The "Lost Boys"

They are just young men (mostly young teenagers) who have become competition to the older men who want more (and usually much younger) wives.  They are kicked out of their homes and run out of town.  They often leave with just the shirts on their backs.  Most have minimum education and few life-skills.  But, the Prophet said that they must go away.  So their parents cast them out like unwanted pets.  Now, they are out on the street trying to fend for themselves.  They are known as the "Lost Boys". Read the tragic stories of their attempting to survive and to integrate into mainstream society.  These articles are in chronological order.

Group urges sponsorship of boys cast out of polygamist sect

By Patty Henetz The Associated Press KUTV.com Originally published Saturday July 31, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Even though he was abandoned by his family after his church leader excommunicated him for wanting to go to public school, a former member of a polygamist sect on Saturday asked that people not condemn his father.   "The fathers are not always the bad guys.  They, too, are being persecuted by the prophet," said Richard Gilbert, who was in Salt Lake City to speak on behalf of some 400 boys and young men pushed out of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ.   The prophet is Warren Jeffs, who reportedly has banished hundreds of men and boys from the twin border cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, in a struggle for control over the sect, whose estimated 6,000 to 12,000 members make it the largest polygamous group in the West.   Gilbert and about 50 other boys appeared at a Capitol news briefing to help announce the efforts of the nonprofit group Diversity, a mentoring group seeking donations and sponsors the hundreds of youths abandoned by their families.   Gilbert said he was excommunicated at age 16 after saying he wanted to attend public school.  In July 2000, Jeffs, told followers to stop associating with apostates and outsiders and pull their children from public schools.   "This is really happening in the United States," he said.  "There's a lot that goes on that people need to see and help with."     Read more

Ex-communicated FLDS Boys are Asking for Help

By Kimberly Houk KSL TV Channel 5 News Originally broadcast July 31, 2004

More than 400 teenage boys are wandering the streets of southern Utah ... with no where to go ... and no where to call home.   They're called the "Lost Boys" ...   Utah's Attorney General says they've been forced out of their polygamist homes in the community of Colorado City, Arizona ... and Hilldale, Utah.   Kimberly Houk joins us from the State Capitol with more.   More than 1 hundred of the "Lost Boys" filled the Capitol's steps earlier this afternoon.   They were there asking for help ... and wanting to tell their story.   And it's a sad story ... filled with intimate details of what it's like to be a young boy living in the polygamist colony controlled by FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs.   "FISCHER: ON A MONTHLY BASIS MULTIPLE FAMILIES ARE BEING DESTROYED.   CHILDREN WAKE UP FINDING THEY HAVE A NEW DADDY FINDING THAT THEY HAVE NEW BROTHERS AND SISTERS."     Read more

Group Discusses Plight of Boys from Fundamentalist Church

KSL TV Channel 5 News Originally published July 31, 2004

Hundreds of boys from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints are speaking out and turning to you for help after facing excommunication.   The boys have been expelled from the church, their families, and their homes.   "Diversity", a non-profit organization, held a media conference at the State Capitol to make the public aware of their situation.   "Diversity" provides mentors, financial support, housing, schooling, and counseling to help the boys learn how to excel in American society.   Most of the boys were evicted for what many would consider to be normal teen behavior -- watching movies, wearing short sleeved shirts, or even just talking to girls.     Read more

Sect's distress tugs at author

Extremism: He is involved in helping victims of the Short Creek polygamous group, such as the "lost boys"

By Patty Henetz The Associated Press Originally published July 31, 2004

A year ago, Jon Krakauer told more than 800 people crammed into a downtown movie theater for a reading of his book, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, that he wasn't pursuing social reform when he wrote about religious extremism.   Since then, he has so deeply immersed himself in the distressed lives of members and former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints he no longer will write about the polygamous sect that inhabits twin towns on the Utah-Arizona border.   "I've been asked to help a lot of people who feel they've been victimized by this culture," Krakauer told The Associated Press on Friday in a rare interview.  "I just keep getting drawn deeper and deeper into this."   By "this", Krakauer means the religious politics of FLDS and its leader-prophet, Warren Jeffs, who reportedly has banished hundreds of men and boys from Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., in a struggle for control over the sect, whose estimated 6,000 to 12,000 members make it the largest polygamous group in the West.   Krakauer's best-selling book on religious extremism focused on the 1984 cold-blooded murders of Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, in American Fork.  He will be in Salt Lake City today to lend weight to an organization calling itself Diversity, founded by former polygamist Dan Fischer.     Read more

Aid sought for church's victims

By Stephen Speckman Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, August 1, 2004

They are boys banished from their own families because polygamous FLDS Church leaders said it should be so.   Now, the nonprofit group Diversity, founded by Dan Fischer, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is asking for the public to help more than 400 of these boys, many of whom are forced to live out of cars and behind Dumpsters.   Two of these so-called "lost boys" spoke out publicly for the first time on the state Capitol steps Saturday afternoon.  Joining them were dozens of former FLDS teens and young adults — a few were females or girlfriends — along with Jon Krakauer, author of "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith," and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.   "We just want everyone to become aware that this is really happening in the United States," said Richard Gilbert.  "There's a lot that goes on that people need to see and help with."   Gilbert, 19, was kicked out of the FLDS Church, which is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when he was 16, in part, because he wanted to attend public schools.  Gilbert said his father was banished first, followed by the rest of the family after his mother refused to remarry at the direction of FLDS leadership.     Read more

Gathering puts focus on polygamy's 'lost boys'

By Joseph A. Reaves The Arizona Republic Originally published August 1, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY-Dozens of young males, many of them timid teenagers, gathered on the steps of the Utah Capitol on Saturday in an unprecedented effort to tell the world the horrors they suffered growing up in the nation's largest polygamous community.   The young men and boys were raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which has its headquarters in the twin cloistered communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, along the remote Arizona Strip 120 miles northwest of the Grand Canyon.   All said they either were excommunicated from the church or pressured into leaving by Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed prophet and unchallenged ruler of the FLDS.   They stressed they were but a fraction of more than 400 males ages 13 and older who have been banished from the communities since Jeffs gained supreme power.  All have little education and no preparation to survive in the outside world.   "We just want everyone to become aware this is really happening in the United States," Richard Gilbert, 19, said.   "I was excommunicated by the prophet Warren Jeffs at the age of 16 because I decided I wanted to go to public school."     Read more

Nearly 200 offer help to polygamy's 'lost boys

By Joseph A. Reaves The Arizona Republic Originally published August 3, 2004

Nearly 200 people, including a 97-year-old woman, have called a hotline since Sunday offering to help scores of young men and boys who were thrown out of the nation's largest polygamous community in a pair of remote communities along the Arizona-Utah state line.   "We've had a wonderfully large response," said Lynette Phillips, director of Smiles for Diversity, a non-profit group that launched a nationwide appeal for the boys.   "I don't want to say we are overwhelmed, because we can always use help.  But the response has been amazing."   In a move officials hailed as courageous and unprecedented, dozens of young men and boys gathered on the steps of the Utah capitol in Salt Lake City last Saturday to tell how their lives were shattered by the leadership of their polygamous faith.  The youths said they represented but a fraction of more than 400 males who either were excommunicated or driven from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1998.     Read more

Polygamy's 'lost boys' struggle to fit in

By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published August 5, 2004

ST. GEORGE -- Almost four years after he was put on religious probation for watching movies like "Charlie's Angels" and staying out too late, Thomas Steed, 19, is working toward his GED and will be taking college courses in the fall.   Steed spent most of his life as a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   However, soon after his probation with the church began, he lived in a tool shed on a construction job site where he worked.   Barely scrapping by, Steed eventually got another job so he could support himself.  Late in the year 2002, he got an appointment with FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, where Jeffs informed him, due in part to his heritage, that he was excommunicated and would be destroyed by God.   Boys leaving or allegedly expelled from the FLDS culture recently received national attention as the so-called "lost boys."     Read more

'Deborah Norville Tonight' for August 9

Rich Ream, Dr. Dan Fischer, Mark Shurtleff, Scott Stewart, Drew Pinsky, Gregg Olsen

Deborah Norville MSNBC TV Originally aired Monday, August 9, 2004

DEBORAH NORVILLE, HOST: The lost boys, raised in a polygamist community, now they‘ve been kicked out, 400 young boys suddenly forced to fend on their own.   (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)   UNIDENTIFIED MALE They simply knock on their door and take them and let them off in the desert.   (END VIDEO CLIP)   NORVILLE: Some as young as 13. And wait until you hear why.   Tonight, exclusive, one of polygamy‘s darkest secrets.   (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)   UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrifying, absolutely terrifying.   (END VIDEO CLIP)   ANNOUNCER: From studio 3K in Rockefeller Center, Deborah Norville. And good evening, everybody.  Imagine you‘re as young as 13 years old and you‘re being kicked out of your home, told to leave your community with nothing more than the clothes on your back, nowhere to go, no food to eat.  Well, that‘s what‘s happening right now in the twin border cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.  That‘s the home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke away from the main church several decades ago.   There are more polygamists living in those two cities than anywhere in America, upwards of 10,000.  And an estimated 400 boys and young men have been kicked out of the fundamentalist church in the past six years for such transgressions as talking to girls, exposing their arms on hot summer days, or simply watching movies.  The sect is led by Warren Jeffs, a reclusive self-proclaimed prophet who‘s believed to have himself at least 75 wives.   It is a fiercely closed society, where outsiders are shunned.  But since last January, allegations of sexual abuse of children and child abuse have come to light as members, both men and women, have left the community.  And now there are new revelations of forced expulsion from the community of hundreds of boys.  Why?  Well, some charge that it‘s one way of getting rid of young men who could be considered competition for older men hoping to marry young girls.     Read more

Non-profit group seeks help for ousted FLDS boys

Southern Utah News sunews.net Originally published August 11, 2004

More than 400 boys from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) communities in Utah have been expelled from their homes.  Most were evicted by their polygamous fathers at the direction of FLDS leadership for what many would consider to be normal teen behavior: watching movies, fraternizing with kids of other faiths, wearing short sleeved shirts or even just talking to girls.   Some of the boys were as young as 13 years of age when they were forced to leave and have been told they are unworthy to return and are going to Hell.  Some boys have spiraled into drugs, depression and suicide.  With little education, no money, no parental support and few social skills, the boys’ prospects remain bleak, and they will easily become a burden to society unless people lend a hand.   A non-profit organization has pledged to help provide for the boys, most of whom have been cut off from all family support.  The group seeks to provide mentors, financial support, housing, counseling, schooling and loving care for the more than 400 boys whose own families have turned their backs on them.   "Most of these boys haven’t done anything wrong, yet they’ve been thrown in the trash by their parents," says Dr. Dan Fischer, founder and chairman of the non-profit foundation, Diversity.     Read more

6 young men sue polygamous sect

By Joseph A. Reaves The Arizona Republic Originally published August 28, 2004

Six young men filed suit Friday claiming they were among several hundred forced from their homes and cut off from their families so leaders of the nation's largest polygamous community could have easier access to multiple wives.   The suit, filed in Utah's 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, accuses the two top leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of assault, extortion, making "terroristic threats" and encouraging or engaging in child kidnapping.   It is the second suit filed in four weeks against the hierarchy of the FLDS, which has its headquarters in the remote communities of Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, along the Arizona-Utah line.   Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet of the FLDS, was accused in the earlier suit of repeatedly sodomizing his 5-year-old nephew years ago and covering up for serial sexual molestations by other sect leaders for decades.   He denied those allegations.   The latest suit accuses Jeffs and one of his closest aides, Sam Barlow, of conspiring to ruin the lives of several hundred young men by forcing them out of Colorado City and Hildale.     Read more

FLDS church, leaders sued by 6 'lost boys'

Lawsuit says their lives were ruined by ouster

By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published August 28, 2004

ST. GEORGE — Six of polygamy's "lost boys" filed a lawsuit in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City Friday, saying their former church and its leaders should pay up for ruining their lives by excommunicating them.   The civil suit names the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, its president Warren Jeffs, Sam Barlow, the United Effort Plan Trust and three John Does as defendants.   FLDS attorney Rod Parker said the lawsuit violates one of the most basic principles of separation of church and state.   "A church's membership decisions are simply outside the scope of judiciary powers to intervene," Parker said, adding a church defines itself by who is and who is not a member.   In the complaint, Richard J. Ream, Thomas S. Steed, Don R. Fischer, Dean J. Barlow, Walter S. Fischer and Richard Gilbert allege the FLDS church and its leaders engaged in "the secret, cruel and unlawful practice of systematic excommunication of adolescent and young adult males for trivial reasons, or no reason at all, to reduce competition for wives."     Read more

Boys ousted from polygamist sect seek new life in outside world

The Associated Press WXXA-TV Albany, NY Fox23news.com Originally published Friday, September 3, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Damned by his religion, denied by his family and left with nowhere else to go, the teenager slept in a cold tool shed just steps from a company owned by his relatives.   They went home at night to warm, cozy beds while Tom Sam Steed stole bread, cereal and nutrition bars from a gas station just to survive.  He tried, several times, to kill himself, convinced he was worth nothing.   His salvation came when he got a job cleaning carpets and finally left the control of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, and its leader, Warren Jeffs.   Former members describe a religion that thrives on domination.  Every detail of their life was scripted - from plural marriages to what they could wear, who they could associate with and what job they could have.   In the past four and a half years, more than 400 teenage boys have been excommunicated, many for seemingly minor infractions such as watching a movie or talking to a girl.   Former church members suspect something else is causing the banishment of young men.  In a polygamous community, there are only so many women to go around.  Older men don't want to compete with young men for wives.  The boys have to go.   Now, they have been thrust into a society they have been taught is evil.  They are homeless, uneducated, confused and unprepared for a world where they can make their own choices.   They are lost boys.     Read more

Lost Boys Found

How the plight of several young men became a legal battle to bring down a polygamist sect.

By Ted McDonough Salt Lake City Weekly Originally published September 23, 2004

Gathered inside a gated compound, under the watchful eye of a security guard but beneath a beautiful mountain backdrop, a group of young men speak casually about their mothers’ reassignment to new husbands, running construction crews as teenagers, and celebrating the 2000 New Year half believing the world was about to end.   Richard Gilbert, one of the oldest of the so-called Lost Boys of polygamy, pauses to examine clean glasses in the dishwasher, wondering if the white stuff is leftover milk or a calcium deposit.  He apologizes for the messiness of the apartment he shares with several other young men on the property of their Sandy patron, businessman Dan Fischer.   At 19, Gilbert has assumed an older brother role among the group of exiles from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).  It’s nothing he hasn’t done before.   What Gilbert calls "the flood" began in early 2003, a few months after the death of FLDS Prophet Rulon Jeffs and takeover of the church by one of his sons, Warren Jeffs.  Gilbert already had been kicked out of the church and was living in a Hurricane duplex with three other young former FLDS members.   There came a knock on the door, then another, and another.   In a period of two months, about 50 boys showed up.  "A lot of times it was, ‘Father told me to get out,’" Gilbert said.  "In a lot of cases it was ‘Warren wouldn’t let me stay.’"     Read more

A Lost Boy comes home and finds sadness:

A son of Bountiful speaks out about the loneliness of sharing his dad with 26 siblings

By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun Originally published Saturday, April 23, 2005

CRESTON - Whenever he can, Jerry Blackmore hugs his son and daughter and tells them he loves them.   Every day he spends as much time with them as he can because he remembers growing up in a polygamous family in Bountiful and sharing a father with 26 others.   "I hated it that I didn't have a dad to do things with," says 29-year-old Blackmore, who left Bountiful when he was only 13.   "My whole life I remember seeing other kids with their parents doing things and hating it that I didn't have that.  I hate it still and I don't know who to hate."   Growing up, he hardly ever saw his father, Charles Quinton.  His parents never lived in the same home and he has his mother's last name.  But Blackmore wasn't the only one who didn't really know his dad.  Few kids in Bountiful did.   How could they when some men had 40 and 50 children?   Blackmore certainly does not hate his mother, who was a plural wife.  Blackmore says she single-handedly raised her five children, filling the role not only of mother, but breadwinner.   It's only because of his mother that Blackmore was in Creston this week with his two children and his wife.  It is sheer coincidence that his first visit back in years was the same week as the meeting that the Bountiful Women's Society organized to dispel what they say are the myths about their polygamous lifestyle.     Read more

Lost to the Only Life They Knew

Officials say more than 400 teenage boys have fled or been driven from a polygamous sect.

By David Kelly Los Angeles Times Originally published June 13, 2005

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Abandoned by his family, faith and community, Gideon Barlow arrived here an orphan from another world.   At first, he played the tough guy, aloof and hard. But when no one was watching, he would cry.   The freckle-faced 17-year-old said he was left to fend for himself last year after being forced out of Colorado City, Ariz., a town about 40 miles east of here, just over the state line.   "I couldn't see how my mom would let them do what they did to me," he said.   When he tried to visit her on Mother's Day, he said, she told him to stay away.  When he begged to give her a present, she said she wanted nothing.   "I am dead to her now," he said.   Gideon is one of the "Lost Boys," a group of more than 400 teenagers — some as young as 13 — who authorities in Utah and Arizona say have fled or been driven out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City over the last four years.   His stated offenses: wearing short-sleeved shirts, listening to CDs and having a girlfriend.  Other boys say they were booted out for going to movies, watching television and staying out past curfew.   Some say they were sometimes given as little as two hours' notice before being driven to St. George or nearby Hurricane, Utah, and left like unwanted pets along the road.     Read more

The lost boys, thrown out of US sect so that older men can marry more wives

Julian Borger in Washington The Guardian Unlimited - UK Originally published Tuesday June 14, 2005

Up to 1,000 teenage boys have been separated from their parents and thrown out of their communities by a polygamous sect to make more young women available for older men, Utah officials claim.   Many of these "Lost Boys", some as young as 13, have simply been dumped on the side of the road in Arizona and Utah, by the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), and told they will never see their families again or go to heaven.   The 10,000-strong FLDS, which broke away from the Mormon church in 1890 when the mainstream faith disavowed polygamy, believes a man must marry at least three women to go to heaven.   The sect appeared to be in turmoil yesterday, after its assets were frozen last week and a warrant was issued in Arizona on Friday for the arrest of its autocratic leader, Warren Jeffs, for arranging a wedding between an underage girl and a 28-year-old man who was already married.   Mr Jeffs is also being sued by lawyers for six of the Lost Boys for conspiracy to purge surplus males from the community, and by his nephew, Brent Jeffs, who accuses him of sexual abuse.   Warren Jeffs' whereabouts yesterday were uncertain, but Utah officials said they believed he may be hiding in an FLDS compound near Eldorado, Texas, and they have contacted the Texan authorities.   Some have voiced concern that an attempt to corner the sect leader could provoke a tragedy like the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas.     Read more

Hundreds of 'Lost Boys' Expelled by Polygamist Community

Authorities Believe a Fundamentalist Mormon Group Is Expelling Boys to Continue Polygamy

ABC News World News Tonight Originally broadcast June 15, 2005

Jun. 16, 2005 - At least 400 teenage boys have fled or have been kicked out of their communities along the Utah-Arizona border, forbidden from returning home.   Known as the "Lost Boys," they once belonged to a secretive sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which broke from the Mormon Church because its members wanted to practice polygamy.   The Lost Boys believe that polygamy is directly related to their exile.   John Jessop says he was kicked out of his mother's house at age 13 after running away for three days.   "It's hard," he said, "not being able to talk to my family at all, really.  I think about it all the time.  I actually have a hard time sleeping because of it."   Sam Icke says his father made him leave home after he got caught kissing a girl.   "He had no choice in the matter," he said, "because if he wouldn't, he would have the same problem that I had.  And he really believes in this."   The man they blame for their plight is Warren Jeffs, who law enforcement officials say dominates every facet of life in the FLDS community.  He enforces a dress code, chooses who marries whom and even controls the police.     Read more

PAULA ZAHN NOW

Video Voyeurism; The Lost Boys; Protecting Against 'Upskirting'; Security Camera Use Climbing

CNN Originally broadcast August 4, 2005 - 20:00 ET

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Glad to have you with us tonight. A mystery town out in the desert desperate to shut out the rest of the world. ZAHN (voice-over): A lost generation, boys with multiple mothers and dozens of brothers and sisters thrown out by their families. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many of them have had nowhere to go, food to eat. ZAHN: Right here in America. So, why is a renegade religion banishing so many young men? ZAHN: We begin tonight with the lost boys. Would you disown your son because he refused to obey your rules? Would you banish him from your house, from your entire community, even at the age of 9 and 10? Well, that's what investigators say has happened to hundreds of boys over the last seven years at a secretive religious sect in the West. And these boys' alleged crimes? Watching movies, swearing, even just wanting to go to public school. And, as you'll see, it gets even more sinister. This is a story we've been working on for a long time, a major investigation into this reclusive community. In a moment, my conversation with two of the lost boys. First, here's Sean Callebs. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the edge of the desert straddling the Utah and Arizona border, a community of breakaway Mormon fundamentalists lives in shuttered houses behind walls and gates, miles from other towns. In Utah, it's called Hildale, and, in Arizona, Colorado City. For generations, this group of about 7,000 people has shunned the rest of America and the opinions of outsiders. GARY ENGELS, MOHAVE COUNTY INVESTIGATOR: They put these walls up for privacy. CALLEBS (voice-over): County investigator Gary Engels has come to know a lot about this secretive group. (on camera): Do they really believe they're the chosen ones? ENGELS: Yes. CALLEBS: When judgment day comes, what happens to these chosen people? ENGELS: These chosen people believe that they will be lifted up while God sweeps the Earth clean of the wicked people. And then they'll be set back down to rebuild the Earth and replenish it. CALLEBS: Engels has been sent to this town to investigate a variety of disturbing allegations and criminal charges, ranging from child neglect to rape and theft.     Read more

Lost Boys

ABC 4 News abc4.com Originally broadcast November 8, 2005

(ABC 4 News) -- They were born in to a secret society in the remote part of the desert ... now ... they’ve broken free to find themselves ... and a new faith.   In a no-holds-barred interview ... ABC 4 news talks to two so-called "lost boys."  Dubbed the lost boys by the media, they are young men who saw flaws in the leadership of polygamist leader and federal fugitive warren jeffs and left the group to find life outside the confines of the group some call a cult.   "If I’m going to hell, I don’t care ... it’s my hell."     Read more

From darkness into light

Former polygamist opens home, heart to abandoned boys

By Jaimee Rose The Arizona Republic Originally published December 25, 2005

On an icy evening before Christmas, two teenage boys pulled their Christmas tree from its slick new box and stared in wonder.   They fluffed the branches and puzzled over ornament placement - how exactly does this work?  Are you supposed to follow a pattern or just stick them on?   They knew they wanted piles of lights, and the boys laughed as they chased each other around the tree, spiraling light onto the dark branches.   "This is, like, my first real, actual Christmas," says Johnny Jessop.  He is 16 years old.   Jessop grew up in Colorado City in a polygamous home with 39 moms and more than 300 brothers and sisters, but no Christmas.  The holiday is not observed in his religion-ruled town, where the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has orphaned more than 400 teenagers like Jessop in order to leave young women for marriage to the older men.  The men believe they need three wives to get to heaven.   Shunned by their families and forbidden to return home, the "Lost Boys," as they are known, are left to fumble darkly through a world they can't comprehend.  With no money and often only eighth-grade educations, many end up homeless or in jail.  But a lucky few have found their way to a Salt Lake City support network of mentors who are sending them to school, finding them jobs, giving them homes and asking these boys, for the first time, what they'd like for Christmas.     Read more

Polygamy 'lost boys' may gain liberation

House gets bill that allows minors to seek emancipation

By Peter Nagy Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, January 20, 2006

The "lost boys" of the polygamous communities in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., could have the means to gain legal emancipation under a bill that advanced in the Legislature Thursday.   HB30, which would allow minors who are at least 16 years old to petition for emancipation, passed unanimously through the House Health and Human Services Committee and will now move to the House floor.   Co-sponsoring Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, who has spent time in juvenile court as an attorney and mediator, said it is very difficult for courts to emancipate minors without the statutory framework the bill would provide.   "This is something that is very needed," she said.   Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the bill would especially help boys who were thrown out of Hildale and Colorado City, often referred to as the "lost boys," because it would provide them with an option other than accusing their parents.   "Kids don't want (the state) to get their parents because they love them," he said.  "They feel their parents are victims as well."     Read more

Utah trying to deal with 'lost boys'

United Press International New Kerala - India NewKerala.com Originally published January 21, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY: Utah officials are considering legislation that would allow "lost boys," teenagers forced out of polygamous communities, to become legal adults.   The bill would give teens on their own the right to apply to be emancipated.   At a hearing this week, state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff testified in favor of the bill.  He said boys who have the desire and skills to fend for themselves become homeless because as minors they cannot sign leases or even get medical care.   "This isn't just one or two boys," Shurtleff said.  "We have identified well over 400 by name."   Legislators pressed Shurtleff on why parents who abandon their sons are not prosecuted.  He said most of the boys he has talked to see their parents as victims and do not want to cause trouble for them.   While polygamy is illegal in Utah, it is practiced in a number of communities there and in neighboring states.

Emancipation process needed

Deseret Morning News editorial deseretnews.com Originally published Monday, January 23, 2006

The most compelling argument for the need to establish a legal process for emancipation are the so-called "lost boys" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   Some 400 boys, ages 13-17, have been kicked out of their Hildale, Washington County, community in recent years because their church, which practices polygamy, is eliminating the "competition" for wives, according to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.  The practice leaves the boys, many of whom have never been away from home, have incomplete educations and few work skills, in legal limbo.  Without parents, these boys cannot enroll in school, obtain medical care, get drivers' licenses or obtain public assistance benefits.  These boys don't legally qualify for foster care because their parents have not relinquished their parental rights.  Because of their lifestyles, the parents are reluctant to have any contact with government officials.     Read more

'Lost Boys' may get help with life skills

Youths ousted from polygamous groups 'go wild' without limits

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, April 25, 2006

WASHINGTON, Washington County — They are teenage boys who have been forced out of the Fundamentalist LDS Church in Hildale and Colorado City.  Advocates say they have documented hundreds of cases of the so-called "Lost Boys," who have been booted from the polygamous church for committing "sins" such as kissing a girl or wearing shirtsleeves that are too short.   Now the "sins" some of them are committing include drug possession, public intoxication and assault.   "They get kicked out and they just go wild," said Elaine Tyler of The Hope Organization, an advocacy group for people who are leaving or have been cast out of polygamy.  "They don't have decisionmaking skills and they're just making dumb choices."   Now, the group is urging southern Utah prosecutors to help the "Lost Boys" who are getting caught up in the criminal justice system by offering alternatives to jail or prison when they're sentenced.   "We're totally receptive to this idea," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said.  "We're seeking to implement it.  I'd like to see them gain the sort of skills that can help them succeed with jobs, education and in their personal lives."   The Deseret Morning News has obtained a list of names culled from the Purgatory Jail and court records of people that advocates consider to be "Lost Boys."  The ones in the adult system are no older than 21.  Police have said the youngest they've referred to juvenile court is 14.     Read more

"LOST BOYS," LEGISLATORS & A.G. WILL WITNESS EMANCIPATION BILL SIGNING

attorneygeneral.utah.gov Originally published April 28, 2006

For Immediate Release April 28, 2006 Contact Paul Murphy: (801) 538-1892 pmurphy@utah.gov

Who:    Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff Representatives Roz McGee & Lori Fowlke Senator Curtis Bramble Lost Boys Diversity Foundation's Dr. Dan Fischer several "Lost Boys" and others who supported this legislation or may be impacted by it.

Read more

THE "LOST BOYS" LAW GOVERNOR SIGNS EMANCIPATION BILL TO HELP HOMELESS TEENS

attorneygeneral.utah.gov Originally published May 2, 2006

For Immediate Release May 2, 2006 Contact Paul Murphy: (801) 538-1892 pmurphy@utah.gov

The Lost Boys have finally found a law to protect them.   Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. highlighted the Emancipation of a Minor Act today when he ceremonially signed House Bill 30, which allows youth who are at least 16 years old to gain legal standing to get housing, education and other services.  The new law is aimed specifically for homeless youth, including the "Lost Boys," a group of teenage boys and girls who have been forced or encouraged to leave some polygamous communities. "The plight of the Lost Boys has prompted all of us to reconsider the heartbreaking problems facing all homeless teens," says Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who worked with legislators to help pass the bill. "The Emancipation law gives these kids a much needed break."     Read more

'Lost Boys' Welcome Emancipation Bill

John Hollenhorst Reporting KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally broadcast May 2, 2006

Abused or abandoned teenagers have a new tool to cut all legal ties with their parents, and it's being welcomed by teens ejected from the Warren Jeffs polygamy group.   Governor Huntsman today ceremonially signed a bill allowing emancipation -freedom-- from parents.  It was applauded by the so-called Lost Boys and even a Lost Girl from the Warren Jeffs group.   The rigid, stifling religious atmosphere of Colorado City.  It's all Joe Williams knew until he ran away a few months ago.   Joe Williams, Former FLDS member: "I mean, I have parents, but they can't come.   Don't even know where they are.  Haven't talked to them in years."   He believes his parents were assigned to a new compound by Warren Jeffs and are probably living in South Dakota.   Joe Williams: "Basically abandoned me, treated me like I didn't exist."   Until last fall, he lived with siblings in the FLDS community, but he says he was considered a rebel.  He finally decided to leave at age 14 when he got in trouble for listening to music and watching TV.   Joe Williams: "You're considered wicked, and usually the people that do that get kicked out."     Read more

Huntsman signs 'Lost Boys' bill

By Angie Welling Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Homeless teens in Utah, whether they've left a polygamous lifestyle or an abusive home life, now have a new legal tool to help them bridge the gap to adulthood.   "I think this is a good chance to start my life," said 15-year-old Bruce Barlow of HB30, the emancipation of a minor bill ceremoniously signed into law by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. Tuesday afternoon.   Barlow is a "Lost Boy" of polygamy.   He fled the Fundamentalist LDS Church six weeks ago seeking "a better life."   He now lives with a cousin in St. George and works full time as a framer but cannot do things like open a bank account for his earnings because of his status as a minor.   Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff calls that in-between stage "legal limbo" and praised HB30 as an effective way to remove stumbling blocks to education, health insurance and student loans.   "As long as they're in that legal limbo they can't move on with their lives," Shurtleff said Tuesday.   Although state law will continue to value children and families, Huntsman said, "circumstances occasionally exist where a child must be freed from the legal bonds of their parents."     Read more

New law guides "Lost Boys"

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published May 4, 2006

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed House Bill 30 - the "Lost Boys" law - Tuesday that permits teenagers to seek emancipation from their parents.   Whether banished from the polygamous communities of Hildale or Colorado City, Ariz., made homeless from an abusive household or independently out on their own for other reasons, 17-year-olds will now be able to sign rental agreements, take out loans and acquire health insurance coverage freely without parental consent.   Under the new law, minors who wish to wield control over their lives will submit a petition to the juvenile court judge with proof they are capable of living independently.   Parents will be notified and given a chance to respond in the emancipation process, but it has already been projected to enable about a dozen youths a year full liberation.   However, with this new law comes responsibility - not only by the youth themselves, but by the state and the communities in which these youth reside if they are able to be successful, positive contributors to society.  We've witnessed the sad tales of teenage boys and girls exiled out of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for a wide range of reasons, including kissing and wearing "inappropriate" apparel.  But it has been more painstaking to watch these neglected youth, left to their own devices of poor decision-making skills in a much less-structured world than they once knew, commit criminal acts of drug abuse, assault, theft and other offenses.   The Hope Organization, an advocacy group for people who are leaving or have been cast out of polygamy, can celebrate the mandate that will make it easier for it to help the abandoned youth, but more must be done.     Read more

'Lost Boys' find freedom in new law

By Amy Brennan BYU NewsNet Originally published May 8, 2006

The "Lost Boys" and other homeless youth can now take control of their lives.   Under legislation signed last week, youth who are at least 16 years old can gain legal standing in order to access key resources such as housing, education and health care.  Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed HB 30 Tuesday, May 2, 2006 which includes the Emancipation of a Minor Act.   Homeless youth are among those who will benefit, but inspiration for the law came primarily from a group of youth known as the "Lost Boys," that have left polygamous communities.   Shannon Price, director of Diversity, a nonprofit foundation that cares for the youth, said doctrine promoted by the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints strengthened a need for this legislation.   "When Warren Jeffs came out with the new law that you had to have three wives or more to get to the highest level of celestial kingdom, they had to get rid of some of the boys," Price said.  "It was more effective to blame behavior of the children than the adults."   The Lost Boys have been forced out or encouraged to leave their polygamous communities.   Those choosing to stay face constant scorn from the community.     Read more

Polygamy Sect: Sinister Group?; Inside Secrets; Most Wanted

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES CNN Originally broadcast May 8, 2006

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): ...isolation of this community along the Utah-Arizona border. What's harder to grasp is the total domination that one man, Warren Jeffs, has over the 10,000 people who live here. They're part of a Mormon sect of polygamists who call themselves the FLDS, the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. They call Warren Jeffs the prophet. The mainstream Mormon church banned polygamy in 1890 and doesn't associate with this sect. This is one of the few photographs of Warren Jeffs, a seemingly ordinary man, but one with extraordinary power. DR. DAN FISCHER, FORMER FUNDAMENTALIST CHURCH OF LATTER DAY SAINTS MEMBER: If there were a Taliban of America, I would say this is it. COOPER: Warren Jeffs hasn't been seen in more than a year. The FBI has been searching for him since June on charges of fleeing prosecution in Arizona, for arranging marriages involving underage girls. In the FLDS, reality is filtered through Warren Jeffs. SAM ICKE, FORMER FUNDAMENTALIST CHURCH OF LATTER DAY SAINTS MEMBER: If the law comes in and takes over or anything happens to them, it's all a test sent from God through Warren. Everything is a test. Because they believe that the afterlife is going to tell the truth. COOPER: Sam Icke is no longer part of the FLDS community. He was expelled by the prophet when he was 18. ICKE: The thing that actually got me kicked out was, you know, I kissed this girl, and then she told, you know, told everybody what was going on. I got a call from the leader, Warren Jeffs, and he told me to, you know, that -- to come and talk to him about it. I left, went home, and within the next day or so, you know, he called my dad and told him that I had to leave.     Read more

Emancipation bill is not about Lost Boys

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Spectrum Originally published May 11, 2006

As the social worker who drafted the emancipation bill, I want the citizens of Utah to understand that this bill isn't just about the polygamous "Lost Boys." It is about the hundreds of throw-away, homeless youth who are no longer wanted by their parents. In Utah, it is not legal to shelter a youth under age 18 without parental consent or emancipation. Utah didn't have an emancipation statute, so I wrote one. I took it to Rep. Roz McGee who knew an emancipation statute was needed. It was introduced in the 2005 legislative session. The bill passed the House but did not make it to the Senate. It was reintroduced in 2006 with the help of Rep. Lorie Fowlke, Sen. Curtis Bramble and support from more than 40 state and community agencies. As a social worker and advocate for our homeless youth, I want people to know that the statute is not the "Lost Boys" bill. It gives young people the opportunity to start their life and become contributing members of society. Thank you to the Attorney General, legislature, various agencies and the Governor for helping to give voice to our invisible, homeless youth. Melissa Larsen, CSW Salt Lake City

Talking to 'Lost Boys' of Bountiful

A conversation with two trying to make it outside.

By Amanda Euringer The Tyee - Vancouver, BC Originally published May 26, 2006

Much has been written about the young women of Bountiful, B.C., who are married off and having children as young as 15 -- although the leader of the polygamous community, Winston Blackmore, now assures the public that the marriageable age has been raised to the age of consent.   But what is it like to be one of "the Lost Boys," young men of Bountiful who are forced to leave their homes and families for disobeying the "prophet" Winston?   Jane Blackmore, the rebellious first wife of Winston Blackmore, has told The Tyee of troops of "boys that no one knows what to do with" who get shuffled from farm to farm for other wives to look after.   She described boys who have little recourse in a community where self worth is based on how many wives you are "given" by the prophet, based on merit that is decided by him and the God he alone speaks for.  She spoke of a skewed community where, since most of the young woman are "given" to a few older husbands, the ratio of unmarried young men to unmarried young women is highly unbalanced.     Read more

The lost boys of Colorado City

Over the past five years, a fundamentalist Mormon "prophet" has banished as many as 400 boys from his Arizona town. Now the teens, once forbidden to even watch a movie, are adrift in a world of drugs, girls and depression.

By Kimberly Sevcik Salon.com Originally published July 6, 2006

On any given day there were 13 kids sleeping on the floor of the butt hut.  It was 2003, and Sam Icke was almost 19.  To get to work in the morning, he had to pick his way over the limp bodies, the piles of dirty clothes, the half-empty bags of Doritos.  The smell of dirty socks and stale beer clung to the matted carpeting and the ratty brown sofa.  Nine hours later, when he got home, Icke found those same bodies upright, fixating on a high-speed car chase on the TV in the corner, getting stoned, and doing shots of Bacardi.  In the kitchen, a swarm of roaches feasted on the ossified remains of a four-day-old spaghetti dinner.   Icke was the only one in the cramped, run-down apartment with a steady job, tiling floors for $300 a week in the desert town of Hurricane, Utah.  Every week or two another kid showed up at the door, looking for a place to park his ass -- that's why they called communal houses like these butt huts.  Icke took them in -- no exceptions, no questions asked.  He understood what they were going through.  Like him, they had been banished from their homes by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a radical offshoot of the Mormon church, and forbidden to ever see their families again.  Their families wept and fretted and protested under their breath, but none of them fought to keep their sons.  They didn't dare defy the orders of Warren Jeffs, the dictatorial leader of FLDS, a self-proclaimed prophet whose followers believe him to be the earthly executor of God's will.     Read more

Little help is available for teens leaving FLDS Church

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, July 8, 2006

Police in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., say they're seeing a number of teenagers who are fed up with the Fundamentalist LDS Church and leaving on their own.   The trouble is, they may not get much help leaving.   "One of the biggest problems that we have with the individuals that are wanting out is they're underage and there's not much we can do for them legally," said Gary Engels, a special investigator for the Mohave County Attorney's Office.   Engels said he is seeing people — mostly teenagers — who don't like living under the FLDS Church's increasingly restrictive doctrine.   "There are more people leaving this organization every day," Engels said.  "A lot of them are wanting to leave willingly.   They're finding the lifestyle they're trying to live under Warren's rules and regulations too restrictive."   Warren Jeffs is the fugitive leader of the FLDS Church.  He is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, facing criminal charges in Utah and Arizona accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men.  Federal prosecutors have charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.   A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.   These teens are similar to the so-called "Lost Boys" who are kicked out of the border towns by Jeffs for unnamed "sins."   After leaving the border towns, they crash in Hurricane and St. George.  Some stay with relatives or people sympathetic to their plight.   However, service providers cannot help them because they're minors and runaways.     Read more

No emancipation rush

9 Utah teens' reasons to split from their parents run gamut

By Linda Thomson Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, July 30, 2006

Nine teenagers have petitioned Utah's juvenile courts to become emancipated from their parents since a new law went into effect in May, but there seems to be "no rush" of the so-called Lost Boys who have escaped or been cast out of polygamous communities.   Instead, state Guardian ad Litem Kristin Brewer says there seems to be quite a mixture of youngsters with varying motivations asking the court to be free of their parents.   There appears to be no particular pattern.   "It's a whole gamut — a kid living at home who doesn't want to do what mom says to a kid living in foster care who is tired of dealing with the system and wants to be independent," Brewer said.  "Our experience shows it doesn't seem like a rush from the 'Lost Boys.' "   The state Legislature approved a law permitting 16- and 17-year-old youths to ask juvenile courts to emancipate them.  Part of the motivation for passage of the law was to assist the Lost Boys in gaining independence or to help homeless teens who have been on their own for years.   First, the young people must fill out court-supplied forms.  Typically, a juvenile court judge will appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the teen.   Court hearings are held and the final decision rests with the judge.     Read more

Excommunicated FLDS members strangers in a strange land

KVBC News 3 - Las Vegas Originally broadcast September 1, 2006

Warren Jeffs makes his first court appearance Thursday morning.  The leader of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints was arrested late Monday just north of Las Vegas after a routine traffic stop.  He's been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list since May for charges that include sex with a minor and accomplice to rape.  His polygamist sect has been under increasingly intense scrutiny since his arrest.  One reason is the growing number of young men being thrust into the Las Vegas community with no funds, no family, and an uncertain future, known as the lost boys.  Clark County's Juvenile Justice Center is unfortunately becoming the new home for some of the young boys forced out of their close knit communities in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah.  One 15-year-old convicted sex offender who's awaiting his release is an example of what can happen when these kids are pushed out into a previously unknown world.  In a community where men can have multiple, sometimes dozens of wives, competition for brides can get complicated.  Insiders tell us that that is the reason Warren Jeffs expelled so many young men from the towns he ruled over as prophet.     Read more

Justice: The Polygamist's Life

Escaping Warren Jeffs's controversial religious sect

By Andrew Murr Newsweek - September 11, 2006 issue

Sept. 11, 2006 issue - Polygamous leader Warren Jeffs banished Sam Icke for kissing a girl.  Icke, then 17, had been doing his best to follow the rules of Jeffs's insular Mormon sect — listening to the leader's taped sermons, avoiding even G-rated movies and wearing wrist-to-ankle clothes in the desert sun.  But after the kiss, Icke was forced to leave his family in Colorado City, Ariz., with only a car and a 10th-grade education in tow.  He floundered on his own.  "I was lost and scared," he recalls.  But last year he got help from a group that assists the "Lost Boys," as many call the estimated 600 to 1,000 young men who've left — or been booted from — the sect in the past decade.  Today Icke, 22, is studying accounting and working full time.  "I feel completely different," he says.  Jeffs's arrest last week outside Las Vegas after four months on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list sets the stage for trials in Utah and Arizona on charges that he allegedly performed illegal marriages between young girls and older men.  With Jeffs behind bars, will more of the prophet's 10,000 followers try to leave?     Read more

Lost boys are the forgotten polygamy victims

By Daphne Bramham The Vancouver Sun Originally published Friday, October 20, 2006

It's simple arithmetic in polygamous, fundamentalist Mormon societies like Bountiful, B.C. Some men get many wives, others get none.  It's usually older men who get second, third and sometimes more wives, brides who are usually teenagers.  Left behind are angry, frustrated young men.  Not only can they not choose their own mates, they've been told it's against the church's rules to date or even socialize with girls their age.  A few lucky young men do get wives.  But it can feel like entrapment.  One day they wake up and are told they're marrying a stranger for "time and all eternity," in the words of the faith's marriage ceremony.  The boys are often the forgotten victims of polygamy.  But three of their stories are told in a documentary by Maureen Palmer and Helen Slinger called Polygamy's Lost Boys, which airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on Global Television.  All three stories are different.  All are heart-breaking insights into the difficult transition from having no freedom to having almost too much.  Fundamentalist Mormons broke with the mainstream church when it renounced polygamy in 1890.  Because polygamy is illegal in Canada and the United States, they live in cloistered communities where members' behaviour is strictly controlled.  There are estimated 30,000 of them in North America and about 12,000 belong to the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints.  In Bountiful, about 500 people follow Jeffs and another 700 or so have remained loyal to Winston Blackmore, who was excommunicated by Jeffs nearly four years ago.     Read more

'Lost Boys,' other FLDS teens lobby lawmakers

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, January 20, 2007

They walked through the halls of power like high school students on a field trip.  The reality, though, is that most of these teens who left "the Creek" never made it past the eighth grade.  "We weren't allowed to go to the public schools," said "Sherrie," who ran away from the Fundamentalist LDS Church at age 16.  Teens who ran away or were kicked out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., came to the state Capitol complex Friday to share their heartbreaking stories and plead with lawmakers for money to help fund housing and to purchase clothing and food for other children in their situation.  "If we can get some help from the government, imagine the difference it can make in these kids' lives," said Kevin Black, who was kicked out of the FLDS Church at age 17.  Many of the children have been dubbed "Lost Boys" — teenage boys that have been kicked out of the FLDS Church for committing a "sin," such as wearing short-sleeved shirts.  The girls are never ousted; they run away.  "The girls are considered a commodity," said Shannon Price, director of the Diversity Foundation, which helps children who leave the border towns.  Each week, one or two teens are reported to have left "the Creek," the nickname for the border towns stemming from the former name of the community, once called Short Creek.     Read more

Measure would assist 'Lost Boys'

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, February 7, 2007

The cries of help for the so-called "Lost Boys" of polygamy are being heard on Utah's Capitol Hill.  A southern Utah lawmaker wants to provide money for transitional services for "abused, neglected or dependent children of bigamist families."  HB468 would require the Division of Child and Family Services to provide or contract out transitional services.  The legislation would appropriate $250,000 with no expiration date.  The bill is being sponsored by House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara, who heard the stories of teenagers who either ran away or were kicked out of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.  A group of teens who were kicked out of the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., came to the Capitol to plead for money last month.  Teenage boys told of being urged to "repent from a distance" by FLDS leaders.  "They're from good families that had to make a horrible decision about exiling the child," Shannon Price, director of the Diversity Foundation, said Tuesday.  FLDS leader Warren Jeffs is facing criminal charges in Utah and Arizona, accusing him of forcing teenage girls into marriages with older men.  Some teenagers kicked out of the FLDS communities have found themselves on the streets, crashing at "party houses," becoming addicted to drugs and getting involved in crimes.  Many don't have anything beyond an eighth-grade education.     Read more

'Lost Boys' settle lawsuit against UEP

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, April 6, 2007

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against the Fundamentalist LDS Church's financial arm, filed by a group of young men cast out of the polygamist church.  Attorneys for the so-called "Lost Boys" reached a deal Thursday with lawyers for the court-controlled United Effort Plan Trust.  It calls for them to receive $250,000 through an education and emergency fund, and 21 acres in property in the FLDS enclave of Hildale, Washington County.  A sexual abuse lawsuit filed by the nephew of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs is also part of that settlement.  "They have always seen their claims against the Trust as being about solving problems, not seeking money," lawyer Roger Hoole said in a statement.  The settlement requires court approval.  Attorneys are expected to file a motion to approve the deal with a judge today.  The young men — Richard Jessop Ream, Thomas Samuel Steed, Don Ronald Fischer, Dean Joseph Barlow, Walter Scott Fischer and Richard Gilbert — sued Jeffs, the FLDS Church and the UEP Trust in 2004, claiming they were kicked out of their community and separated from their families.  The lawsuit prompted more scrutiny of the FLDS Church and the UEP Trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in the towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.  In 2005, a judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court seized control of the UEP, after allegations that Jeffs and other top FLDS leaders had been fleecing it.  "Without the 'Lost Boys,' the court would not have intervened, the fiduciary would not have been appointed, the Trust would not have been reformed," said Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed special fiduciary of the UEP Trust.     Read more

Murray teen shot in head; boyfriend arrested

By Kerry Kinsey ABC 4 News Originally broadcast April 8, 2007

A 15-year-old Murray girl is in extremely critical condition after being shot by her boyfriend early Saturday morning.  The boyfriend, 18-year-old Parley Dutson, was arrested for attempted homicide.  Witnesses say a small party was going at Willow Cove Apartments in West Jordan.  The girl called a friend to help her reason with her boyfriend, but Dutson didn’t recognize his friend.  He told him "get out of my house before I shoot you."  He shot, hitting his girlfriend in the back of the head.  Neighbors living in the complex told ABC 4, this is the fourth violent incident in this complex in the last year.  Police are still trying to find a motive in the shooting.

Teenage Shooting Victim Dies

FOX 13 News Originally broadcast April 9, 2007

The teenage victim of a shooting in West Jordan died overnight, according to West Jordan Police.  The yet-to-be identified teen was allegedly shot by her boyfriend.  Parley Dutson is in the Salt Lake County jail, originally booked on attempted murder charges, those charges will likely change.  Police say the shooting happened at a party.  They say the couple was not arguing and they don't know the motive.

Expert: Mushrooms Not Likely Responsible for Murder

Amanda Butterfield Reporting KSL 5 TV Originally broadcast April 9, 2007

The West Jordan woman who lost her daughter in a shooting says the girl's boyfriend did it because he was high on hallucinogenic mushrooms.  However, we talked with a man who is one of the top drug investigators in the state and found it's a drug that isn't very potent and does not cause violent outbursts.  Charles Illsley worked in the police force for 25 years.  He says mushrooms are not that big of a problem in Utah.  "It's such an unusual drug, and it's not highly sought after," he said.  Psilocybin is the chemical that causes hallucinations, and it gives the user a mild trip.  Illsley said, "It does not cause violent reactions in the brain, and violent behavior is not a foreseeable outcome of psilocybin."  The mother of Kara Hopkins told the Salt Lake Tribune that her daughter's boyfriend was high on mushrooms when he shot her Saturday morning.  West Jordan police went to the Willow Cove apartments and found Hopkins shot in the back of the head.  A helicopter flew her to the hospital in very critical condition.  She died that day.  Police arrested 18-year-old Parley Dutson and charged him with attempted homicide.  We tried to reach Hopkins' mother, but she did not want to talk with media today.     Read more

Court Documents Reveal Gruesome Details of Deadly Shooting

Gene Kennedy Reporting KSL 5 TV Originally broadcast April 10, 2007

Court documents paint a horrifying picture of the night a 15-year-old girl was killed.  The Salt Lake Tribune reports Kara Hopkins' boyfriend ripped her clothes off at a party after he allegedly shot her in the head.  Witnesses say Hopkins was partying with several others at the Willow Cove apartments in West Jordan over the weekend.  Court documents say her boyfriend, 18-year-old Parley Dutson, pushed her against a wall and told her to have sex with him.  When she resisted, witnesses say Dutson pulled out a black revolver and shot her in the back of the head.   Witnesses say Dutson then continued to remove Hopkins' clothes.  When apartment security entered the unit, they say she was naked from the waist down and Dutson was in a sexual position with her.  An affidavit indicates Dutson told security he was intentionally trying to rape her.  The victim's mother tells Eyewitness News Dutson was high on hallucinogenic mushrooms and marijuana at the time.  But a narcotics expert we talked with says mushrooms do not cause violent outbursts.     Read more

Accused man has ties to FLDS towns

By Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend during a weekend party in West Jordan has ties to the Fundamentalist LDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  But support groups who help people who have been kicked out of those cities say the majority of the so-called "Lost Boys" are law-abiding, drug-free citizens.  Police say 18-year-old Parley J. Dutson shot and killed 15-year-old Kara Hopkins early Saturday morning in his apartment near 9300 S. Redwood Road.  Dutson, who had been smoking marijuana and taking hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to witnesses, shot Hopkins after she refused to have sex with him, according to court documents.  Dutson remained in the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday on $300,000 bail for investigation of attempted aggravated murder, a charge that will be increased once the case is screened by the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office.  Both Hopkins and Dutson lived in southern Utah.  Hopkins had moved to Murray within the past few months.     Read more

Man Who Allegedly Murdered Teen Is FLDS 'Lost Boy'

Brian Mullahy Reporting KUTV Channel 2 Originally broadcast April 13, 2007

(KUTV) SALT LAKE CITY - He's charged with murder in the death of his 15-year-old girlfriend, but what's the 'lost boy' connection to 18-year-old Parley Dutson?  Dutson is a so-called 'lost boy' who, like so many other teens, had been kicked out of the polygamous towns of Hildale and Colorado City.  Some believe they were ordered exiled at the hand of jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.  We spoke to a 'lost boy' from the FLDS community who refused to be identified.  He says he was kicked out of the dusty polygamy outposts at 14.  "I lived in the same house as Parley for about six months, working with him," says the boy.  Reading only at a first grade level he took up with Parley Dutson and other lost boys in Las Vegas before moving to the Salt Lake Valley where last weekend, Dutson is accused of demanding sex, then killing Kara Hopkins.     Read more

Man in April 7 slaying appears in court

By Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend after she refused to have sex with him made his first appearance in court Monday.  Parley Jeffs Dutson, 18, was charged in West Jordan's 3rd District Court with criminal homicide and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies, in the death of 15-year-old Kara Hopkins.  Hopkins and Dutson were at a party April 7 at the Willow Cove Apartments near 9300 S. Redwood Road.  Dutson, who had been smoking marijuana, according to witnesses, became angry at Hopkins when she refused his advances.  When a security guard entered the apartment after Hopkins was shot, he found her with most of her clothes ripped off and Dutson next to her in his underwear saying he wanted to have sex with her until she was dead, according to court documents.  Monday, wearing a blue jump suit from the Salt Lake County Jail, orange sneakers and his hands and legs in shackles, Dutson answered "yes" and "no" to standard questions Judge Royal Hansen asked all defendants such as the need for a court-appointed attorney.  Bail was set at $500,000.  The court said it would appoint an attorney for Dutson.  His next court appearance was scheduled for April 26.  No friends or family members of either Dutson or Hopkins appeared to be at Monday's brief hearing.

Trial set in killing of teen

By Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, June 26, 2007

WEST JORDAN — An 18-year-old man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend during a party at his apartment after she refused to have sex with him has been bound over for trial.  During a preliminary hearing Wednesday, 3rd District Judge Terry Christiansen found there was sufficient probable cause to advance the case against Parley Jeffs Dutson on the charges of criminal homicide and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies.  He is accused of killing 15-year-old Kara Hopkins at the Willow Cove Apartments near 9300 S. Redwood Road on April 7.  During Wednesday's preliminary hearing, four people who were at Dutson's apartment the night of the shooting, including cousins and long-time friends, gave similar accounts of Dutson being high from taking hallucinogenic mushrooms and smoking marijuana prior to the shooting.  Each gave similar accounts of Dutson being paranoid about someone named "Curtis" who was coming over to the apartment to "get him," prompting him to carry a gun in his waistband for 30 to 45 minutes before the slaying.     Read more

Hearing postponed in April shooting death

Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, June 27, 2007

A pretrial conference for Parley Jeffs Dutson, who is charged with shooting his girlfriend to death, has been postponed and a status conference has been set for July 26.  Dutson, 19, is charged with murder and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies.  The charges stem from an April 7 incident in which police say Dutson killed Kara Hopkins, 15, after she refused to have sex with him.  His defense attorney told 3rd District Judge Royal Hansen on Tuesday that he needed more time to get discovery information from prosecutors and that he also intended to file pretrial motions.  Dutson is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail.

Home for 'Lost Boys'

St. George shelter to help those outsted from FLDS communities

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Monday, July 30, 2007

ST. GEORGE — The kids call it "the house just off Bluff."  The eight-bedroom home located just off Bluff Street doesn't have a formal name, but it will soon become a haven for some of the so-called "Lost Boys."  They are teens who have either been kicked out or run away from Short Creek — the Fundamentalist LDS Church enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  "It'll work just right," says Ben, who asked that his last name not be used.  He left the FLDS Church at 18.  Leaning against a door frame, he looked around, surveying the home's potential.  "This'll be good," he says.  Michelle Benward shows off the shelter with pride.  "This is our welcoming area," she says, walking briskly from one room into another.  "This will be a dining room."  Right now, the residence is empty.  The only appliance is an old, beat-up stove.  "We're going to give kids a place to transition from one community into the next safely," she said.     Read more

On Their Own: FLDS exiles learn to cope with life after polygamy

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published August 18, 2007

(Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on the young men and women who either leave or are asked to leave the twin cities of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., a community made up mostly of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The names used in this story have been changed to protect the identities of those who spoke about their lives. Please see tomorrow's edition of The Spectrum & Daily News for the final installation of the series.) HURRICANE - Marc can still remember the events that took place on Feb. 18, 2004.  After a long day working, he was cooking up spicy lemon chicken for his dinner when two of his brothers said they had to have a talk.  His brothers informed him he had to leave, not just leave home, but the community where he had lived since third grade.  Going up to his bedroom, Marc found his mother crying while packing his belongings.  Marc was only 17 years old with a sixth-grade education when his world collapsed and he joined many other young men and women who were no longer found as desirable residents of Colorado City - a community primarily made up of followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where the members practice polygamy as one of their tenets.     Read more

Life in the Creek

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published August 19, 2007

(EDITOR'S NOTE - This is the second installment of a two-part series on the young men and women who either leave or are asked to leave the twin cities of Hildale and Colorado City a community made up of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The names have been changed to protect the identities of those who shared their stories.) HURRICANE - Since the community once known as Short Creek was settled in the early 1930s, the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale have been through turmoil, from a 1953 raid where all the men practicing polygamy were rounded up and arrested to the recent hunt for the community's religious leader Warren Steed Jeffs, which ended a year ago.  The community, made up of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has had five primary leaders.  Until recently, the community, although different by many people's standards, lived, worked and worshiped together as a whole.  The FLDS church, which claims polygamy as one of its tenets, is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which denounced polygamy in 1890.  Yet changes in church leadership brought about changes in the community and many, reportedly judged unworthy in the eyes of Jeffs, were told to leave.  In a sense those - especially the young people - who either choose or are told to leave, are caught between two worlds and struggle when forced to adapt to life outside of Hildale and Colorado City.     Read more

Not lost, just displaced

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published August 22, 2007

Being cast out from the only life you've every known, away from family and friends and with little education and street-wise smarts to get through day-to-day living has got to be a terrifying experience for a young person.  This has happened to an estimated 1,000 teens in less than a decade from the polygamous twin cities of Hildale and Colorado City.  It is a social issue that affects the entire state.  Utah should respond with no less than all the adequate resources needed to assist these youth.  Help for these displaced members of society has been less than modest.  Housing, food, clothing and referrals for jobs and educational opportunities have been primarily done out of the kindness and generosity of individuals and non-profit organizations.  We applaud the goodness of the Hope Organization, New Frontiers for Families and countless anonymous donors that have gone beyond all expectations to offer these less fortunate kids a second chance at life.  Their exiled existence is unfathomable.  The thought of a 15-year-old boy being commanded to leave the confines of his community to repent because he chose to wear short sleeves or listen to pop music is unfathomable.  Just as it is unconscionable reasoning for a 16-year-old girl who did not wear her hair in braids or ventured into trying mascara on her eyelashes being forcibly ousted from the only place she had ever known to be home.     Read more

Warren Jeffs' 'lost boys' find themselves in strange world

From Dan Simon and Amanda Townsend CNN Originally published September 7, 2007

Editor's note: CNN agreed not to use the last name of the "lost boy" in this piece. ST. GEORGE, Utah (CNN) -- Franky admits he's conflicted about the life of polygamy he has left behind along with the nearly three dozen brothers and sisters he's banished from seeing.  He also has mixed feelings about the man he once considered a religious prophet, polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs.  Jeffs, he says, was good to him.  He taught him the values of family and the need for structure.  "He ain't what everybody portrays him to be," the 21-year-old says.  But still Franky rejected Jeffs' polygamous lifestyle and the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS).  He's now trying to make it on his own, one of the estimated 400 so-called "lost boys" who were kicked out of Jeffs' sect or left on their own.  It's not a term he particularly likes or embraces.  "I'm not lost, because I ain't running around in a circle.  No, thank you," he says.  He pauses to ponder what the term might mean.  "Lost in the head? Lost as in: They don't know how to cope with it and deal with it and move on?"     Read more

Boys Cast Out by Polygamists Find Help

By Erik Eckholm The New York Times Originally published September 9, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Woodrow Johnson was 15, and by the rules of the polygamous sect in which his family lived, he had a vice that could condemn them to hell: He liked to watch movies.  When his parents discovered his secret stash of DVDs, including the "Die Hard" series and comedies, they burned them and gave him an ultimatum.  Stop watching movies, they said, or leave the family and church for good.  With television and the Internet also banned as wicked, along with short-sleeve shirts — a sign of immodesty — and staring at girls, let alone dating them, Woodrow made the wrenching decision to go.  And so 10 months ago, with only a seventh-grade education and a suitcase of clothes, he was thrown into an unfamiliar world he had been taught to fear.  Over the last six years, hundreds of teenage boys have been expelled or felt compelled to leave the polygamous settlement that straddles Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.  Disobedience is usually the reason given for expulsion, but former sect members and state legal officials say the exodus of males — the expulsion of girls is rarer — also remedies a huge imbalance in the marriage market.  Members of the sect believe that to reach eternal salvation, men are supposed to have at least three wives.  State officials say efforts to help them with shelter, foster care or other services have been frustrated by the boys’ distrust of government and fear of getting their parents into trouble.     Read more

Red tape threatens home for 'Lost Boys'

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published September 15, 2007

ST. GEORGE — The smell of fresh paint is in the air as one walks through the door, stepping onto stone tile still being laid on the ground.  Electrical fixtures are being installed, and mixed and matched pieces of furniture are everywhere.  This home near Bluff Street will be a new shelter for the so-called "Lost Boys," teenagers kicked out of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.  That is, if they can navigate their way through government bureaucracy to get the home licensed and approved in time for its scheduled Oct. 4 opening.  "I can't put any kids in here.  I have five kids, and three more 17-year-olds.  What do you do?"  Michelle Benward said as she walked through the home Friday.  Benward is the clinical director of Garfield County-based New Frontiers for Families, a nonprofit social service group.  It and the Diversity Foundation have put together this home for teenage boys who have either run away from or been kicked out of the FLDS enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  "Every week, I get a new kid," Benward said of the growing number of teens leaving the polygamous border towns.  Advocacy groups estimate there are as many as 1,000 of these Lost Boys.  The ones kicked out commit "sins" like wearing too short of a shirt, kissing a girl or refusing to marry.  Those who leave say they're tired of the rigid structures of the FLDS faith.  Many say their families won't speak to them, afraid of the other children and their eternal salvation within the FLDS Church.     Read more

Polygamy's 'Lost Boys' make their own group home

The Associated Press Times Record News - Wichita Falls, Texas Originally published Monday, September 17, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah — With hammers, saws, drills and determination, about 15 young males displaced from their homes in a polygamous enclave are helping renovate a group house where they hope to live while going to school or work until they can transition into their own places.  "All the (remodeling) work is being done by the boys," said Michelle Benward, clinical director of New Frontiers for Families, based in Tropic, Utah.  "They do excellent work."  The "Lost Boys," as the young males are known, voluntarily leave or are asked to move out of the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., because they violated rules of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Their plight has attracted national media attention -- which led to potential jurors for Warren S. Jeffs' trial, under way in St. George, being asked what they had seen in the media about the "Lost Boys."  Jeffs is on trial on two counts of being an accomplice to rape related to a marriage he conducted in 2001.  Jeffs became president of the FLDS church in 2002 and has held members to a strict behavior code based on early Mormon teachings.  But just how many teens have left or been asked to leave the community because of that code is unclear.  Advocates and government authorities have used figures ranging from 400 to 2,000 over a time frame that ranges from six to 10 years or longer.  "This is not just starting with Warren Jeffs," said ex-FLDS member Isaac Wyler, 41, who still lives in the community.  "Warren may have taken it to a new level but it was going on when I was a kid."     Read more

The Exiled Children of Utah

By Hilary Hylton/St. George, Utah TIME Magazine Originally published September 24, 2007

Warren Jeffs, head of the breakaway polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), is now on trial in a St. George, Utah, court, charged with being an accomplice to rape, forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her first cousin and ignoring her claims of marital rape. But no matter Jeffs' ultimate fate — and he faces other charges in Arizona and federal court — the saga of broken young lives will continue. While this first case focused on the marriage of a young girl, many young boys' lives have been severely affected by the FLDS and the Utah trial opened a window into their sad stories. Take Merril Shapley, who testified last week. He was unsure, nervous and scared as he sat in the witness box just feet from the man he regarded as The Prophet. Warren Jeffs had chosen Shapley's wife, announced it to them both and within hours had presided over their marriage. Shapley, 24, a construction worker, had been called by the defense to persuade the jury that "Uncle Warren" was a gentle man who helped steer young couples through troubled marital waters. Clearly nervous when asked to spell his name, Shapley slowly said "M...E...R...R...I....L" punctuating each letter with a swallow. He had left school at eight years old to join his father's construction crew, he said, and works as a framer in booming southeastern Utah, building townhouses for retirees and outlet malls for tourists. Like most FLDS members, he was not accustomed to conversation with strangers.     Read more

St. George drop-in center, home for 'Lost Boys' opens

But no one can live there because of zoning problems

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published October 4, 2007

A home for teens who have been kicked out of or run away from the Fundamentalist LDS Church will open today, but no one will be allowed to live there for at least a few weeks — if not months.  That's because bureaucratic red tape in St. George has stalled efforts to get the drop-in center for the so-called "Lost Boys" properly licensed and zoned.  "It takes too long to do the right thing," said Michelle Benward, who is helping to put together the home.  "I'm hopeful they'll make the right decision for these kids and quickly, because we need this."  Benward, the clinical director for the nonprofit social service group New Frontiers for Families, has been trying to get the home opened to shelter the Lost Boys.  An anonymous donor bought the house and made it a donation for the teenagers.  The eight-bedroom "house just off Bluff," as it's called, is a former care center for senior citizens.  Many of the teenage boys who will now be living there have put in hours of labor to remodel it, so it can serve as a combination drop-in center and sometime-housing.  Skilled in construction, they have put in new flooring, new appliances, new fixtures and new paint.  Community donations have filled the home with furniture.  "I've been born and raised in a community that requires daily service anyway," said Frankie, a 21-year-old man who was ousted from the FLDS Church three years ago.  He asked that his last name not be used.  "It's peace of mind that finally I can be a part of something big. The last few years, I feel like I've been shut down and haven't been a part of anything that's been a blessing to others," he said.     Read more

Lost Boy Fund Helping Polygamist Sect Kids

The Associated Press KUTV Channel 2 Originally published October 15, 2007

A fund for young people cast out of a southern Utah polygamous sect has helped about a dozen since it was created two months ago.  So far, $6,600 has been spent on school tuition, books, a desk, appliances, utilities and car insurance.  A woman who was a possible witness in a criminal trial against sect leader Warren Jeffs received clothing.  It's "just ramping up," attorney Roger Hoole said.  "We're interested in helping more people."  The $250,000 Lost Boys Fund was part of a settlement of lawsuits filed by seven young men against the United Effort Plan Trust, the financial arm of Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Six claimed they were cast out of the church by Jeffs, the FLDS president.  The seventh man claimed he was sexually abused.  Neither the church nor Jeffs responded to the lawsuits, and the claims were never proved in court.  But the trust, now controlled by a court-appointed accountant, approved the settlement.  The seven men were awarded land, and the fund was established to help young people cut off from the FLDS community.  Many more say they left or were kicked out because of conflicts over strict FLDS rules and religious doctrine.     Read more

Trial date set in girl's slaying

Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, November 2, 2007

WEST JORDAN — A March 2008 trial date has been set for a young man accused of killing and then sexually assaulting his girlfriend at a party.  During a brief court appearance in 3rd District Court on Thursday, Parley Jeffs Dutson, 19, was ordered to stand trial for first-degree felony murder and aggravated sexual assault beginning March 11.  Dutson is accused in the April shooting death of 15-year-old Kara Hopkins.  Police said that during a party, Dutson was high from hallucinogenic mushrooms and marijuana.  He demanded sex from Hopkins, who refused.  Witnesses testified at his preliminary hearing that Dutson shot Hopkins in the back of the head as she walked away from him.

Utah diary - Going west

How Mormon history parallels America's

Correspondent's Diary The Economist Originally published November 9, 2007

Friday DRIVING across Utah, I am struck by the majestic scenery, the wide open spaces and the realisation that the early Mormons covered it all on foot.  Whizzing across the semi-desert in an air-conditioned car is quite restful.  With a music system that holds six CDs at a time, I don't even have to lift a finger to switch from "Carmen" to "La Bohème".  Nineteenth-century Mormons had it somewhat tougher.  Back east, they were persecuted.  The governor of Missouri called for them to be exterminated or driven out.  After Joseph Smith, their prophet, was lynched in 1844, most of his followers went on a great Exodus westwards.  Many drove wagons over the Rocky Mountains into what is now Utah, where they founded Salt Lake City.  Some who could not afford wagons loaded their possessions onto wooden handcarts and pulled them all the way from Iowa—a distance of some 1,300 miles.  Many died en route.  A group of 1,000 got stuck in the Rockies and began to starve.  A mule train was sent up to rescue them, but some 200 died of cold or hunger, and many survivors had to have their frostbitten toes amputated.  I found the monument to these handcart trekkers outside the Temple, the most sacred building of the Mormon faith, profoundly moving.  It also reminded me how closely Mormon history mirrors America's.  The early Mormons, like the early American settlers, were devout pioneers who fled religious persecution.  They trekked westward in search of land and freedom.  They found both, and are now thriving.     Read more

Colorado City's "Lost Boys" need help

By Joe Dana 12 News - Phoenix Originally broadcast November 23, 2007

Warren Jeffs is in prison, but the havoc he created continues.  Just ask social worker Michelle Benward.  She runs a group home in St. George, Utah for some of Colorado City's "lost boys."  The home is a refuge for dozens of young men who were banished from their families during Jeffs' rule.  Benward predicts there are hundreds of "lost boys" out there, spread out from Utah to Arizona to Nevada.  "They live together stacked in apartments, they're homeless, they're addicted to alcohol, they don't have a high school education," says Benward.  The young men are victims of Warren Jeffs cruel, "tough love" approach.  Several years ago, he instructed parents to dis-own their teen-age sons who were not precisely in-line with gospel teachings, investigators say.  Boys as young as fifteen years-old were kicked out onto the streets because they had kissed a girl, gone to the movies, or challenged authorities.  However, Mohave County investigator Gary Engel says the real reason for the boys' exile was because they posed competition to the older men who wanted to marry younger girls.  Benward says the state of Utah allocated 90 thousand dollars to provide social services for the exiled children from Colorado City.  "I know every non-profit needs help," Benward says.  "But it's not enough... I'm working more than a hundred hours a week and I'm paid for 25. I have volunteers helping, but it's just not effective enough."     Read more

Lost Boys' education aided by trust funds

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, January 15, 2008

One wants to be a doctor.  Two want to go into business.  Another wants to be a lawyer, and one wants to create video games.  These young men and young women exiled from the Fundamentalist LDS Church may be able to realize those dreams, thanks to a series of checks being cut by the court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust.  "The trust committed to paying $50,000 a year for education purposes to people in the community," Bruce Wisan said Monday.  The UEP Trust paid out $24,500 for a semester's worth of tuition for 16 kids.  It's through a fund set up as part of a lawsuit settlement with the so-called "Lost Boys," a group of young men who were kicked out of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.  "One of the plaintiffs said he didn't want to take all of the money for himself," said Shannon Price, the director of the Diversity Foundation, which helps the Lost Boys.  "He wanted it for the benefit of everybody who was exiled."  In 2004, six young men sued the FLDS Church, then-leader Warren Jeffs and the UEP Trust, claiming their were kicked out of their community and separated from their families.  The UEP Trust settled its part of the lawsuit last year, creating an education fund and designating property in the polygamous border town of Hildale.     Read more

FLDS 'Lost Boys' home seeks funding

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, January 26, 2008

"Smith" said he was abandoned on a street in Hurricane after going to see a movie.  The 18-year-old from the Fundamentalist LDS enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., was left there when his father found out that he was there.  "He doesn't want me watching movies, I guess," said Smith, who asked the Deseret Morning News not to use his name.  "I decided to move away because it wasn't worth it. It's been going on for 10 years."  The young man has been out of the polygamist communities for five weeks now.  On Friday, he and about a dozen other so-called "Lost Boys" — kids who have been kicked out or run away from the FLDS Church — were meeting lawmakers and pushing for $315,000 to help the pay for a youth drop-in center in St. George.  The "House Just Off Bluff," as it's called, is being run by non-profits and volunteers putting in their own blood, sweat and tears.  The home would help kids transition to a life outside of Short Creek.  Advocates for these boys and girls claim there are more than 1,000 who are either kicked out, often because they commit a "sin," or run away.  They sleep on the streets or crash in apartments with others like them and are often under-educated and in danger of falling prey to drugs, alcohol and exploitation.     Read more

Bill targets polygamous communities who evict teens

The Associated Press KIFI ABC Channel 8 - Idaho Falls, Idaho Originally broadcast March 9, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - State lawmakers have passed a bill that's intended to crack down on child abandonment in the polygamous communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  A bill Gov. Jon Huntsman is expected to sign into law would make child abandonment a form of child abuse.  The bill is in response to teenagers known as "The Lost Boys," who have been kicked out of their communities.  Advocates say there are hundreds of teens who have either run away or been kicked out of the polygamous sect for a host of reasons, such as watching movies, kissing someone or wearing shirt sleeves too short.  Some left on their own, rather than live by the church's strict codes of conduct. Information from: Deseret Morning News, http://www.deseretnews.com

'Lost Boys' dropping lawsuit against Jeffs, FLDS Church

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Six young men who sued the Fundamentalist LDS Church and its leader, Warren Jeffs, are dropping their lawsuit.  "My clients feel like they've accomplished what they needed to," their attorney, Roger Hoole, told the Deseret Morning News late Wednesday.  "The only thing left to go after is money, and that's not what they wanted."  The six filed court papers in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court seeking to dismiss the lawsuit they filed in 2004, accusing Jeffs and the FLDS Church of ousting them from the communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., and cutting them off from their families.  The young men became known as the "Lost Boys."  "We have met our goals," Walter Fischer, one of the original plaintiffs, said in a statement issued by his attorney on Wednesday.  "The only thing left to do is to go after money, and this case has never been about that."  According to Hoole, the young men succeeded in helping to separate the FLDS Church's real estate arm, the United Effort Plan Trust, from the polygamous sect.  In 2005, a judge took control of the $110 million trust amid allegations Jeffs and other top FLDS officials had mismanaged it.  "Doing this was critical to protect the FLDS people, who live in church-owned homes and are dependent on staying in the church's good favor for their housing," plaintiff Richard Gilbert said in the statement.     Read more

LDS polygamists unlike FLDS

Opinion Deseret News Originally published Thursday, May 1, 2008

I know there are people who see no difference between the polygamy practices of the FLDS Church and the early LDS Church. The question would be: Were there any "lost boys" in the early LDS Church — teenage and young adult males forced out of the church because their numbers were too high, as compared to the number of teenage and young adult females? I'm not the best-read guy, but I can find no evidence of that. What does this mean? To me, it means early LDS polygamy was very different from the polygamy practiced by the FLDS Church. Clark Roger Larsen Tooele

'Lost Boys' watch Texas raid from afar

St. George center that helps former FLDS is scrambling for funds

By Ben Winslow Deseret News Originally published Monday, May 12, 2008

ST. GEORGE — They have family members who have been separated from their parents.  Just like them.  The raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch in Texas has been difficult for some of the so-called "Lost Boys," teenagers who have been cast out or who ran away from the fundamentalist communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  From a distance, they are watching their families get caught up in the raid and its aftermath here in Utah.  "I don't think it's right to take all their kids away, even if it's one case of abuse — if there's even that," said Simon, who was asked to leave Short Creek (the name for Hildale and Colorado City).  "I really don't think there's as much abuse as they say there is. I mean, I wasn't abused."  The kids are feeling a lot of anxiety, fear and worry for their families, said Michelle Benward, the clinical director of New Frontiers for Families.  She runs the "House Just Off Bluff," a drop-in center — just off Bluff Street — for the "Lost Boys."  "Right now, we have a community that is in incredible crisis," Benward said.  "At the point of crisis, the resources should be put on the table to take care of the problem."  Using community and local church donations, a government grant and whatever money she can scrape together, Benward has helped create this home that acts as a sometime shelter for the young men.  They are provided education and support transitioning from one community to another.  Since it opened last year, advocates say the home has directly helped about 100 of the estimated 1,000 cast-out teens.  All of that is now in danger if more funding isn't secured to keep the home open.     Read more

Broken Ties

Seth Doane Reports On The Boys And Young Men Who Leave The FLDS

48 Hours CBS News Originally broadcast May 27, 2008

(CBS) They aren't all that far from home, but Frankie Johnson and Caleb Barlow couldn't be farther from their roots.  They were born into and grew up in the FLDS, until the need to escape pressed so hard there was nothing to do but leave everything behind.  Frankie, who grew up in Colorado City, left four years ago when he was 18 years old.  At the time, he says he was the oldest of 18.  Like Frankie, 18-year-old Caleb started to resent the endless regulations of the religion, like losing everyday freedoms as basic as being able to date girls.  The belief was that the outside world was evil, and that joining it brought punishment.  "Yeah, it was a fear," Caleb tells correspondent Seth Doene.  "I wondered if I was really going to go to hell."  Frankie and Caleb - and hundreds of other boys like them - ended up out of FLDS and in limbo, in places like Utah.  They've left home or been kicked out when they were barely teenagers.  Their refusal to conform to their religion's unbending social rules pushes them and their families to the edge.  Those that go are known as "The Lost Boys."  Their future and very survival are uncertain, and the only sure thing is that most of them can never go back to that secretive world. When Caleb decided to leave, his father made it clear he'd never be welcomed back.  "He grabbed my littlest brother and he just like shaking in my face, he's like 'You’ll never see him again,'" Caleb remembers.  "He said we were better off dead than to leave."     Read more

Murder trial begins for FLDS 'Lost Boy'

Reported by: Susan Wood ABC 4 News Originally broadcast Tuesday, June 17, 2008

WEST JORDAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A young man raised in the FLDS community is now on trial for murder.  Parley Jeffs Dutson is one of the so-called "Lost Boys," exiled as a teen from the polygamous community.  Now he is on trial for his former girlfriend's murder.  In court on Tuesday, disturbing details were released about what happened at a party last April where 15-year-old Kara Hopkins was shot after allegedly refusing sex.  Sometime around 2:30 a.m. on April 7, 2007, a seasoned security guard and his partner found a scene that still brings him to tears.  On the witness stand today, guard Cody Cross recounted seeing Dutson kneeling between the legs of the injured girl.  She was lying nearly naked and struggling for air after a single gunshot from behind.  Cross said Dutson chanted as he hovered over her.  Sometimes the words were unintelligible, but other times, they were very clear and included profanities and threats.  Cross said Dutson wouldn't follow commands and police ended up carrying him out of the apartment.  Officials tried to revive Hopkins, but her injury was too severe.     Read more

Trial Begins for Lost Boy Charged with Murdering Girlfriend

FOX 13 News Originally broadcast June 18, 2008

WEST JORDAN, Utah - Opening arguments were held today in the murder trial of 19-year-old Parley Dutson, who is accused of killing his girlfriend.  Dutson was one of the so-called "lost boys."  He was raised in Hildale, but was expelled from the polygamist community.  Police say Dutson shot Kara Hopkins in the back of the head after she repeatedly refused to have sex with him at a party.  Witnesses say Duston had taken hallucinogenic mushrooms prior to the shooting.  The trial is expected to last several days.     See photo

Accounts of slaying spark tears

Man is on trial in shooting death of 15-year-old girl

By Linda Thomson Deseret News Originally published Wednesday, June 18, 2008

WEST JORDAN — Courtroom spectators wept as a prosecutor and two witnesses described the ugly words they say Parley Jeffs Dutson chanted as he knelt by his nearly nude girlfriend who lay dying on an apartment floor gasping for breath after being shot in the head.  Dutson, 19, is charged with murder and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies, in connection with the April 7, 2007, death of Kara Hopkins, 15.  The pair had been a couple on and off for two years, and Hopkins was fatally injured at a party in an apartment Dutson shared with other young men. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.  Prosecutor Rodwicke Ybarra described the evening's events in a matter-of-fact voice during opening statements to the seven-woman, three-man jury on Tuesday.  But when Ybarra related the vulgar and violent phrases Dutson was accused of mumbling over and over that night, including one about wanting to have sex with Hopkins until she was dead, one female juror clasped her hand over her mouth and some courtroom observers cried.  Ybarra said eyewitnesses reported that Dutson had tried to rip Hopkins' clothes off at the party, demanded in vulgar terms to have sex with her then and there, and grew angry when she resisted.  When she wouldn't submit to him immediately because others were present and she tried to dodge and weave away from him, the prosecutor said Dutson fired a gun at her in front of other young party-goers.  "He shot her and hit her in the back of the head with a bullet," Ybarra said.     Read more

Jury delivers guilty verdicts in Lost Boy murder trial

By Linda Thomson Deseret News Originally published Tuesday, July 1, 2008

A jury deliberated five hours late Tuesday before returning guilty verdicts on both counts in the murder trial of Parley Jeffs Dutson.  Made up of six women and two men, the jury returned at 9:15 p.m., with one female juror who walked in sobbing audibly and wiping her eyes.  Another woman covered her mouth when the verdict was read.  Dutson, 19, was charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated sexual assault in 3rd District Court stemming from the April 7, 2007 death of Kara Hopkins.  The jury found him guilty of both offenses and Judge Royal Hansen set a tentative sentencing date of Aug. 22.  Prior to that, officials will conduct a pre-sentence investigation to determine sentencing recommendations.  The murder charge carries a potential sentence of 15 years to life.  The judge could impose a sentence ranging from 6, 10 years or 15 years to life on the aggravated sexual assault conviction.  Hopkins' family wept when the verdict was read, while Dutson showed no emotion, whispering something to his brother at the conclusion of the day's proceedings.  Prosecutors said Dutson gunned down his girlfriend after she refused his sexual advances during a night of partying.  The two had been a couple off and on for two years and Hopkins was killed at a West Jordan apartment Dutson shared with two other young men.     Read more

Dutson Found Guilty of Murder, Aggravated Sexual Assault

FOX 13 News Originally broadcast July 2, 2008

The jury in the Parley Dutson trial returned a verdict Tuesday night, finding him guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault.  The 19-year-old "lost boy" was accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend at a party in West Jordan in April of 2007.  Dutson will be sentenced on August 21.     See photo

Evaluation ordered for convicted 'Lost Boy'

By Pat Reavy Deseret News Originally published Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

WEST JORDAN — The sentencing of a man convicted of killing his girlfriend after she refused to have sex with him was delayed this morning.  Instead, 3rd District Judge Royal Hansen ordered Parley Jeffs Dutson, 19, be sent to the Utah State Prison for a 60-day diagnostic evaluation to help determine how he should be sentenced.  Dutson was convicted in July of first-degree felony murder and aggravated sexual assault in the April 2007 death of Kara Hopkins.  Dutson is a "Lost Boy," or a person who grew up in the Fundamentalist LDS Church community in Colorado City, Ariz., Colorado City who either left or was kicked out of the community.  Members of Hopkins' family attended the hearing, expecting a sentence to be delivered so they could finally walk out of the courtroom with some closure.  "It's really frustrating and upsetting," said Heidi Neilson, a relative.  "They want to keep prolonging it, and it makes it harder and harder. I'm afraid he's going to get off or get seven years."  Dutson's murder charge carries a potential 15 years to life in prison.  The aggravated sexual assault conviction could get a sentence of either 6, 10 or 15-years-to-life.     Read more

Feature | Halfway Home: FLDS Lost Boys Find Life Begins at The House Just Off Bluff

By John Pike Salt Lake City Weekly Originally published August 28, 2008

Anyone who’s spent much time here knows the simple two-story building with a white exterior and the gold-scripted "82" on the front door. Locals call it "the house just off Bluff." Located near the intersection of 700 South and Bluff Street, the house has a big picture window looking out on a busy street zoned for homes and businesses. There’s a small, concrete stoop in front and a driveway leading back to a detached wooden garage. A couple of bikes are parked there, but only one car. A full-size punching bag hangs from a corner of the garage. Two threadbare couches and a barbecue grill add a homey touch to the back yard. This is a place for teenage boys—usually about a dozen at a time live at the house. Under city zoning rules, the house just off Bluff is defined as a homeless shelter. It’s a safe spot and if all goes well, a halfway point to somewhere better: School, work and eventually, healthy adult relationships. For the past eight years, beginning when the boys started fleeing from the FLDS border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., the news media has called them the "lost boys." The boys themselves seem to understand the nickname is simply shorthand for a complex issue. But they dislike the name just the same. They started showing up in St. George and other Washington County towns about the time their leader, Warren Jeffs, cracked down on the twin communities and severely limited sect members’ exposure to the outside world. In 2000, Jeffs, considered the living prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, ordered all children removed from public schools. He wanted them home-schooled. Over the next few years, a legal net began to tighten around Jeffs for his alleged part in arranging marriages of underage girls to much older men. Convicted last year on two counts of rape as an accomplice, Jeffs is serving 10 years to life in the Utah State Prison. Read more

FLDS 'Lost Boys' must leave St. George shelter

By Ben Winslow Deseret News Originally published Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008

Michelle Benward worries about what's going to happen to the kids.  "I've been doing this for more than five years. I know what they'll go back to," she said.  A St. George shelter for teens who have either run away or been kicked out of the Fundamentalist LDS Church is undergoing a rocky transition, leaving some of the so-called "Lost Boys" in danger of being homeless again.  Benward, who ran the House Just Off Bluff, has been fired.  She spoke to the Deseret News the day after being let go from her job.  The home is transitioning from a shelter to a youth drop-in center after it lost its state contract for not being properly zoned and licensed.  Since it was created more than a year ago, the home has sheltered teenagers from the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  "We have to leave the house but nobody knows where they're going to go," said Simon Barlow, 21, who has been staying at the House Just Off Bluff while he goes to college.  St. George city leaders were not willing to change the zoning to allow for overnight stays.  That and licensing problems led to the current situation, said Tracy Johnson, the executive director of New Frontiers for Families, which manages the home.  Now she's trying to find host families for the boys still living at the House Just Off Bluff while keeping them in school.  "It's scary for people who have had such unstable living arrangements for them to have to think about moving again and making decisions," Johnson said.  "We're trying to meet with them as a team every other day to make sure that they're continuing to go to school and reassuring them we're trying as best we can."     Read more

NBC's 'Law & Order' will take on polygamy

By Scott D. Pierce Deseret News Originally published Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008

"Law & Order" returns for its 19th season tonight (9 p.m., Ch. 5), and — defying all odds — it's still hitting on all cylinders.  Start watching tonight's episode and you won't be able to stop. It starts out with a dead Wall Street stockbroker and turns into an investigation of organized street fighting — then takes a turn into vigilante justice with all sorts of shades of gray.  Local viewers, however, will be even more interested in this season's fourth episode, scheduled to air Wednesday, Dec. 3.  It's titled "Lost Boys," and it's the latest episode of a prime-time TV show to involve polygamists, with multiple references to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It's also quite obvious that a whole lot of research went into this episode, which handles some very tough issues without climbing on a soapbox and pretending there are easy answers.  (Like, for example, last week's episode of "Boston Legal.")  Without giving away too much of the plot, the lost boys in the episode are exactly what local viewers would expect.  They are teenagers and young men in their 20s who have been thrown out of a polygamist community in the fictional community of Boyd Canyon, Ariz.  There's a disclaimer on the front end of the episode declaring, "The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event."  But, as "Law & Order" has been doing for more than 400 episodes, it takes real-life events and adapts them.  And, quite obviously, Boyd Canyon, Ariz. — home of the fictional Church of the True Path — is standing in for Colorado City, Ariz., and the Fundamentalist LDS Church.  Without giving too much of the plot away, one of the lost boys is murdered in the opening scenes of the episode.  The detectives come to the erroneous conclusion that the young men involved in the case are Mormon because of homemade markings on their T-shirts (and information from a Web site).  And some of the language that detective Bernard (Anthony Anderson) uses is downright offensive to faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — although it's said in ignorance.     Read more

'Law & Order' episode to focus on polygamy

By Paul McHardy KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally broadcast November 6, 2008

An upcoming episode of a long-running television series could ruffle some feathers in the LDS community.  Entering its 19th season, NBC's "Law & Order" is renowned for taking on controversial issues.  The latest on the laundry list is polygamy.  Episode four is titled "Lost Boys," featuring the murder of a teenage boy thrown out of a polygamous compound.  Characters are identified as Mormons by the markings on their clothes, and one of the main characters, Detective Bernard, says some things LDS Church members might find offensive.  But another character does clear up the misconceptions.  The episode is set to air Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 9 p.m. on KSL. E-mail: pmchardy@ksl.com

Polygamy pic gets infusion of cash

By Cody Clark Provo Daily Herald Originally published Thursday, November 13, 2008

The nearly finished documentary "Sons of Perdition" was given a welcome Halloween treat at the end of October.  The film is one of seven documentary projects chosen to receive an award of "finishing funds," or cash intended to help the filmmakers complete production, from the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund of the Tribeca Film Institute, affiliated with the popular Tribeca Film Festival.  "Sons of Perdition," directed by Utah residents Tyler Meason and Jennilyn Merten, chronicles the experiences of strong-willed teenagers, the disillusioned children of polygamous marriages, who've been disowned by their families and religious communities.  Measom is the former director of the short-lived Utah Family Film Festival, and was a partner with festival founder Brady Whittingham in the revival of discount moviegoing at the now-defunct Festival Cinemas in Orem.

Doctor provides hope for youth who have left polygamy

Reported by: Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News Originally broadcast January 18, 2009

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) -- Doctor Dan Fischer presides over a multimillion dollar dental company as well as a foundation that spends a portion of that money.  Ultradent of South Jordan makes money and the Diversity Foundation spends money.  And how it spends money has earned Dr. Fisher both admiration and anger.  Through the foundation, Dr. Fischer helps "lost boys."  These are young men who have been kicked out of the FLDS polygamist community.  Dr. Fischer says these boys have lost everything - friends, family, and community - and are ill prepared to face the outside world.  He has helped them in various ways over the years, but his primary goal remains the same: help them get an education.  "That's been the most important message and mission of the diversity foundation ... helping them get knowledge. Knowledge is power."     Read more

Attorneys seek new trial for convicted killer

Deseret News Originally published Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009

WEST JORDAN — Defense attorneys are seeking a new trial for a man convicted of murder and sexual assault after learning that a juror failed to tell the court she had been the victim of a rape.  A judge questioned Juror 25 Friday in 3rd District Court.  The woman says she did not mean to mislead anyone or hide the assault, which occurred when she was 15.  She says the incident was not reported to police and she does not consider herself a victim.  The incident was disclosed during jury deliberations in the July 2008 trial of Parley Jeffs Dutson.  Duston was convicted of two first-degree felonies for the April 2007 death of his girlfriend.  Defense attorneys say the omission amounts to misconduct and Dutson should get a new trial.  Another hearing on the issue is scheduled for May 4.

Judge may schedule new trial in murder case

By Linda Thomson Deseret News Originally published Monday, May 4, 2009

WEST JORDAN – Third District Judge Royal Hansen said he will decide by June 10 whether to schedule a new trial or impose a sentence for Parley Jeffs Dutson, who was convicted of shooting his girlfriend to death two years ago.  A jury convicted Dutson of murder and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies, in July 2008.  He fatally shot Kara Hopkins, 15, in 2007 after she rejected his demands and forceful attempts to have sex while surrounded by a number of young people at a party.  Dutson was then high on alcohol and a tea brewed from psychedelic mushrooms.  Defense attorneys say Dutson deserves a new trial because one female juror did not disclose during jury selection that she had been raped at age 15.  The matter came up during deliberations about Dutson's fate.  The woman subsequently told the court that she did not think of the issue during jury selection and does not consider herself a crime victim.  Defense attorney McCaye Christianson told the judge Monday it was "highly unlikely" this juror would have served on the jury if she had disclosed that she had been the victim of a crime, especially a sexual crime that bore many similarities to what happened to Hopkins.  Christianson acknowledged a new trial would entail a "huge outlay" of time and resources, but said Dutson is not responsible for a serious flaw in his trial that previously was unknown to defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge.  "Mr. Dutson is not the one who should bear the loss or suffer the consequence," she said.  "He deserves a fair trial before an impartial jury."     Read more

Warren Jeffs' Nephew Breaks Silence

Hannity Fox News Originally broadcast Thursday, May 21, 2009

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: It has been two years since fundamentalist polygamist leader Warren Jeffs headed to jail for marrying off a minor to her own cousin. But his acts of terror are still being brought to light by the people who trusted him the most. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HANNITY (voice-over): These were the images the world saw of an insulated community rocked by horrific abuse at the hands of a man who calls himself a prophet. In 2007, Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was sentenced to two terms of five years to life after being convicted of forcing a child into marriage. It was that sentencing that would mark the close of one man's bitter battle against his own uncle and the church that he once belonged to. In his new book, "Lost Boy," Brent Jeffs opens up about his life in the FLDS community and how he helped bring down his uncle, Warren Jeffs. Brent grew up in a polygamist family with three mothers and over 20 brothers and sisters. He recounts hours of brain-washing church services, the strict rules on what you could wear, and how you could and could not act. He reveals that they would even receive death threats that God would strike them down if anyone didn't follow the prophet's decrease. But although the crimes against young girls and women were exposed after his conviction, the history of the FLDS, quote, "lost boys" stayed underground. In the book, Brent Jeffs opens up about his molestation, starting at the age of 5, at the hands of his own uncle, a ritual that he would later come to finds out was performed on many boys in the church.     Read more

Watch the FOX News Hannity interview of Brent Jeffs on May 21, 2009

'Lost Boy' tells of his life in FLDS Church

By Emiley Morgan Deseret News Originally published Sunday, May 24, 2009

"Lost Boy" by Brent W. Jeffs, Broadway Books, 235 pages, $25  He looks like any other 20-something you'd pass on the street.  Short, dark hair, striped button-down shirt, sunglasses, jeans.  He comes from a large family, but that's not uncommon in Utah.  That is, until you realize just how big his family is.  Brent Jeffs, grandson of polygamist Rulon Jeffs and nephew of Warren Jeffs, grew up in the Fundamentalist LDS Church and has a new book on his experience, titled "Lost Boy."  The book chronicles his childhood within the FLDS Church and the struggles he faced after leaving it.  Spurred to action by the deaths of two of his brothers, who fell victim to drug and alcohol abuse after leaving the FLDS Church, Jeffs said he committed his life to reaching out to others who have defected from — and been abused by — the FLDS Church.  "When my brother told me what happened to him and then he passed away, that's when it was like a volcano," Jeffs said.  "I just said ... I'm going to go put 110 percent into this thing and go all the way with this, and I am blown away that I am here now in this point in my life, that it has gone this far."  Because his history is graphic with accounts of sexual abuse, Jeffs said his family initially reacted with hesitation and fear, even though his parents and all but two siblings have left the FLDS Church.     Read more

Juror omission results in new murder trial

By Linda Thomson Deseret News Originally published Thursday, May 28, 2009

Parley Jeffs Dutson, who was convicted by a jury last year of sexually assaulting and killing his girlfriend, should get a new trial, according to the judge who presided over the original trial.  Third District Judge Royal Hansen on Thursday granted Dutson a new trial primarily because a female juror failed to disclose she had been a rape victim years earlier.  Hansen concluded in a 14-page ruling that this omission created a violation of Dutson's constitutional right to a fair trial with an impartial jury.  "The juror was unable to apply the law due to her actual bias, or at the very least, bias should be inferred under the circumstances," the judge wrote.  Dutson, 20, was charged with murder and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies, in connection with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Kara Hopkins, 15, at a party in 2007.  A jury convicted him of both counts after a four-day trial in July 2008.  Dutson's attorneys wanted the conviction set aside after learning a female juror did not reveal during jury selection that she had been raped when she was a teenager.  The matter emerged during jury deliberation.  The woman later told the court she had not reported the rape because she simply did not think of it during jury selection and did not see herself as a victim.     Read more

FLDS 'Lost Boy' to appear live on Ch. 12

KPNX 12 News - Phoenix, Arizona Originally published June 1, 2009

Brent Jeffs, author of "Lost Boy," will appear live today on 12 News to tell his story of growing up as a boy in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Jeffs was born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1983.  His grandfather Rulon was the church's prophet at the time and lived next door in a compound in the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City.  His uncle Warren was principle of the FLDS private school during those early years.  Brent Jeffs has written a book about his experiences within the FLDS and life after his family left the church, a family that at one time included three wives and nearly two dozen children.  "Lost Boy" details Brent Jeff's accounts of sexual abuse at the hand of Warren Jeffs who would one day become a self- proclaimed prophet of the FLDS.  The book also explains the trauma for families ousted from the church, many of them young male members who would have competed for wives in the polygamist sect.  Many of those so-called "lost boys" turned to drugs and other habits to fight the demons of the past.  Tune in to Ch. 12 today at 4:30pm to hear Jeffs illuminate on his experience.

Watch the June 1, 2009 12 News interview of Brent Jeffs

Today's featured event: Go inside the FLDS compound with Brent Jeffs

By Susan Froyd Things to Do Westword - Denver, CO Originally published June 3, 2009

Brent Jeffs lived the insider's life behind the closed gates of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the LDS splinter denomination once led by his polygamist uncle, Warren Jeffs, and dogged by controversy and rumors of sexual abuse.  But it wasn't pretty: From his vantage point, the younger Jeffs witnessed brainwashing, bullying and repeated molestation by his uncle that ended only after his family was excommunicated from the FLDS for the infraction of maintaining contact with relatives in the outside world.  His story of that nightmare and his ensuing redemption is detailed in a new memoir, Lost Boy, written with Maia Szalavitz, that brings to light what lies beyond the veneer of communal life and chaste women in pioneer garb we’ve all seen in the media. Jeffs will discuss and sign the book tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover Highlands Ranch, 9315 Dorchester Street.  For information go to www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-470-7050.     See book cover

FLDS warped lives, "Lost Boy" recounts

Compassion is urged toward the Mormon fundamentalist sect.

By Electa Draper The Denver Post Originally published June 14, 2009

Brent Jeffs was one tired-out ex-Mormon fundamentalist last week in Denver, but still a man on a mission.  Back-to-back book-signings and 17-hour days in Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Denver for Jeff's recently released memoir, "Lost Boy," alternately wound him up or wore him down to feeling like "a zombie," he said.  Jeffs juggles a day job with Ultradent dental products with a personal quest.  Brent, the 26-year-old nephew of Warren Jeffs, the convicted felon and former prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is determined to make known the extent of what he describes as his Uncle Warren's evil.  At the same time, Brent advocates for fair treatment of remaining members of the sect, which has several outposts in Colorado.  Brent wants people to know that forced underage marriages were not the only horrors under Warren Jeffs.  Brent years ago filed a civil lawsuit against Warren Jeffs in which he alleged that his uncle had raped him several times when he was in kindergarten and first grade.  Warren Jeffs used church tenets to satisfy his own perverse sexual appetites and to control every aspect of members' lives, Brent claims.  As prophet — the title the sect gave its leader — he banned almost all music and all literature except the Book of Mormon and the Bible.  He even banned dogs and, most infamously, ejected many young boys from FLDS families.  With Warren Jeffs now in the Utah State Prison after conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, the sect's towns, such as Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, are coming back to a semblance of normal life, Brent said.  "Things are much more mellow there now," Brent said.     Read more

Murder re-trial postponed

By Michael R. McFall Deseret News Originally published Tuesday, June 23, 2009

WEST JORDAN — Parley Jeffs Dutson's new attorney isn't ready to defend him, so the previously convicted man will have to wait several months before he can be tried for murder a second time.  Dutson was convicted last year for sexually assaulting and killing his girlfriend, both first-degree felonies, while he was high at a party.  But the court overturned his conviction after it was discovered that a juror had been raped when she was a teenager and did not disclose the crime during the jury vetting.  Judge Royal I. Hansen determined that her history compromised the integrity of the jury's decision, so Dutson must be tried again.  Since then, Dutson's defense attorney, Brian Gardner, has taken a job out of state, said Dutson's new attorney, Steven Howard.  Howard was assigned to the case last week and said he hasn't had a chance to comb through the four large boxes detailing the case's history and evidence.  Hansen set a trial date of Oct. 19-23.

Former 'Lost Boy' pleads guilty to killing girlfriend

By Linda Thomson Deseret News Originally published Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009

Parley Jeffs Dutson, who once was found guilty of killing his teenage girlfriend but had the verdict reversed on a technicality, has pleaded guilty to a charge of murder.  Dutson, 21, entered a guilty plea Tuesday to murder, a first-degree felony, for the 2007 shooting death of Kara Hopkins, 15, at a party.  As part of a plea bargain, a second charge of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony, was dropped.  "We felt very strongly that he needed to be convicted of the homicide," said Alicia Cook, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office.  "We absolutely support the outcome, and we're glad to achieve that without having to go through another trial."  Dutson's defense lawyers contend Dutson was high at the time on liquor and a home-brewed tea of psychedelic mushrooms that impaired his judgment to such a degree that he was experiencing a "hallucinatory paranoid and irrational" level of fear and did not intend to kill the girl.  The aggravated sexual assault stemmed from information police provided prosecutors — that Dutson had been trying to tear Hopkins' clothing off and force her to have sex with him immediately, despite the presence of other people.  Prosecutors contended Dutson grew enraged when the girl resisted, and he then engaged in a cat-and-mouse game of pointing the gun at the girl as she moved and ducked trying to get away from him, then dropping the gun to his side, only to resume pointing it again.  The girl was shot in the back of the head, and witnesses testified that Dutson was chanting as he knelt next to her nearly naked body.     Read more

Man sentenced in girlfriend's homicide

By Linda Thomson Deseret News Originally published Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009

WEST JORDAN — Parley Jeffs Dutson, who shot and killed his 15-year-old girlfriend at a party two years ago, was sentenced to prison Wednesday.  Dutson, who is now 21, tearfully apologized to Patricia Hopkins, the mother of the deceased girl, Kara, as well as the court and the taxpayers who have footed the bill for a four-day trial, lengthy criminal proceedings and the 945 days Dutson already has spent in jail.  "I'd like to give my life to bring Kara back," he said, wiping tears from his eyes.  Third District Judge Royal Hansen sentenced Dutson to 15 years to life for murder, a first-degree felony.  "One of the tragedies of this case is we can do nothing to restore the life of Kara Hopkins," the judge said.  Meanwhile, Patricia Hopkins struggled to contain her emotions as she grappled with grief over her slain daughter and the clearly mixed feelings she has for Dutson, a family friend, who took Kara's life.  "The world is missing a wonderful girl — she was beautiful and smart," the mother said as she clutched a framed photograph of her daughter.  Patricia Hopkins said she knew Dutson would never intentionally hurt Kara, but the drugs he took the night he fired a gun at the girl were no excuse for killing her.  "We know he loved her, and we loved him," Patricia Hopkins said.  "This has been very hard."  She asked Hansen if she could remove the photo from the frame and give it to Dutson.  For security reasons, that was not possible in the courtroom, the judge replied, but the photo could be transferred to Dutson later through his lawyers.     Read more

Man Sentenced to Prison for Killing Girlfriend

FOX 13 News Originally broadcast December 9, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY - A man convicted of shooting his girlfriend to death was sentenced today to 15-years-to-life in prison.  21-year-old Parley Jeffs Dutson, a former FLDS member who left the church when he was 16, apologized to the family of Kara Hopkins in court saying, "words seem insignificant when I try to express the way I feel. I'm very sorry for what I've done."  Dutson killed Hopkins during a party back in 2007.  "This is simply a tragedy," said Defense Attorney Denise Porter.  "Parley loved Kara very much and he's someone who's going to spend the rest of his life regretting that night."  Hopkins' mother gave Dutson a picture of Kara before he was sent to prison.

Watch the documentary Banished: The Lost Boys of Polygamy

Read the "Lost Boys'" Original Interested Individuals' Recommended Action Regarding Continuing and Proliferating Litigation regarding the UEP Trust, dated January 14, 2010

Read the Press Release by 6 of the "Lost Boys" who filed suit against Warren Jeffs and the FLDS church released March, 2008

Watch the Banished documentary trailer

Watch the Colorado City and the Underground Railroad documentary trailer discussing the FLDS Lost Boys

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