Gone Without a Trace: The Unsettling Case of FLDS Polygamous Children Disappearing

welcome back everyone my name is Sam and I'm Melissa I grew up in the flds community it is a polygamous group run by Warren Jeffs and I moved out when I was 18 years old I was raised LDS Sam and I've been married for 9 years now and have two awesome kiddos yes we do if you're interested in just listening in today we do have our podcast available and please don't forget to like And subscribe and if you are from a polygamous background or community and would like to share your story with the world please reach out to us at growingup in pamy atgmailcom and if you are from the rest of the world and want to be able to help us with our holiday fundraiser in adopting a room at the short Creek Dream Center which is a home where people that leave polygamous communities can go find refuge and resources and live then please look at the link below we have a fundraiser going on until the end of the year if you want to contribute that way yes we're very excited to help out in that way it's in a community that I'm very familiar with it's where I grew up right there in hildale uh We've toured the place recently and it's a very great cause to help those that just have nowhere else to go and to be able to go to a place where they know that those taking them in are familiar with their background and we just want to say thank you so much to those who have already donated to our holiday fundraiser and we're so grateful for all of your support yes thank you all so much you're [Music] amazing the reason that we're doing this video today is for another great C was that we wanted to bring awareness to we recently went to an event by holding out help which is another great organization that we have raised money for in the past and they showed this video in particular from ABC Nightline and this is an ongoing issue we had done a video about 7 months ago and we'll leave a link above to that video talking about children being runaways when really they're being kidnapped from their mothers um when their mothers are apostates or have left the flds church and these mothers are still trying to find their children we got to meet with some of them a couple weeks ago at an event and they're still searching some of them haven't seen their children for a few years at this point so we wanted to share the same video that they shared at that event because we felt like it was really important for everybody to see this to be aware of what's going on and hopefully to be able to return those children back to their parents yes it's just so sad that it's been going on this long and unfortunately you'll see some clips of some of the mothers and women today that are missing their children still but unfortunately we know that there are other moms and other women out there and maybe some dads as well that are missing their children that just haven't come out yet to talk about that experience maybe they think or maybe they're just holding out hope that one day that they'll get them back and everything will be well but unfortunately it's still going on and there's a lot of these stories we just don't even know about yet yep so we're going to react to this video in real time we'll just pause it as we go go along and kind of add in some some commentary and some thoughts but mostly we just want you to see this I checked on them at midnight and my daughter was awake and I thought that's odd I'll just sleep with one ear open it was a wintry morning this past February when Lorraine Jessup realized her three kids had vanished at 5: in the morning I awoke to a cold house because the front door was wide open and the kids were gone it was horrifying it was cold outside they didn't take any of their things with them besides what they had on it's really scary When You Don't Know Where Your Children Are I immediately called the police and said my kids have disappeared do you have a a sense of what happened I do I feel like that either someone took it upon thems or were told by Church authorities to gather up these children Lorraine Jessup is one of four mothers whose children as young as 12 have disappeared from remote towns dotting the Rocky Mountains my name is Lorraine Jessup I haven't seen my kids since February 4th of 2023 my name is Sarah Johnson my son salom has has been missing since March of 2021 my name is Miranda Johnson and I haven't seen or heard from my son since October 29th 2022 my name is Elizabeth Roundy I have not seen my daughter elentra since January 1st 2023 law enforcement says they're all runaways but these mothers are convinced it's not that simple and are sounding the alarm who is to say that they are safe real quick I want to put into a little bit of context what lorine was talking about in particular saying that there's law enforcement out there that doesn't understand the full circumstance of what's going on and so when these women are trying to say there's a possibility they're with their fathers or other family members there's some law enforcement who's been telling these mothers well you know the llds community that's a good Community a good religion they're say you know they're with family members then you shouldn't be so worried yeah it's it's tough It's very very tough because they're they're in this situation where it's under the umbrella of the religion and so it's very hard for law enforcement to go in and and fight against this because it's you know you know it's under the religious freedom and on top of that there are still some of their parents sometimes are a part of that religion and so they're still with parents but really it comes down to some of these Revelations that Warren Jeffs from his prison cell has been sending out to the people that still follow him telling them that they're going to be gathering up especially young women and young boys and young girls and young boys and taking them to these remote places that they will I guess try to build up Zion as they say and they have to be translated and then in a couple verses later it says that being translated means they must die so so these mothers are terrified of what's going to happen and it's not just as easy as oh they're they're probably with their aunt and so they're safe and so when she said who are you to say that they're safe when law enforcement's coming to them and saying well I'm sure they're safe where they're at she's like who are you to say that they're safe right it's hard to know it's hard to know what Warren Jeffs has planned we know that he has other people that are outside of the Prison Walls working for him and with him uh one of those Helman Jeffs his own son has been one of the ones sending out these Revelations and some of the stuff that it says like Melissa said that to be translated you must die is very scary from what we've heard so far now Warren has claimed that some of the people some of his own family members his own children he is now claiming that some of them have been translated and that they are these new people now Celestial beings and they have not died you know a moral death but he's claiming so I'm not saying that everything is okay but I'm holding out hope that his you must die phrase in his Revelation is simply something to scare not to actually come to pass but it's there's no way to know there's no way to know there's no way to know and I can only imagine how terrified these moms are when we were at the holding out help event there was one mother who was talking about how her daughters had turned 18 and chosen to go back and and um I'll try not to get emotional yeah but she had said she's like I just hope that the next time I see my daughters it's not to identify their bodies and so it's terrifying to think that these mothers don't know if there's going to be something like that that happens with their children right a painful bond that goes beyond their missing children and ties directly back to their former religion they were all members of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the flds known for their bant haird prairie dresses large families with multiple Sister Wives but most of all polygamy this Breakaway offshoot of Mormonism led by now imprisoned convicted pedophile Warren Jeffs the nationwide manhunt for a polygamist who became one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted has ended guilt of two counts of felony sexual assault against two girls one 12 the other gave birth to his child when she was 15 crazy psychopath and Warren thinks he's God and they think he's God it would be impossible for him to make a mistake that's on the level of Jesus Warren Jeffs however is a pedophile he had 80 approximately wives many many of them underage girls the mothers placing the blame Direct directly at the foot of their former Church whose leader was convicted of pedophilia and of marrying off child Brides the whole church was based on fear they controlled people by fear one of the downfalls that they teach is to keep sweet and that means to do whatever they tell you to do at all cost or there will be dire consequences all four mothers leaving that life behind but now they believe their kids have actually run back to the church they fought so hard hard to escape you're convinced they're in hiding I think they're being hidden if there's anything that the flds is good at is hiding people it's my belief that all of the flds children that are missing at the present time are all connected there is a pattern that's very similar to what I've seen in the past and it's an alarming pattern those who study the church say the prophet Warren ja even after more than 15 years behind bars still runs the flds with an iron fist Warren will be the that's very true he is very much still in charge we know of people that are just moving out that have left the church within the last month or so that are telling us things that is pointing to that exact thing that Warren Jeffs is very much still in charge he still finds ways to communicate whether it's through people coming and visiting him him and sending messages I know for a long time he was able to make phone calls even which is just mindblowing to me that he was allowed to do that but make phone calls in I know it's people have their rights but his unique circumstance is just so much pain and sorrow that he is causing for his followers today yeah there's also been we've kind of talked before of whether or not Helman his son is kind of taking over and saying it's for Warren but we've had um very good sources recently come out to tell us that that's not the case that they really are still coming from waren and that the revelations that seem so crazy to us are like the tip of the iceberg compared to some of the other ones that um that we're not getting or that we're not hearing about things particular particularly to his family his wives and his children so right it's even a little scarier for them yeah the prophet until the day he dies or he goes totally insane and he's put in a rubber room somewhere send this message everywhere you can among the pried people Warren's followers believe whatever Warren says he's got them so indoctrinated these I just wanted to point out really quick that Warren Jeff says to send these to all of the priesthood people that will hear it he's referring to his active and strong believing members those that are what in his eyes still worthy of of the heavens and Celestial Kingdom and all of that he refers to them as priesthood people but that's basically just a way of saying the worthy people that still believe in and follow me yeah mothers fear they're working against the clock because Jeffs himself has issued a series of frightening prophecies calling for his disciples to die so that they can be resurrected in heaven I'm looking at the Revelation that Warren sent out according to the Heavenly calendar that will exist in New Jerusalem translated people must die I what does it mean whatever Warren Jeffs means by it I don't want to wait and find out and see if Warren Jeffs were to command people to be translated in other words die so that they could go to heaven uh the faithful llds May well do that it's not unreal yeah and this is kind of what we're saying before and these Revelations um we've done videos on before we can leave a link above about these Revelations those Revelations were given in August of 2022 so 5 and a half years from then so we're looking at you know it's already almost to the fouryear mark but it definitely is scary to have that type of Tim table for these children that are missing and that's one of the reasons these mothers are so concerned is their children have been missing for so long now and they're just they're not running out of Hope but they are becoming very concerned that it just may it may be too late if they can't find them quickly and uh so they're pleading with everyone that might see some of these faces out there that they contact law enforcement to help them find them yeah another thing that is a complicated piece of it is that these kids don't think that they've been kidnapped oh yeah right so because in their mind they've been raised in the church to believe that the church is the the only truth and the right thing and that's what they need to be doing they don't realize they're not going to run to law enforc men say save me save me they they truly believe that what they're doing is right and they also believe that the people who are kind of harboring them or taking them away or doing it in God's name and so it becomes really complicated because the longer these children are away from their biological mothers they're also being told that their mothers are evil and wicked and horrible people and the longer they're away the harder it's going to be for them to ever adjust back to their mothers as well oh yes and we've seen some of this where some of the mothers finally do get their children back and they're reunited and you would think and some of the fathers we've had recently had uh Isaac Ste on here an interview with him and he was reunited with some of his kids but when they are reunited the kids are just little Terrors they don't want to be there they have been told and they believe that their parents that have left the church are these monsters evil people and so they have just such a rough time and in some cases they have to give the kids back to the church because that's the only way to put an end to the to the chaos and the fighting and that so it's it is very complicated but um The Hope is that with lots of love and help that these children can have their eyes opened and realize that what they're being told about the outside world and what I was told as a young boy is just not the case it's not this everyone is evil and after you trying to hurt you some way like we were taught as young kids yeah istic to believe his followers would follow him down the road of a mass suicide event that's our concern is that something could happen along the lines of a Heaven's Gate the mass suicide in California 21 women 18 men we at jonest Town Jim Jones the leader of an American religious cult and his followers have been found dead at their jungle camp in Guana the result of a mass suicide murder and you know I hope I'm wrong I really do but that is what is written in the revelations I want to make this very clear if the law officials FBI whoever doesn't stop Warren thousands will die sorry Jeff's also calling for all children of former flds members to come back into the fold I think those recent Revelations have everything to do with The Disappearance of these children I'm very worried for them and do you feel like there's a sense of peril yes I I do I have no idea if he's alive but I hope to God he is I'm very scared for her a year ago I knew of one child missing now there's eight the church is famous for casting people out and splitting up families all of our mothers say it happened to them when Lorraine was 32 she was banished for something she had done years earlier it was because I had been seen by a male doctor at a time when I had hammered a woman cannot see a male doctor if she does she's been defiled and can no longer be a member of the church was that a the rules the things again she's hemorrhaging right so she would have died without getting the proper medical care she needed but this is another example too of when these moms are being cast out and the fact that that was normal is one more reason why the children are used to being passed around like property property of the priesthood they are used to the idea of oh my mom's not worthy now I have to go and I have to call this other woman mother and that's something that's been so common within the community for years now that Warren just led up to this to where being taken out of their home in the middle of the night might not have even been the first time it's happened to them let alone within the community kids are being taken to Zion The Ranch in in Texas in the middle of the night mothers weren't knowing then either so the kids are almost used to at this point being passed around and all that matters is that they're told that there's someone with proper authority over them and that's good enough because that's what they've been taught their whole life well yes and that's one of the issues is before their parent that has now left the church before they I guess you could say woke up or realized that they wanted to leave the church because of could have been a million different things that happened or that they came to the knowledge of they were teaching their children that the church Above All Else weren't Jeff's Above All Else and so you can imagine how hard it is for these children to believe their parents now that their parents have realized that the church is doing all of these horrible things so it's just it's very complicated and uh yeah it's hard to say hard to say the the best way to go about it I guess but kindness and love is just really the the best option at this point and trying to find them yep a miscarriage yes when she permanently broke with the flds they labeled her what they call an apostate The Scarlet Letter of the flds community what did you say to your children I told them that I had sinned and that I had to go live somewhere else and that it was best for them to stay with the priesthood when she embarked on a new life she says she entrusted all six of her children to her sister wife it's the hardest thing and the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life but to me it was the only option it was the only choice I felt like I was going to burn in hell imagine if you were walking into a furnace would you take your children with you if if that's where you knew you were going in my mind I knew that's where I was going we use this exact quote to try to tell people what it's like for the mothers because it is so easy from the outside to be like how could any mother possibly leave their children How could a mother just walk away and just accept their quote unquote punishment and I think she says it perfectly yeah right there I agree if you were going to walk into a furnace and you were going to walk into hell would you take your children or would you leave them someplace that you thought with all your heart and with all your might was the safe place right and as a parent all you want is what's best for your kids yeah and at the point and I can speak for myself because I left the flds church when I was 18 years old when I moved out I still believed it was the truth and I was doing it because I felt that it was what was best for me but at that point I would have never tried to convince any of my siblings or anyone else that I love to leave with me because I still believed that it was the truth and so to be cast out she wasn't even choosing to leave and most of these women and men are not choosing to leave they're being forced out of the community and still trying very hard to repent and then move back in sometimes it takes years before they come to the realization that what they were stepping into or stepping out of they weren't stepping into a furnace they weren't stepping into hell they were actually stepping into a better life and it it just it doesn't happen overnight sometimes it takes a long time before they realize that and then when they do realize that they want nothing more than to be with their children again yeah after 2 years on the outside Lorraine conquered her fears and decided to try to get her children back but actually getting them back would be the fight of her life we don't need you this is footage um just in case anyone's wondering what this is from so when mothers leave and they become an apostate and they go and actually get custody of their children through you know the judicial system and they go and they have that they still often times what was happening before is they were having police officers SWAT teams whoever was necessary to go to the homes where the kids were staying and physically forcibly remove them back with the mothers cuz again like these kids are saying they don't want to go they don't want to go back with their apostate mother because they believe that that is going into hell into the furnace and so this is the officers and and Lorraine trying to get her children back the first time before the runaway situation but this is just a testament to how the kids feel about being taken with their apostate mothers right my voice right our thanks to gu guu ABC News reached out to the flds church for comment they did not respond you can see more of the mother's fight on impact by Nightline now streaming on Hulu well that is the Quick Clip we also did react to that full Nightline um vanished Children of the prophet and we will link that above if you want to see the full episode again we just wanted to do this quick review of this piece just as a reminder that those children are still out there please keep an eye out please be kind to the people who are in the community who are leaving the community and just give them love and grace and understanding for the tough situation that they're in and hopefully somehow we'll be able to find these children most of the children that have left the flds church have been asked why did you decide to leave most of them say because of the kindness of the outside world most of them are taught I guess I should say all of them are taught that the outside world is an unsafe sad miserable place and when they see kindness from The Outsiders when they see Outsiders happy when they see Outsiders being normal people and being kind to those around them it flips a switch in their mind and helps them realize it's the same same thing happened to me when you start realizing the outside world isn't this big bad horrible place that you're taught it is is then suddenly you start to trust others you start to realize that some of the situations inside are not that great yeah if you'd like to hear more about what it was like for Sam to grow up in polygamy more new stories and updates on the latest Revelations or things happening within the flds flds community then please like And subscribe and we will talk to you soon thank you all so much for being with us today we look forward to talking with you soon [Music]

Channel: Growing Up in Polygamy

Views: 14,556

Keywords: polygamy, polygamist, flds, lds, mormon, sister wives, growing up in polygamy, escaping polygamy, warren jeffs, hildale, colorado city

Id: NX9kd43gXFM

Length: 26min 7sec (1567 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2023