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