Warren Jeffs Followers Remain Faithful to their Absent Leader; Young Woman Tells of her Escape from Warren Jeffs FLDS; A Look into Utah Polygamist Sect The Kingstons

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES CNN

ANNOUNCER: And how's this for a welcome? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are all damned idiots. (END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Doors slamming, death threats. Our exclusive look inside a polygamist sect. Cross the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360 live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, here's Anderson Cooper. We'll also continue our investigation into polygamist leader Warren Jeffs on the run and on the FBI's most wanted list. Tonight, one of the dangers of polygamy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's gotten to the point where you're related to almost everybody. More than once. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: The woman who once belonged to a sect where polygamy and incest mixed. Ahead on 360. To us, Warren Jeffs is a polygamist fugitive on the run from the FBI. To his faithful, he's a man of God, a prophet. Tonight, we'll take you back to their isolated community where the followers are finally speaking out. That story's coming up. We'll also have this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) It was a matter of life and death to me. Really. Because I was alive physically, but inside, I was dead. Down there. I had nothing to live for. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Incredible story, daring rescue from a former believer of Warren Jeffs. That story coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: There are new developments tonight in the hunt for fugitive and polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. FBI agents have been seen around this gated ranch in Eldorado, Texas. Still however no sign or word from Warren Jeffs. It's one of the newest compounds built by Jeffs' followers who came there from the polygamist towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. Now those twin towns have been the home or base, for Jeffs' polygamist church for 50 years. And as our Gary Tuchman found out, residents want nothing to do with the outside world there. But Gary was determined to get their side of the story. To find out why they still obey a man on the run, a man authorities say is pure evil. So Gary Tuchman returned, and here's what happened. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Colorado City, Arizona, the American flag flies. But most of the citizens pledge allegiance to Warren Jeffs. What do you think of the man? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's awesome. TUCHMAN: The FBI fugitive has instructed his followers not to talk to the news media. Almost always that demand is strictly obeyed. Can I ask you a quick question? I'm Gary Tuchman with CNN. I just wanted to check with you. Do you have any idea where Warren Jeffs is? Any idea at all? I just wanted to ask you if you have any idea where Warren Jeffs is. The police department where the chief is also a member of Jeffs' FLDS church doesn't return repeated phone calls. Anybody there? And the cops have no interest in speaking when we stop by. They don't even speak to a county attorney special agent who's been here for 18 months investigating Jeffs and his supporters. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well it is bizarre, but then again we are here in Colorado City. Every one of the police officers are FLDS members. You know, they've sworn to follow Warren Jeffs. TUCHMAN: We travel a lot in this job. Rarely do we go anywhere where we feel so unwelcome as this place. For the most part, when we come up to people, they scatter. Can I ask you a quick question? But in this town of about 9,000 where Warren Jeffs lived in this house before he went underground some coaxing did result in some comments. Hey, do you know where Warren Jeffs is? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. Ain't nobody seen him for two or three years that I know of. TUCHMAN: What do you think of him? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a great prophet. And you're damn fools for bothering him. Because your ass is going to get hung one of these days when you look up from hell and look at him in the face. TUCHMAN: Jeffs' very passionate followers also believe his father, Rulon, was a prophet. Rulon died in 2002 and is buried here in town. Warren Jeffs has been the FLDS leader since then. Do you have any idea where Warren Jeffs is right now? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. TUCHMAN: When was the last time you saw him? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About three years ago. TUCHMAN: Would you think he's been back to Colorado City at all? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could have. I mean that's none of my business, though. TUCHMAN: How come? You're a follower of him, and you think he's a prophet, and you think he's the greatest man on earth. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does what he needs to do and I don't have to know about it. TUCHMAN: And how are you able to continue following his way if you don't see him or hear of him? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The words that he's already given us. TUCHMAN: Investigator Engels says his presence is not welcomed either. And he's occasionally harassed. GARY ENGELS, MOHAVE COUNTY, ARIZONA INVESTIGATOR: Sometimes if they're stopped at a stop sign or something, they'll try to take off real fast, throwing gravel on my vehicle or the diesels, you know, they'll accelerate real fast, blowing a lot of black smoke out. TUCHMAN: Well, lo and behold we got a similar experience. The FBI may have Warren Jeffs on its ten most wanted list, but what most people here want -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are all damn idiots. TUCHMAN: -- is for us to get out of town. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Colorado City, Arizona. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: It's just fascinating. Coming up, a story of a woman who was born into the church of Warren Jeffs. By the time she was 16, she knew she had to leave to save her own life. Her story and her incredible escape is coming up. Also ahead tonight, inside perhaps the most incestial and shocking polygamist family in the nation. When "360" continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Before the break, you heard followers of fugitive polygamist Warren Jeffs, that man right there, who they say is a righteous man, a prophet and a beautiful man. That's how his followers still describe him. Tonight you're going to learn about the dark side told from a former believer, a girl that did something that few have ever done. She escaped from Jeffs, literally leaving in the dead of night, giving up the only life she knew. CNN's Heidi Collins reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Posing for the camera, secretly dressing up in jeans and makeup, sneaking into movies, Fawn Broadbent rebelled at age 16. FAWN BROADBENT, ESCAPED THE F.L.D.S.: I didn't want to be like every other girl. I wanted to be my own self. I didn't want to have to deal with the problems I was facing, you know. I just wanted my own life. COLLINS: But Fawn wasn't just breaking family rules, she was disobeying the prophet. BROADBENT: The only thing you were supposed to feel was the love for the prophet, the love for the leader and for obeying. COLLINS: Fawn was born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, one of 14 children in a family following FLDS leader and now FBI fugitive Warren Jeffs. How would you have described yourself back when you lived in Colorado City? BROADBENT: Lost, you know. I considered myself worthless when I was there. COLLINS: But she felt worth something outside the FLDS. And on one secret night out with friends two years ago, she and her best friend, Fawn Holm, decided to stay on the outside. The ultimate rebellion. They escaped. BROADBENT: I called my mother you know I told her, I said, "mother, I'm not coming home. I'm safe. You know, everything's going to be okay." COLLINS: Now she felt like she was running for her life. Protected by anti-FLDS activists the girls traveled from safe house to safe house. They knew church members were searching for them. You must have wanted this pretty badly. BROADBENT: I did. It was a matter of life and death to me, really. Because I was alive physically, but inside I was dead down there. I had nothing to live for. COLLINS: After three months on the run, a family in Sandy, Utah, took Fawn in, giving her love and safety. Now her challenge? Life outside the FLDS. Like did you even know who the president of the United States was? BROADBENT: I had no idea who the president of the United States was when I left. COLLINS: The FLDS had pulled Fawn out of school after the fourth grade to do chores. Now she loved being back in school and graduated from high school in just two and a half years. BROADBENT: I never thought I'd get this far. I thought I'd end up like all the other people that live there, they don't get far very, they don't finish school, they don't do any of that. COLLINS: Heading to college this fall, Fawn plans to major in criminal justice so she can give children a voice. She knows all too well what it's like not to have one. Heidi Collins, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah. (END OF VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Her tale is a sobering one. But what's next is even more unsettling. Revelations of hideous birth defects attributed to incest in polygamist relationships. A blend of religion, wealth and multiple wives all at a terrible human price. COOPER: Well, if you step into the world of polygamy in Utah, you'll eventually hear of the Kingston family. Unlike Warren Jeffs' cult, the Kingstons blend right in. They dress like everyone else, literally they're hiding in plain sight. They're also infamous for what goes on behind closed doors. Their secret ways, inbreeding and multiple wives, not to mention their vast wealth. Rarely there's a firsthand account emerged of life within this clan, but tonight CNN's Randi Kaye has one. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) Can I give bunny a treat? RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lu Ann Cooper has four children and a husband Dustin. But before Lu Ann became a Cooper she was a Kingston, one of the most secretive and incestuous polygamist families in the country. At age 15, her father arranged for her to marry this man who was then 23 and already had three wives. LU ANN COOPER, FORMER KINGSTON CLAN MEMBER: I married Jeremy Kingston. He is my first cousin/nephew. Because his dad is my half brother. We have the same dads. And his mom is my aunt. KAYE: You married your cousin and your nephew? COOPER: Yeah. That's -- it's gotten to the point where you're related to almost everybody more than once. KAYE: What was it like to get into bed with your nephew? COOPER: It was awkward. It was awkward. I didn't know him. KAYE: She had two children with him. Then in 2000 at the age of 20, Lu Ann fled what was known as the Order, taking her daughters with her. COOPER: When I left, my aunt said to me, "What do you think you're doing? You're taking purebreds out of the order?" KAYE: The desire to remain purebreds is the Kingston rationale for incest. COOPER: My dad decided that the Kingston blood linked all the way up to Jesus Christ, and so he wanted to keep that blood pure. KAYE: Lu Ann's father John Ortell Kingston was one of the order's first leaders. Her uncle, Elden Kingston, founded the sect in 1935. Saying he was prophesied to write the Mormon Church when it strayed. Her half brother, Paul Kingston, leads the 1500-member sect today. The followers believe they are a superior race, and that idea may even have come from breeding cows. JOHN R. LLEWELLYN, AUTHOR, "POLYGAMY'S RAPE OF RACHEL STRONG": They were trying to breed a special type of milk cow. And they became so enhanced with this that they decided that they could do the same thing with the people in their group, with their children. KAYE: That led to horrible birth defects. Since most Kingston children are born in secrecy, former members of the sect tell me that many deformities, even deaths, go unreported. Stillborn babies are buried so quickly hardly anybody notices. Another common abnormality, they say, is dwarfism. Lu Ann remembers hearing about one child in particular. COOPER: The baby was born without arms or legs or eyes and ears. It was just basically a tomato is what some of the people said. And it didn't live longer than a few days. KAYE: When Lu Ann got out she filed charges against her husband for incest. Jeremy Ortell Kingston was sentenced to one year in prison for incest. But that was barely a slap on the wrist for the Kingstons. The family owns everything from pawn shops to supermarkets, coal mines to casinos. COOPER: We're supposed to shop at only the Kingston stores to keep the money circulating within the Kingston group. KAYE: We went to the Kingstons' lawyer's office to ask for their response. Attorney Carl Kingston told us in a statement, "The society, as it calls itself, believes in freedom of choice." He says, "The majority of families are not polygamists and the percentage of birth defects is extremely low." For her part, Lu Ann Cooper says she feels free at last, but freedom comes with a price. COOPER: I haven't seen my mom in the last two years, two and a half I think. And it's hard. But at the same time, I don't want my kids around them because I don't want them trying to lure my girls back in. KAYE: So she keeps her children close to home. Life as a family of six never felt so good. Randi Kaye, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah. (END OF VIDEOTAPE)

CNN.com Originally broadcast May 24, 2006

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