This is Part 2 of a threepart series with Elissa Wall, forced by FLDS prophet, Warren Jeffs, to be a child bride at only 14 years old, eventually escaping to become the woman to get Jeffs on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted and finally bring him to justice.

Continuing from where we left off in Part 1, Elissa’s mother and siblings had been “reassigned” to a different man. She didn’t know it then, but her stubborn loyalty to her biological father marks her as a potential troublemaker and sets her on the path that will lead to what was always going to be an inevitable marriage–but shockingly sooner than she ever imagined or was prepared for. Elissa tries everything she can to fight or even just delay the marriage to when she’s 16–all to no avail.

Elissa also lets us in on the troubled world FLDS women live in where everything–even knowledge of their own bodies–is gatekept by husbands, deliberately perpetuating ignorance in women regarding puberty and menstruation to sex & pregnancy, etc. This lack of informed consent makes control, assault and trauma the norm for women in marriage.

Chapters
00:00:00 Elissa creates a reputation for herself as disobedient/difficult for her loyalty to her biological father
00:14:00 Another schism is caused when Jeff’s apocalyptic prophecies for Christ’s return in the year 2000 fall flat.
00:18:30 Elissa is betrothed to her cousin at 14 and begins a desperate, though ultimately futile struggle to fight it
00:55:00 Her Disastrous Wedding Day & aftermath
01:19:00 Elissa is regularly assaulted by her husband & she explains the deliberate level of ignorance perpetrated on women in regards to sex, puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, etc.
01:29:00 Due to medical neglect, Elissa has several miscarriages which are attributed to her rebelliousness
01:36:00 Warren Jeffs’ takes full power after his father, Rulon, dies.
01:52:00 Reshuffling wives/children to other men becomes more common as Warren ousts men in the community. He marries his father’s wives but one, Elissa’s sister, runs away.
02:15:30 Community at large getting worse under Warren Jeffs’ rule as members and whole families sometimes disappear overnight and control tightens.
02:32:00 How Elissa met her eventual partner and was excommunicated for adultery.
02:50:00 Elissa finally leaves Short Creek & struggles with culture shock including meeting a black person for the first time after a lifetime of indoctrinated heavy racism
03:03:00 Elissa struggles with mental health and understanding her experience
03:06:00 Elissa’s mother and sisters back among the FLDS disappear amid Elissa’s first successful pregnancy & birth.
03:15:45 Shunning at FLDS funeral prompts Elissa to contact investigators she had previously turned down.

Episode Show Notes: https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast...

Elissa Wall Playlist:    • The Woman Who Took Down Warren Jeffs ...  

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