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Elissa Wall Speaks Out About Her 'Stolen Innocence'
ABC News - 20/20 ^ | May 16, 2008 | JOSEPH DIAZ

Posted on 05/16/2008 8:32:53 AM PDT by MizSterious

Elissa Wall Speaks Out About Her 'Stolen Innocence'

Forced Into Marriage at 14, She Testified Against Polygamous Prophet Warren Jeffs

By JOSEPH DIAZ

May 16, 2008 —

The recent raid on Warren Jeffs' Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, which resulted in the removal of more than 400 children from their homes, has thrust allegations of widespread child abuse at the polygamous sect into the national spotlight.

But one of the darkest secrets of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints unfolds at a seedy roadside motel in the remote Nevada desert, where underage girls --some as young as 14 --are allegedly forced through hasty and secret wedding ceremonies.

Elissa Wall says she was one such 14-year-old who was taken to the motel and plunged into wedlock with no choice but to accept and obey the command of Jeffs.

Sam Brower, a private detective who has spent five years investigating Jeffs and his sect for a number of former members, says the weddings are done "covertly, real cloak-and-dagger like."

Wall, now 21, told ABC News' John Quinones that, "I was trapped. I felt like I had nowhere to turn. I did not want to go through with this marriage. I felt, honestly, what it was like to die."

Watch the story tonight on "20/20" at 10 ET

'I Knew It Wasn't Right'

Wall has documented her terrible ordeal in a new memoir called "Stolen Innocence."

In it, she described in detail growing up in the sect that she says betrayed her faith. She says her wedding was the culmination of a traumatic experience that began when church leaders removed her, her mom and sisters from their family and reassigned them to. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Other Christian
KEYWORDS: childabuse; childbride; cult; flds; jeffs; yfzranch
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To: greyfoxx39; Graybeard58; colorcountry; Colofornian; MizSterious
Colo, I see the First Presidency and Leading General Authority, All-Seeing Seer and Ground-Level Revelator of the X.M.A.A.M. has gone very quiet.

I went skiing, the day was just too nice to resist.

While you are at it why don't you add me to your anti Mormon Cabal list? I always wanted to be a spy behind enemy lines : ) I have never been a Cabal member before, this might be fun.

81 posted on 05/16/2008 9:50:16 PM PDT by LeGrande
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To: Izzy Dunne

Izzy, I’m with you. That sentence made no sense to me, either. It may come off as nitpicking, but if a person cannot make themselves understood in their writing, why should others be required to figure out what they mean?


82 posted on 05/16/2008 11:08:17 PM PDT by IIntense (o)
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To: Colofornian
You can count on the cult defenders showing up here. They're on every other FLDS thread. Not to say they don't have a right to their opinion, but my impression is that they refuse believe that Texas authorities found even one single reason to remove the children.

They also reject the first-hand accounts of women and men who got out of this cult.

It appears they find no fault with the "Prophet" Jeffs and choose to believe the FLDS women are completely truthful. It's mind-boggling to me.

83 posted on 05/16/2008 11:26:38 PM PDT by IIntense (o)
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To: Soliton
If you are married, did someone else arrange your marriage? If you are single, would you allow someone else to tell you who you must marry?

Guessing that you are a citizen of the U.S., were you/are you willing to abide by what occurs in other countries, and the polygamous groups in this country?

I await your response.

84 posted on 05/16/2008 11:43:38 PM PDT by IIntense (o)
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To: ukie55
I fail to see how anyone can defend this group and its horrendous lifestyle

I agree. Their eyes and ears only see and hear the FLDS women whose words, as they sound, are scripted. They prefer to believe these "duped" women and ignore any testimony from those who have succeeded in getting out of this cult.

That's the way I see it.

85 posted on 05/16/2008 11:55:38 PM PDT by IIntense (o)
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To: MizSterious
...what’s a cabal, without secret meetings???

You ignornant GENTILES just NEVER get it; do you??

They are SACRED - NOT secret!!!

--MormonDude(besides; it's NONE of your business!)

86 posted on 05/17/2008 4:08:02 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: LeGrande
I enjoy seeing the anti Mormon Cabal members on the FLDS/CPS threads.

THIS knid of enjoyment?

You made me love you: I didn't want to do it...

87 posted on 05/17/2008 4:11:25 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: IIntense

I am married. My parents couldn’t even make it to the wedding. I would not abide by rules of another country while in America.

Of course, none of this is the point. I was pointing out that the religious tradition of the FLDS is not bizarre historically in America, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, or in reference to current international norms. What the FLDS members were accused of would not be a crime in Spain, France or Italy. It would have been commonplace in antiquity.

Arranged marriage is not the same as forced marriage. Out of thousands of FLDS “spititual” marriages, you have a couple of women who have complained and sought remedy under the law, none of which have come from ElDorado. At a time when 50% of marriages end in divorce, and millions are living as husband and wife without being married (complete with kids), the FDLS marriage success rate is remarkable.

I think each person at the FLDS ranch should have been taken aside and asked if they wanted out. If they said no, they and their minor children should have been left alone on Constitutional freedom of religion grounds.


88 posted on 05/17/2008 5:11:24 AM PDT by Soliton
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To: LeGrande; colorcountry; JRochelle; Colofornian; MHGinTN
While you are at it why don't you add me to your anti Mormon Cabal list?

Sorry, you have to prove your worthiness with an interview with colorcountry. Please contact her for an appointment.

89 posted on 05/17/2008 5:30:14 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (Plea to mormon FReepers, "DONT HOSE ME, BRO!")
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To: Religion Moderator

Whew—complicated rules in that forum! (Even though, for the most part, it boils down to: “Be nice, don’t fight.”)


90 posted on 05/17/2008 6:11:07 AM PDT by MizSterious (God bless the Texas Rangers for freeing women & children from sexual slavery and abuse.)
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To: LeGrande

One article stated that many (most?) of these kids will continue to be home-schooled. In my experience (with people I know who home-school), Texas is friendly to home-schooling, unlike CA and some of the NE states.


91 posted on 05/17/2008 6:13:03 AM PDT by MizSterious (God bless the Texas Rangers for freeing women & children from sexual slavery and abuse.)
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To: Politicalmom
"I guess if you aren’t teaching “Rape 101” to your children, you’re probably ok."

Exactly. It's a point many miss--I suspect on purpose.

92 posted on 05/17/2008 6:15:32 AM PDT by MizSterious (God bless the Texas Rangers for freeing women & children from sexual slavery and abuse.)
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To: greyfoxx39; colorcountry; JRochelle; Colofornian; MHGinTN
Sorry, you have to prove your worthiness with an interview with colorcountry. Please contact her for an appointment.

Oh my! I already tried, but I chickened out when she said that she was coming packing heat. Angry, little old ladies with guns scare me.

93 posted on 05/17/2008 7:13:14 AM PDT by LeGrande
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Comment #94 Removed by Moderator

To: Graybeard58
Didn't you notice the : )

I don't have a clue what that means.

They are called emotes. That was a smiley. This is a frown :^( there are dozens of them. The idea behind them is that sarcasm, irony, etc. are hard to express in text. Emotes provide contextual clues ^_^ to make it easier to put the text into a proper reference frame.

Is there someone else that I can interview with other than Colorcountry? She is onto me and has a big gun. Surely you have someone who is a little soft in the head that I could interview with : ) (note the emote, you are supposed to understand the jesting tone now)

95 posted on 05/17/2008 7:43:31 AM PDT by LeGrande
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To: MizSterious
One article stated that many (most?) of these kids will continue to be home-schooled. In my experience (with people I know who home-school), Texas is friendly to home-schooling, unlike CA and some of the NE states.

Yes, I noticed that. You do know that they had been in public school too?

I also know that many people consider home schooling to be a form of child abuse and indoctrination. My wife has seen a number of cases where home schooling was simply another name for neglect on the part of the (usually single and drug addicted) parents. They were really, really, sad situations that make the FLDS, with all of its depravity, look like a wonderful community. Everything is relative I suppose :(

96 posted on 05/17/2008 8:02:27 AM PDT by LeGrande
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To: greyfoxx39

Oh BTW, I didn’t tell you I’ve spent the night at the hot springs resort in Caliente, NV.

We knew it was a polygamous retreat weh we checked in during the pring of 2000. The woman who ran the place had all the prerequisite pictures of the Prophets on the wall including Rulon Jeffs (who was the leader at that time). Th long boufant hairstyle, and prarie dress.

My husband and I, along with our leggy, tan and gorgeous teen-age daughter, and a strapping teen son who was headed to a baseball camp in Las Vegas, and a four month old puppy, planned to stop in Caliente because I was “into” hot springs at the time. The woman’s children, consisting of a couple of teen boys and some younger kids of both sexes, crept out and stared at us as we headed for our room.

The place was a DUMP! Behind locked doors, there were a series of concrete tanks for hot water baths in the center of the facility, and a larger tank for swimming, but there was no water in it. The carpets were soiled badly, and the beds were lumpy. And there was an odor, that we assumed (hoped) was the sulpher from the hot spring. We were the only guests there at the time. It was weird, but I’ve found that most hot springs resorts are weird. I no longer seek them out.


97 posted on 05/17/2008 8:19:53 AM PDT by colorcountry (To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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Comment #98 Removed by Moderator

To: LeGrande
I was asked to leave BYU because I wrote a paper on John Taylors excommunication

Do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is?

;-)

99 posted on 05/17/2008 8:33:42 AM PDT by JRochelle (Keep sweet means shut up and take it.)
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Comment #100 Removed by Moderator


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