Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20140809 : comparemela.com

>> he said you will be destroyed in the flesh. >> destroyed, try again. she got out and helped investigators uncover the truth about this powerful prophet. >> this is a horrible thing to listen to. >> a sinister secret caught on tape. >> it will just rock you. >> for too long he eluded the law. could she finally bring him down? >> i looked him square in the eyes as if to say we meet again. >> i'm lester holt. and this is "dateline." tonight "unbreakable." here's keith morrison. >> reporter: it's a long way home. back to that place tucked away beneath the towering red cliffs that join utah to arizona. the place she lived in that other lifetime. >> it's tough to be back. it brings up a lot of feelings that are really raw. >> reporter: then, when she was known as sister becky -- and wore those colorful prairie dresses -- piled up her long and braided hair -- and shared a husband with more than 60 other women. it was here in this place they call short creek or just "the crick" here where it happened on the dark side of the real"big love". >> a lot of it's the same and a lot of it has changed and i'm not the same person that i was either. >> reporter: her name is rebecca musser. she has come back to "the crick" for the first time in years hoping to find family or friends she left behind. anyone that is, who might actually speak to her. given what she did. given what she caused. oh, yes. she's the one. you've heard, perhaps, about the strange, religious leader, his shocking crimes, his dramatic undoing. here is the incredible behind the headlines story which she chronicled in brand new book. these are the secrets told for the very first time. the story of the woman in red versus one the fbi's most notorious fugitives. the unlikeliest soldier who went to war with a prophet and said -- >> if that is holy and that is divine and that is heaven, i will take hell. >> reporter: short crick is actually the two little towns of hildale, utah and colorado city, arizona. the mountain that rises above them is called caanan. here live some 8-thousand souls, the core, the center of what they call "the work". most people know it as the flds, fundamentalist church of latter day saints. no, not mormons. mormons are considered 'apostates' around here and doomed for eternity for the perceived sin of having rejected fundamentalist tenets like plural marriage. polygamy. the life into which becky musser was born. >> we were taught/you should want to be a plural wife because it was more holy. you were fulfilling this higher law by being a plural wife. >> so not just allowed. required. by god. >> their measure of success is for the women to marry a good, faithful, priesthood man, where she brings forth as many children as she can. because the more children he has, the -- the larger of a kingdom he has. >> reporter: not exactly mainstream belief, or even legal, for that matter. but this is, after all, america, blessed with a constitution that quite pointedly shelters religious freedoms in all their stunning variety. becky's father, lloyd wall, a convert to "the work," was a college educated engineer, who lived in salt lake city and designed equipment for the space shuttle. in public, he was very successful -- but in private? in private, lloyd was fully aware, as they all were, that polygamy was illegal so he did all he could to keep his huge and growing family secret. >> my father had 25 children total, nine from his first wife, 14 from his second wife and two from his third. >> did you feel different from people around you? >> they told us that we were different from the rest of the world. >> your parents did? >> yes, and our parents taught us that we needed to be more obedient because we had this higher way of life. and so they just created a tremendous gap between us versus them. and terrified us of the outside world. >> reporter: there was a reason for that primal fear buried deep but unforgotten in the dna of the flds. the raid. it was july 26th, 1953. the governor of arizona ordered the arrest of every single man in short creek. and more than 250 children with their mothers were carted away; some of those familiies weren't re-united for years. rebecca, like every flds child heard the story over and over again from the time she was old enough to listen about the day they remembered as their most terrible and about those awful things the outside world did when the policemen came. and so they were watchful, wary of the outsiders who lived around their crowded split level here in the salt lake city suburbs. >> my dad's first wife -- and her children lived in the top floor, and my mother, the second wife, and her children lived in the downstairs, the bottom basement floor. >> how did the two wives get along? >> not so good. [ laughter ] >> no? >> no. there was a tremendous amount of jealousy from my father's first wife. >> reporter: nevertheless, said rebecca, she practiced "the work" and studied the holy books and put her trust and faith in the church. and in its prophet -- rulon jeffs. to rebecca, uncle rulon, who ran the church from his home here in salt lake, was more than just a man. by then, he had 10 wives and over 50 children and as little becky was taught to believe he spoke directly with god. >> he was our connection to the divine. and so yes i did look up to him. >> reporter: so of course rebecca along with everyone else in the flds obeyed the prophet's every directive. to obey was the key to salvation. >> obedience is the only, only act that you can perform and anything otherwise is damnation. >> reporter: but, as rebecca entered her teens, change was in the air. behind uncle rulon's gentle smile rules hardened. control tightened. not just for rebecca of course. for all of them. this was her childhood friend, andrew chatwin. >> rulon jeffs started teachin', "you don't have a choice anymore. you have to be perfectly obedient. you're ordered to donate your time ordered to donate your car or make sacrifices that you normally wouldn't do because it was hurting your family. >> like more autocratic. dictatorial? >> yeah, very, very dictatorial. a lot of the members were going around and putting everybody on the spot constantly. they would say well "are you for him or against him?" >> reporter: rebecca's father was very much for the prophet. he enrolled his children, including becky, in uncle rulon's special flds school called the alta academy. and there, the elements of an explosion were mixed together. all that remained was to light the fuse. 3 c3 llamada la alta academia. >> i couldn't sit down for a week. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards, even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. pets make us better people. they inspire us... to open our hearts to an unexpected friend. at petsmart, we're in it to create more moments like this everyday. petsmart®. inspired by pets. hi! can i help you? i'm looking for a phone plan. it has to be a great one, and i don't compromise. ok, how about 10 gigs of data to share, unlimited talk and text, and for a family of four, its $160 a month. wow, sounds like a great deal. so i'm getting exactly what i want, then? appears so. now, um, i'm not too sure what to do with my arms right now 'cause this is when i usually start throwing things. oh, that's terrifying at&t's best-ever family pricing. for instance, a family of four gets 10 gigs of data, with unlimited talk & text, for $160 dollars a month. >> reporter: it's closed now. just a shell of its former self, only the weeds for company, here on the fringe of salt lake city. this is -- or, was -- the alta academy, once the most prestigious flds school. here, hundreds of children as seen in their old yearbooks were instilled with the teachings and tenets of the flds faith. including rebecca musser who was a student here for more than 10 years. >> so this was your classroom, 4th grade. >> 4th grade thru 12th grade would meet here in this room. and mr. jeffs would teach for morning class. >> reporter: mr. jeffs was warren jeffs, the principal of alta academy and one of rebecca's primary teachers. tall, slender, warren was one of uncle rulon's, the prophet's, many sons. >> warren was an authority in the school. he was close to the prophet. and warren, would talk to him every single day and kind of be his father's messenger. >> reporter: this most private of private schools, away from the prying eyes of the outside world, taught the basics of reading and writing, arithmetic. that was when rebecca also discovered a natural musical talent. she learned to play and love the violin. she also listened carefully to warren jeffs' lessons in strict obedience, even if that did not always come so easily. >> what we called holy was this love of obedience, this level of dedication. and i strove for that. i didn't have boyfriends. and i didn't sneak out. and i didn't drink beer. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. oh thank you, ladies and gentlemen. thank you. >> reporter: warren jeffs knew how to have fun though. or certainly seemed to be enjoying himself in this rare video shot at school. >> louder, louder! >> he was kind of goofy, a little bit of the nerdy. >> the three bears episode two. >> reporter: but he ran the place with an iron hand, said rebecca, developing and dictating every aspect of the class curriculum as if he had something bigger in mind. >> there was always a calculated part of him, about what was going on, and what the dynamic was, and how it affected him, and what his next best move was -- whether it was for power or position. but i never felt completely relaxed around him. and i think that i'm not the only one. >> reporter: very true, said rebecca's fellow student andrew chatwin. >> he started doing things that were mentally abusive. and then it went physically abusive. >> reporter: how do you know? >> he implemented a school rule, that if you got three "f's" or three late assignments, he would beat you on the back of the legs with a yardstick. >> reporter: including you? >> he gave me one beating. and it swelled up like a half an inch on the back of my legs. i couldn't sit down very good for a week. >> reporter: principal warren jeffs pointedly excluded subjects that conflicted with flds theology -- like evolution, for example. didn't happen. or even men on the moon. >> one small step for man -- >> reporter: that didn't happen either. which is how young rebecca first ran afoul of the prophet's son. >> i had gone to kindergarten and first grade at a public school. and i remember so distinctly the day an astronaut came to visit our school. and i was mesmerized. and so then i go to alta academy. and somehow, there was some discussion about astronauts. and i spout out that, "yeah, they've been on the moon." and perhaps that moment was the beginning of it, the first skirmish, and, oh, but not the last. >> reporter: rebecca's outburst earned her too many trips down the hall to warren jeffs' office. >> where he very strictly and sternly reprimanded me, sayin' that, "there is no way that god would allow any mortal man to walk on the moon. it's only a trick. it didn't really happen. and don't you ever bring this up again." >> reporter: by then the prophet rulon jeffs, had announced that the end times were upon them. he also announced that he would be the very last prophet. he personally would welcome jesus back to earth. in the meantime they would have to be absolutely obedient to his every directive. trouble was rebecca was having more and more trouble being as obedient to her principal, the prophet's powerful son warren jeffs. >> i was always in trouble for being stubborn. and so, and i would ask the question, "why? that doesn't make sense to me." if god's a god of reason, how come this doesn't make sense? where's the missing link?" >> reporter: all the while, of course, rebecca understood that the church was planning her future for her. she would bear many children. she'd be given to a husband of the prophet's choosing and share him with other wives. just how it was. >> for the women, they're owned. body, mind and soul. in their marriage covenants it says, "do you give yourself to your husband of your own freewill and choice?" >> reporter: they all said yes. the alternative, after all, was damnation. besides, as becky developed into a smart, still faithful and very beautiful young woman, her prospects were extremely good. especially because of the particular person who expressed his interest. as everyone told her -- >> you'll be blessed. you will have your salvation made sure. >> reporter: because? rebecca's husband-to-be was the prophet himself. the by then 85-year-old rulon jeffs. 3 c3 tenía 85 años, rulon jeffs. >> when "dateline" continues. in. remind you when you get to flower shop. i can't do that either. cortana, it's gonna be a great night. 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[cheering] the fastest in-home wifi for your entire family. only from xfinity. >> so this is my wedding dress. >> wow you made that? >> reporter: there was no courtship. no romantic proposal. just a short ceremony. to of all people, the prophet himself, uncle rulon jeffs. rebecca was his 19th wife. >> in the flds world, the age of a man doesn't matter. it's his standing with the prophet. how pure, how obedient, how honorable he is. and in my case, this faithful man was the prophet himself. >> reporter: rebecca's father has told us that he believed she wanted to marry the prophet. that it was an honor for her. but oh no, says rebecca. her father was wrong. it was more like a horror. >> i did not not want to marry rulon jeffs. >> reporter: to an octogenarian, a man who -- who was in his 80s for heaven's sake. >> he was 85 and i was 19. >> reporter: they held the wedding in the living room of uncle rulon's sprawling house in salt lake city. september 17, 1995. >> i had just resigned myself to the fact that that was my fate and just to surrender to it. >> this is my prince charming, this 85 year-old -- >> ah. >> -- man? >> my prince charming. i just remember walkin' in and feeling like, "just stand up and do your duty." >> reporter: she wore the white wedding dress she sewed herself. but she did not walk down the aisle. no "here comes the bride" for her. just a brief exchange of vows witnessed by her family and uncle rulon's many other wives. >> he couldn't stand up. he was kind of leaning up against, like, a bench and feeling what it felt like. 'cause his hand was real shaky, holding this old man's hand. i felt lost. and why don't i feel like this is the right thing inside? i was ashamed that i was not thrilled to be marrying a man more than four times my age. >> reporter: and something else, which was certainly no thrill at all. because she was married to uncle rulon, his children were now her children. which meant that the authority figure she'd learned to fear, the man who'd tormented her for years at school, warren jeffs, was suddenly her son. >> after i married rulon jeffs, warren was strangely nice. but he could also be very stern and make sure that you knew your place, your duty, and what was required of you. >> reporter: and life as a married woman required serving the prophet. any way he wanted to be served. they had a phrase for it, "keeping sweet." >> to keep sweet means that you are absolutely without question obedient to what is being asked of you. >> no matter what that may be. >> no matter what that may be. with this sweet attitude there should be no anger, no resistance, no -- even we were told that asking the question, "why?" was wrong. >> reporter: so whatever uncle rulon wanted, he got. and though he was 85, he still wanted sex. >> when i first married him, it was two to three times a month. >> how can a man of 85 with 19 wives perform the functions of a husband? >> he was old. and even though he couldn't, he certainly did try. it was horrifying. i kept trying to say, "this is a man of god and yet he's doing this to me. and if he talks to god, then surely god will give him the message that i am terrified." >> reporter: but neither god nor anyone else seemed to be paying attention. so the next time the prophet called for her, rebecca did the unthinkable. she refused to see him. >> i said, "no. i am not ready to come and stay with you." i was not going to go through that again. and i was willing -- >> that's a pretty big deal -- >> -- to take the consequences. >> to refuse -- >> it was a huge deal. >> reporter: word of rebecca's refusal got to warren jeffs. and again, she said, she was called to his office. the petty skirmishing was over. now, she knew, she was in very real jeopardy. >> he used scripture to tell me it is your duty to be a comfort to your husband, especially my husband because he was the prophet. that he received direct revelation from god. and he said, "don't you ever, ever, ever, ever tell your husband no again. if you do you will be destroyed in the flesh." >> reporter: destroyed in the flesh? 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>> because they were running outta girls. warren was literally, like, appeasing the questions with, "you've been so faithful. here is a new beautiful young bride for you. this is your blessing." >> reporter: here's a 16-year-old? >> and then all of the 16-year-olds get married. and then there's 15-year-olds. >> reporter: one of those girls being pressured into marriage was a happy little blond named elissa wall. rebbeca's little sister who was just 14. >> when i found out that i was marrying allen, who was my first cousin, i was already resistant to the marriage. and i had, on multiple occasions, expressed my desire to not get married. >> reporter: allen was allen steed. elissa despised him; had known him all her life. and besides, she knew nothing of marriage, let alone sex, or having babies. >> i had never been taught about anatomy. i had never been taught about sex. it wasn't even a term used in the f.l.d.s. >> reporter: and so rebecca intervened. tried to stop the marriage. but -- >> warren told me, "it's happening." there was no choice for her -- except to do what she was told. >> reporter: and so in a seedy motel owned by the flds in the little out-of-the-way town of caliente, nevada, a secret marriage took place; warren jeffs presiding. >> i knew that this wasn't right. and i took those last moments to be defiant. i refused to take my vows. >> reporter: so what'd he do? >> he asked my mother to stand up next to me. she stood there and squooze my hand. and i finally just said, "okay," with tears streaming down my face. >> reporter: elissa and her husband moved into a house in the crick. rebecca lived nearby in uncle rulon's giant house and was aware of what was happening to her little sister. >> allen was very sexually abusive to me. it -- from day one, i was incredibly vocal about how much i did not want him to touch me. and that i didn't want to have a family with him. so to have the sexual relationship was with him was so devastating. it was absolutely being raped. >> reporter: so did you go to either rulon or warren and complain? >> i went to warren jeffs multiple times throughout my marriage with allen, begging him for a way out, explaining to him what was going on. and he ultimately would reprimand me and tell me to go home and give myself, mind, body, and soul. >> reporter: it's your fault? >> it was. it was always my fault. >> reporter: meanwhile, the millennium came and went. the world did not end, but something very unexpected did happen. in 2002, rulon jeffs, the seemingly immortal prophet, the man who prophesized he'd be alive for the return of jesus died. he was 92. >> and then as it started to sink in -- i was scared. >> reporter: because guess who was in charge now? 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he knew several men of the church, he said, were getting the adult version. >> in some cases, a man would go to work in the morning and come back that evening. and all of his personal stuff is put out on the front yard of the house. and his wife is remarried. >> in one day. >> in one day, while he's gone to work. no -- no trial. no explaining yourself. they made a decision. >> reporter: rapidly, short crick changed, said andrew chatwin. paranoia wormed its way through the commune. >> warren -- he's not a stupid man. and that's what's so dangerous about him. it was sort of like he made sure that every single person had just enough dirt on them to keep them uncomfortable from. >> right, you keep -- >> --from speaking up. and that is what allowed all of that to flourish. >> reporter: rebecca was 26 by then. a widow. and she believed, vulnerable. >> i no longer had a layer of protection -- from the prophet. and warren had absolute say. so for me -- it was scary. >> and what were you afraid he was going to do? >> my biggest fear was that he was going to force us to be remarried. >> to -- somebody? >> to anybody -- especially him. >> reporter: sure enough in short crick, warren jeffs wasted little time arranging for weddings for dozens of the prophet's widows. >> and then, when he did start to marry those wives off, it was like a locomotive that was out of control. i would see them walking behind warren the next day and i would realize, "yep, another one married him." it was very, very troubling. and it felt just like being sent to auction. >> reporter: rebecca, perhaps the prettiest of all the prophet's wives but no friend of warren, feared she would be next. >> i was very concerned about marrying warren. i had seen the way he had treated his wives and his family and i knew that even the little freedoms that i had would be taken. >> reporter: and then one day rebecca and a young man named ben, also a member of the flds, were hiking in the hills above short creek. since rulon's death the two had grown close. trouble was someone saw them kissing. and told warren jeffs. and once again, she said, she was called into his disapproving presence. >> and then, he said, "i detect the seeds of apostasy in you." and that is in the flds culture, by far one of the worst acts. that's next to murder. >> reporter: and then the new prophet issued the order, the one rebecca dreaded. >> "you will be married one week from now." and i begged him, i said, "please, don't do this to me." and he said, "you know that's what god wants." and i said, "no, i don't." and he pointed his finger at me, he said, "i will break you. >> reporter: and maybe only now, in retrospect, does the moment come into focus. the years of animosity, of building tension, between rebecca and warren jeffs, had just become -- a declaration of war. >> coming up -- rebecca takes a life changing risk. >> when it sunk in, i thought what have i done? 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not like she could just stroll out of the place in her prairie dress and start a brand new life somewhere. the flds was all she had ever known. >> i so distinctly remember thinking, "if i leave, who will i become?" because we were taught that you would become evil and wicked and a diseased whore in the streets. >> reporter: rebecca had no escape plan, no survival strategy. she did have a few brothers who had left the flds, including one who lived in coos bay, oregon. >> and he said, "come live with me." but that was coos bay, oregon and i'm in southern utah. i had no idea. i remember thinking, "oregon? oregon, really?" so i had no idea how i was going to get there. >> reporter: and she had neither car nor money to speak of. there was, however, ben, that young man she was caught kissing on caanan mountain. >> ben told me that he would help me get there. and that was a sobering thing for him to do, full realizing what it was like for him. but he said, "no, i'll help you. >> reporter: ben had a truck. they decided to leave in ben's truck on sunday morning, the day before warren jeffs' deadline. they'd leave very early. before dawn. before church. over the next few days rebecca gathered together her belongings, her most precious possessions. her photographs, her violin. she took them over to her sister, elissa's home, nearby. she did not tell anyone what she was doing, not even elissa. then it was time. a chilly sunday morning. november 2002. >> i remember what it was like to shut the door to my room and feeling that click shut and knowing that, on the other side of that door was everything that i had ever known in my entire life. >> reporter: she scaled the 10 foot wall that surrounded uncle rulon's mansion and walked through morning shadows to ben, waiting down the road, in his truck. >> i just kept thinking, "just walk, just walk, just walk." and i remember, he opened the door and he said, "are ya ready?" and i said, "yeah." so we got in and just got out of town as quickly as we could. >> reporter: as dawn lit up the utah desert, sister becky was now just rebecca. >> when it sunk in and i thought, "what have i done? oh my gosh, what am i going to do?" and looking at the clock thinking, "okay, if we turned around right now, i could probably slip in while everybody's in sunday school and it would be just fine." >> reporter: struggled with that a bit? >> tremendously. but then you know what? no way am i going back to that. >> reporter: they drove 22 straight hours to oregon, to a world she had been taught was evil. >> going cold turkey from being an flds prophet's wife, you know, my hair was almost down to my knees and, you know, only ever having worn long dresses -- everything felt foreign. >> reporter: for the very first time in her life, she cut her hair, she learned to apply makeup. she got a job as a waitress, which wasn't easy, especially when it came to communicating with the customers. >> even though i spoke the english language, words and phrases in the flds mean different things than words and phrases in mainstream society. i had no idea what people were talking about. so it was overwhelming. >> reporter: and she pined for her family. >> i was able to stay in touch covertly with some of my family members. and elissa was one of them. >> reporter: life was not good for elissa, then 17. not at all. >> there was lots of abuse -- psychological, physical, mental, sexual abuse. i think watching rebecca go and finding out later on that she wasn't dead, that lightning had not come down and struck her, opened my eyes. >> reporter: with new found courage, elissa left allen, then fled the flds. >> i got the chance to go to oregon, where she was living at the time. it gave me a very clear understanding that there was a possibility that i would be okay. >> reporter: but back in the 'crick, things were not okay for warren jeffs. suddenly he was facing lawsuits. two of them. attorney rod parker was hired by the flds, though he no longer represents them. >> one was what was called the lost boys case. the boys that claimed to have been thrown out of the community. and then the other one was a young man who alleged that he had been sexually assaulted by warren as a boy. >> reporter: by 2004, when elissa left the church and the 'crick, word was spreading, mostly through the ex-members ejected by warren jeffs, that things were getting worse -- -- that more and more marriages were being arranged for pubescent girls, almost as if warren jeffs was using them as bargaining chips or rewards for senior members of the church. one of those former flds members called rebecca and said -- >> "you still have two younger sisters there. the only way to stop what's going on is to stop warren. and what can be done is to bring charges against him." and it was hard for me to hear that because it's like, yeah, i want warren to stop, but do i really want to be that person to step into those shoes? >> reporter: but as she thought about those little girls -- sisters, cousins, innocents -- she knew, leaving the flds to save just herself wasn't enough. >> i thought, i can't sit by and let this happen. if there was a way that i could have stopped it and i didn't, i don't know if i could have lived with myself knowing that. >> reporter: so rebecca and especially her brother, knowing elissa had a strong case, urged her to file charges against her husband allen steed and warren jeffs to stop the abuse. >> i had known for awhile that both arizona and utah were searching for a witness, and that they were hoping that i would come forward. ultimately, coming forward was a choice i made. i realized whatever the pressure, whatever the cost, that i owed it to myself, and the future of other girls, to speak my truth. >> reporter: and so you came forward? >> we came forward. >> reporter: so in 2006 elissa, by then cut off from family members still in the flds here in the 'crick, made her accusations official. warren jeffs was charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice. just one little problem, the prophet had disappeared. coming up -- a spiritual leader missing. where on earth could he be? >> he went to disneyland. he want to strip clubs. and had a good old-time. >> they picked up his eye-popping trail. but could they find him? when "dateline" continues. we are born makers. we make things that give you goose bumps. things that adapt and exhilarate... we made a car that reacts to the road before you ever have the chance to. the all-new chrysler 200. america's import. returning to our story. warren jeffs is a wanted man. the trouble is he's disappeared. even more disturbing, investigators are about to discover that inside a new gleaming white temple, this man of god, may have committed another crime. far darker than they knew. here again, keith morrison. >> reporter: where was warren jeffs? it was 2006 warren jeffs was a wanted man accused of arranging the illegal underage marriage of rebecca's sister, elissa. and thus, of sanctioning rape. but warren jeffs had been underground for more two years by then. because -- this wasn't his only trouble. remember those two lawsuits the prophet was already facing? incentive, apparently to take a very long trip. even the fbi couldn't seem to find him. today, warren steed jeffs was placed on the fbi's 10 most wanted fugitive list. mind you, private investigator sam brower was hearing stories from his sources in the flds. >> he was traveling around the country going from state to state to state and just trying to stay hidden and lead this life of a gentile. >> reporter: on the road, it appeared the prophet wasn't exactly practicing what he preached. >> he went to disneyland. he went to mardi gras and went to the strip clubs and had a good ol' time. >> warren also turned up here in west texas, very rural west texas, where he was helping to oversee the construction of a brand-new community for the flds, a place called the yearning for zion ranch, or y-f-z. far away from the prying eyes of the wider world but in a state where the age of consent, the age at which a person could marry was 14. here they would build a shining white temple for the church. >> reporter: the project was, to say the least, ambitious. a whole town went up around the temple. these were the most faithful flds followers and this little settlement literally their place to wait for zion. they farmed the land, raised the livestock, built the big, quality homes for their many children, and schools and machine shops and factories -- a self sufficient little world. >> there were no building codes in -- in the county where he was building. they could start building something. of course, in warren's mind, it was god telling him to go out there and do this to find places of refuge. >> reporter: warren jeffs oversaw construction and settlement of the ranch but never spent long stretches of time here or anywhere else. one reason why he kept eluding law enforcement. and then in august 2006 on a lonely stretch of interstate 15 near las vegas, a nevada state trooper spotted a red cadillac escalade that appeared to have no license plates. he flashed his lights, pulled over the suv. the driver was a tall, thin man. >> his carotid artery was pulsating on the right side of his neck. at even one point i told him, "is everything ok? you seem nervous." >> reporter: the cop ran the tall man's license. it was the prophet and fugitive, warren jeffs. >> i'd like to announce the arrest of fbi's top 10 most wanted fugitive, warren steed jeffs. >> reporter: sam brower heard right away about warren jeffs arrest and about what cops found in the escalade. all kinds of disguises, wigs, sun glasses, cell phones, thousands in cash, prepaid credit cards and phone cards. >> everything somebody on the run from the law would need. >> reporter: including several computer drives. several. one in particular featured a rather odd recording of warren jeffs having a mumbled conversation with a young girl. >> warren: "please get on the other side of the bed" >> reporter: a few days later warren jeffs appeared at a hearing to extradict him back to utah to face charges in elissa's case. >> are you warren jeffs? >> yes. [ nods ] >> all right, mr. jeffs. >> when i found out that he was caught, i was shocked. surely now, the rest of the flds people can see he's just a fake. everything that he was telling them that was evil and dark and wicked to do, he was out doing. >> reporter: and for a moment at least, it seemed as if the self proclaimed prophet was having some doubt of his own. this is a jail house meeting with one of warren jeffs' brothers which just happened to be caught on camera. >> i am not the prophet. i never was the prophet and i have been deceived by the powers of evil. >> reporter: but? his stunning revelation, if that's what it was, didn't last. when the outburst went public, he had an explanation. >> warren made the statement that uh -- the devil appeared to him as a pillar of light in his jail cell and deceived him and that's why he was saying those things. >> reporter: and in spite of it all, the vast majority of flds members continued to believe in warren jeffs. including rebecca's own mother, who had no idea that her daughters were actively working against her prophet. >> after he was caught my mother called me and she asked me who has charges -- against our prophet. and i wasn't going to lie to her, but i certainly wasn't going to tell her either. and she said to me, "well, honey, i hope it's not you or any of my children because i would rather see every single one of my children laid in the grave before any one of you stand up against our prophet." >> reporter: it was the fall of 2007 when warren jeffs went on trial in st. george, utah, facing two felony counts of rape as an accomplice for arranging the underage "spiritual" marriage of elissa wall. and one of the key witnessnes against him was the woman he once called "mother becky." shoe was on the other foot now. >> the last time that i had seen warren before that trial was in his office when he said, "i will break you." and he looked over at me, i looked him square in the eyes, and it was as if we both nodded slightly, as if to say we meet again. >> coming up the stakes and pressure on rebecca and her sister couldn't be higher. if they've failed. warren jeffs stood to become even more powerful. >> if heave was was to walk awe man it would prove to them that really was god's disciple. how can i ease this pain? 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favorite players come on, get open... yeah... with nfl mobile on verizon. yes! get in there! go, go, go, go, yes! let's go, drew. the "not-so-good more" would be them always watching you. go for it, paul! get open! come on, paul! let's go! hustle! what is that, chamomile tea?! uh, lattes. you wanna take a nap?! get the "good more" with nfl mobile, free with the more everything plan. exclusively from verizon. now get 50% off all new smartphones. >> reporter: warren jeffs was about to make history. for the first time ever, a prophet of the flds, the man who spoke to god, was about to go on trial. and what made it all the more dramatic, the case was a direct assault on the prophet's religious practice. warren jeffs was facing two felony counts of rape as an accomplice of elissa wall, rebecca's sister. >> the most important thing to me was that the real truth of what was happening got out. >> reporter: elissa prepared to testify that warren jeffs ordered her to marry at 14 and then ignored her pleas for help when she was sexually abused by her husband. >> walking into the courtroom and seeing warren there, i remember looking at him and our eyes locking in an unbreakable death stare and holding my ground facing him and not looking down. but to hold his gaze was like those shackles breaking away. >> reporter: arranged marriages. underage brides. religious freedom. all on trial. but it was also the first time that someone inside the flds would speak out publically in a criminal case against the prophet. a grainy courtroom camera rolled as the prosecution presented its case against warren jeffs, alleging he enticed 14 year-old elissa into marriage and insisted she obey her husband and his sexual demands. >> that man performed a ceremony and told her to multiply and replenish the earth. that's why the defendant is an accomplice to rape. >> reporter: but the defense team insisted that what happened between elissa and her husband was her husband's doing, not warren jeffs. the prophet had only offered advice they said on improving their marriage. >> he talks about abstinence. he doesn't talk about promiscuity. there is no evidence that warren told allen, go ahead and rape your wife. >> reporter: elissa wall was 21 by this time. because she was a minor when the alleged crime happened, the camera didn't show her face when she told how she was taught to always obey the prophet. >> he told me that i was not living up to my vows. i was not being obediant. >> reporter: but the prosecution needed more than elissa's story. they needed what rebecca could tell them. >> they said, "we can prove that your sister was raped, but it's your testimony that links warren to the crime because you were in the prophet's family. you were schooled by him, and you understand the training and the culture of this." >> reporter: and so rebecca came to court and saw warren jeffs for the first time since she left short crick. and before she spoke, before she took the oath, she made a statement. not in words. in what she wore. >> we were not allowed to wear the color red growing up. and warren had gone into extensive preaching about how evil and dark and immoral the color red was. so i thought, "hmm, how could i send him a message that he never broke me?" so i chose to wear the color red. >> reporter: rebecca testified how warren jeffs created, condoned and encouraged a culture ripe for abuse. >> he would tell me that under no circumstances do you ever, ever, ever, ever tell your husband no. >> reporter: for two weeks, warren jeffs watched in silence as the case played out before him. and then, the jury took up the question protection of girls versus the prophet's idea of correct religious practice. >> i knew that if he was to walk away a free man, it would just ingrain the people of the flds because it would prove to them that he really, truly was god's disciple. >> reporter: it didn't take the jury long to reach a verdict. >> mr. jeffs, would you please stand. >> reporter: warren jeffs, in his charcoal gray suit, stood up to hear the verdict. somber and silent as always. >> count one, that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime charged of rape as an accomplice. >> reporter: guilty on both felony counts. the prophet was sentenced to ten years in prison. allen steed had been charged with one count of rape, but denied the allegations. later he pleaded to reduced charges. two third degree felonies and was sentenced to 30 days in jail along with three years probation. >> this has not been easy for us. the easy thing would have been to do nothing. but i have followed my heart and i have spoken the truth. >> reporter: and rebecca finally felt vindicated. >> i spoke. i testified. he was found guilty. and i wore red. and it wasn't like the world went into massive explosions or earthquakes. i was so releived. and i just thought finally, it's over. >> wasn't over though, was it? >> no. >> reporter: in fact it was just beginning. because a whole new and much more complicated case was about to explode deep in the heart of texas. and soon rebecca would find herself smack in the middle of it. >> coming up -- investigators discover a mind-boggling scene. while rebecca watches from afar holding her breath. >> it felt like i was being ripped apart. >> when "dateline" continues. mi, an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. and levemir® helps lower your a1c. levemir® is now available in flextouch® - the only prefilled insulin pen with no push-button extension. levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration. that's 50% longer than lantus®, which lasts 28 days. today, i'm asking about levemir® flextouch. 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(male announcer) today's the day to ask your doctor about levemir® flextouch. covered by nearly all health insurance and medicare plans. everybody's excited about thsavings at staples. from the customers, to the staples associates. with guaranteed low prices on laptops, you'll flip out! now go tell your friends. staples. make more happen for less. ♪ ♪ abe! get in! punch it! let quicken loans help you save your money. with a mortgage that's engineered to amaze! thanks, g. >> reporter: the prophet was now in prison. it was the spring of 2008, but even behind bars, warren jeffs was still very much in power and maintaining control over his flock. especially that flds community which had recently sprung up in west texas. by this time the 1800 acre yearning for zion ranch and its sparkling new temple were complete. local law enforcement was keeping a close eye on the ranch, curious about it, but also concerned about what was taking shape out there in the desert. texas ranger nick hanna. >> west texas people are generally pretty friendly and pretty welcoming individuals. but they were certainly concerned because, you know, texas has a history of having some incidents involving, whether it be waco or you know, the branch davidian's. >> reporter: as yfz was under construction, the texas legislature changed the age at which a person could marry, with parental consent from 14 to 16. rebecca heard about the ranch, too. she wondered if any members of her family had moved there. so she checked with the local sheriff to see what he knew. nothing, it turned out. but he did begin using rebecca as a sort of interpreter. >> he would call me periodically and ask "can you tell me about this or can you tell me -- what this means to them?" then on a bright early spring day in march 2008, authorities in nearby san angelo, got a call from a woman who said her name was "sarah barlow." claimed she lived at the ranch and was being abused and held against her will by her husband. >> she was -- a young girl and i think at the time of the phone call, 16 she had already given birth to a child and -- with her age, we were able to do the math and recognized that that would have been a sexual assault of a child. >> reporter: so what was the plan then? >> to find sarah barlow. >> reporter: on april 3, 2008, the rangers, child protective services in tow, arrived at the ranch. >> and the women were in prairie dresses essentially. most of the buildings were constructed in like a log cabin type nature. and so it almost seemed like you had gone back in time to a period that america, you know, left long ago. >> reporter: whether the rangers knew it or not, they had just confirmed the worst fears, here and everywhere, of the flds faithful whose prophets had preached the warning for generations. ever since that still vividly remembered raid on the church in short crick way back in 1953. a fact which some 1500 miles away rebecca knew very well. >> to know that the lives of people that you love dearly -- and feeling their terror, understanding the responsibility of the law. it was like two worlds crashing together and having a major explosion inside of me. it felt like i was being ripped apart. >> reporter: and almost immediately it seemed to go wrong. instead of the three to 400 people the rangers expected to find, there were something like 700, including more than 400 children and dozens of teenage girls. finding "sarah" was like looking for a needle in a haystack. >> it was a very confusing situation. most of these ladies dressed alike. they sounded alike. their hair was fixed the same. and there was only about four or five very common names on the ranch. and so it was very difficult, as you might imagine, to differentiate who belongs to who and who is who. >> reporter: then it got worse. swat teams arrived. snipers. even an armored personnel carrier! and while terrified residents cowered, the rangers searched every house, every classroom, meeting room, birthing center looking for the elusive "sarah." nothing. except -- >> we started seeing signs in plain view of other abuse. we saw young girls with babies and young girls, or at least appeared to be young, that were expecting. and during these interviews looking for sarah, evidence of other crimes became apparent pretty quickly. so now that we see them, we're duty-bound to act on these instances of -- of child abuse or sexual abuse of young girls. >> reporter: several of the girls interviewed by child protective services said they had been "spiritually united" with adult men that no age was too young for this. and it was the prophet who decided when and whom they should marry. the next day, 18 girls were determined to "have been abused" or "at imminent risk of abuse" and were removed from the ranch. and then over the next two days dozens more children, some very young, were forcibly removed from their parents and taken to temporary housing. >> my two year old son was screaming "mother, don't let them take me. don't let them take me. i want to stay with you mother. mother, please hold me." >> reporter: and then, four days after the raid began a court order was issued to take away all the remaining children, until a better assessment could be made of what was going on inside the yfz ranch. this time however, mothers, but not fathers, were allowed to go with them. >> they had been predispositioned to believe that anyone from the outside was evil. we had no desire to go onto the ranch for any other reason other than the call you can't ignore -- a young girl's cries for help. you've gotta act. >> reporter: some of the mothers were re-united with their children at another makeshift shelter before being transferred to an overburdened sports arena here in san angelo. many were required. some of the mothers and their children who had been separated were reunited at a makeshift shelter. eventually all of them were transported to an overburdened sports arena here in san angelo. and many flds members, young and old were required to line up and submit samples of their dna. and then scores of toddlers and children were shipped off to foster homes around the state, some of them hundreds of miles away. to live with families who's culture they did not know. for how long, they did not know. this, said the state, was for their protection. >> this is not about numbers. this is about children who are at imminent risk of harm, children that we believe have been abused or neglected. >> reporter: the images set off a firestorm of controvsery. former flds attorney rod parker -- >> what the state did was in -- in traumatizing that entire community and all those children, that was wrong. what texas should have done is taken a more targeted approach, not just sweep up everybody. >> we didn't particularly enjoy it either. nobody likes takin' a child out of his environment. even in the worst of circumstances. but the law's the law and the courts spoke and said, "these kids are in danger" and so we had to do what we had to do. >> reporter: mind you, there was still no sign of the mysterious sarah barlow, whose call had prompted the raid and all that followed. rangers did however, find files of birth records. but untangling the web of names and bloodlines was overwhelming, if not impossible. >> you were essentially learning an entire network or community of people. and they all had similar last names and they all sound the same, they all look the same, they all dress the same, they all act the same. >> reporter: they needed somebody who could tell them what it all meant -- crack the code, unravel the secrets. an expert who knew it all, literally from the inside. >> and finally he said, "we are in over our head. can you please come down and help us?" and so i did. >> reporter: and what she exposed, deep inside the yearning for zion ranch, was a very dark and carefully guarded secret about a religion and its prophet, warren jeffs. coming up -- investigators make a strange discovery. but only rebecca can explain what it means. >> there was a part of me that hoped that no that can't be right. pets make us better people. they inspire us... to open our hearts to an unexpected friend. at petsmart, we're in it to create more moments like this everyday. petsmart®. inspired by pets. at the time i just thought "the toothpaste i'm using i like. it's just not handling the sensitivity." the dentist recommended sensodyne. it continued to have all the other things that i wanted in a toothpaste but additionally, i don't have sensitivity to the cold anymore. but additionally, i don't have safeway understands you got to make every dollar count these days. that's why they have lots of ways for you to save. real big club card deals, the safeway app and gas rewards. this week fresh off the vine seedless green and black grapes are just $1.99 a pound. oscar mayer deli fresh or selects lunchmeat are only $3.99. and quilted northern bath tissue is $11.99 for 24 double 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doors. we don't want to kick the doors in. we don't want to use force to gain entry." but any cooperation evidently wasn't green lighted by warren. >> reporter: rebecca hadn't arrived yet. but she knew what was haing. >> i was terrified because i didn't know what was in the temple. i knew how they hold that temple as sacred. and i was scared because if there was going to be an incident, it would've been over that temple. >> reporter: a decision was made. the rangers used a battering ram. and at that very moment, said the members of the flds, their temple was defiled. could never be a temple again. >> the moment that stays with me is the entering of the temple where the pounding on the door just echoed across, and to me it just signified that the period that existed in secrecy or cloaked for so many years was coming to an end. >> reporter: as sergeant hanna and the other investigators entered the temple, they marveled at its workmanship, its elaborate design, it's decor. >> i knew that they might perceive it as defiling it, but i knew that we took great measures to respect things and not to tear up anything that we didn't have to. but whatever it took to make sure that there wasn't a victim there is what we were going to do. >> reporter: there was no sign of sarah or anyone else inside. but as they climbed they could see that each floor seemed to have special significance. as they rose, the colors of the walls, the floors, the furniture changed. each floor distinctively different. >> the third floor was white, and it was brilliant white. the drapes were white, the furniture white. the tables were white. the chairs were white. the carpet was white. you almost needed shades when you walked up there and you really did almost get the sense like, if there's a room in heaven, i bet it looks like this. >> reporter: and on the same floor the rangers discovered something very strange. >> two beds. and one bed was positioned and situated like in a medical clinic. >> reporter: it was a murphy bed, that could be pulled down from the wall, with several chairs surrounding it. and then in an adjacent hallway they found the parts of another bed which had been disassembled. track marks on the rug suggested it had at some point been moved in and out of the white room. the rangers put it back together, and this is what it looked like. complete with railings and a kneeling bench at the foot of the bed. >> we needed somebody to help us give us an understanding of the culture we were entering and the things we read that we didn't understand. >> reporter: so two days after their initial visit, the rangers took rebecca inside the temple with them. >> when we got ready to go up to the top floor, the ranger told me, if there's any reason that this, these beds -- they had talked about beds in the top floor -- if there is any reason other than what we might think they are there for we need to know." >> reporter: the beds. seeing them, said rebecca, sparked a rush of memories. of hearing uncle rulon and warren jeffs talking about "sacred ordinances," to be performed in their, at the time, future temple. >> i remembered the horror that i felt in rulon jeffs' home as warren was describing this ordinance of a sexual nature, where we would be taught the correct positions, the correct way to conceive a child, the laws of creation. >> reporter: the beds in the temple? as far as rebecca was concerned that was confirmation that warren jeffs wasn't just teaching underage girls about sex ordinances. he was actually performing them. >> seeing that bed, seeing the chairs around it, all of the things that warren described, there was a part of me that hoped that "no, that can't be right." but there was also another part of me that knew, "there it is. there's everything that you were ever taught about it." >> reporter: but there was one more piece of evidence hidden at the ranch. a voice sitting in a secret vault that would shock even rebecca. >> coming up, an audio recording reveals the darkest discovery of all. >> it will just rock you. it is so horrible. >> when "dateline" continues. you're being healthy, even in little ways. that's worth celebrating. that's why walgreens created the first program that gives you rewards points just for healthy behavior. so stick with it. you've got a lot of people cheering you on... download the app and start getting rewarded today. at the corner of happy and healthy. ♪ [ male announcer ] get $37 entire house installation, plus free pad upgrade when you buy stainmaster carpet and pad at lowe's. what you get is so much more. garnier olia. the first permanent haircolor powered by oil. brilliant color, visibly improved hair color after color. olia propels color deep inside your hair. brilliant, luminous color. and grays? 100% gone. my hair feels healthier, looks shinier. olia after olia. garnier olia. brilliant color. visibly improved hair. color after color. brilliant color. visibly improved hair. only at 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time, a battering ram wasn't enough. >> so we jack hammered through the wall to make entry. we sent ranger jesse valdez inside and he was able to open the vault from the inside. >> reporter: rebecca and the rangers entered and immediately they knew they had hit the motherlode. >> they had just tons. i mean, 400 boxes of physical papers plus all of the digital information. and it was all of these records. >> we found church records, family records and probably the most important thing was -- the priesthood records which are the dictations of warren jeffs. his locations, his movements -- his directions. really it was a road map to all the activities of the flds community. >> reporter: every dictation, every record, every file had to be scrutinized - - page by page. >> walking into there and goin', "oh, my goodness. look all this!" >> reporter: wes hensley is an investigator in the texas attorney general's office. and box by box, through literally millions of pages, hensley and hanna and others searched with the help of rebecca. >> she was very important about authenticatin' the documents for us. she was able to give me their family background, all the lineage. >> reporter: rebecca knew it all. because she personally helped compile it. >> i was there. and i saw, i heard, and i was involved with helping to gather this so it was the prophet's wives who came and helped sort them out. the different kinds of records putting all of the personal records together, all of the family records together. >> reporter: marriages. babies. blood lines. the whole intricate web. but there was one thing rebecca didn't know about -- sarah barlow. the mysterious young woman whose call prompted the whole raid. that's because there was no sarah barlow. two weeks after the raid came a stunning surprise. the calls that triggered the raid were a fraud. a fake. the woman who made them, from far away in colorado, had nothing to do with the flds. her attorney said she suffered from multiple personality disorder. after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false report, her case was eventually dismissed. but rod parker, one of the attorneys who represented the flds, was furious about the actions of the texas rangers. >> what they did is they -- they described a person who didn't exist and used it to justify a -- complete search of the ranch. >> reporter: families separated, children shipped away, some not returned for almost two months. a sacred temple defiled. but neither the rangers nor rebecca had second thoughts. sarah barlow may have been a fake, they said, but what warren jeffs was doing here with underage girls appeared to be very real as seen in these pictures seized during the raid. >> do you carry around with you any sort of sadness, guilt, something, about how much you had to do to get that evidence against warren jeffs? >> no. >> no regrets? >> no regrets. >> no. we didn't create those circumstances. warren jeffs did. >> he did. >> but he obviously didn't see it as a crime? he saw it as him doing his priestly duty, right? >> he understood that the outside world viewed it as a crime, that society did because even in the priesthood records, there was a quote or a comment that he made that, "if the outside world knew what i was doin', they would hang me from the highest tree." >> reporter: for the next several months hanna and hensley painstakingly picked through oceans of paperwork looking for anything to link warren jeffs and other flds members to specific crimes. but there was a clue that had been discovered a few years earlier. remember when the prophet was arrested in 2006? one of the things found in that escalade of his was a rather disturbing audio recording. >> thank you for letting her feel the heavenly burning peace. >> reporter: this was warren jeffs performing one of his "sacred" ordinances with what sounded like a young girl. because he said her name on the tape, it was a simple matter of matching her to church records seized in the texas raid. it turned out she was just 12 years old. the tone -- quiet, almost soothing -- belies the horror of what's really happening. >> that feels good. now repeat the words from your mouth. >> this is a horrible thing to listen to. it -- it -- it's -- it will just rock you, it's so horrible. >> reporter: eventually the master copy of the recording was found buried in evidence discovered at the yfz ranch. >> at this young age to come to know god and his power and feel his presence. >> and it just crushed your heart for one thing that you know what is going on and what is happening to that 12 year old girl. and -- um, that -- that's somethin' i'll never forget. >> reporter: it was exactly what rebecca feared when she saw those beds in the temple. >> not only had warren been the perpetrator and the predator on these young girls, but he had in a very twisted sense taken the thought, the idea, and called it holy. >> reporter: warren jeffs and nine other members of the flds were indicted on a variety of sexual assault charges involving underage girls. the prophet, who had once been accountable to no one, would again have to answer in court, this time facing life in prison. and once again the woman he onced warned would be 'destroyed in the flesh' would be the star witness against him. >> scum . >> coming up, rebecca takes the stand at long last to finish what she started. and warren jeffs makes a move so what ya got on deck? skyfall. lean in, then some pinterest, you? twitter. minecraft and then some hunger games. boom. wow, you guys are all set, huh? oh yeah, new amazon fire phone. it comes with amazon prime - tons of cool stuff for no extra charge. really? it comes with amazon prime? yeah, there's so much to watch. i've been on this earth nine years, i've never seen anything like it. the new amazon fire phone, with a full year of prime included. exclusively on at&t. enjoy dinner with dancing. make mealtime more memorable. save up to 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trial of prophet warren jeffs, now facing charges for sexually assaulting two underage girls alleged to be his "spiritual wives." >> mr. jeffs, did you rape those two girls? >> reporter: this time, if convicted, the prophet could face life in prison. >> goin' in the trial, we were -- we had prepared ourselves diligently. hours and hours of preparation in anticipating different arguments from the defense team. >> reporter: but there was no defense team, per se. because right before trial warren jeffs fired all his attorneys and announced he'd represent himself. in his opening argument, the prophet delivered a 30-minute speech on religious persecution. and then prosecution presented its case, all that evidence seized in the texas raid. and rebecca musser, again dressed in red, tried to make sense of it for the jury. it had to be her. who else? the girls warren jeffs allegedly raped took the fifth instead of testifying against their husband and prophet. >> there were no victims sitting on that stand to say, "this man did this to me." >> sure. >> and it was my testimony to authenticate the records. the other part of my testimony was to explain to the jury why these young girls were victims being forced to marry, being forced to have sex, that that was normal. >> reporter: and then the prosecution played the audio of warren jeffs and the 12 year-old girl, recovered at the yfz ranch. all 21 minutes of it. >> perform this ordinace in the name of jesus christ. amen. >> amen. >> i'll never forget. i looked over and i saw the emotional reactions of the jurors. and tears were streaming down someone's face. one lady had tears drippin' off her nose. >> reporter: finally it was time for the prophet to deliver his closing argument. his last chance to make a compelling case for himself and his holy ordinances. but -- >> he didn't utter a word for the entire time, for at least 38 minutes and 50 seconds. and at the conclusion of that period of time, he -- he said -- um -- >> i'm at peace. >> i'm at peace. and i mean, that -- i guess that was his argument, but it was -- it was just surreal. >> reporter: what could he say? the evidence spoke for the prophet. >> he knew about it. he condoned it. and in fact, he enabled it. >> reporter: it took the texas jury barely half an hour to reach a verdict. guilty on all counts. >> it was like we had a great thousand pound weight taken off your shoulders. our investigation was also on trial. the goin' onto the ranch, the search warrant was on trial. the reputation of the attorney general's office, the reputation of the rangers. >> i bless the state of texas, that somebody finally stood up to this man. and he's sitting in prison now for the rest of his life. >> reporter: all the children, taken from the yfz ranch were eventually returned to their families. all but one. the 12 year-old from the audio tape, whose mother died after the raid. but, leave the church? oh no. she is a wife of the prophet and is believed to now be living in another flds compound, rebecca believes, along with many of the others from the yfz ranch. nor is this the end of the story because warren jeffs, even in prison is still the prophet, is still in complete control delivering his edicts to his faithful followers directly from his prison cell. his directives ever more bizarre, according to rebecca's old school friend andrew chatwin, who, though he is no longer a member of the church, lives among them and watches carefully. >> warren jeffs has told the people, "don't listen to the rumors. don't listen to the news. there's lies. they're trying to destroy our way of life, our religious rights." >> and in short creek, life for warren jeffs' loyal followers has taken a harsh turn, according to private investigator sam brower. >> they will do anything he says. >> will they leave their families? >> they will leave their families. they'll leave their children. they'll turn daughters over to old lechers. they'll abandon their young men. they'll do literally anything that they're called upon to do. they see it as their path to salvation. >> reporter: and according to sam brower and others, the prophet's edicts have become ever more strange and draconian. parents here in the 'crick, by his decree, have given ownership to the church of their very own children who are moved around from one "caretaker" to the next, while their birth fathers and mothers have in many cases been excommunicated. stranger still? sex between spouses is beleived to be banned. instead, jeffs has designated a handful of his loyalists, and only them, to impregnate the women of the town. >> if he can't have sex, nobody can have sex. >> so they've -- they've obeyed that? >> they obeyed it. >> reporter: and then, as we finished our taping and prepared to leave the 'crick, something quite odd. our cars were surrounded, suddenly, by a whirling posse of teens on horseback. they responded to our greetings with blank stares. >> you wanna call the sheriff now? >> reporter: these are children who've been removed from their parents, andrew told us. just following orders from the church, he said. orders to harass the media and outsiders. but what most worries both chatwin and brower is that warren jeffs, doomed to die in prison, may someday issue the sort of radical proclamation that could be fatal not just to these kids but to all of them. >> before he lets go of his reign, he's gonna have a grand finale. >> you're worried about a mass suicide or something like that? >> yes, something like that. and so i believe the people would do it if he asked 'em to. >> reporter: and if that sounds wildly improbable, they said, it's because you don't know warren jeffs. >> i think of a marquis de sade or rasputin or david koresh or jim jones. that's exactly what he is. maybe the worst of the lot because he has no boundaries. >> reporter: rebecca musser still has family in short creek. she has returned in hopes of finding them, reconnecting perhaps. but it's not likely, given their loyalty to the prophet. she is an apostate now, an evil enemy of "the work." >> does it hurt you knowing that many of them feel quite negatively towards you now? >> i'm sad that -- that some of them do, but i could no longer stay. it's not a glamorous part of getting freedom. there's a cost to that. >> reporter: rebecca eventually married ben, the young man who helped her leave the flds. they had two children together, but are now divorced. the woman once known as sister becky has written a book about her experiences. she called it "the witness wore red." she now helps others by preaching her own gospel. >> the power of words means breaking your silence. to be silent is to be enslaved. and there's this amazing thing called choice and that is freedom. >> reporter: and sometimes when she's playing her violin, one of those classic hymns she learned when practicing "the work," she thinks about her days in the flds. thinks about that moment when warren jeffs demanded her obedience. the moment he threatened he would break her. >> he didn't break you. you broke him. >> i didn't set out to break him. i think he broke himself. but he most certainly did not break me. ♪ ♪ >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll be back again next friday at 9:00, 8:00 central. and i'll see you t next at 11, american air strikes in iraq. the growing concern of a fallout from this military action. and then a sour note for festival goers. why some were hit with fines as high as $279. nbc bay area news starts now. >> another crazy night in the city. first it was beyonce and jay-z. tonight it is kanye west. large crowds in san francisco and a lot of unwanted noise and traffic too. good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm janelle wang in for raj mathai. happening now, outside san

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