[Mary Ann] Growing up in the Order,
too many girls my age that were around me
probably experienced sexual abuse
in one way or another.
[music]
[Mary Ann] I think it's time for getting the story out there
to expose the abuse and neglect
that the Order has put on their followers
and hopefully show the people who want to leave they can.
I have experienced abuse on several different levels
growing up in that church and, and that community,
and you're made to feel that it's your fault.
The Order's not gonna get shut down
unless the women stand up.
So you put the survivors of polygamy
at the same level as survivors of a prisoner of war camp?
Yes.
[Matt] My name's Matt Browning.
I'm retired law enforcement out of Arizona.
I was on both the Joint Terrorist Task Force
and the Fugitive Task Force with the FBI.
But most importantly, I'm a husband and a father.
And I was born and raised a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A few years ago, my wife Tawni and I
were contacted by women who wanted help
leaving the polygamist groups.
Since then, we've been contacted numerous times
by people asking for help.
Some of these groups have
a history of incest and child abuse
and are thriving right here in the United States.
People need to know about this, and that's why we do what we do.
[music]
[Matt] So what I found in all my investigation
and talking to a couple of the, the women who have left,
the abuse that they received before they left
while they're in the Order is just...
unbelievable sexual and physical abuse
and has to stop.
[music]
[Chris] So, the Kingstons are interesting.
They're headquartered in Davis County.
The organization is known as the Order.
And one of the things that's interesting about them
is they have quite a bit of money.
There are members of the Order
who own a series of small businesses
that produce quite a bit of revenue.
And they practice polygamy.
They've been doing it for as long as they've been around.
[Nate] When you talk with people within the order,
particularly women who have left,
you hear about a lot of sex abuse,
and a lot of sex abuse amongst the families.
[Female reporter] Lu Ann Kingston says
sometimes brothers sexually abuse sisters.
They're raised to think that it's okay
because Dad marries his sister,
and so I can do this to you.
[Matt] A woman's role in the Order is simple--
bring kids into this world.
You're being raised in the church
that, from the day one, you're being told
you will be married.
Groomed from four years old to be married at 16.
Then you go at a young age and you are married
to bring kids into the world.
But the most disgusting thing for me
is that the parents are the middleman
between the prophet and the kid.
[Paul] You will find that there's...
a happiness that will come from pleasing those around you...
that can come in no other way.
And as a parent, I am disgusted, I'm appalled, I'm angry.
I'm doing what I do because this is just wrong.
[car starts]
Well, here comes Tawni. Hold on.
-Hey. -[Matt] What's up?
I just spoke with Lu Ann and she's available now
if you want to go over there and talk with her.
She said that she'd love to help us with this.
And maybe even let her speak to these women?
[Matt] Well, it's better her. She, she's lived it.
So maybe we can come up with some ideas and things like that.
But she's available now?
[Tawni] She is. She's available now.
I mean, she's great. You already know that.
-See you in a bit. -Love you.
-Bye.
Bye.
[music]
[Matt] I first met Lu Ann
in probably 2016, '17, around there.
And I met Lu Ann through helping people leave polygamy.
When you think about a person who has helped people
and wants to help people leave polygamy,
it's Lu Ann Cooper.
[Male reporter] Lu Ann was 15 when her family told her
she had to marry a man who already had three wives.
"I am not ready because I'm too young."
And he said, "No, you're not,
because my other three wives were 15 or 16."
[music]
[Matt] What's common with all the women's stories
is that nothing has changed.
We have Lu Ann in one generation.
We have other people in other generations.
And to tell their story to Lu Ann,
who can understand them
and who has been through all the same things
that they have been through
is just gonna make it easier for these people
to stand up and say, yes, this happened to me
and it needs to stop.
[knocking on door]
-Hey, Matt! -Hey!
-How's it going? -What's going on?
-[Lu Ann] Come on in. -[Matt] Thank you.
-Smells good. -[Lu Ann] Thanks.
-Too good. -Wanna stay for dinner?
[laughs] Yeah, I wish.
Hey, so, part of what I'm doing
is I'm hearing the stories of abuse, whether it's physical,
mental, within the Order.
What if I told you that there's, a, a, a woman.
Her name is Julia.
And she wants to talk to you, and she's left.
-I would welcome it. -All right.
She is in Montana, in a town in Montana,
-and love for you to go see her. -Sure.
Because she wants to talk to you.
And I would go and talk to her,
because I'm open to talk to anybody.
-But I'm a guy. -Yup.
[Matt] And when you leave polygamy,
-you're leaving abusive men. -Yes.
And probably when you left,
you wanted nothing to do with talking to someone like me.
I was triggered by men in suits.
-[Matt] Okay. -Yeah.
[Matt] So...
Can you go and talk to her?
-Sure, absolutely. -[Matt] Okay, beautiful.
The next person,
when you talk Kingstons and women leaving,
there's--you and Mary Ann are like the--
you're either the angels or the devil,
depending on who you talk to.
[music]
And Daniel was convicted for beating her.
Yeah.
[music]
[Matt] And she's what to you?
[Lu Ann] She's my niece.
She's my full sister's kid.
And so we grew up very close.
So I can definitely reach out and ask to talk to her,
ask her to share her story,
but she's never shared it before.
Why is that, you think?
It's too traumatic.
[music]
I would love if you could sit down and talk to her.
Okay.
[Matt] Seriously, that would be amazing.
The Order's not gonna get shut down
unless the women stand up.
That's true.
[Matt] And guess what?
Lu Ann Cooper and Mary Ann and Julia and many others
can be those voices.
Okay.
-[Matt] All right, thank you. -Thanks, Matt.
And we'll talk, all right? Keep in touch.
And when you get back, give me a call.
-Okay. -[Matt] All right.
I will for sure. Thanks, Matt.
[music]
[car starts]
[music]
[Lu Ann] They claim that being a part of the Order
is going to get you to the celestial degree of glory,
or however they put it.
Meanwhile, when you're in the Order,
you are literally in Hell.
[music]
[Lu Ann] Julia Peterson left the Order when she was 18.
And Julia has said that
growing up in the Order is sexual abuse.
I agree with her. I grew up sexually abused.
The girls that I knew growing up were being sexually abused.
It was...horrific.
It's important to meet these girls and hear their stories
so that we can, one, see what they've been through,
and two, so that we can know how to help
people that are still in there,
but also help people that have left.
[music]
[knocking on door]
-[Lu Ann] Hi. -[Julia] Hi, how are ya?
-[Lu Ann] Good, how are you? -[Julia] Good.
It's good to see you. [giggles]
So I left when you were two.
-In 2000. -Yes.
And so I don't even remember you!
I just remember some of the stories
and things that, of course--
Oh, I'm sure there were stories. I'm sure there were stories.
Of course, they're never flattering, but...
That's because they're covering their own...
-crimes. -[both laugh]
But, you know, it's to be expected.
That's what they do.
[Julia] My name is Julia Peterson.
I grew up in the Order.
I have over 20 siblings.
Um, 13 of them belong to my mother
and the others belong to my dad's second wife.
The reason I am sharing my experience and my story now
after all this time is because I have now become a parent
and a mother myself,
and the kids deserve it,
just as when I was a child,
I wish somebody would've stood up for me.
[music]
[Lu Ann] So growing up, I was abused
for as long as I can remember until I was 12.
Have you experienced that?
Yes, I, I have experienced, um, abuse
on several different levels growing up
in that church and in that community.
And you're made to feel that it's your fault.
And when I was a little girl, um,
I was molested by my cousin.
And when I went to an adult to go tell them,
you know, hey, this is happening, you get scolded!
They start getting mad at you.
And I instantly felt so much shame.
So I instantly then thought this is normal.
[Lu Ann] Oh my goodness.
This is normal. There's nothing wrong with this.
Your role as a, a woman in the church
was to serve the men.
If you're in between the ages of 10 and 12,
when they introduce this idea to you
that you gotta start praying to find
your number one choice in marriage.
[music]
[Julia] They will start what they call
the maturation classes,
where they'll start telling you for the women
how your body's changing and how wonderful it is
to be able to start finding your place and your number one,
and to be able to start getting married,
and that you could start having children.
And this is all before you're in high school, um...
So when I finally decided to get married,
I had chosen the choice that was presented to me
who was about six years older than me.
So he was in his twenties and I was 16.
[music]
[Julia] It was about three months in that I realized,
I don't like you.
I don't wanna be married to you.
And I'd even told, you know, my mother
and aunts and people that I don't really like him.
Everybody just kind of gave me the runaround,
you know, of, "Oh, do you think I liked your dad
when I married him at first?"
And you learn to like the people,
and the more you care for him and the more you do for him,
the more you love them.
And...I don't know if they told you these kinds of things, but--
Oh yeah.
In our 12-year-old classes and our marriage prep classes,
we were told that if you're not happy,
-that's your own fault. -Yup.
And your happiness is your responsibility.
-[Julia] Mm-hmm. -And...
Yours and your husband's happiness.
You better make him happy too.
Yeah, and your husband's happiness.
Of course, you know, he's trying to
get you to start your family.
And so he's changing my diet,
and drink raw milk, and do the comfrey, do this, do that.
I was like, I don't think that's how this works.
And I felt like a science experience.
And then when you didn't agree with it
and you'd speak up about it, you'd get in trouble,
and then you'd get scheduled in a meeting,
whether it be with one of the wives
or with...you know, his dad,
which, oh my gosh, those meetings are so uncomfortable.
Paul would tell you, you know, "Oh, here's this book."
And it was about how to time ovulation
to get someone pregnant.
And even--he was like, "Oh, maybe if we can
try to find it more pleasurable for you."
And I felt like an object so much by him.
It was very uncomfortable, and Paul would tell you,
"This is a good vibrator." It was like, what?
So of course the husband goes out and buys this vibrator.
And, "Here, this is for you!"
And it's like, I don't want that.
I don't want you to do those things to me.
And it was like, I am a child. I'm 16 years old.
This isn't when we're supposed to be
doing these kinds of things.
So I was very confused by it
because this seemed extreme, you know, and forceful.
Then he would start the whole shame and blame
that there are children and souls up in Heaven
waiting to come down,
and you're preventing them to come down.
And, and just guilt trip you
and almost coerce you into sleeping with him, you know?
And, "Lay down." You know, it was like, okay.
And when you try to talk to people about it,
it was, oh, yeah, everyone has their things.
Everyone has their deals.
And it was just kind of brush off.
But then it just got to a point where...
I just started to say no.
And I was lucky that I was in my parents' basement.
And I told him, "If you touch me, I'm gonna scream."
[music]
My husband, he really wanted to move out of my parents' house
because I wasn't cooperating.
And he felt a big part of that was because
I was still home with my parents.
[Lu Ann] So how did you finally leave?
That, uh, Fourth of July, on Independence Day,
I went to work that morning
and my parents went to my brothers' ball games.
And he was at his mom's. And I thought, "This is it.
This is my chance to leave."
Nobody was here at the house.
Now is the time to get some things.
And I threw all my stuff out the window,
pulled it back in, threw it all back out.
But it was really hard to get the courage to finally leave
because I was terrified, you know,
of the repercussions, and was I making...
the right choice, and what was gonna happen after.
But...
it was worth...
it was worth the risk.
[music]
I had gotten an apartment out in Bountiful.
I just met this, you know, outside girl
that had a room to rent.
And the very next day,
I went into a job interview and I got a job.
So I went right back to work.
My parents and my ex-husband
started blowing up all my social media and everything
when I left, trying to get in contact with me and...
going through my phone records
of anybody that I could've possibly have talked to
and showing up at their homes and, "Is she here?"
I felt very harassed. I...
You know, I got my divorce and I said,
"I want to be done with you guys. I don't...
Yeah, leave me be."
[music]
Life outside of the Order gets better and better every year.
I have met some extraordinary people out in the world
and I was able to fall in love with one of them.
And together, we can raise a family in a way
that we are okay answering for.
[music]
[Lu Ann] So thank you for meeting with me
and being willing to talk and have a voice.
I hope that by speaking up and speaking out,
more people have the courage, ah,
and don't feel so alone in that, like, we once did.
When more people start to speak up and stand up,
strength is in numbers, because you're not alone.
They're not alone. We're here for them.
They can just reach out.
-We're here with open arms. -Mm-hmm. Exactly.
-I wanna give you a hug. -Okay.
I feel so connected to you now.
[music]
[line trilling]
[Matt] Lu Ann, Matt.
I'm, I'm going good. How are you?
[Matt] Julia, how, how did she do?
[Matt] So how's she dealing with it?
I just think it's super sad
that she even has to do all that.
Okay.
[Matt] Oh, for sure. We'll talk soon.
[Matt] All right, bye bye.
[music]
[Matt] With all the different abuses
and things that happen within these communities,
I think the best thing to do is shed light on it
because at least people know.
But that's not all we can do.
I think what we also need to do is provide a way to help
these victims and survivors of polygamy survive.
[music]
[Matt] You know, talking to survivors of the abuse
and the traumas that happen
within these polygamist societies,
um, I thought it was good that we can actually talk to
a professional, an expert in the area,
that helps these survivors.
I have yet to meet any psychologist
who specializes in a field like Dr. Beall does.
And really looking forward to talking to him about it.
[music]
[Matt] Dr. Beall, how are you?
[Dr. Beall] Good.
-[Matt] I'm Matt Browning. -[Dr. Beall] Matt. Come on in.
So this is your place?
Well, just a little part of it over here.
Nice. How long you've been doing this?
-Trauma work? -Trauma work.
-Thirty-five years. -Wow.
And how did you get involved with
the religious side of things?
Well, I worked with one victim, and then another.
And I think somehow, the word got out
that this guy works with us.
And I started seeing more, and it just grew over the years.
Did you see a lot of Kingstons?
Do you talk to Kingstons at all?
Just different polygamist groups.
My name is Dr. Larry Beall.
I'm a clinical psychologist
who has worked in the field of trauma for 35 years.
In 2005, I wrote a paper on
the effects of modern-day polygamy on women and children.
And that led to me doing a series of court cases.
From the lives of those I've worked with,
uh, they were, uh, married young.
Some of them 12, 14, 16.
And, uh, the obstacles they had to overcome to escape it
were tremendous.
[music]
In Utah, you can marry with parental consent at 16.
It's illegal to marry at 13, 14, and 15.
In Utah, it's also illegal to marry an uncle,
a stepparent, a brother, a half brother,
or anything that creates incest.
What I was observing resembled, um,
those who had been controlled in a very restricted environment
and suffered abuses without any ability to escape or retaliate
or do anything to defend themselves.
The result was post-traumatic stress disorder.
And so I became concerned that this was going on
within the state
without anything being done about it.
[Matt] You mention that you're dealing with young ladies--
I mean, I'll call them kids--
married at 12 years old.
What does that psychologically do to a person at that age?
Well, I'm working with women in their thirties and forties
who were able to escape with their children.
But when they were younger, you know,
each individual has their own identity,
and these polygamist groups did not give any recognition
or validity to the person.
It was about them as an instrument for their purposes.
Now, would that be an instrument
for the leader's purpose or for--
-Leader's. -Really?
Not the organization. The leader's.
So basically the kids are a pawn for
whoever's leading the organization at the time.
Yes, absolutely.
How did they instill that, that, um...
that mentality in them?
Is it through fear? Is it through abuse?
Is it... How do they do that?
A good question.
Um, so the leader works through his mid-management people,
if I can call them that, which would be the fathers
of these children.
And there's repetitious teaching,
which could be considered brainwashing
because of its nature.
And then there would be the conditioning,
which is--well, if you follow these teachings,
you'll get this result--
good if you follow, bad if you don't.
So by the time they get married,
their path is very, very clear.
And they don't wanna deviate from it
for the reasons I just gave, the conditioning.
So there's fear-- fear of consequences.
There's fear of disapproval.
It's very clear if you don't follow
the dictates of the leader, um, you're outcast.
[Matt] These religious polygamist groups,
they're creating an atmosphere for women and children
to be abused at all levels and at all ages.
Yes.
I've worked with prisoner of war camps.
I put them up there with survivors of those experiences.
So you put the survivors of polygamy
at the same level as survivors of a prisoner of war camp?
Yes.
Explain to me how you do that.
Control.
The use of pain to get results.
Information control.
Creating conditions where the brain becomes pliable,
like sleeplessness or whatever.
Wow.
Yeah, it's very similar.
Wow.
And my aim ultimately is to decondition their minds
from things that are not true or helpful to them, beneficial,
and then teach them to follow this, their inner voice,
so they become free.
I'm extremely humbled to be here and to talk to you
because I've learned a lot.
-Thank you. -Yeah.
[Dr. Beall] Good to meet you, Matt.
You're all right.
[music]
We grew up together.
And she left after Daniel beat her
for running away from her husband, David.
Two of the brothers that help run the Davis County Co-Op--
that's the original name of the group--
now face separate felony charges.
John Daniel for beating unconscious
his 16-year-old daughter
who fled a polygamist marriage to her uncle
and David Kingston, the uncle charged with incest
and unlawful sexual contact.
[Lu Ann] She is finally willing to share her story.
It's important that we speak out
and this is not okay.
Like, the abusers need to know what they're doing isn't okay,
and the people being abused need to know that
what's happening to them isn't okay.
And we need to shine a light on what's happening and help them.
Help them all.
[music]
This is gonna be vulnerable for both of us,
but so good to share with the world.
[music]
[knocking on door]
[Lu Ann] Hi, how are ya?
[Mary Ann] Good. How are you?
[Lu Ann] I'm good.
So...
We get to talk about...
so many things.
[music]
And I want to just tell you how proud I am...
that you're willing to talk about it.
It's time, time to do something.
My name is Mary Ann Kingston.
And I was a member of the Order.
My parents were Susie Nelson and John Daniel Kingston.
My parents are half siblings--different moms,
same dad.
Your mom is my sister, my full sister.
Thus, I'm your aunt.
But she was 23 years older than me.
What was it like growing up in the Order for you?
-Chaos. -[Lu Ann] Yeah.
Um...
A lot of secrets.
A lot of secrets, a lot of lies.
Growing up in the Order,
I was told what to do.
I was directed, and I didn't make decisions.
I wasn't...allowed to.
I had to ask permission for everything.
I started to feel like I didn't belong there
in, I would say, junior high,
seventh, eighth grade.
I was being groomed for marriage.
I didn't feel like I...
wanted to serve a husband.
I didn't feel good about it.
It didn't sit right with me.
It was scary as we got older,
seeing our friends being groomed to get married
and how excited they seemed to be
and how I was the opposite of excited.
I just felt like I was different
and I needed to not get married so young.
I felt like that too.
At 15, I felt like I was way too young to get married,
but I knew there was no way out of it.
And so...
I pushed it off as long as I could.
Me too.
[Mary Ann] When I was 13,
Daniel started talking to me about
who did I think I was gonna marry
and to pray about who I was supposed to marry.
And it felt like he was planting seeds,
meaning he...mentioned, "Oh, my brother David
would like to...meet with you."
Or, "What do you think about David?"
And I just...
He was older. I didn't know him.
You know, Daniel would say, "Oh, let's have a meeting,
let's have a meeting."
And I'd put it off and avoid it.
And then...I'm getting older and older, 16 now,
and...middle October, Monday night,
I got a call from Daniel and he said,
"You're gonna get married on Wednesday."
So David had 14 other wives already.
I was his 15th.
But even at, at the wedding...
I, I don't know if you remember this,
but it was supposed to start at a certain time
and I locked myself in the bathroom.
I do remember.
[Mary Ann] And Daniel's banging on the door,
"You gotta come out! It's time to come out!"
[Lu Ann] I do remember.
And he went in there alone with you
and basically pushed you out the door.
Yup.
When we got married, I was 16 and he was 33.
He would have sex with me.
And no explanation of...this is what to expect.
No...is this okay, is that okay. It just happened.
I didn't know what to do.
[Lu Ann] When you first tried to run away, what happened?
It's not that I tried to run away.
It's that I went out with friends
and tried not to come home until...
That's different. [laughs]
You know, until...
you have nowhere else to go.
David had one of his other wives staying with me,
kind of babysitting me,
making sure that I wouldn't leave at night.
She would stay with me,
in my bed.
It was one of the nights that David was staying with her
at her house
that I finally found a window where I could leave.
But I didn't know where I was gonna go.
I wanna say I was gone all night.
Like, that was the first time I was gone all night.
And I came back.
And people were upset with me.
So I, I remember taking a bus.
I was just gonna go to see these--
My mom, she apparently was in trouble because I was missing.
And she called Daniel.
And I think I remember--were you there?
Yeah.
[Mary Ann] Yeah, you would've been with us.
So I was at Susie's house.
When we got there, you were in the bathroom.
And, um, Susie told you Daniel was coming,
and you said, "I don't want him to come.
I don't want to see him."
And he got there and he's like, "Where is she?"
And Susie's like, "She's in the bathroom."
And so he went into the bathroom and, um,
was in there for a few minutes.
And then he had ahold of the back of your shirt
and pushed you out the front door.
Yeah, I remember that now.
[Lu Ann] And disappeared into the night.
And all of a sudden, we hear this scream.
And so I ran to the window.
I said, "Did you guys hear that?"
Everybody was like, "I didn't hear anything."
I just remember thinking, "Oh my gosh, this is a nightmare!"
And I...I mean, I hate to go down this lane and ask you
to share what happened that night
when he took you Washakie, but...
as we share our abuses,
we are letting other people in the Order know
that they're not alone,
that they're not the only ones,
that they can overcome it like you did.
So if you're willing to share how the rest of that night went,
as much as you can.
I don't remember knowing where I was going.
I didn't know where he was gonna take me.
I really didn't know...
um, we were gonna go to Washakie.
[music]
My father, Daniel,
hit me in the front of his truck next to him,
in the front seat, hanging on to me,
and yelling at me.
And we just kept going north and north and north.
So we get there, and I remember him taking off his belt,
and he said, "Take off your coat."
And he said,
"You'll get one lashing for every...
time you made a mistake."
I remember it was, like, 27 or something, 28 times.
[music]
I remember getting to the end.
And then I wake up on the couch in the house, at the ranch.
And nobody was there. Nobody's around.
And it's dark. It's, you know--
I don't know what time.
[Lu Ann] So when you woke up and it was still dark outside,
did you stay on the couch or did you...
[Mary Ann] I stayed right there.
I didn't know what I was instructed to do.
Everything hurt.
I remember that just pain everywhere.
[music]
[Mary Ann] The next day, everybody was leaving
to go to church.
And after everybody left,
I just got up and got my coat on,
and I started walking.
I knew the gas station was
at the end of the, the road.
I don't know how far that was,
but I walked and walked.
And each car that came up, I hid down in the--
on the side of the road, in the bushes,
'cause I didn't know who it would be.
And I didn't want to get caught walking away or leaving.
Yeah.
I decided that once I get to the gas station,
I'm gonna call the cops.
When the cop got to the gas station,
I was still worried that he was gonna turn back to the farm.
But I do remember the cop saying,
"It's obvious something's going on here,
"I mean, with the bruises on your face.
You need some help."
So the cop took me to, um, the hospital.
So I was in the ER to get checked out.
And, you know, I tell the story to them,
'cause I'm getting braver and braver.
And, uh, I told them about
Daniel whipping me with his belt.
They all seemed just horrified.
"How could anybody do this to their child?"
And then they sent me to a women's shelter
until we could...
figure out what to do with me.
[music]
[Lu Ann] So at what point did you realize,
oh, I'm leaving the Order?
Well, once I started telling all the secrets,
which I had to tell or...
-I would get sent back. -Yeah.
You know, it's like I wouldn't qualify for foster care.
But it was also, I, I didn't realize
that I was actually leaving.
I just knew I couldn't go back.
[music]
[Lu Ann] So what message do you wanna give,
knowing that you're their pioneer,
that you opened the door to the possibility
of having a better life?
What message do you want to give the people
that are still in there?
To not give up and try,
and don't wait for somebody to come by and save you.
To decide you have to make that decision wholeheartedly.
Like, this is what I'm going to do,
-and follow through. -Yeah.
You do not have to live this way.
[sighs] Okay, well, I need to hug you.
Thank you so much.
[music]
[Matt] I have three women that we've talked to.
We have Lu Ann, Mary Ann, and Julia.
Each has their own horrific story to tell.
Horrific!
Bad enough that arrests were made.
Bad enough that people fled.
Bad enough that they would leave their families.
You know the Kingstons better than I do,
better than a lot of people.
You tell me, Tawni, how many more times is this happening
than just these three?
Oh, I mean, documented and undocumented,
these aren't isolated instances.
It's systemic in every way.
I mean, this is generational.
I think that them telling their stories
and getting out there on this kind of, um, platform is good.
But now the platform that we're giving them
I'm hoping is going to start changing the way
that people look at these secretive societies
and these polygamist organizations.
And that's why we're doing this.
[music]