Stolen Innocence by Elisa Wall

This was the most incredible story. It is the autobiography of Elisa Wall, the young woman whose testimony put Warren Jeffs in prison. Elisa grew up in the FLDS, Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints--a polygamist cult.









She was forced at 14 to marry a 19 year old first cousin she didn't like and he raped her and abused her for 3 years until she met a young man who treated her right and helped her leave the cult and start a new life.









The story gives a vivid inside look at the community--the way the households with multiple wives function, the jealousies and politics going on in the family environment, the way some kids pit their mothers against each other or manipulate the father. It really is a no brainer that the set up of a family with more than one wife would be utterly chaotic emotionally--the human jealousy instinct has to be so strong, in spite of what any sister wife might tell you.









Elissa had tons of siblings of course, and 3 mothers. Then her mother was arbitrarily told by the prophet that she was no longer the wife of her first husband and sent to a totally different town to be married to a man with over a dozen wives. One of Elisa's sisters was married to Rulon Jeffs, a man in his 80s with 20 or so wives. AT age 18. The way women are treated in the FLDS is shocking and angering. They were told to "keep sweet" and put their troubles on a shelf at all times.









The part of the book outlining Elisa's marriage were particularly sad. She begged and pleaded to be excuses from her marriage at age 14. It was disgusting the way her stepfather, mother, and Warren Jeffs kept using their version of "God" to force her hand. Not to mention that the husband was a 19 year old cousin. Poor Elisa suffered 3 miscarriages and a still birth by age 17. Probably due to the fact that the close cousin relationship would indicate genetic difficulties resulting in the problem.






But Elisa's story has a happy ending. She met another young man who grew up in the cult who was also dissatisfied. They ran away together, got married, and have 2 healthy babies. Through the encouragement of older sisters who had already left the cult, Elisa reported her underage marriage and abuse and Warren Jeffs was arrested and convicted. He was sentenced to 2 5-life sentences, guaranteeing at least 10 years in prison, possibly more.



Sadly, Elisa's mother and two younger sisters remain in the FLDS at the time the book was published in 2008. Elisa and her older sisters put out missing persons reports on them, but their cult leaders simply surrounded them, took them to check in at the police station, and the police had to be satisfied with that legally. Elisa has also sued Jeffs, the church, and the UEF "church bank." If she wins the money, she will use it to help her foundation that helps other victimized young girls and women to escape the tyranny of the false prophets of the FLDS and help them be free.