Its a quiet, haunting place, with massive hayfields that stretch to the horizon. All I like to do is work on cars and hang out with friends and ride my ponies, he wrote one night on his MySpace page. The 43-year-old Kingston took the witness stand for the prosecution about 2:40 p.m. and is expected to answer questions through Thursday. There are baby graves year that date back as earlier as the 1950s, potentially even earlier: many are unmarked. They steer clear of banks,. In all likelihood, Stephen and his brothers had stolen the gold from Patty Kingston first and then the Brown boys, in an effort to emulate their cousins rebellious acts, had robbed their aunt weeks or even months later. Bad harm. A loyal Order member for years, he lost his faith and ended up leaving the Order over a curse of sorts, leveled at his family by LaDonna. Carolyn. That's still gross." Which brings us back to the baby cemetery. They predict the scale of the problem will increase dramatically in the future. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. The Order stays as far away as possible from police, and this was like inviting them in your front door., With its vast wealth suddenly exposed to public view, the clan moved quickly to hush up the scandal. They also knew that much of the clans wealth was stashed inside the unassuming suburban house on the corner. Now, two years later, Stephen still sleeps with a gun near his bed. Fumarase deficiency, however sensationalized, is not the only genetic disorder found here. The family gathered in the living room. Then one night, a clan member called and told him that the Order planned to kill him. Hanging up the phone, she rushed to her closet. Now let me just simply state: He took care of them. Ortell died in 1987, but his progeny continued the polygamy, the inbreeding and the marriages to young female teens that he instituted. If you were more obedient, this wouldnt have happened., After that, everything changed, Stephen says. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Kingston was wed at age 16 in what she says was a marriage she felt pressured into by her parents and others in a polygamous sect. By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. The renunciation of polygamy is now church doctrine, and the Mormon church has a policy of excommunicating polygamists. After the wedding, Richaun chose the name Knight randomly a practice designed to prevent prosecutors from proving that men in the Order have multiple wives. The clan kids from there would come to school not properly dressed for the cold, and they were always getting in fights. All of the gay people would definitely be the first to go, he said. One of them approached the front door while the other kept a lookout. In the polygamist cult of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, cousins were encouraged to marry in order to preserve certain bloodlines. Paul would rather have the wealth and the money than the isolation and the conflict, he said. Spokesmen for both the U.S. State Department and for Picatinny Arsenal could neither verify nor deny Youngs claims. At first, the two boys denied any involvement in the break-in at Youngs house. Modern interpretations of this passage vary, but The Order apparently takes quite literally this idea of blackness being a sign of iniquity. "It's doesn't stop anybody," Dawna says. "Finally exposed in the news, the facts of life inside [the Mormon offshoot Kingston clan's] religious/cult compound are stunning Mormons, Utahans, the nation, and the world. Future Planet. NBA 'Investigating,' Team Suspends Ja Morant After Allegedly Flashing Gun on Social Media Dawna's younger sister has a little boy with two clubfeet. But by 2006, Dr. Theodore Tarby, of Arizona, had discovered at least 20 more children living with the condition in Short Creek, all within just blocks of each other. The familys dedication to the principle of polygamy already had been established by Kingstons father, who had three wives. Pulling up, he noticed the getaway car parked in front of the house. The girl, who as an adult would unsuccessfully sue the clan, then walked miles to the nearest gas station, where she called the police. Former clan prophet John Ortell Kingston, who died in 1987, paid the Medicaid bills for a child born with severe birth defects after Utah investigators linked the wealthy father of more than 65 children to the baby. His most bizarre beliefs, though, concerned the occult. On February 26th, 2009, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office got a call of suspicious activity in the foothills above the city. But for their part, The Order and other fundamentalist sects believe the LDS church exists in a state of apostasy for abandoning what they see as a bedrock principle of their faith. From the outside it seemed like a typical suburban home, offering few clues of the secrets that were contained inside. Pentecostal They're given the utmost attention and care because the FLDS faithful believe everything in this life is a test before entering the celestial kingdom, and caring well for all of Heavenly Father's children is part of that test. If you knew where to look and the Knight boys did it was easy to find. In his teens, Stephen and five of his half brothers stole $4,000 from their father. Another brother, Ben, showed him how to mend fences. Blacks were the less valiant people in heaven who sat on the sidelines while others took sides, according to The Order. A simple urine test will reveal. Additionally, ex-Order members tell of a reputed church prophecy of an End of the World War, an apocalyptic vision that foresees a bloody race war with the Kingstons as the ultimate victors, chosen by their Heavenly Father to rule the world for a millennium. I dont think theyre organized crime in that regard, but the racketeering statute defines it as any conspiracy or pattern of illegal activity done in concert with others. . According to many of the individuals interviewed for this story, these children are seen as special angels sent from God to the FLDS community. When he noticed that the boys had stopped working, he became enraged. Unlike other girls in the Order, Richaun was refined she didnt wear hand-me-downs, and at clan dances, a long line of boys waited to dance with her. But mostly he talked about the history of the Order and his ancestors, the men who had started the clan. That will open up for The Order to rise up and take over the world, Ron said. The issue is available now on newsstands and in the digital archive. We pass the house she grew up in with her mother, three eldest brothers, and father before he was kicked out of the cult. And during a recent picnic to honor the birthday of patriarch John Ortell Kingston, Order families descended on a Salt Lake Valley park, where hundreds of children of all ages blanketed the parks green expanse. Meanwhile, Mary Ann Kingston, 22, has brought a $110 million civil suit against 242 Order members and 97 companies they operate, claiming that they share collective responsibility for abuse she. "It's not really talked about; I don't think [people here] even research to see how related they are" before getting married or pregnant, she adds. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). Dawna's husband is a brother to her older sister's husband, "but they're only half brothers, so him and I aren't blood-related at all, because he was from the youngest mother, which had no relation to us other than marriage, and then my sister was married to the older brother and his mom and my grandmother were full sisters.". The discovery by this project that Co. Cork Kingstons share a common Kingston ancestor with Kingstons from the villages around Towcester in the southern part of Northamptonshire, as determined by Y chromosome analysis, is crucial to our understanding of the origins of Co. Cork Kingstons. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. and cousins. For fun he and other Order men would go to a park frequented by gay males, looking for victims. Everyone knows it., After the gold disappeared, the Knight brothers suddenly seemed to have a lot of money especially for young men on their own in the world for the first time. deficiency. We were off on our own out there and really close, Stephen says. My mom was never the same. The baby cemetery is a mess of overgrown weeds and dry, cracked dirt, home to hundreds of infant and toddler-size graves, not all of them marked. Its ominous-sounding moniker, The Order, is a reference to the United Order, a quasi-utopian society proposed by LDS-founder Joseph Smith, and practiced in some Mormon communities under the leadership of early church president Brigham Young. All Rights reserved. 6.3M views 6 years ago Profiles by VICE S1 E23 Although the mainstream Mormon church abandoned polygamy over 100 years ago, many splinter groups across Utah still practice plural marriage. He didnt have anyone to help him process what had just happened., Taking advantage of his status as a son of the prophet, Stephen began bending the rules even further. As the first of Paul Kingstons many wives, Patty enjoyed a privileged role in the Order including access to vast wealth. (KUTV) Weeks after a Kingston polygamist clan member was charged in the death of her child, former members of that group are speaking out about what they say is a much bigger problem. This is your fault, he thundered, glaring at them. She knows that they're. Elden also instituted the church law of one above the other, requiring members blind obedience to the churchs hierarchy of numbered men, with Elden being Brother Number One. Okay, I have one legal wife, he said. There lives Ross LeBaron Jr., a descendant of another polygamous sect (separate from the FLDS but quite similar in practice) called the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been as a boy. By the time the teenagers sped away, they had made off with more than $80,000 in silver. The teenagers sitting in the driveway on South Bonner Circle that afternoon in 2009 knew the operation well. The land had once been home to the Washakie Indians, and as children, Stephen and his 15 full brothers and sisters played among the wind-swept ruins of a Native American cemetery. He became obsessed with homeopathic treatments and herbal remedies, teaching followers that through proper diet they could live to the age of a tree. When lightning struck a tree at the Home Place, he taught his followers that the tree had divine powers and was a gateway to heaven. He says The Order regards homosexuality as a choice. Those in the Order, Kingston preached, are responsible for building a master race, which is why all marriages are arranged within the original four families that started the cult. . According to historian Brian Hales Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto, Brother Elden, as he was also known, had five wives and 17 children. Boys began to show interest in Julie as she matured, but Paul, as the clans leader, warned them away, because of Julies black blood. Polygamy is outlawed in Utah, both by the states constitution, and in statute, where it is a third-degree felony, with a possible punishment of five years in prison. Some read simply, "Baby Keate," or "Baby Bateman," or "Baby Cooke," with holes where numeric date tiles might otherwise be placed. Another group of kids called the Lost Boys, who were kicked out of the polygamist cult the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, ended up on the streets of Las Vegas and Phoenix, some turning tricks for drugs like meth and heroin. His arms are sunburned and his hands calloused from long days moving the irrigation pipes that water the fields. "I'm like, Really? The quick answer for why this polygamous community has buried so many of its children is inbreeding, according to community members. Eventually, Stephen was sent back to Washakie and was placed under the supervision of his uncle, one of the familys most feared enforcers. girl, born to John Ortell and Isabell Johnson, was not the product of an incestuous marriage. In a portion of Warren Jeffs' Priesthood Record a mostly dry document that details his every move and meeting one entry, a written transcription of an announcement made by Warren at lunch with his late father's family, stands out as particularly creepy. J.O. Their father rarely came by, and because the nearest town was 18 miles away, the kids forged a fierce bond among themselves. Elden had predicted that he would be resurrected from the dead, so clan members kept his body on ice for three days, to no avail. Paul was upset any of this had been reported at all, says a former member close to the boys. (Like most kids in the clan, Stephen wasnt told who his father was until he was old enough to be trusted to lie to protect the Order.) ), Related I could tell she loved him, and it seemed like he loved her too. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. Kollene's father, John Daniel Kingston has 14 wives, and she is the fifth of her mother Shirley Hansen's 12 children. It was a grimy, derelict-looking place. Towards Net Zero. You could be such an asset to the Order., Trending The deputy heard the Brown boys knew who stole the gold but suddenly, without explanation, they and everyone in the clan clammed up. I love the Order. As part of a plea bargain, Jeremy spent just one year in prison. He is not ready to forgive his father. Come and get me, Stephen said. In 2006, Warren Jeffs, then the president and prophet of the FLDS, was arrested and charged with accomplice rape, for just two of the underage marriages he had arranged. Elden continued the tradition. The Tuckers think this is all hogwash now, though they were programmed to believe it at the time. Money, sex and power. Still stunned at the sudden loss of their brother, Stephen and his siblings were numb with grief. Were fucked, they told their cousin. They maintain a secretive but powerful presence in Utah's Salt Lake Valley, and their estimated 7,500. October 15, 2002: "There will be a viewing at father's house at 3p.m. She explained that they weren't supposed to know who their dad was, only her . Those who did not make it into the UO were separated from their families, placed in patchwork homes of other UO "orphans," and told to repent. Snow began dating men when he was 22. Consumed with guilt over his brothers death, Stephen lashed out. FOX 13 . See the Beths Deliver Refreshing 'Expert in a Dying Field' Mini-Set on 'CBS Mornings', Sex, Drugs, and the Biggest Cybercrime of All Time, I could boil down what theyre about in three words, says a member who broke with the Order. She didnt want to be in that house anymore; it reminded her of my brother. To test her devotion, Stephens father began calling her in the middle of the night and telling her to move the family to a new location. Family members attribute the defects to the advanced In the months after the robbery, Stephen couldnt shake the feeling he was being watched. The first questions were about his background. Structural birth defects are related to a problem with the structure of body parts. She, in turn, wrote a letter to the judge on their behalf, and the case was settled without a trial. Stephen moved in with his brother. and last updated 1:46 PM, Feb 24, 2021. The lot is unmarked and unremarkable. Former Order members remain convinced the Knights stole the gold. Luke and Scott often visited the home of one of their aunts, Rachel Young. It empowered Stephen before that, no one had ever stood up to Daniel Kingston or any of them, says a former member. Sex. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Kiki Kannibal: The Girl Who Played With Fire. Girls, many of them teen brides, answer phones at the Orders law office, bag groceries at its supermarket or tend to the clans many children. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. The last infant grave marked in this cemetery is dated 2010; Warren issued an edict from prison banning sex in 2011, so few infants have been born since then (the few babies born each year are the product of institutionalized rape by cult-appointed seed bearers). "It's like any inbred disorder," Tarby says. . These days Stephen works on a cattle ranch near the Idaho border, just down the road from where he grew up. KUTV When several businesses inside the Kingston polygamist empire, including Washakie Renewable Energy, was raided by federal agents Wednesday, officials where tight lipped. He orchestrated all unions within the cult, which was maintained with classic mind control techniques, corporal punishment, fasting and bizarre dietary practices. He slept with a different one each night, in accordance with their ovulation cycles, and sometimes disappeared during lunch to have sex with a favorite. Over the years, state law enforcement and the courts have sporadically addressed the incest in the Kingston ranks. Young told Intelligence Report that his company has sold weapons, with the approval of the U.S. State Department, to governments in Europe and the Middle East, Saudi Arabia being one. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. It was all just innocent teenage stuff, recalls Ron, who has since left the clan. While the Order preached strict abstinence to its children, forbidding even incidental contact between the sexes, there seemed to be no rules after marriage especially for the clans leaders. I didnt even know the n-word was bad until I was like 15 or 16, she told Intelligence Report. And then there are the more livable genetic conditions. Just under eight miles southeast of Short Creek is an area called Cane Beds, Arizona. One day, for laughs, he and his half brother Ron Tucker stole some napalm from an Order army-supply store, drew lines of it in the street and lit it on fire as cars drove by. A passerby might catch a glimpse of children in the windows, but for the most part, the Young family kept to themselves. Snow also remembered being taught end-time prophecies, with a cleansing wherein the streets of Salt Lake City would run red with blood. Fumarase deficiency (FD) is an autosomal metabolic recessive disorder, meaning it is necessary for an individual with the condition to receive the mutant allele from both parents. Due to the Kingstons convoluted genealogy, Lu Ann was both his first cousin and his aunt. presided, while Richauns father officiated the wedding, promising the bride that if she obeyed her husband, she would be guaranteed a spot in the Celestial Kingdom, the highest level of heaven. They seemed happy, Ron says. Another is a first cousin. To deaden his feelings of isolation, he started smoking a lot of pot and sitting around the house all day listening to country music. Look around, Stephen says. Nevertheless, former members of The Order say that incest and racism are inextricably linked in The Orders teachings. Accounts of clan babies being born with congenital defects and other problems abound, including dwarfism, albinism and children born minus fingernails or without genitals. The deputy opened the trunk of the Honda, where he found two duffel bags stuffed with silver. Brother Elden died of penile cancer in 1948, despite the best efforts of some family members to burn away the cancer using acid. "Many of the parents did not want to have to deal with some of those children. Sometimes he parked his immaculately buffed burgundy Ford Thunderbird on the curb, but it was rare to see the man himself. Local Policing and Immigration Enforcement, Request for Legal Assistance Economic Justice. These men are living freely in the Cane Beds area.