Jeffs begin release new prophecy and revelations from prison last year and made the call that ALL members of the FLDS would have to die in the next 5 1/2 years if they wanted to go to Heaven. Now it appears children under his influence may be running away and headed to their compound
Former FLDS members fear their children's disappearance is part of Warren Jeffs' prophecy
Lorraine Jessop's three youngest children – Nathan, Summer, and Benjamin – have been missing since Feb. 4, 2023. According to court documents, they ran away.
"I checked on them at midnight," Jessop, 42, told ABC News. "And my daughter was awake. And I thought, 'That's odd.'"
"At 5 in the morning, I awoke to a cold house because the front door was wide open and the kids were gone," Jessop continued. "It was horrifying."
But Jessop doesn't believe it's that simple, nor does she believe her children's disappearance is an isolated incident. She is an ex-member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the polygamist breakaway offshoot of Mormonism. And there are three other mothers whose children have also disappeared – eight children in total, one as young as 12.
"I feel like that either someone took it upon themself or were told by church authorities to gather up these children," Jessop said to ABC News in an interview for "Impact x Nightline" now streaming on Hulu.
Missing children.
ABC News
MORE: 4 ex-FLDS mothers' desperate search for their missing children
Another mother, Elizabeth Roundy, 49, agrees. She believes her daughter Elintra, who ran away on January 1, 2023, was told how to run away.
"I am positive that FLDS are hiding Elintra," Roundy said.
The church is best known for its prophet – Warren Jeffs – who was convicted in 2011 to life in prison for sexually assaulting girls as young as 12. But he remains the church's prophet from behind bars, according to experts and former members that ABC News spoke with.
Last year, experts say Jeffs began to release new revelations, or prophecies, which ABC News has obtained, including one last June that calls for children of ex-members to come back into the fold, and another in August calling for members of the FLDS to die in the next 5-1/2 years in order to reach heaven.
Experts of the FLDS church, as well as the mothers of the eight missing children, fear an event similar to Jonestown, when more than 900 people died in a murder-suicide orchestrated in 1978 by Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple cult.
"And so you think some of those followers would be prepared to lay down their lives for their beliefs?" Juju Chang, Co-Anchor of ABC News' "Nightline," asked Jessop.
"Oh, yes," Jessop answered. "I think that I was prepared to lay down my life."
"And they would lay down the lives of children?" Chang asked.
"Oh, yes," Jessop said.
HISTORY OF THE FLDS
The FLDS was founded more than 130 years ago after polygamy was outlawed in the Mormon Church. Its current prophet, Warren Jeffs, is a 67-year-old convicted pedophile who had approximately 80 wives, many of them underage, according to experts.
These mothers of the missing children – Lorraine Jessop, Mirinda Johnson, Elizabeth Roundy, and Sarah Johnson – all grew up in the FLDS, and up until they left the church believed Warren Jeffs was the prophet.
"Warren was God to us," Jessop remembered.
Elizabeth Roundy, Lorraine Jessop, Mirinda Johnson and Sarah Johnson.
ABC News
In this sect, women are viewed as second-class and subservient to men. Children are home-schooled and are often sent to live with families different from their birth parents. Their lives are completely different than that of the modern world. Warren Jeffs released revelations telling members to live without phones, the internet, and even toys, experts and former members told ABC News. These communities often live in remote border towns, some even on secure compounds.
"Growing up, it was our purpose… to be married," Sarah Johnson said. "I decided in the very beginning that I was going to be the most obedient, the most perfect wife I could be."
She says she was betrothed at 17 to a man 25 years her elder. One of her four sister-wives was her biological sister and, among them, they had more than 30 children.
Johnson's son, Salome, has been missing the longest. He ran away on March 9, 2021.
One child, who went missing last year, has since been found. Warren Jeffs' nephew, Heber Jeffs, was charged last December with kidnapping his 10-year-old niece, whose parents had left the FLDS. He says he raised the girl since she was young. The charging court documents allege that Heber followed his uncle's prophecies and directives, one of which called for children of ex-members to come back to the church.
Heber has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of 'custodial interference' and his attorney denied that the recent revelations influenced his actions. The 10-year-old girl has been reunited with her parents.
Elizabeth Roundy is a former members of the FLDS church. Her daughter has been missing since January 1, 2023.
Courtesy of Elizabeth Roundy
AN 'APOSTATE'
These mothers have another key trait in common – they have all left the fundamentalist church. But when someone leaves, the community labels them an 'apostate' – the scarlet letter of the FLDS.
"When you leave, you're considered an apostate, and are treated severely by the people who remain in the church," said Roger Hoole, an attorney who represents some of these mothers. "It's often a very long process before somebody leaves, and then it's a long process before they emotionally are able to make the real adjustment. It's not something that's done overnight."
Leaving the church can simultaneously be a real chance at freedom, but also a terrifying experience, these mothers told ABC News.
"It's like jumping off of a cliff and not knowing if your parachute's going to open, if you even have one on," Sarah Johnson said of leaving the sect. "Just knowing that taking that jump is better than staying where you're standing."
But when Lorraine Jessop left, she felt differently.
"I felt like I was gonna burn in hell," Jessop said.
Because of their 'apostate' label, these mothers' children believed they were corrupt and dangerous, and out of fear shouldn't be living with them, the moms told ABC News. To live with their non-FLDS mothers would mean to leave the only life they've ever known, they added, and that's why each mom believes their child ran away.
"Our concern is, how do they run away by themselves?" Hoole said. "Are they being helped? Are we seeing a pattern here?"'
The FLDS has a long history of hiding and harboring people, experts say. In the past, they've used a network they call "houses of hiding," which is the same network that kept Warren Jeffs hidden for two years even as he was on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
