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Prisoner of the Prophet (2023) Season 1 Episode 3 - The Escape
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#Prisoner of the Prophet
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00:00.
00:21After I made the decision that I was not going to kill myself no matter what,
00:24my caretaker told me that Warren Jess made my brother
00:29my new caretaker.
00:31And then he decided to move me back to the creek.
00:35They're living in an altered reality that was created by the immorality of Warren Jeffs.
00:42Testimony resumed this morning in the Warren Jeffs trial with a twist.
00:45Polygamous prophet Warren Steed Jeffs entered a Texas courthouse early this morning
00:49for what would turn out to be one of the most bizarre courtroom dramas in recent memory,
00:54announcing, quote,
00:56I have released all my counsel. I desire to represent myself.
01:01And I underestimated Warren Jeffs.
01:03Warren still has quite a lot of influence on the people here.
01:07They're still families just being told what to do by Warren.
01:10It's like he's the head of the snake.
01:12Because he had so many loyal followers.
01:15I did feel like I was fighting alone.
01:17And she was fully traumatized.
01:20For a woman to walk away, it takes incredible strength and fortitude.
01:27I am going to do anything I can to get out of here.
01:34I have to know I tried to the end.
01:39You.
01:40I did feel like I was choke.
01:41I'm going to do anything I'm going to do today.
01:42I'm going to do anything I can to get out of here.
01:44My childhood was
02:13a lot of trauma when I look back on my good memories even I was being bullied most of the time
02:24the church they believe that you get baptized at eight years old which means
02:31that you're basically an adult at eight years old because God
02:33stops atoning for you once you are baptized and then it's all your sins are on you if you like
02:39mess up when I turned eight years old I had a bad experience with like some of my family members
02:49that were young so I was eight and my brother was 12 when he molested me
02:58when I went to my parents and tattled they talked to all of us individually
03:08and then when I my turn came I walked in and the first thing I remember I said was like
03:12is God gonna forgive me and my mother turned to me and she says you're gonna have to ask him
03:17my parents version at least my mother's version because of how angry she was at me
03:26was that she believed that I was the one at fault
03:29yeah the whole thing is just devastating you know the whole
03:39yeah
03:39children they suffer the most under Warren Jeffs
03:51Warren Jeffs has been indicted for first-degree felony sexual assault of a child he is currently in
03:58custody
04:10I believed it like I don't if he was going as far as he was with me he did all that stuff
04:17when Warren Jeffs was arrested we were all just absolutely happy and thrilled it's like he's the
04:28head of the snake so to me that that made it where it will actually make a difference to the people
04:35Texas is now trying Jeffs for two counts of sexual assault of a child he called children and say you're
04:43worthy and you know he called the parents and say this child is worthy and take him to these elite
04:48compounds Warren Jeffs was serious about keeping people trapped in and forcing them to do what he
04:56wanted them to do next up a hearing to decide if evidence taken from the Cadillac Escalade in which
05:03Jeffs was arrested in Nevada back in 2006 will be admitted during trial when the battle highway patrol
05:10trooper pulled over the red escalade the van was full not just money and disguises but tapes and
05:19journals and diaries and letters all of which became very important in his prosecution in Texas
05:26there ended up being criminal prosecutions in Arizona and Utah and eventually in Texas and Texas
05:33did a raid of the temple which ended up getting some of these videotapes
05:39showing actual criminal acts by Warren Jeffs testimony resumed this morning in the Warren
05:45Jeffs trial with a twist polygamous prophet Warren Steve Jeffs entered a Texas courthouse early this
05:51morning for what would turn out to be one of the most bizarre courtroom dramas in recent memory
05:56announcing quote I have released all my counsel I desire to represent myself
06:02Warren actually hired some of the best criminal defense lawyers in Texas and just as the trial is
06:09about to start Warren fires them after sitting silently thus far throughout the trial Warren Jeffs acting as
06:17his own lawyer objecting to prosecutors attempts to introduce records seized at the YFZ ranch records listing
06:26Warren Jeffs many wives and legions of children this was a very well investigated criminal case and
06:33they were able to take the evidence seized when Warren was first arrested in Nevada and they were able to
06:38take the evidence found on the ranch in Texas and they're able to marble that into a prosecution of Warren
06:46so Warren was charged with two crimes in Texas one was a sexual assault for having sex with a 12 year old
06:55girl the other was a charge where Warren was accused of having sex and with a 15 year old girl and
07:03fathering a child with her prosecutors presented the court with church records that said the 15 year old
07:09conceived a child conceived a child of Jeffs during a quote heavenly session that charge was pretty well
07:15a slam dunk because the dna evidence was able to document that Warren was the father of the child
07:21the charge with of sex with a 12 year old girl was a little more difficult case to make because
07:27you know you didn't have the same forensic evidence you did in the other charge these children they're not
07:33living in the same world that you and i are living in and that's that's the reality they don't think
07:39of him as a pedophile they're living in an altered reality that was created by the immorality of Warren
07:46Jeffs and then prosecutors throwing their most powerful punch i've sat through a few trials dealing
07:54with sexual assaults over the years this was the first time i ever saw a jury cry and it happened while
08:03they were having to listen to that audio recording of warren having sex with the 12 year old
08:09i've never listened to it but you know i've heard about it um i don't really
08:16i don't want to listen to those it would be really really triggering um
08:20yeah i just i believed it
08:36okay willing to do whatever you're called on to do your willingness to respond includes a willingness to
08:45reach for the heavenly gift and administering to one another and to me in the heavenly session
08:56i need to know the heavenly fire is being reached for and increasing within you
09:04and make sure you're not tending your own opinion make sure you're not holding on to
09:10the little particles of selfish emotion beware of pride
09:18pray for me and you'll be ready for me
09:20make sure you're alive in the heavenly gifts and i hope all of you can see that you're dying
09:29closer together through me and the confidence is creating a heaven between us
09:35i want all of you to learn the heavenly gentle touch
09:48and you touch someone the fire of the spirit of god is felt by that person
09:57by that child by the thing you're handling
10:02the heavenly father's spirit is working through you now from now on
10:06and there was one little girl who screamed and cried while he raped her in the temple in texas
10:19in horror and pain and he taped it
10:24he tied her down 12 year old and raped her and told her you know that she was um
10:37that this was the holy ghost when she got horny or whatever and i already know that they must have
10:44raped her in front of everybody if he's having her undressed in front of everybody why would he not rape
10:49her in front of everybody at the end he says untie her please it was obvious that you know this this
11:01girl didn't have any choices a texas jury of two men and 10 women took less than a half hour to hand
11:08the so-called polygamous prophet the maximum sentence for sexually assaulting two young girls
11:14a whopping 119 years in a lone star state prison what would you tell him now
11:23i told you in 2001 we were coming after you and if you were marrying or causing
11:27children to marry older men then we would get you and we would put you in prison
11:33and here you sit and everything you tried to do to stop us failed
11:44after i made the decision that i was not going to kill myself no matter what
11:51my caretaker told me that warren jeffs made my brother my new caretaker and then he decided to move
12:00me back to the creek warren jeffs would break these families up as he saw fit
12:07by isolating people by moving them from place to place and and basically embedding them wherever he
12:16felt it was to his best interest the day that my brother came and gathered up my stuff and brought
12:23me over to his trailer he was angry and i was terrified of going over there but there was no way
12:28to resist i'm scared of him he was mad and he didn't explain anything to me he just said i have
12:37to be the one to take care of him and he didn't want him he targeted my brother because there was
12:43multiple instances where he had crossed some lines
12:51if anyone you're supposed to count on in this world is your family
12:54and they were pitting us against each other he broke down the nuclear family in order to constantly
13:03reinforce his own power i alone am your ultimate authority not your father not your mother not your
13:11family me and i am a prophet and i alone hold the keys to heaven and if you want to have your
13:21salvation you must obey me without question this is classic warren jeffs there was no way to escape
13:32it's so painful
13:52well even though he was in prison i didn't have any question in my mind that he had control
13:57over me at that time because he had so many loyal followers now i had a caretaker who it's the same
14:05brother who molested me when i was seven or eight we're both being put in the same house
14:14i was really scared i told my brother i wanted to leave he brought a picture of oran jeffs in the room
14:22and he says can you stare at that picture and say you want to leave still and i wouldn't look at it
14:30like he was really mad at me for wanting to leave wearing a dress because like
14:37that's supposed to be god to him it was
14:42but to me i'm like i've had enough like i've had way too much
14:46and then my brother decided he needed to put me in the room in the trailer and lock me in one room
14:54like it was just one room so clearly my brother was commanded to lock me in a room in the trailer
15:01i was angry i was really angry and that's the thing i didn't feel hope i didn't know if i could get out
15:06and even succeed on the outside at all but i was just angry i didn't want to give up
15:19the trailer's right there yeah
15:23this one right there that one
15:30my father and my older sister showed up and said goodbye to me like i didn't understand that either
15:36i was like why are you saying goodbye and i said where's my mother and my sister said somebody had
15:43to watch my daughters
15:46my mother she i think she was scared i think she was really scared she knew something was wrong
15:55my father said it's going to be okay and i knew he didn't believe it by the way he said it
16:00i'm thinking something bad is going to happen my brother was telling me things like my daughter's
16:06named after you she'll take your place and yeah weird things like he was telling me don't worry about
16:13it like your legacy will continue we'll remember you you know i was afraid at this point of maybe being
16:21committed to a long-term psych unit which would take away my american rights and the cult would make my
16:27decisions for the rest of my life or the worst case scenario would be that my brother would be framed
16:32to take my life
16:36like that was forcibly going to happen one of those two things that's what's going through my mind
16:44these are your options and they're they're both like a goodbye once either of those happen
16:51there's no me anymore my family's turning on me like everything is happening because they're just
17:00told to do it and they believe Warren Jeff's over me why are they believing Warren Jeff's over me
17:06it's because the church told them i was crazy
17:11i had two feelings inside one of them was like sleep just lay down and just like die
17:18forget it all the other one was like the really intense anger and that's the one i went with
17:31in my mind i'm thinking i am gonna do anything i can to get out of here
17:38i have to do this for myself i have to know i tried till the end
17:42the very last opportunity i ever had i had to know i did it
17:47what were you angry at i was angry at everyone
17:55when we think of people in a kind of cult compound and they're adults we think well you know they're
18:03not really a prisoner they can leave and many times cult leaders will say i'm not holding anybody hostage
18:10they're not chained up they're not in a cell they could walk out and then add to that that their
18:17family would disown them that they know no other life other than the community and you can see how
18:23there are walls around this person that constrain them that may not be visible physically but are
18:32psychologically and emotionally very real
18:41i remember there was a lot of chaos in his house
18:45he was like throwing my stuff my heart was definitely pounding i was very scared
18:52he walked in and put like two screws in the window in front of me he unscrewed the the doorknob
19:02in front of me and turned it around so the lock would be in the hallway
19:07my brother told me to lay down and read just lay down on the bed and read
19:12i'm locked up in my brother's house he's going to work i hear his truck leave
19:18and then i decided i was going to look for something to start to unscrew those screws in the window and
19:25i knew i had to hurry it was broad daylight right now so i found some scissors in the room
19:33and i unscrewed one screw
19:39the other screw was really tight and i couldn't get it with the scissors it would slip a lot
19:43it was sticking out halfway and i thought why don't i just like break that off so i started pounding
19:49on it to break it off
19:53my brother's wife was home after a little bit of time his wife walked around outside and she looked
19:59at me like uh what are you doing like why are you even trying and then the next thing i know she
20:04comes back around in the house and she's on the phone talking and i'm i know it's my brother she's
20:09talking to if my brother comes home after seeing me try to even try to undo these screws then who knows
20:18what he's going to do next after she got off the phone i was like in major survival mode my heart was
20:25racing the other screw i kept pounding on it well the screw eventually broke off
20:30so i don't have very much time because this is a trailer and i don't have very thick walls
20:39so i couldn't take my id or anything so that's what i did i just climbed out the window and left
20:47i didn't have my id i didn't have one thing with me i had the clothes on my back
20:52i didn't feel like i was free at that moment i had been brought back before
21:00so every time i tried to escape i would end up back at the flbs because i didn't have anyone
21:18to help me i did feel like i was fighting alone because i didn't have the resources and the help
21:25that i needed i went out on the street
21:33and it was more of a main street so i went the other direction like i had to take different routes
21:41and i went on back roads this time and went through the creek as fast as i could
21:47but you have to remember like there's a lot of flbs people in this town
21:57the first person i meet is this lady meditating in her backyard that's not dressed like flbs
22:06she clearly knew that something was wrong and she's like can i help you
22:11that lady she knew who to call she actually called kristin decker who is the lady that
22:18was working for the hope organization at that time
22:28i was born and raised in polygamy but since i didn't believe that anymore i'm excommunicated
22:35and i was the president of the hope organization at the time and we try really hard to help people
22:42if they need and where they need it and speak to the harms of polygamy
22:48i'd get a call here and there about a girl that needed help or can you go here and take somebody
22:53food or can you pick this person up and so i get a call and from this gal who said can you pick up
23:01somebody like right away she had been married to warren and that she needed to get away and feel safe
23:12and comfortable the flds were looking for her the police were looking for her and she was fully
23:21traumatized to the max they were doing all sorts of things she'd been married to warren just and she knew
23:28a lot of stuff and so she is terrified and they're still following her
23:35so we put her brielle in the back of the truck and i turned around and i went this
23:44this gal is my girl and i still don't know where that came from but um i mean i didn't even know her
23:54and we're talking all the way home and she was looking behind her the whole time and
24:01i said honey what's going on she was just terrified
24:08she was really really scared and i said you're safe you're really safe with us i'll make sure
24:13you're safe brought her home and walking around and showing her where she can stay in the house and
24:20she's still looking behind her and looking out the window she took me immediately to her house
24:27in new harmony which is a little bit farther away and it's like it's probably about 40 minutes from
24:35the creek so she stayed overnight we made as her feel as comfortable as she could
24:40and the next morning is when i started getting reports they're saying the police officers are going
24:53around door to door with a picture of me in the creek so we planned that i'm going to take her to walmart
25:01and we're going to do the haircut and get her some new clothes and when we went in to cut off my hair
25:06and i was like watching the door the whole time i was terrified i remember seeing some flds walking
25:11the door so i was like yes i was so afraid but they didn't look over there we watched out because
25:18we didn't want anybody to recognize her so we'd go different directions and look kind of look out to
25:22make sure nobody was there that would recognize her and i swear she had two or three feet of hair
25:27it was almost down to her knees i think we cut it about shoulder length they cut like a lot i felt different
25:36but i don't remember feeling like relieved or anything because the flds were looking for me
25:42and i didn't feel ever safe to take a break because war and jeffs wanted to kill me
25:50so in my mind i was still like running
25:53for someone like rielle who was born into a cult to escape on her own and get out is an incredible
26:06achievement it takes so much courage for someone to do that because they're in an environment that they
26:12believe they must stay in in order to survive they just you know jet themselves out into the world and
26:19that's really scary because it's a place that they've been taught to hate although when they
26:24get out they often see that that's exactly the opposite for someone to escape from this system
26:30for a woman to walk away it takes incredible strength and fortitude because how do you imagine
26:38your life outside of the organization they don't let you see the outside world
26:47and practical considerations i won't be able to talk to my family and friends i'll be cut
26:53off from everything i know everyone i love for someone to say i'm going to do it anyway that
27:01is an incredible act of strength uh and and it it it's it's very difficult and that's why so few
27:10people are able to actually do it the FLDS they really wanted me to come back every activist at the
27:19time said they had a phone call they said an FLDS member said she's mentally unstable we need she needs
27:25to come back to her family will you help us get her back her trauma was very scary because she would
27:34just disassociate i think she's either just curled up in a ball and not talking or she's talking like
27:42as if she's somewhere else there was no crisis houses at that time for people coming from cults
27:51i would disassociate i don't remember a lot of it i had ptsd
27:57one of the things that was really common for me was to walk away because in my past i was always
28:06trying to run so in my when i would disassociate i would just like walk away from wherever i was staying
28:13we didn't know where she was or she didn't know where she was or who she was we were concerned about
28:19her safety and it caused like people to put up flyers try to look for me
28:25and it was scary for all of us because i was already in a high profile case you know like
28:30people were hunting me i call them ptsd episodes it got longer and longer each time i would have one
28:38um it's like what's happened to her and where is she and who's taking care of her
28:43and the confidentiality prohibited the hospitals to tell anybody that they had me so it was a really big
28:51problem for everybody in my life to really get information that i where i was took them like
28:58two weeks sometimes to find out why i was just at the hospital because the police had picked me up on
29:02the road there was no paperwork on kristen taking care of me
29:11she asked me if we would consider adopting her so she could feel
29:15more safe and change her name and change everything so she could just start her whole new identity
29:24yeah they don't want you to say what you're saying they don't want they don't want anybody me or anybody
29:31to speak the truth so kristen is my i call her my adoptive mom i don't know why i call her that but
29:38she's the mom that adopted me as an adult after my escape one of the biggest reasons that we legally
29:47adopted her was so we could have legal say on what happened to her nobody else could try to send her
29:54back or come after her or accuse her of anything else we could literally find her anywhere if she
30:02happened to walk or take off or be in the hospital and i needed to talk to her see her i would have those
30:08rights to do that that was huge not only for her but for me too to feel much safer about being her
30:15parent i changed my name my name was lynette warner
30:23and i changed it to brielle liberte decker
30:26and then i'm married now so it's blanchard now my adopted mom she has seven kids and the oldest one
30:43he introduced me to steven he's really patient he's really kind he's he's just really gentle i had so
30:53many nightmares for so many years a lot of nightmares i'm falling and somebody's coming after me and
31:00people are so really screaming at you the nightmares go on and on but they get less and less and now i'm
31:08like i have good dreams now i did have one ptsd episode after i met him and that was super hard for
31:16him because like i was gone and he didn't know if i would come back when somebody has somebody to catch
31:26them and love on them and let them know every day that i'm here for you and steven was there then and
31:34he was precious we've been together and the 29th will be five years what i love about steven is he's so
31:42gentle like he's he cares so much and now he knows my story so much he could probably tell it
31:50we've done it together really and he's so patient and and so many people would like
31:55not understand and try to sway me this way or that way and steven's always just supportive
32:01and i don't think brielle like too many kids had the love and nurturing that she needed
32:07she didn't have a parent especially a mother the last message i got from my biological mother was in
32:14the hospital a month after i had escaped she sent a note that said i care
32:22like she really did care i think she was trapped right now 10 years later after my escape
32:30if me or my mother wanted to talk to each other like my mother would get punishments for doing
32:36that they cut you out of the pictures after you leave i'm her daughter but she's she would get
32:42punished for talking to me i'm an apostate they don't even call them family members anymore once
32:47you leave the church you are never existent she would be thrown out of the church and lose her 60
32:53grandkids her there are 10 kids that are still in there one of the things like i hear about my
32:59mother they say that she cries like solid she cries all the time just her eyes are watering and all the
33:05time she's just sniffling and working and just crying she's so miserable what warren jeffs did was he
33:14would he would decree that these children who left could never talk to their mother anymore
33:22i mean what kind of pain did that cause for the mother who who followed that edict and was denied
33:30having a relationship with her daughter with their son that had left the group a tremendous pain
33:37that warren jeff's caused the story is definitely still going to break free from that is
33:42it's it's very challenging and some people i don't think ever will
33:56it's very challenging and some people i don't think ever
34:02clearly i can picture you there alone behind prison doors
34:13the greatest man on earth praying for me on a concrete floor
34:26for the average person when you see your leader locked up or you see your leader criminally indicted
34:51you would you that would cause you to pause and reconsider your devotion to that leader
34:57but if that leader is like warren jeff's they're more likely to say well i'm a martyr for my faith
35:04it's interesting after his arrest and incarceration and all that's happened and what all we've done
35:10the majority of those people in hilldale colorado city the flds still believe in him if you think
35:17what power comes with having 10 000 people as absolute loyal totally loyal followers i think you realize
35:25how how powerful that that attraction was it was very discouraging that he could still control his
35:31people from jail it was very encouraging when he gave the one recorded conversation with his brother
35:38and that one time in his life he's ever been honest anybody who wants to read this message
35:50or see the video that they may know
35:54that i have been a liar and the truth is not in me i'm not the prophet
36:12i never was the prophet best we ever saw on the law enforcement side was there was a period there
36:19after he was first put in prison when he went through what appeared to be agonizing remorse i mean
36:26he was self-flagellating he was making statements about how he had been wrong and he had led the community
36:35astray and that he had been a false prophet you are the prophet just a minute this is a revelation
36:44wow he's actually done this very well
36:53those of us on the outside thought okay he's in prison plus he's renouncing everything he did to
36:58his followers this must be the end and it wasn't and then of course the next day he recanted and said
37:04that was a moment of weakness and satan got a hold of him and he's he is the prophet he didn't do anything
37:08wrong we love you we love you in the end he emerged powerful and and still in control
37:26i would have thought as soon as warren jeffs went into prison that it would be the end of his reign
37:32that there would be no way to continue uh and i underestimated warren jeff's it's not like a fire
37:39it's more like you blew it up this work truck belongs to a former member of the flds church
37:45and investigators say without a doubt some type of explosive was used to possibly send a message
37:52warren still has quite a lot of influence on the people here amazing amount for anybody that's in
37:57prison like he is the latest in a long-standing feud between current and former church members
38:02but it's possible they could kill us they could kill my family they'd kill me i i got ran off the
38:07road about two weeks ago they literally went on to my side and forced me off the road and there's also
38:14a former flds member and he has videotaped a lot of the things that transpired between flds and
38:21etc i've actually had guns pointed at me and they would uh kill animals and put them in your vehicles
38:29chickens with their heads pulled off put at your door if you need help ex-church members say don't
38:35bother calling the local town marshal the police worked directly with the leadership of the church and
38:41the uep so if they wanted to evict somebody off the uep property the police would do that through the
38:46church they had done everything they could to intimidate the so-called apostates where our
38:51family members they'd discourage them and get them to leave the united effort trust was an effort to
38:58take the community economic power and maximize it and it brought everybody's earnings and everybody's
39:05property into a single ownership the trust it helped people build their houses and help them
39:11gets financial independence warren used it as a tie to power because he could take away somebody's
39:18house because he controlled the trust warren just had a moving crew because he owned all the houses
39:24in this community and pretty much all of them um the uep and um he would send people to your door
39:32and say you're moving today and he would put you in like a smaller house or a bigger house depending on
39:37what he thought your family size was and they had no notice a lot of times so that a lot of times they
39:43would just like walk in the whole crew and just throw your stuff like into the trailer and that abuse
39:52ultimately led to the state coming in and saying you're abusing your fiduciary relationship
39:58then the state took over the uep trust confiscated it and gave it to xflds people mostly and
40:12they started giving titles back to the people
40:17to redistribute it back to the to the people who had made the original investment
40:21so it was it kind of went full circle uh it started off as his base of of power and then
40:29ultimately got taken away from him and given back to his followers once we had control of our homes
40:36the church could no longer destroy you like they used to because that was a big leverage they used
40:43to make you do things against your will what the court did was they put new trustees in and then
40:51they turned it over to the trustees but they have been giving a lot of houses out and it's been helping
40:59a lot of people even the flds if they wanted to get their homes they could apply and and get their title
41:06to their homes which they couldn't because warren just told them that they could not cooperate with the
41:12fiduciary if you do you're an apostate and you will lose everything else so people would call
41:19us to come and show up for them at times and so we would go and work with people and try to hold these
41:25families together and then they reformed the trust and says we're going to give this trust back to the
41:34people that will come forward and claim it you can now go to the uep with a petition and put your
41:41petition in front of the board of trustees and ask for permission for a home or a lot or a building
41:48commercial building or anything like that that you're a part of and help build
41:54so it's taken us four years to get to this point but we've taken over two compounds now
42:00patrick had firsthand knowledge working on these compounds one in mancos colorado and one close to
42:07pringles south dakota he would show up on these projects and donate his labor and his equipment
42:14that's 147 acres there's a total property and there's uh seven houses total on the property nine
42:21different parcels yeah nine different parcels land and then the guard tower and the storehouse
42:27and uh the dairy and the chicken coops and then the smaller shops several smaller shops
42:34i think they're going to do something good with this property i think they're going to turn it over
42:41to somebody that's going to make something really positive out of it so much good is coming out of
42:46it that that i just want it to keep going until the property is all gone and then it's it becomes a
42:53normal town where it's owned by individuals not one entity it's like it should be in america and i just pray
43:02it's not too late outside of the church i was struggling one of the problems i had in escaping
43:15was i didn't know where to go all the shelters i stayed in were really hard to get in because it
43:19wasn't like an exact fit i first wanted to see if there was somewhere i could just like help somebody
43:25that's what's needed i want to be an activist on the outside
43:37i asked a lot of questions and i figured out that i had an opportunity
43:41to actually go after warren just house in the creek when she first started talking about getting the
43:49house that warren had it was quite scary to me because of the trauma and the things she'd been
43:55through there and not only her but many of the other girls the motto is prominently displayed pray and
44:01obey a reminder of a manipulative and dark era i was able to go after warren's house because i had
44:07lived there before and also because i was a wife of warren just on these grounds warren jeff's rotated in
44:1220 to 30 wives and their children to live with him it was a place of like terror and mostly bad
44:20members for most people we talked about whether that would be you know wise and what could come of
44:26this she said no i have to i that's the whole idea is to change it from the negative to the positive
44:34to change the memories to good things to help people to make it different after jeff's conviction
44:41a court gave brielle decker the keys to the kingdom brielle searched for a charity to put
44:45the complex to good use people would come and say let's do a old folks home you know like a
44:51senior citizens place and i was like not the dream and it was a big deal to me to have the dream
44:57so i needed a place for other people that would be what i didn't have i wanted a cult recovery shelter
45:04this place used to stand for oppression now it's a place of safety and healing so anybody in this
45:14town if they want to come here they can come here i met her when her name wasn't brielle it was
45:23something else and then fast forward to adults you know i had left the church she had married the prophet
45:30i always thought about her fondly um and always hoped that she was doing well i was 16 when i got
45:37married i did not know him even though he said he wouldn't force himself on me he really did when i
45:43started getting bold is when the physical abuse started happening to my children and he would say
45:49things like this could stop if you would just give me what i want you know what i want and i was like um
45:56um i need to disappear through the united effort plan they helped me get into a home
46:04i had just worked a really long hard shift 12 hours and i wake up and there was this like rumbling like
46:15kind of hum i come out to the front of the door and i'm looking at the rafters and and i'm just staring
46:22watching my house burn and i came outside and i sat on the curb and these representatives from the
46:28dream center walked up they said we're here to help you through this disaster and this tragedy
46:33um here's a 500 uh card and we have shelter for you they loaded us up and and got immediately got us
46:43what we needed and they just loved us through that entire process and as a result of all of that i
46:50retained housing i was able to do a lot of work through therapy to heal i got help for my daughter
46:55who was initially the person who started the fire so there was a lot of amazing things that came out
47:02of that life being turned upside down i stayed here for about a year then they offered me a job
47:10here i've never said yes to a job so quick because i knew what it was like to be a resident i've been
47:15working here almost exactly a year a lot of these folks maybe all of them are victims to one extent
47:22or another the women and children in the flds especially need a safe place they can go because
47:29right now the only safe spaces for them are being provided by men in the flds the most important thing
47:35to realize is that the children do not have to grow up under warren jeff it's been it's been a really
47:49good program yeah i feel like i've actually grown a lot since i came here that's awesome so you know um
47:57the kids progress it's like it's like a puzzle to begin with and then when they start solving those
48:02pieces it's like every single piece is like wow these children that i work with will now have like
48:10freedom and hope and security so they get to have a childhood we're luke and constance meredith and
48:17we're the co-executive directors of the shore creek dream center who were able to come in as you know
48:22cares and administrators to bringing brielle decker's dream to life you know when she said what she wanted
48:30to have for this town we just happen to be the vessel the experts and make the thing come to
48:35fruition but we're always looking toward her for what she wanted for for this town you could just see
48:43the passion that she had in her eyes she wanted to be a part of the change she wanted to be a part of
48:48the future i literally made the decision to go public with my story because of this building
48:55because i wanted it to be something that everybody could choose to benefit from if they needed to
49:03and if they wanted to this place was warren just house now it is the short creek dream center
49:17the story is definitely still going
49:19the gates around it the people are flds they don't know what's outside of those walls it's a process
49:28to figure out what steps to take and how like if they're even going to try those steps and and they
49:34don't have support they don't have support to do it they get isolated as soon as they start to start that
49:41path you see some of the men and women here walking around and it's a sunday
49:45and so these are still people that believe in warren jeff's and i'd say there's upwards of
49:5130 to 40 families living here in trailers they're still families just being told what to do by warren
50:00the the reason why the flds are being evicted from the homes is because they won't pay the
50:05hundred dollars a month for an occupancy fee with the trust and they won't pay the taxes on the property
50:11real clearly warren told them do not answer them nothing give us the tax money and so the
50:17uep has to evict these people that are in the home because the taxes are not being covered
50:23the concern we have is they're giving more money back to the jeffs again
50:33i would love it if flds heard my story because it might empower them
50:36to do what i did but i don't know if they will be able to i don't know if warren just is going to
50:43allow them to hear my story
50:48fundamental mormonism is here to stay it's just a matter of you know what flavor it's going to be
50:54and who's going to be the the latest prophet for the latest slice of fundamental mormonism
51:00there's several people stepping up to be the new prophet like there's actually a leader in town
51:05saying that warren just is dead and that he um is taking his place he's been called by god warren
51:11just is not in his body he's already dead but the prison is keeping him alive and he's the new prophet
51:18and he has like a nine-year-old wife already his whole goal was to establish pedophilia make it common
51:28so for a long time we will be dealing with this
51:32i do think there's a need to continue to police the flds when there's evidence that it has committed
51:37a crime or individual members have committed crimes and i think one way to do that is to keep the door
51:43open for people that want to leave the sect to continue to support some of the the social services
51:49that are reaching out to that group because it's very difficult for them to leave if they don't have
51:55anywhere to go and if you if you do want some of these men in prison uh you need witnesses and they're
52:03not going to testify if they're still in the flds they only testify when they exit the flds everybody's
52:10trapped at least psychologically
52:15you know cults have always been around i mean there's always people who are going to take advantage of
52:20other people they're always going to be con artists and swindlers and charming people who
52:28get their way and take advantage of other people um i think all we can do is just try to educate educate
52:34educate and and hope that the public gets more savvy about some of the things they sign on to
52:43everything i go through right now i like have so much gratitude and because like
52:47i never had any i was stripped of everything inside the flds like my livelihood i had so much
52:54abuse so much trauma there was no hope there to survive all of that and come out here in the
52:59world and be able to live and function and create things every day even if i'm going through a hard
53:06thing there's always something to be grateful for because like it's so much better than it was
53:10if you talk to your mom right now what would you say my mother i i i probably would say
53:24i miss you you know i i wish you know that i could have the relationship i had with my
53:30adopted mom you know like now that i'm an older i wish i did come and talk to you more
53:41now i think about it i'm like i should have been an adult i should have just
53:46broke down and cried more you know like and talk to her you know like i need i want those
53:50conversations so bad now there's a chance that we will never talk to each other again
54:00so the pain in my life is actually my biggest power now i found like a purpose i'm really passionate
54:13about
54:29you did such a good job here
54:33i still believe in god i left warren jeffs i did not leave god
54:43so
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