Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2008, Page 60
In Stolen Innocence, Elissa Wall both fills out and carries forward the grim narrative of
Warren Jeffs‘ career. The 11th of her mother‘s 14 children, Elissa is about 18 years younger
than Carolyn. During her early years, Elissa lived near Salt Lake City, in an environment in
which secrecy about polygamy was required. Her father, a geologist and businessman,
earned enough to provide a pleasant home for his large, but contentious family. The
children attended Alta Academy, a private school for FLDS members, whose principal was
Warren Jeffs, Rulon‘s son.
Unlike Carolyn‘s parents, with their four-generation history of polygamy, Elissa‘s father and
his first wife joined the FLDS as married adults. However, Elissa‘s mother, her father‘s
second wife, came from an old-line polygamous family. The tension between the two wives,
their 19 children, and later a third wife, was extreme, due not only to personality
differences and rivalry for their husband‘s attention, but also to their differing backgrounds
and perspectives. Elissa was 10 years old when the controversy first boiled over, resulting in
the expulsion of her oldest full brother, Craig, aged 18. Under orders from Prophet Rulon
Jeffs, Elissa‘s mother dutifully drove her son to a highway at the edge of town and dropped
him there.
Elissa‘s mother and an older sister, Rachel, who was married to Prophet Rulon Jeffs, had
discussed the family difficulties with Rulon and Warren. The family strife did not abate, as
Elissa‘s younger brothers also began to ask challenging questions. The upshot was a ruling
that the father could not properly control his family. Elissa‘s mother and her children were
summarily removed from his care and sent to live with a family member in a distant rural
area the children had no chance even to tell their father good-bye. More than a year went
by before the family was again reunited.
The family disintegration continued as younger children followed their brother Craig‘s
example of questioning, even disobeying, their father‘s increasingly strict edicts. Five more
of Elissa‘s older siblings were punished one way or another before the situation spiraled into
a crisis that led to a second, permanent separation of wife and children from the father who
could not keep them steady in the faith. Elissa‘s mother and the 5 children still with her,
including 12-year-old Elissa, were placed in Hildale at ―Uncle‖ Fred Jessop‘s house. Elissa‘s
mother was ―removed‖ from her father and given to Uncle Fred.
Stolen Innocence describes the rise of Warren Jeffs in detail, starting with the author‘s
personal encounters with him during her elementary school years continuing with his
ascension to complete power over his aged, ailing father and finally including the crafty
stages by which, after Rulon‘s death, he extended and increased his control, which ranged
from elimination of TV watching to destruction of all books not approved by the leadership,
to encouragement of family members to spy on one another and report violations to the
prophet. Elissa also details the sect‘s preparation for the coming of Doomsday (at the turn
of the century) and its response to the nonarrival of the promised Doomsday.
Like Carolyn, Elissa entered into a forced marriage, but of a different sort. She was
underage—only 14—when she was forced into marriage with a young cousin who had
treated her cruelly when she was small, and whom she despised. Repeatedly raped by her
husband during the marriage, Elissa experienced a string of difficult pregnancies without
medical care, all ending in painful miscarriages. Desperate to prevent further disastrous
pregnancies, she effected a separation by staying away from home and sleeping in a truck.
Alienated from the group by its destructive role in her family during her childhood, hating
her marriage, unpersuaded of the validity of the doctrine, and encouraged to leave during
visits to the siblings who had already left, Elissa nevertheless stayed on, reluctant to desert
her needy mother and two younger sisters. She did not actually depart until she fell in love
with and became pregnant by another man, also a disaffected member of the group. Once
this situation became known, she was forbidden to see her mother and, her sole reason for
In Stolen Innocence, Elissa Wall both fills out and carries forward the grim narrative of
Warren Jeffs‘ career. The 11th of her mother‘s 14 children, Elissa is about 18 years younger
than Carolyn. During her early years, Elissa lived near Salt Lake City, in an environment in
which secrecy about polygamy was required. Her father, a geologist and businessman,
earned enough to provide a pleasant home for his large, but contentious family. The
children attended Alta Academy, a private school for FLDS members, whose principal was
Warren Jeffs, Rulon‘s son.
Unlike Carolyn‘s parents, with their four-generation history of polygamy, Elissa‘s father and
his first wife joined the FLDS as married adults. However, Elissa‘s mother, her father‘s
second wife, came from an old-line polygamous family. The tension between the two wives,
their 19 children, and later a third wife, was extreme, due not only to personality
differences and rivalry for their husband‘s attention, but also to their differing backgrounds
and perspectives. Elissa was 10 years old when the controversy first boiled over, resulting in
the expulsion of her oldest full brother, Craig, aged 18. Under orders from Prophet Rulon
Jeffs, Elissa‘s mother dutifully drove her son to a highway at the edge of town and dropped
him there.
Elissa‘s mother and an older sister, Rachel, who was married to Prophet Rulon Jeffs, had
discussed the family difficulties with Rulon and Warren. The family strife did not abate, as
Elissa‘s younger brothers also began to ask challenging questions. The upshot was a ruling
that the father could not properly control his family. Elissa‘s mother and her children were
summarily removed from his care and sent to live with a family member in a distant rural
area the children had no chance even to tell their father good-bye. More than a year went
by before the family was again reunited.
The family disintegration continued as younger children followed their brother Craig‘s
example of questioning, even disobeying, their father‘s increasingly strict edicts. Five more
of Elissa‘s older siblings were punished one way or another before the situation spiraled into
a crisis that led to a second, permanent separation of wife and children from the father who
could not keep them steady in the faith. Elissa‘s mother and the 5 children still with her,
including 12-year-old Elissa, were placed in Hildale at ―Uncle‖ Fred Jessop‘s house. Elissa‘s
mother was ―removed‖ from her father and given to Uncle Fred.
Stolen Innocence describes the rise of Warren Jeffs in detail, starting with the author‘s
personal encounters with him during her elementary school years continuing with his
ascension to complete power over his aged, ailing father and finally including the crafty
stages by which, after Rulon‘s death, he extended and increased his control, which ranged
from elimination of TV watching to destruction of all books not approved by the leadership,
to encouragement of family members to spy on one another and report violations to the
prophet. Elissa also details the sect‘s preparation for the coming of Doomsday (at the turn
of the century) and its response to the nonarrival of the promised Doomsday.
Like Carolyn, Elissa entered into a forced marriage, but of a different sort. She was
underage—only 14—when she was forced into marriage with a young cousin who had
treated her cruelly when she was small, and whom she despised. Repeatedly raped by her
husband during the marriage, Elissa experienced a string of difficult pregnancies without
medical care, all ending in painful miscarriages. Desperate to prevent further disastrous
pregnancies, she effected a separation by staying away from home and sleeping in a truck.
Alienated from the group by its destructive role in her family during her childhood, hating
her marriage, unpersuaded of the validity of the doctrine, and encouraged to leave during
visits to the siblings who had already left, Elissa nevertheless stayed on, reluctant to desert
her needy mother and two younger sisters. She did not actually depart until she fell in love
with and became pregnant by another man, also a disaffected member of the group. Once
this situation became known, she was forbidden to see her mother and, her sole reason for
