# Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

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The Cult Dossier · No. 079 · Christian-Derived
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
FLDS Church
1930s – present · Short Creek (Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona); Eldorado, Texas; Bountiful, British Columbia
IX. THE FUNDAMENTALIST AND POLYGAMOUS GROUPS
Fully religious — Mormon fundamentalist sect
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 1890 The LDS Manifesto ends official plural marriage; fundamentalist groups form to continue it.
- 26 July 1953 THE SHORT CREEK RAID. Arizona state police and National Guard seize the community; 263 children are removed. The public backlash at images of weeping families is so severe that it ends Governor Howard Pyle's career and makes American authorities reluctant to intervene in polygamous communities FOR THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS.
- 2002 Rulon Jeffs dies; Warren Jeffs takes over and marries most of his father's widows.
- 2003–2004 Jeffs expels hundreds of teenage boys; begins building the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch near Eldorado, Texas.
- May 2006 Jeffs placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
- 28 August 2006 Arrested on Interstate 15 in Clark County, Nevada, during a traffic stop.
- 25 SEPTEMBER 2007 CONVICTED IN UTAH of two counts of being an accomplice to rape, over Elissa Wall's marriage; sentenced to ten years to life.
- 27 JULY 2010 THE UTAH SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS THAT CONVICTION because of flawed jury instructions.
- 3 APRIL 2008 THE YFZ RANCH RAID. Texas authorities, acting on a hoax phone call, remove 439 CHILDREN from the ranch — the largest child custody action in US history. The Texas Supreme Court rules on 29 May 2008 that the mass removal was not justified and orders the children returned. However, evidence seized during the raid — including Jeffs's own audio recordings and marriage records — produces the convictions.
- AUGUST 2011 WARREN JEFFS CONVICTED in Texas of two counts of sexual assault of a child, involving girls aged 12 and 15. The prosecution plays an audio recording of Jeffs raping a 12-year-old in the ranch temple while other women are present. Sentenced on 9 August 2011 to LIFE PLUS 20 YEARS and a 10,000-dollar fine; he becomes eligible for parole in 2038.
- 29 AUGUST 2011 Placed in a MEDICALLY INDUCED COMA after a prolonged fast. He had tried to hang himself in jail in 2007 and was ordered force-fed in 2009.
- 2017 ELISSA WALL wins a 10-MILLION-DOLLAR default judgment against him in Utah; he did not respond to the suit.
- 2019 He is reported to have suffered a mental breakdown and is deemed unfit for a deposition in an abuse case.
- 2023 A federal judge, TED STEWART, enters a DEFAULT JUDGMENT OF ABOUT 152 MILLION DOLLARS for ex-members — about 47 million compensatory and nearly 105 million punitive. Jeffs did not respond; the plaintiffs' lawyer calls it largely symbolic.
- 2011–present Jeffs continues to issue revelations from prison; the community fractures; Hildale elects its first non-FLDS mayor, a woman, in 2017. The United Effort Plan trust is placed under court control and homes redistributed.
### Its people
### Warren Steed Jeffs
the Prophet
President and Prophet, FLDS Church · born 3 December 1955 · active 2002–present (from prison)
Before the law. CONVICTED in Texas, 2011. Serving life plus 20 at the Louis C. Powledge Unit. An earlier 2007 Utah conviction as an accomplice to rape was overturned on jury-instruction grounds in 2010.
Where things stand. CONFIRMED: incarcerated at the LOUIS C. POWLEDGE UNIT, Palestine, Texas, in protective custody. FIRST PAROLE ELIGIBILITY 22 JULY 2038. Default civil judgments stand against him — 10 MILLION DOLLARS to Elissa Wall (2017) and about 152 MILLION DOLLARS to former members (2023, federal court) — entered after he did not respond. Separately, in 2019 he was reported to have had a mental breakdown and was deemed unfit for a deposition. Still recognised as Prophet by much of the FLDS, many of whom believe he is suffering in prison to atone for their sins.
- 2002 Becomes Prophet on his father's death.
- 2003–04 Expels hundreds of boys; begins building the YFZ Ranch in Texas.
- May 2006 Added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
- 28 August 2006 Arrested on Interstate 15 in Nevada.
- 25 September 2007 Convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape; overturned by the Utah Supreme Court on 27 July 2010.
- 3 April 2008 The YFZ Ranch raid — 439 children removed, later ordered returned by the Texas Supreme Court, but the seized evidence convicts him.
- 4 AUGUST 2011 Convicted of two counts of child sexual assault, victims aged 12 and 15.
- 9 August 2011 SENTENCED TO LIFE PLUS 20 YEARS.
Checked 2026-09-17 · living: health details are kept at home
### Rulon Timpson Jeffs
Uncle Rulon
President and Prophet, FLDS Church · 6 December 1909 – 8 September 2002 · active 1986–2002
Before the law. Never charged.
Where things stand. Deceased 2002.
- 1986 Becomes Prophet.
- 1990s Consolidates absolute authority; expands the United Effort Plan trust's control over members' homes.
- 1998 Suffers a stroke; Warren Jeffs increasingly runs the church.
- 8 September 2002 Dies aged 92; Warren Jeffs succeeds and marries most of his widows.
Checked
### Merril Jessop
Frederick Merril Jessop
Senior FLDS leader; overseer of the YFZ Ranch · 1935 – 28 February 2022 · active 1980s–2011
Before the law. CONVICTED IN 2011 of performing an illegal marriage — that of his own twelve-year-old daughter to Warren Jeffs — and sentenced to TEN YEARS. PAROLED JANUARY 2015. Died 28 February 2022.
Where things stand. DECEASED — HE DIED ON 28 FEBRUARY 2022. THIS FILE PREVIOUSLY LISTED HIM AS LIVING, with the status 'sentence served'. He was PAROLED IN JANUARY 2015 after serving part of the ten-year term, and died seven years later. THE SECOND MORTALITY ERROR FOUND IN THIS DOSSIER'S ELDERLY COHORT during the August 2026 sweep, after Robert Jay Lifton (L255) — which is why that sweep was run rather than assumed unnecessary.
- 1980s–2000s Rises to senior leadership; is assigned multiple wives including Carolyn Jessop.
- 2003 Carolyn Jessop escapes with eight children and wins custody.
- 2004 Installed as bishop of the YFZ Ranch in Texas.
- 2011 CONVICTED of performing an illegal marriage involving a 12-year-old — his own daughter, married to Warren Jeffs; sentenced to 10 years.
- JANUARY 2015 Granted parole.
- 28 FEBRUARY 2022 Dies.
Checked 2026-08-24
### Elissa Wall
—
FLDS survivor whose testimony convicted Warren Jeffs · born 1986 · active 1986–2004
Before the law. Never charged. The state's principal witness; won a 10-million-dollar default judgment against Jeffs in 2017.
Where things stand. Living in Hildale, Utah.
- 2001 Married at 14 to her 19-year-old first cousin at Jeffs's direction, after refusing repeatedly.
- 2004 Leaves the FLDS.
- 2007 Her testimony convicts Jeffs in Utah as an accomplice to rape.
- 2008 Publishes Stolen Innocence.
- 2010 The Utah conviction is overturned on jury-instruction grounds; the Texas convictions stand.
- 2010s–present Advocate for those leaving high-demand groups; lives in Hildale, Utah.
Checked 2026-09-17 · living: health details are kept at home
### Carolyn Jessop
—
FLDS escapee; first woman to win full custody from the group · born 1968 · active 1968–2003
Before the law. Never charged.
Where things stand. Living — born 1 January 1968; still writing and advocating, no death record found. Her memoir ESCAPE recounts her upbringing in the FLDS and her flight from it with her children. THE LEGAL FIRST BELONGS IN THE RECORD: IN 2003 SHE BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN TO LEAVE AN FLDS COMMUNITY AND BE AWARDED FULL CUSTODY OF ALL OF HER CHILDREN.
- 1986 Married at 18 to Merril Jessop, then 50, as his fourth wife.
- 1986–2003 Bears eight children.
- April 2003 Escapes in the night with all eight children.
- 2006 Wins full custody — the first FLDS woman to do so.
- 2007 Publishes Escape.
- 2008 Serves as an expert witness during the YFZ Ranch custody proceedings.
Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home
### Rebecca Musser
—
FLDS escapee and prosecution witness · born 1976 · active 1976–2002
Before the law. Never charged. A central prosecution witness.
Where things stand. Living — a divorced mother of two, resident in IDAHO; still speaking and advocating, no death record found. She was coerced into marriage with the FLDS prophet RULON JEFFS AT NINETEEN, escaped, and wrote THE WITNESS WORE RED: THE 19TH WIFE WHO BROUGHT POLYGAMOUS CULT LEADERS TO JUSTICE (2013). HER TESTIMONY WAS ONE OF THE LEAD ACCOUNTS AGAINST WARREN JEFFS and was instrumental in the life sentence imposed on him in 2011. She speaks publicly against slavery, religious fundamentalism and sexual exploitation.
- 1995 Married at 19 to Rulon Jeffs, then 85, as his 19th wife.
- 2002 Rulon dies; she refuses reassignment and escapes.
- 2008–11 Testifies in eleven Texas prosecutions, including Warren Jeffs's.
- 2013 Publishes The Witness Wore Red.
Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home
### Sam Brower
—
Private investigator, the FLDS cases · born c.1957 · active 2004–present
Before the law. Private investigator; consultant to law enforcement.
Where things stand. THIS FILE CANNOT CONFIRM HIS PRESENT STATUS; it previously asserted 'Living'. Nothing consulted reports on him substantively since 2016, when he stood for a seat on the IRON COUNTY COMMISSION in southwestern Utah. No death record was found. CAUTION FOR ANY RE-CHECK: searches on this name also return a SAMUEL BROWER who writes fiction. They should not be assumed to be the same man. What is documented is the work: A SEVEN-YEAR PRIVATE INVESTIGATION into Warren Jeffs and the FLDS, set out in PROPHET’S PREY, which brought to light Jeffs’s own PRIESTHOOD JOURNAL — recovered from a hidden underground vault — and used his words against him.
- 2004 Begins investigating the FLDS on a civil case.
- 2005–08 Works with Texas Rangers and the FBI ahead of the YFZ Ranch operation.
- 2008 The YFZ raid; seized records and recordings become the basis of the Texas convictions.
- 2011 Jeffs convicted; Brower publishes Prophet's Prey.
- 2015 Prophet's Prey released as a documentary film.
Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home
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