up with me.
Would that be ominous for his
following in all seriousness?
Absolutely.
have a concern that those
who are the most faithful, if he
did order them to kill
themselves, they would.
f the law officials, FBI,
whoever, doesn't stop Warren,
thousands will die.
f they don't stop it.
This was the main hall.
'm really proud of what we're
doing here, really proud.
This is a story about a
culture, a community that has
chronically oppressed women.
The women are the victims and
the women have been the forces
and instruments of change.
We were the ones that chose
to step out of the confines and
shackles that we were encultured
with.
To leave the church was the
hardest and best decision of my
life.
believe that's how it is for
everyone who leaves.
t's not easy to leave these
cults and heal and be okay.
People expect you're out, oh,
now everything should be fine.
t's a big process.
Me and my kids moved up here
about four years ago.
They were so scared.
They didn't know what to think.
The flds church alienated them
against me.
t took them months to even
acknowledge I was their mother.
One day I was with the girls
walking out of a store and I
heard someone say, mom.
Then she was like, mother.
They were happy.
The most important change
that I think short creek has
undergone is healing.
As people returned and came back
bringing all of their
experiences, for them they were
coming home.
This is the building that the
judgments happened in.
All of the people came and were
judged.
First the men and then the women
and children, to decide if they
were worthy or not worthy.
A lot of pain was inflicted upon
the people from these walls.
This was the main hall and when
we would have church, this would
be full of people all the way to
the back.
This would hold 8,000 people in
this room.
We want to recreate a place, a
community building where we can
come together and celebrate the
things that we've always loved.
My hope is for the abuse of
the children to cease, the abuse
of the women to cease.
My hope is to rescue as many
that want to be rescued.
We are at the house that used
to be Warren Jeffs' house.
n the past it was a place of
fear.
People didn't really want to
walk through these doors because
they were afraid of being
corrected or abused.
Now it's a place of warmth.
've been out almost 12 years.
feel like my life now is just
so different than it was.
feel like more lives are being
touched than I could have ever
possibly imagined.
We're not bound by our past.
We're not bound by the destiny
that powerful men laid out for
us.
When I look back on my own
story, the most significant
decision I made was to move back
to short creek.
t gave me an opportunity to
have once again a sense of home
and community with the people
that I loved the very most.
t has given me a sense of peace
and wholeness.
'm a different version of
elissa than the one that grew up
here.
've been able to come together.
'm flawed.
'm authentic.
'm here.
And I'm real and I love being
who I am today.
was one of nine wives.
Growing up in a plural
marriage, I didn't really know
anything different.
We were just normal people.
We're not a big scary cult. Like the world likes to paint us as
there's much more to it than
the pastel dresses and the funky
hairdos.
f I want my children in the
afterlife, I'll approve of my
husband having other wives.
t's a requirement of god.
How can you believe that?
How can you do that?
How can I live my religion?
This was god's word.
wanted to be married.
just didn't want to be married
at 14.
The role of these young women
is basically to be breeding
stock for the prophet.
He could just have any woman he
wanted.
My sisters have been moved
somewhere.
s anybody here?
have no idea where to even
look for them.
Back off.
Back off.
When Warren took over, it
went from a church that believed
in a basic set of principles, to
just believing in a man.
The flds people considered
him next to god.
They believed Warren Jeffs can
do no wrong.
Warren issued this revelation
from his prison cell.
t says, within five years
the children will be translated
to heaven.
But the problem is, you have to
die first.
What's going on here?
s he talking about a Jonestown
thing?
Something like waco could
happen.
You'll be ready for me.
was actually born and
raised in salt lake until about
fifth grade.
Then our family moved to here.
've been here pretty much ever
since.
t's -- I loved living here.
t's a great place.
We have gorgeous mountains
around us.
We like to go hiking.
grew up in salt lake and
your friends and family are
spread out all over the place.
You gather for church, but you
don't see each other.
Here you get to be on a daily
basis with people who believe in
the same thing you do.
For the fourth of July we had
celebrations.
Everybody would gather together,
play games.
We had dances.
We had social functions.
t was one of those little
america towns that I loved
growing up in.
Flds means the fundamentalist
of latter-day saints.
t started out as a group of
people that wanted to believe a
certain way.
They believed in plural
marriage, which is having more
my name is Kristen.
Decker.
My father had 13 wives and 23
biological children.
had 8 mothers, 62 brothers
and sister.
'm 1 of 14 children and I
had two mothers.
come from a family with one
dad and two moms, 25 siblings.
Salt lake city, Utah, and the
home of the fundamentalist
believer in plural marriage.
The practice and preachment of
polygamy.
The origins of this story are
that this group came into the
western United States led by
brigham young settled in the
state of Utah and the practice
of polygamy became fundamental
to that territory, to that land.
When it became clear that Utah
was crosswise with the federal
government, the prophet said
we're done.
A lot of people said, we're
still practicing polygamy.
A whole bunch of them went to
short creek, in the middle of
nowhere.
This area is kind of
isolated.
Of course back then it was a lot
more isolated.
They wanted to go down there
and be left alone and continue
to practice polygamy.
We have been persecuted as a
people, but we still feel like
what we believe in is the truth.
There's a lot more to life than
just on this earth.
We believe in a hereafter.
We were always taught a man
had to have three wives in order
to get into heaven and seven if
you was in a leadership
position.
We are truly grateful for the
little one that gets to help out
and make the whole circle work.
We're very different in
personality and character, but
there are similarities that we
understand as a family.
t's a team.
There's a good phrase.
Many hands make light work.
Get as many hands involved as
possible if you want to get
something done.
t's been really fun having
the children in groups of two
and together.
think the little children
depend and lean on each other.
really wanted to have a boy
too so we could have two boys
together.
That didn't work out.
had two children before
Barbara was married to Richard.
Having her there to carry the
other side of the load when I am
not up and going, especially
with the new baby, I am so
grateful.
You know, I want to be there for
her.
There's so many heart aches
of plural marriage and our
husband taking another wife.
was married at the age of
was one of nine wives.
believe that polygamy breeds
abuse.
t starts with jealousy in the
women and it is control and
narcissist in the men.
was 17 when I got married.
Right off the bat my husband was
looking for other wives.
t's okay for them to look at
other girls and flirt with other
girls.
t was just heart breaking.
Plural marriage always is in
the eye of the beholder.
For some it's nothing but
patriarchal male-dominated
power.
For the men and women in plural
marriage, it becomes a profound,
daily act of faith.
You've got to be doing this
because you want to.
Do it because you love what
we're about.
There's a lot of people that
don't.
They believe truly, truly
believe that they are following
one of the doctrines of god
given uniquely unto a small
gathering of people.
f I want my children in
eternity, I will approve of my
husband having other wives.
We have to do this.
t's a requirement of god.
Yet it's hurtful.
There were times I thought I
would curl up and die, and
wanted to die.
t is a patriarchal order.
They do have a lot of control or
authority over the women.
t always has been that way.
t was always the cutest
girls and older men that wanted
those girls.
'll give you miff daughter if
you give me yours.
The decisions that were claimed
to be from god, I don't think
that god would have done that.
think the predtation of
young girls has been a hallmark.
These young girls are to be
breeding stock for the prophet.
Growing up in a plural
marriage, I didn't know anything
different.
was a child.
was a very happy, innocent
person.
t was what I knew.
t was the way I lived.
So I thought I had a great
childhood.
had a couple moms and my
mother was a wonderful mom.
My mother had 14 kids and my dad
had 25 all together.
They loved their children, but
they don't have a full
comprehension that the
environment they're in is not
safe for the kids.
had many tough days.
One of them would very likely be
the day I was married.
n this culture, in the flds,
it's a girl's greatest goal and
her ultimate accomplishment.
But for me it was very much the
opposite.
was at a family gathering with
lots of people.
All the family members and the
extended family members and my
stepfather just casually
announced to the family that
three of his girls were going to
be married.
Mind you, he had several, well
over ten girls in a certain age
range.
So at that point in time I had
no inkling that it would be me.
Then a couple days later he told
me I was going to be one of
those girls.
wanted to be married.
did.
knew in my culture how much it
was what I was working towards.
just didn't want to be married
at 14.
n most situations the
prophet would decide who they're
going to marry.
n many cases these girls and
men didn't even meet their
partners until the day of the
wedding.
We was taught you're married
first and then you fall in love.
met my wife on Sunday and
married her on Monday.
You know, I had no idea who she
was.
She didn't know who I was.
She told me later, I wanted to
swing in and see.
f it was your little brother, I
was going to keep on driving.
Then it was you and I thought I
could do this.
We got married the next day.
She didn't tell me that until
years later.
My father picked me up from
work.
We were driving out of the
parking lot and my father said,
you're going to get married.
turned to him and said, who am
I marrying?
Who is he?
What's his name?
He said, you want to know the
name?
As soon as he told me, I was
like, okay, he's not ugly.
That was my first thought.
t was a honeymoon phase for
about a month and then after
that it was really, really hard.
My aunt Dorothy was
devastated when she was 18 and
had to marry an 80-year-old man.
This was common over the years
for them to be assigned randomly
and just like that, real quick.
t was very patriarchal
society.
You were just obedient.
The flds was founded by men
who were very self-centered,
self-serving.
There's a picture of the
prophet, rulon Jeffs with his
wives.
don't know how many there
were, but it would fill half a
basketball court.
My name is Rachel blackmore.
My father is Warren Jeffs and
his father was rulon Jeffs.
was 3 years old when my
grandfather took over the
church.
feel honored in being able
to carry on the foundation laid
by that great and glorious
prophet.
We felt special that
grandfather rulon was the
prophet.
Well, shoot, it's a small
town.
We was hearing stories -- rulon
was married to a lot of young
girls, young girls.
These are vibrant girls.
So as a grandchild, it was
odd to me to see my grandfather
have 2 and 10 and 20 and all
these younger ladies.
Something just felt off.
Rulon Jeffs had his first
major stroke in cement of 1998.
That was compounded by more mini
strokes.
During this process his son
Warren Jeffs started to take
over.
Rulon treated Warren
different than he did the other
children.
Warren was born premature.
They fed hip with an eye dropper
to keep him alive.
They talk about how he was
born in a shoe box.
They liken that to the manger of
Christ.
This is a picture of our
family in 1990.
Warren, his first two wives,
Annette and Barbara.
That's me.
was embarrassed he was my dad.
just always felt like he was
weirder than most guys, and he
was.
He wore weird clothes.
He looked ugly.
Even though I didn't realize how
oppressive he was, he was very
oppressive.
Warren had been calling the
shots already.
Rulon was in decline.
The way he took control was
one teaspoon at a time until the
people were used to taking his
directive.
Warren puts rulon in
isolation where nobody could see
him or talk to him.
Warren Jeffs was manipulating
rulon Jeffs.
was at meeting where rulon
would be speaking and he
and say, did I say everything
you wanted me to say?
Did I get it all?
think Warren took advantage of
his helpless situation.
think Warren, as he slowly
gained power, is the one that
implemented the strict rules.
He didn't let us have TV.
He took all the books away.
Our world was a lot more
restricted.
Grandfather knew Warren was
doing these things and he let
them do it.
When rulon finally died at
92, there's a massive gathering.
t was the largest gathering of
the faithful ever in the history
of short creek.
6,000 people.
How big a loss is it to this
community, sir?
t's a loss, but it will be
continued on.
Warren became the prophet.
Things were starting to go
downhill.
Things were starting to get
dark.
Things did not match with the
teachings I had been taught my
entire life.
didn't particularly care
for him.
couldn't put my finger on it.
The hair on the back of my neck
would just stand up.
don't know why.
t's stuff you can't put your
finger on, but you know it's not
right.
Turns out there were things
going on that was not right.
want all of you to learn
the heavenly gentle touch and
every desire and prayer I will
be strengthened.
The key word is humility, the
humility of service.
Pray for me and you'll be ready
for me.
My name is Mary Holmes.
'm a certified family nurse
practitioner.
've been on the med surge
floor, intensive care unit and
life flight.
went back and got my masters
degree through westminster
college.
have been here doing primary
care for the past 11 years.
love it.
t's very enjoyable.
This is our first patient.
Levi is here to have his ears
looked at.
Last time we saw Levi he had an
ear infection that wouldn't go
away.
He hasn't had a cough or
anything?
No.
The perspective that people
have is how could you possibly
be intelligent at all if you
believe in this religion?
Why would anybody want it?
They can't understand us because
they judge us from their eyes.
Why would someone want to live
like that?
You did so good.
We're just normal people.
We're not a big scary cult that
the world likes to paint us as.
We do love our children.
We have five children, four
boys and this is our first
little girl.
hope that she will be a good
mother.
'm sure that she will want to
be a mother.
Most little girls like dollies.
They like to cuddle babies.
hope that she is a good
singer.
love music very much.
prefer Warren Jeffs' songs.
They're very sweet and lovely.
We will worship together
all for Thanksgiving and
prayer and with song
love keeps us in winter's cold
weather
with the summer heat faith
makes us strong
After his father died, Warren
Jeffs became the prophet.
The flds people considered him
next to god.
They believed that Warren Jeffs
can do no wrong.
t would be impossible for him
to make a mistake.
He's our spiritual leader and
the spiritual contact with the
prophet is what gives you that
fulfillment and happiness and
joy inside.
The women believe and trust
in the prophet so much, they
honestly believe -- and I did
and so did my mother -- that god
sent down inspiration from
heaven, like a strike of
lightning, down to the prophet
and he knew what was best.
When Warren took over, it
went from an organized church
that believed in a basic set of
principles -- it went in that to
just believing in a man.
Warren would say it was a
benevolent dictatorship.
After his father died, Warren
started marrying the wives that
were married to his father.
t really troubled a lot of them
to see Warren marrying his
father's wives.
That was -- you know, that was
completely inappropriate.
Warren Jeffs was interested
in a form of control that had
not been before seen in the
flds.
So many arbitrary rules and
regulations were imposed in
order to achieve that level of
unprecedented control.
No holidays, no birthday
parties, no board games, no
video games, no music, no
novels, no movies.
can't have any toys.
You couldn't ride bikes
either.
Some of us -- two of us kept our
dolls hidden in the closets.
always felt like you could
do the very best and it was
never good enough.
They always wanted more.
Part of the logic there is
that, when you have so many
rules to keep track of, your
brain space, your capacity to
push back or to question or to
think about other things becomes
limited.
They started putting cameras
up around town all over.
They would zero in on certain
people that they suspected might
not agree with what was being
said.
They would watch them.
n 2004 he came in in one fell
swoop he asked 21 men to leave.
was one of those.
He picked four of his big
brothers.
was kicked out right after
my father died.
was considered a -- well, I'll
put it very bluntly.
Warren wanted one of my wives.
They were like you leave, you
leave, you leave.
One was my grandfather.
We didn't know why.
We weren't allowed to ask why.
We're like, he must be a bad
person.
He would be sitting on the
edge of the bedrocking back and
forth.
He was like, I don't know why I
did.
Why?
He kept asking why?
He told us all we were
supposed to go and write a
letter of repenting and give it
to him and list every sin we've
ever done in our entire lives.
We were told that our wives had
been released from us.
f your family's with you at
this time, you're not to say
good-bye.
The wives were given to other
men and their children were
given to them as well.
Just like that there was
probably 1,000 children that
lost their dads that day.
They moved my mom.
They moved her three times now.
My dad's having a hard time
getting them back.
Yeah, this house right here is
where I grew up, this tiny house
on the left.
'm going to go and try to find
my mom.
'm not even sure she's here.
s anybody here?
Hello?
Wow.
They must have just cleaned out
the rooms.
None of my sisters' clothes are
here.
My sisters have been moved
somewhere.
This house is unoccupied as of
right now.
have no idea where to even
look for them.
Oh, this is a note that says,
dear father, I snuck in the back
door to get my sunglasses.
We are praying for you.
Uncle Warren loves you even more
than we do.
We miss you and hope to see you
on the right side.
t's about to make me cry.
t's so lonely in here.
Heavenly father loves us all the
most.
better get going.
Love you lots and lots.
They believe that anyone that's
not for Warren Jeffs is against
Warren Jeffs.
They believe it's a sin to talk
to ex members and outsiders
because they believe that we're
corrupt.
Now you realize they can just
tear people apart, play with
their lives, have any woman he
wanted, take his father's wives.
He went nuts.
desire here today
t was just really crazy.
t got worse and worse.
He would literally come up with
the most bizarre wicked things
and say you were doing them.
People were like, how could
you believe that?
How could you do that?
How could I do what?
Live my religion.
So its one of these situations where the leader
increasingly become more fanatical and the people
follow that fanaticism and they go off the cliff with him
nitially the walls around
Colorado city were constructed
to keep the outside world out,
to protect the true believers in
the community and keep them safe
within their faith, away from
prosecution.
Now they're viewed as walls of
retention, keeping people on the
proper path to make sure they
don't leave the faith, they
don't walk away from the faith's
beliefs.
This is not an open-dialogue
society.
This is a closed set with strict
operating orders.
You look at the way they dress.
Look at the way they interact in
a social setting.
t's finely defined down to
daily activity.
The reason most people think
we look alike is because, first
of all, we're in dresses, and
they're modest.
Well, give you an idea.
This was big last year.
They liked the pleats there.
Plain.
Works good.
t's easy to sew.
This was three years ago.
Everybody was into collars.
Everybody had an embroidery
machines.
This year everybody's selling
their machines.
As the styles and patterns and
fabrics change, then we change.
After rulon passed away,
Warren started attacking the way
we dressed.
God wants the women to remove
buttons from their dresses.
We can't have prints anymore.
t should be all solid colors.
Then it was all one color.
Before they weren't near as
strict when I was way younger.
mean, we wore prints all the
time.
remember seeing -- going to
the harvest fest and seeing
really frilly dresses and things
like that.
Zion is the pure in heart.
As uncle rulon says, Zion is
growing.
We keep it down past our
knees and up to our neck.
They're not allowed to wear
red.
When they said no red, people
threw away so much fabric and
stuff.
No, you're not going to see a
solid red dress.
t represents Christ.
thought it was silly.
We were just told we couldn't
wear red.
Then it was our hair.
He wanted the front of their
hair, the wave, he wanted it
higher.
Some were going so high, it was
like you need a building permit
for that wave.
The braids were okay.
t was French braids all the way
at that point.
You get used to it.
t's like -- it's a habit.
t's like putting on a shirt
every day.
You just put it on.
Coming out here, it was
really weird wearing pants
because I've always been taught
you keep your legs covered.
No one should see in between
your legs.
That was immodesty.
The girls were told you obey
your husband and do your job and
have as many children as you can
and do the best you can and keep
sweet and you will fall in love.
The class will sing one last
song, "keep sweet."
Keep sweet
keep sweet
if you're tried and true, keep
sweet
Keep sweet you could have no
emotions except for sweetness.
That was the only emotional
allowed.
You just need to keep sweet.
You need to be obedient.
That's what you need to be
working on, not worrying about
your mind.
As a kid, I didn't understand
what that meant.
was scared of it to be honest.
f I'm not sweet, then what?
What's going to happen if i'm
not?
Sweet is a word that we all
know.
t means kind.
But sweet meant something else
in flds terminology.
t meant obedient.
Keep sweet was used at every
turn to keep women, primarily
Warren Jeffs' wives in check, so
they wouldn't question and he
could remain in power.
The main purpose for women in
the community, probably bearing
and raising children, to
procreate like god said in the
Bible.
n this culture, in the flds,
it is a girl's greatest goal.
Her ultimate accomplishment.
For me it was very much the
opposite.
Once I found out that I was
going to marry Alan, something
in me Rose up and I really
resisted.
My mother and his father are
related.
They're brother and sister.
He's my first cousin.
He was my husband that they had
arranged for me to marry.
remember thinking she's got
to marry her cousin.
t's down to that same thing.
Don't question the prophet.
He in my mind was a bully.
n my mind he was one of the
worst people on the earth.
was trapped.
felt like I had nowhere to
turn.
so bad did not want to go
through with this marriage.
was crying out for help.
My mother, she couldn't stand up
and say no, you're not going to
do this.
You have to understand the
culture completely to realize
how powerless she really was and
how, because of her beliefs, she
had forfeited some of the tools
she needed to protect me.
was just so broken and I felt
so betrayed.
This I very much remember that
office sign.
Then the ceremony happened in
that little building I remember
the gravel, the crunch of the
gravel walking into that
building and stopping at the
doorway thinking, if there was
somewhere to run, I would.
was coming to the point of no
return.
Alicia wall was a little
younger than me.
She got married while
grandfather was alive.
t was grandfather and uncle
Fred who was supposedly her
stepdad and Warren were all
there and organized that
marriage.
All I know is she got married.
Came to the point where they
wanted me to take my vows and
say I do.
was quiet.
could not bring myself to say
it.
That should have been enough for
them to see how much I really
did not want this.
finally, after a lot of
silence, said, okay, I do.
By then tears were just falling
from my face.
just bowed my head.
was ashamed.
was ashamed and hurt and
Warren just looked right at me
and told me, you kiss Alan.
Finally I turned up and I kissed
in my mind, I now belonged to
Alan.
was his wife.
was to take his direction.
was his wife and property for
the rest of my life.
That's been the thing that
got these guys into trouble
chronically over the years, that
they just can't lay off the
little girls.
t's a model tried and true
keep sweet
As this little isolated,
dusty town grew, it morphed into
an actual municipality that is
completely controlled by a cult.
They got power companies, water
companies, a police force,
elected city officials.
All of them were basically put
in office by Warren Jeffs.
That's the way the town ran for
many, many, many years.
Get out of here.
You back off.
Back off!
We're trying to find out some
answers about the town, in terms
of whether Warren Jeffs is still
creating rules within all the
government buildings here.
Once again, a locked door.
t's becoming a theme here.
The police chief is out of town.
The mayor is out of the office.
The fire chief is not there
either.
We're not allowed to enter any
of the buildings.
Flds communities are very
much controlled when it comes to
the information that flows into
and out of families.
They hold the motto up in their
school classrooms, perfect faith
is perfect obedience.
Neither boys, nor girls were
getting educated.
They became dependent.
The girls because they got
pregnant and the boys because
they were working on work crews.
did construction from when
I was 6 years old until I was
18, when I left.
8-year-olds, 9-year-old
packing bricks all day long.
The girls were at risk for
being placed in marriage.
How old were you when you got
married?
16.
16 years old.
How old were you when you became
pregnant with your first child?
16.
Ruth is one of the most
historically driven people in
this whole drama.
Ruth was given to a police
officer when she was 16 and he's
32 and this man's third pride.
s Ruth's husband guilty of a
statutory sex crime against your
client?
Absolutely.
Sexual conduct with a minor.
My understand is you're a
sworn police officer in both the
state of Utah and the state of
Arizona.
have no comment.
And that you have teenage
brides and perhaps impregnated
this young woman when it would
be a statutory rape.
We don't have anything to say
except to the court.
They brought him to trial on
basically raping this young girl
and they found him guilty.
think women should have the
right to say yes or no or, you
know, I think they should have a
right to say what's going on
with their lives and what's
going to go on with their
children's lives.
Did you have any say like
that in your life?
No.
Warren realized at that
point, if they can come after a
certified police officer for
polygamy, it's only a matter of
time before they come after me.
This was one of the few times
that Warren Jeffs was prophetic.
He was shopping for places
where he could hide his wives.
That's when they went to
Texas.
A little town called El dorado.
t's a small town in west
Texas.
Population about 1,400 people.
You see your friends and
everyone from church and you see
them at the coffee shop.
We had a local businessman
convicted of defrauded the bank.
We had a bus wreck.
We had a murder trial.
On new year's Eve of 2003, I
told Kathy, we'll never have
another year like 2003.
Then in 2004 the flds landed.
t was like an alien landed.
They told the local folks
they were going to have a
corporate hunting retreat.
t didn't look like a hunting
retreat.
t looked like three very large
log cabin type buildings going
up with lots of other equipment
around.
t was pretty obvious that
something was going on.
From the information we had,
it was a religious-oriented
group.
We heard rumors of polygamy.
We hadn't seen any evidence of
that.
They were on our radar.
We weren't all that concerned.
We started hearing about the
yearning for Zion ranch in early
'03 I would say.
t wasn't until about 2005 or
2006 they realized there was a
temple being built.
They poured millions of dollars
into building the temple,
building the grounds, building
the houses.
The money for that temple came
from here.
They were charging businesses
here $2,000 a month per business
and $1,000 a month for every
adult man.
Then women could contribute what
they could.
That money all headed down to
Texas.
They were building a town.
Their intentions were to bring
in enough people that they could
effectively take over the
government of the county, which
would mean they could take over
the government of the school
district and the hospital
district and others.
When Warren went to Texas, we
didn't know he was in Texas.
We knew that Zion was being
built, that when you were
worthy, you would go to Zion.
People were slowly disappearing.
We knew then they were going to
a gathering place for those that
qualified for greater blessings.
Then I talked to people who
got called to go down to Zion
and work.
remember hearing from one
person, he says, I wouldn't wish
Zion on my worst enemy.
Warren would say you're going to
work 20 hours a day and pray for
the strength to work more.
These people were coming back
emaciated.
Warren Jeffs was mandating
that children be taken from the
community to the yfc ranch in
Texas.
t was supposed to be an
honored to have them called
forth.
All it was was heart ache.
When my oldest son Thomas was
called to Zion, I thought I was
going to die inside.
.
He didn't want the parents
raising the kids.
He wanted control over them.
He was sending parents away,
like, you are wicked.
You'll never come back.
The children belonged to the
prophet.
They don't belong to their
mothers and fathers.
'm not sure why Warren built
that Texas compound, other than
things were getting hot for him
in Arizona and Utah.
That turned out to be the
biggest mistake of his life.
The nationwide manhunt for a
polyigamist who become one of FBI's 10 most wanted has ended
police arrested Warren Steve Jeffs.
Texas blew up because those Bible--- folks down there
thought the devil had arrived
The perspective the people
have is how can you possibly be
intelligent at all if you
believe in this religion.
They can't understand us because
they judge us.
This predation on young girls
has spiralled under the
leadership of Warren Jeffs.
was a child trying to deal
with adult experiences.
just wanted to scream out to
the world how unfair it was.
Warren wants to control the
children because he's a
pedophile.
t's all about sex.
Has nothing to do with god or
religion.
Police are questioning more
than 200 women and children who
were removed.
can't leave my mother.
don't want to go.
They saw the underage girls
who were pregnant.
The world didn't know that
Warren stole those kids from
their mothers.
At the age of 18 I became the
65th wife of Warren Jeffs.
All of you need to become
more fervent.
He fathered a child with that
same 12-year-old.
f the world knew what I was
doing, they would hang me from
the highest tree.
After listening to that, you
wanted to go wash your brain out
with a bar of soap.
s he still in charge?
He is absolutely 100% still in
charge.
This is cult 101.
The end is near and only the
truly righteous are going to be
raised up.
f law officials, FBI,
doesn't stop Warren, thousands
will die.
t's a close-knit community.
You feel comfortable going for a
walk down the street and
nobody's going to be making fun
of you or yelling, saying things
out the window at you.
The isolation is such an
important element in groups like
the flds.
You need to create a sense of
solidarity within the group.
We are blessed.
We are heavenly father's
children.
We are unique from everyone on
the outside.
There's an environment that's
more protected from, say, the
influences that we don't want
our children exposed to.
Outsiders were ideologically
a threat.
You need to separate yourself
physically, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually from
those outsiders.
We see the gangs on the
streets.
You hear the reports of the
news.
t makes you glad to come home.
The flds has become
increasingly isolated,
increasingly inbred to the point
where they're having less and
less interaction.
Out there, they say why would
you want to dress modestly?
Why would you want your husband
to have more than one wife?
They think we're brain washed
and not capable of deciding this
is what we want.
We know it's a matter of time
before they're planning to come
do something to us.
There's been indications already
that have shown us that's going
to happen.
n 1953 the U.S. government
raided the town of short creek,
which is the city that borders
Utah and Arizona where the flds
members resided.
They came in to enforce the laws
against polygamy.
They came in with buses and
removed women and children and
arrested the men.
The flds children have been
taught from a very young age do
not trust law enforcement.
They have to accept
persecution and prosecution as
inevitable elements of their
lives.
They know society will come
after them because society has
come after the true believers of
plural marriage for more than
100 years.
n about 2003 Utah looked
into cases of polygamy and
underage sexual abuse.
We needed to find somebody
who could possibly be willing to
talk to law enforcement, and
that person that we identified
as a potential witness was Lisa
wall.
My half sister Lisa was
married at the age of 14.
had no idea she was married
off to her cousin, full-fledged
cousin.
When I was married, I truly
did not know that people did
more than sleep in bed.
For him to touch me, even in
just the private areas, very,
very hard for me to accept and
deal with and because I was his
property and I was his, he was
able to do what he did to me.
No one was there to stop it.
couldn't stop it.
t has taken years to get to the
point I am today where I can
talk about it and I finally
understand the weight of what
happened and the true meaning of
rape.
Criminal charges were brought
against Warren Jeffs for his
involvement in putting girls
into underage marriages with
other men.
He was placed on the FBI's ten
most wanted list.
They were looking for him.
The flds were hiding him and the
flds police officers were
facilitating all of that.
Warren Jeffs went on a massive
road trip.
He was living high on the hog
as a fugitive running around in
an escalade.
His young, cute, selected wife
Naomi and all kinds of things
that would sustain him on the
run for a long time.
People were sending him as
much money as they could and he
was off around the country
having a great time.
We were all told tighten up
your belts, pay your bills, buy
your food and turn in everything
else.
have a picture of him on a
couple motorcycles, expensive
motorcycles, $30,000, $40,000
bikes.
We had a jar with a picture
of Warren Jeffs and it was
called pennies for the prophet.
You found a penny or nickel,
yay, you can give it to the
prophet.
He was traveling all over the
United States.
He was going to Disneyland,
living high in Vegas.
think he was going to strip
clubs.
We thought he was in the
ranch being holy in the temple.
We had no idea he was doing
everything he told us not to do.
Warren was caught just
outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
There was a reward out for him,
I believe they were offered
about $100,000.
The nationwide manhunt for a
polygamist who is one of the
FBI's ten most wanted has ended.
He was arrested after the red
escalade that he was riding in
was pulled over for a traffic
stop.
Warren gets pulled over.
The trooper walks up to the car
and sees a vein on this guy's
neck pulsating.
He realized these guys are
scared.
He had, I don't know how
many, thousands of dollars.
t was a lot of money.
He had all kinds of phones, keys
to porsches.
He had tickets to Disney world
in his pocket still.
The flds people would see that
and go that's just made up.
t's fake.
t's not real, but it was real.
He was living two different
lives.
remember the day Warren
Jeffs was arrested like some
exactly where they were when
John F. Kennedy was shot.
would like to announce the
arrest of Warren Jeffs.
He's been arrested on federal
charges, two counts of rape as
an accomplice.
We were told that wasn't
possible.
How could it be?
Are you absolutely positive that
it was him?
He's like, yes.
They arrested him.
can tell you that Mr. Jeffs
did indicate to the interviewing
agents that he was being subject
to what he termed religious
prosecution.
The entire town went into
mourning.
When my husband called and
said the prophet was arrested,
what came to my mind is, he has
to pay for what he did.
remember getting a
telephone call about 2:00 in the
morning and thinking, elissa's
life is going to change.
She was going to testify against
the prophet.
was forced to face him, get on the stand
face him and say,
you did this.
Looking back at it, it's
almost -- it's almost like
watching someone else's life.
was no longer just an innocent
little girl who did everything
out of fear.
had a voice and it was
starting to become heard.
Let's wait until we can have
a preliminary hearing and a
trial.
They needed a case that
directly implicated Warren.
They found this young woman who
had been placed in a marriage
with an older cousin when she
was 14.
This seemed like a really good
case.
The purpose of a preliminary
hearing is to make a
determination whether a crime
was committed and if Mr. Jeffs
committed it.
did not know what he had
been arrested for at all.
We were instructed to stay off
let's wait until we can have
a trial in this matter before
people jump to the conclusion
that Mr. Jeffs is guilty of
anything.
Elissa wall is the bravest
girl I know.
She never wavered in a courtroom
and was able to testify and look
Warren Jeffs in the eye when
nobody else could.
That was when I was able to
start to throw the shackles he
had on me mentally.
We anticipate the victim in
this case who has been
identified as Jane Doe number
four will be present and
testify.
We'll confront the witnesses
against us.
There will be spirited
cross-examination.
was in their minds
testifying against their
prophet.
Who performed the ceremony?
Warren Jeffs did.
Why did you feel betrayed by
Warren Jeffs?
Because he completely
overlooked the fact that this
was something I did not want to
do.
Did you know at that point
how babies were created?
No.
Anatomically.
No, I did not.
That was just the beginning
of a very hard experience for
me.
What did Mr. Steve say to
you?
This was what he was supposed
to do to me.
This is what married people did.
t was so overwhelming and
very, very hard for me to
understand.
asked him to stop.
Then I was crying and I
was -- please, I don't want you
doing this.
t doesn't feel right.
Please stop.
Please quit.
Just begging him to stop or at
least explain to me what he was
doing.
We reached a point where I
couldn't take it anymore.
was a child trying to deal
with adult experiences.
just wanted to scream out to
the world how unfair it was.
Warren would tell me under no
circumstances do you ever, ever,
ever tell your husband no, and
don't you ever resist him.
was forced to face him.
was forced to get on the
stand, face him and say, you did
this.
He stared at me quite a bit.
stared right back at him.
looked him right in the eye,
and I would not break.
Ultimately it was him that shook
his head and looked down.
Justice would come later.
For me that was liberating and
so empowering to be able to look
him in the eye.
Has this jury reached a
verdict?
Would you hand that to the
bailiff please?
Mr. Jeffs, would you please
stand as the verdict is read.
Just a few hours ago in Utah
a jury found Warren Jeffs, the
leader of a renegade mormon
cult, guilty of being an
accomplice to rape.
The truth broke him.
That's what broke him.
did everything I could.
told the truth.
Without her testimony Warren
Jeffs would never have been
convicted.
He would have been released from
prison.
'm just -- I know many went
through that.
know that there are many out
there who spent nights crying
themselves to sleep.
Each generation a handful of
women stepped forward and said
hell no.
They were the instruments of
change.
This video into the newsroom
of Warren Jeffs on his way back
to the purgatory correctional
facility in hurricane, Utah,
where he's been incarcerated for
more than a year.
His predation of young girls
has spiralled under Warren
Jeffs.
Jane Doe number four now
speaking to the media.
hope all flds girls and
women will understand that no
matter what anyone may say
you're created equal.
You don't have to surrender your
rights.
know how hard it is.
Please, stand up and fight,
fight for your voice and power
of choice.
will continue to fight for
you.
We prayed.
We fasted.
We worked harder.
We did everything that we were
told down to the minute detail
because we knew the only reason
he was in prison is because we
hadn't kept sweet.
We knew that he would come out
of prison if we would keep
sweet.
We miss our prophet.
Warren Jeffs, we know he's
innocent.
We know he'll be delivered in
heavenly father's way.
We've always been taught that
law enforcement was out to get
us, that the government was out
to get us.
t was like these propheies are
true.
They're coming to get us.
The Utah supreme court
reversed his conviction in Utah
based on a faulty jury
instruction.
Texas raided the yfc ranch.
There were a lot of serving
pictures of him kissing underage
bride after underage bride.
More details emerging about
what happened inside the
compound and what's happening
now to the more than 400
children.
Warren Jeffs was arrested in
August of 2006 and while he was
being held for that, Texas
raided the yfc ranch.
The yfc ranch stand for
yearning for Zion.
t was to help us to become Zion
on earth and Zion means heaven.
Early April of 2008 a call
came in to a local battered
women's shelter.
t was from what sounded like a
young girl who was in distress.
Sarah Barlow claimed to be
age 16, mother of a child
already and pregnant with
another.
That is the domino that fell and
ended up with the raid at the
ranch.
Once the search warrant was
gathered, we began preparations
on how do we execute such a
large-scale operation?
Texas has a history with waco
and then Ruby Ridge happened.
We knew children were going to
be at the ranch.
We knew there was a large
population there.
The concern was they were
either going to attack outwards
or they were going to hurt
themselves.
t was April.
Spring was coming on.
We could see the temple from a
distance.
Even from there it had become an
ominous presence, like here I
am.
You knew going in wouldn't be
like any other search warrant
you ever served.
They rolled the armored
personnel carrier up and said,
you can either deal with us or
deal with this.
When the law enforcement made
entry to the ranch, their
initial goal was to find Sarah
Barlow.
We went up and made contact
at the front gate.
t was something out of "little
house on the prairie."
We received word there were
police officers at the gate
wanting to come in.
We had no idea what they wanted,
what they were after, what they
were doing.
When they came to our home to
take the children, they
literally brought an army with
them.
Our home was totally surrounded.
My sister, she had a nursing
baby and they literally ripped
that child off of her breast.
mean, they took that baby away
from her.
How can you just come in and
take them?
Like I said, we have a search
warrant.
Sarah Barlow was never
located.
Turned out later it was a hoax
call.
As they were looking for her,
they saw the underage girls who
were pregnant.
They saw scrapbooks and
letters supporting the fact that
these girls were being married
off at a young age and having
baby.
The adults at the ranch were
trying to hide those girls from
the authorities.
At that point the judge said to
get them off the ranch and we'll
sort it out.
They're in imminent risk of
harm, imminent risk of being
abused.
t would not be safe for those
children to remain in the
compound.
Texas rangers roll in.
The mothers are crying outside.
The optics of that were
terrible.
can't leave my mother.
don't want to go.
The world didn't know that
Warren had already stolen those
kids from their mothers and
reassigned women to other men to
marry.
State authorities now have
custody of the children, but the
legal battles are just
beginning.
t was right after the raid
and the kids were separated,
there was a day when they
invited every media in america.
They were brought in for the
show.
They put on a show.
A lot of the media just lapped
it up.
We were happy and peaceful
here and all of a sudden
attacked.
Our children are all we have
left.
Just a huge PR move was put
on to try to embarrass Texas,
and it worked.
t did work.
They selected several members
of the sect to go on national
television, Larry king.
To your knowledge, you have
never seen a younger girl marry
an older person?
Not that I'm aware of.
To look the camera in the eye
and say they had never witnessed
any underage marriages was
infuriating because one of them
was the midwife to one of the
underage marriages that we knew
about.
n Texas, lawyers
representing the polygamist
religious sect went to court
arguing officials did not have
enough evidence to raid a
compound and remove children
from their mothers.
We have interviewed all the
children involved.
The information they have given
us tells us we have more
victims.
t was a hot potato.
They didn't want to hold it.
So the kids were sent back.
n one fell swoop we lost
access to almost every single
one of our victims or potential
victims.
To his everlasting credit,
Attorney General abbott, now
governor abbott, did not fold
his tent.
He carried on with the criminal
prosecution.
always thought that
Warren's worst career move was
moving to Texas.
By that time Texas had
developed evidence of him raping
12 and 15-year-olds.
For many years, I mean, even
still sometimes, I have had
nightmares about Warren sexually
abusing me.
will be strengthened and
that's how you will be
strengthened.
've been shown that all of you
need to become more fervent.
need to know the heaven fire
is being reached for.
When Warren became prophet,
he had this dirty little secret,
but nobody knew.
How do I say this?
Warren wants to control the
children because he's a
pedophile.
He has a very sick, disgusting,
immoral desire towards kids.
t's all about sex.
Has nothing to do with god or
religion.
We welcome you to the high
school chorus program.
He ran the academy up in salt
lake in the '80s and '90s.
That's when he got a sense of
the power, you know, that he ran
the school.
That will take some getting
over.
My father put him as the
principal and president of the
private school.
That's when he started taking
interest in young girls.
He would be attracted to the
lambs, be attracted to the meek,
the quiet ones, the ones that
could easily be persuaded.
He would call the students to
his private office and that is
where he would molest them.
Obviously this is a pattern.
He was sexually abusing young
girls for a very long time.
The first time he sexually
abused me was in his office at
the academy school.
Particularly as far as my memory
serves me, it started for me
when I was 8 years old.
When he first started, I was
ashamed.
felt like I didn't want anyone
to know.
You want to keep that secret
because in the first place,
you're terrified your dad would
do that.
t's a shame on you too.
When your parent does something
like that, it feels shameful on
you too.
Then it kept happening.
So then I just would try to
avoid him and try to not be
alone with him.
Then I would just cry because I
really didn't -- I really hated
him for it.
Warren is a sexual predator
from early in his life.
That's not the kind of guy that
should be wielding that kind of
power.
He started marrying girls
younger and younger.
17, 16, started to hear about 15
and 14-year-olds.
t was like, whoa, this is
really getting radical.
When Warren became prophet,
he started what he called the
new law of Sarah, which was all
about group sex.
Everything he did he made it
seem like it was the holy way,
the law of Sarah.
This is the lord's way.
He would have the women
touching each other to get them
excited and ready for him.
He would have them hold the
young girl's hand and tell her
this is what god wants.
When you're called by the
prophet and told your daughter
needs to come to Texas and you
can figure out it's going to be
a marriage to the prophet, that
helps you have a punched ticket
to heavy.
Then the father would ascend
in the leadership after that or
the father would be rewarded
with a young bride of his own.
What the world perceived as
child rape was often considered
a great honor within the flds.
wasn't attracted to Warren
Jeffs at all.
That was a problem for him.
was one of his wives.
At the age of 18 I became his
65th wife.
was in the kitchen and I was
doing dishes.
The sister wife came in and said
that Warren wants you to come to
his room.
went into the room.
He put five people in front.
He told us at first to stare at
him and not look away.
We could hear the door opening
and closing, but we couldn't
look back there.
Then he said, if you believe,
then I want you to show me and
take off your clothes.
Remember there's a guard tower.
There's a gate around.
What can I do?
think I was the last one to
take my clothes off, but I
didn't feel like I had a choice.
After we did that, he said now I
want you to turn around.
When I turned around is when I
saw the entire room filled with
women in the same situation.
He was staring at somebody.
remember looking over there
and it was an underage bride.
remember feeling disgusted.
He actually fathered a child
with that same 12-year-old that
I saw in the room.
New details of what
investigators found inside the
polygamist compound in west
Texas.
Court documents showing
special beds were found on the
third floor of the temple behind
locked doors.
The first time that I saw the
temple, it was almost surreal.
The walls were thick and the
doors were 13-foot tall.
remember walking in on the
third floor and saw white.
The curtains were white.
The furniture was white.
The carpet was white.
The table was white.
The chairs were white.
We had information there would
be a bed up there.
t seemed an odd fit.
Why would a bed be up here?
Ultimately they found a
hidden door that led to a vault
door which was like a bank
vault.
t contained all the
priesthood records.
He dictated morning, noon and
night his every thought.
n Warren's priesthood
records, he directed the
construction of the bed and also
directed there be plastic placed
on the mattress for what he
considered what would occur on
the bed.
We strongly believe this is
the bed where the 12-year-old
was sexually assaulted with some
of her sister wives or Warren's
other wives standing around the
bed.
The 12-year-old was tied down
and raped by Warren in front of
other women, his wives.
was horrified.
At the same time I guess I lived
it.
knew.
already knew all that.
t wasn't new to me.
had lived through that with
him.
've been prosecuting cases
for a long time.
Rarely do we know what's in the
mind of defendant.
Here through the priesthood
records we had that.
n January of 2004 Warren put in
his priesthood records there's a
girl the lord wants me to take.
She's 13.
f the world knew what I was
doing, they would hang me from
the highest tree.
That quote was one that we used
at trial because it showed a
very clear consciousness of
guilt.
They found audio tapes of
Warren ceremonially raping a
little girl.
You have to know how to be
excited sexually.
You have to be prepared to be
trained to do this.
Polygamist and
self-proclaimed prophet Warren
Jeffs walked into this Texas
courthouse and in a bold move
told the judge he was firing all
seven of his defense attorneys
and that he would represent
himself.
n the latest testimony from
Warren Jeffs' trial on sexual
assault the prosecution revealed
DNA evidence allegedly shows
Jeffs fathered a child with a
15-year-old girl.
Texas tried him for having
sex with two minors, a
15-year-old and a 12-year-old.
Warren told everyone, no one
can hear the trials.
Nobody can be at the trials.
That's because there was proof
of him touching underage girls.
Warren himself married 24
underage girls and he presided
over the marriages of at least
67 underage girls to older men.
He was establishing an entire
pattern of sexual assault of
young girls within a whole
community.
They find these records of
everything that Warren has ever
done, all the marriages that
have ever been performed.
And they found the audio tapes
of Warren ceremonially raping a
little girl.
Hearing that in court I can
understand why cops said, our
case is made.
Come to know god and his
power and feel his presence.
Everything else let go of me.
Can you feel me?
We hear her ask him how does
it feel.
He says her name.
You hear her in a tiny child
voice say, it feels good.
n the end you hear another
prayer and you hear her little
voice say thank you.
n the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
The flds people didn't hear
that.
As soon as they said they were
going to play an actual
recording of an actual rape,
they all packed up and left.
remember when I was on the
stand we played the audio of the
sexual assault.
looked at the jury panel and
two of three women in the front
row were leaning forward and
tears were streaming down their
face.
From that moment I knew guilty
is where you're headed.
For Warren Jeffs judgment
day.
Late today we learned a jury
in Texas found polygamist leader
Warren Jeffs guilty of child sex
assault.
His final sentence was life
in prison plus 20 years.
To this day I think, if he
hadn't had been stopped, his
next age would have been 11 and
then 10.
After listening to that
stuff, you wanted to go and wash
your brain out with a bar of
soap.
He ain't getting out.
Howdy.
Hey.
Another beautiful day.
Warren was convicted and in
prison.
His power grew even from behind
bars.
Warren has been able to lead the
flds.
The only ones that become
gods and goddesses --
after Warren was convicted is
when really bizarre rules
started coming out.
How you hand to wash your
hands, right hand only and then
left hand.
f you did it out of order, you
were out of order of the lord's
way.
He told us we couldn't have
marital relationships.
We could only shake our
husband's hand.
We couldn't sleep together.
We could no longer hug our
kids, kiss our kids.
He's now been behind bars for
15 years and so he's stewed in
his own insanity in this Texas
prison cell and it has taken
this unstable man and made him
crazier.
s he still in charge?
He's absolutely 100% still in
charge.
We live in such a wicked day.
Prophets have declared I would
rather have my son or daughter
in the grave than commit sins of
immorality.
What we're concerned about is
that Warren Jeffs from his jail
cell in Texas seems to be
running the church through his
son helaman.
He's been given revelations from
his father.
The revelations say within five
years the children will be
translated to heaven.
The problem is you have to die
first.
This is cult 101.
The end is near.
The big outside world is there
to take us down and only the
truly righteous are going to be
raised up with me.
Would that be ominous for his
following in all seriousness?
Absolutely.
have a concern that those
who are the most faithful, if he
did order them to kill
themselves, they would.
f the law officials, FBI,
whoever, doesn't stop Warren,
thousands will die.
f they don't stop it.
This was the main hall.
'm really proud of what we're
doing here, really proud.
This is a story about a
culture, a community that has
chronically oppressed women.
The women are the victims and
the women have been the forces
and instruments of change.
We were the ones that chose
to step out of the confines and
shackles that we were encultured
with.
To leave the church was the
hardest and best decision of my
life.
believe that's how it is for
everyone who leaves.
t's not easy to leave these
cults and heal and be okay.
People expect you're out, oh,
now everything should be fine.
t's a big process.
Me and my kids moved up here
about four years ago.
They were so scared.
They didn't know what to think.
The flds church alienated them
against me.
t took them months to even
acknowledge I was their mother.
One day I was with the girls
walking out of a store and I
heard someone say, mom.
Then she was like, mother.
They were happy.
The most important change
that I think short creek has
undergone is healing.
As people returned and came back
bringing all of their
experiences, for them they were
coming home.
This is the building that the
judgments happened in.
All of the people came and were
judged.
First the men and then the women
and children, to decide if they
were worthy or not worthy.
A lot of pain was inflicted upon
the people from these walls.
This was the main hall and when
we would have church, this would
be full of people all the way to
the back.
This would hold 8,000 people in
this room.
We want to recreate a place, a
community building where we can
come together and celebrate the
things that we've always loved.
My hope is for the abuse of
the children to cease, the abuse
of the women to cease.
My hope is to rescue as many
that want to be rescued.
We are at the house that used
to be Warren Jeffs' house.
n the past it was a place of
fear.
People didn't really want to
walk through these doors because
they were afraid of being
corrected or abused.
Now it's a place of warmth.
've been out almost 12 years.
feel like my life now is just
so different than it was.
feel like more lives are being
touched than I could have ever
possibly imagined.
We're not bound by our past.
We're not bound by the destiny
that powerful men laid out for
us.
When I look back on my own
story, the most significant
decision I made was to move back
to short creek.
t gave me an opportunity to
have once again a sense of home
and community with the people
that I loved the very most.
t has given me a sense of peace
and wholeness.
'm a different version of
elissa than the one that grew up
here.
've been able to come together.
'm flawed.
'm authentic.
'm here.
And I'm real and I love being
who I am today.