The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice

Rebecca Musser grew up as the daughter of a second wife in a polygamous marriage. Isolated in Salt Lake City, where they lived in a basement, rearranging sleeping arrangements whenever another baby is born, she grew up in quasi-hiding, never allowed to run around much outside for fear of the neighbors. The first wife was abusive toward Rebecca and her siblings and some of her own children joined in. Rebecca only felt free at the school run by Rulon Jeffs, the prophet of the FLDS, the prophet and leader of the polygamous mormon sect she belonged to, and in Short Creek, an area isolated between Arizona and Utah where polygamous groups live openly.

While she is naturally curious and questioning, she is also integrated into the sect and show more works hard to both "keep sweet" and avoid all contact with boys in general and Warren Jeffs, Rulon's son, in particular. When she turns eighteen, she is called into Rulon Jeffs' study to be told that it's time she marries. While she asks for more time, this is denied and she is quickly married to Rulon Jeffs, the prophet himself, as his nineteenth wife. Jeffs is elderly and while she has been taught to revere him, she does not enjoy her nights with him. He quickly marries many more women, but when he has a stroke, his son takes over the group. Quickly marrying off more and more girls to a small group of men, the younger men are declared apostates and sent away and the girls being married off become younger and younger. After being told she was to be remarried to Warren Jeffs, Musser runs away and struggles to build a life without an education or any usable life skills.

After Warren Jeffs is arrested, along with many of the men in his inner circle, Musser testifies against them, as well as helping law enforcement to understand the customs and beliefs of the FLDS.

Musser is an interesting person, leaving the sect and yet still being sympathetic to their beliefs and way of life. She was careful in how she portrayed the members of the FLDS which, I think, made her into a somewhat opaque character in her own memoir. Since most of her family are still part of that world, I can see how she didn't want to burn any bridges, although the reactions of her family members to her testimony indicates that she may never be welcomed by any of them. Musser is a determined individual, and she had to be, to have the courage to run away, but it's also clear that she is lonely and doesn't entirely feel comfortable in the world outside of FLDS.

I'm not sure I learned anything new from this book, having previously read David Ebershoff's The Nineteenth Wife, Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven and having watched Big Love. Despite Musser's reticence, I felt a little voyeuristic while reading the parts of the book set in the world of the FLDS. It's so alien, and they clearly do not want outsiders to know what goes on. On the other hand, it's also clear that this is not a healthy way to live, with women reduced to a number and required to "keep sweet" and never indicate any opinion of their own and men focussed unduly on sexual matters. The lack of education for the children and the dishonest and sometimes criminal activities engaged in by the sect are also worrisome. show less

Growing up in the insular Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), Rebecca Musser was taught early that her family was not like others and she would have to keep their family situation secret. She lived with her mother and siblings in the basement of a house, and her other mother lived upstairs with Rebecca’s half-siblings. Her father lived on both levels of the house on alternate days. This all seemed normal to Rebecca because this is all she ever knew and how everyone else in her community lived.

When she was 19, under her father’s urging, she was married to Rulon Jeffs, the 85 year old prophet of the FLDS church. Within their community it is a great honor to wed the prophet, but Rebecca was not pleased. show more There is not much room for women’s voices in the FLDS church, and her objections were ignored. She tried to keep very busy to avoid home and her husband. Rulon continued to marry, and by the time he died at age 92, he had 64 wives that got progressively younger.

After Rulon’s death, his son Warren (also the school principal) took the reins of the church. Under his direction, the FLDS became even more insulated and women were under further restrictions and were heavily indoctrinated to obey men. Girls of younger and younger ages began to be married to men who Warren owed favors to or who Warren wanted on his side. Rebecca found the changes disturbing, and when Warren gave her a deadline on a new marriage she decided to make a run for it.

After she left, she still received information about what was happening in the church. After her sister, Elissa, told her of being raped and abused by her husband (also her first cousin), Rebecca encouraged her to come forward and press charges against him and Warren. Once charged with crimes, including sexual assault on a minor and with conspiracy to commit sexual misconduct with a minor for allegedly arranging the marriage, Warren ran from the law and was placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.

After his apprehension, Rebecca was determined to see him and other church leaders convicted. By the end, she testified 20 times in various trials against Warren. He was charged with many crimes in Utah, Arizona, and Texas. He is currently in a Texas prison where he is serving life in prison plus 20 years. He still rules the church from his jail cell, giving edicts and proscriptions to his devoted followers. Rebecca began a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing dignity, hope and healing to victims of human trafficking. show less

I found this a very interesting and compelling read. The authors don't pull any punches but write about what she (Mrs. Musser) experienced mostly from the viewpoint of when it happened. She mentions the atmosphere and lack of outside influence in the manipulation of the majority of the members of FLDS. What she does not say is that it qualifies as a cult in mentality. I found that interesting but in after pondering it I agree, do define this as a cult* when trying to express her experiences would have placed it in the status of "lesser" and that would have lessened the impact of what she was conveying. Her story and the way she feels about members she knows and is related to is presented in an even-handed manner. In the latter portion show more of the book she briefly addresses her experience in losing faith and regaining it back in a different perspective (which doesn't follow Mormonism from my guess but she never specifies), it is not overdone and very much in context.

I feel for many of the people left in this environment. Hopefully one day some of them will have the opportunity to see it from the other side. In the meantime would someone PLEASE remove all outside access to the leaders of this group. It will only help in the long run. show less

When I listened to a radio interview and heard the author tell her story, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to read this book. I was given a copy of this book to read and review, and I have to tell you, it truly hurt my heart to read, because of the subject matter. The book is well written, and flows smoothly, and is put together well. This book was emotionally difficult to read; you find yourself wanting to reach into the book, and comfort not only Rebecca, but all of the precious children that suffered at the hands of these horrible people. You also find yourself wanting to kick the stuffing (putting it nicely), out of all those that took advantage of these children, and had the nerve to claim it was all in the name of religion.

It show more took a lot of courage, strength, and conviction to open up her life, and her mouth to tell the WORLD what was going on; against all odds, she stood tall, and displayed her truths like a banner of bravery.

You can feel the pain in every word; I heard it in her voice when I listened to her interview. But, because of her determination to protect her siblings, and the other children of the FLDS, justice prevailed, and they all can start the long journey of healing. I admire Rebecca's faith and conviction to stand up when the odds were definitely stacked against her.

I recommend this book to everyone; light must continue to be shed on this subject, so that it can be eradicated. I strongly advise you to have Kleenex handy, because you will definitely need it! show less

This was a captivating read. I couldn't put the book down, and I think that was largely because I felt a strong connection to the author. If I had been born into her situation, I could see myself doing the same things.

The book is about author Rebecca Musser's life as a member of the extreme Mormon group the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). She grew up in a polygamist household, in a community largely cut off from the rest of the world. There seemed to be happy times in her youth but mostly a lot of restrictions and abuse. At age 19, she was forced into an arrange marriage to the FLDS "Prophet," a man in his 80s. As a wife of the Prophet, she learned about the true nature of the FLDS leaders. She show more eventually escapes the FLDS community. From the outside, she slowly learns of greater atrocities being committed by the new leaders - including child brides - and she helps law enforcement convict some of the leading criminals from the Church.

Although there are many horrors in this book, the author's close ties to family, her perseverance, and her commitment to doing good make it an uplifting story.

The only complaints I have about the book are that so many of the FLDS people are related that they all have similar names, so I had difficulty remember who was who. Also, stories seemed to jump around a bit, adding to the confusion sometimes. show less

This is such a raw look at polygamy under the Jeffs' tyranny, it actually made me nauseous. Really well written though

Yes, it another book about polygamy – I just can’t get enough! Rebecca was in the FLDS like Carolyn Jessop (who wrote Escape and Triumph. In fact, Rebecca knew Carolyn before Carolyn escaped from the FLDS a few years before Rebecca did. However, Rebecca was more of an FLDS insider since she was the 19th wife of FDLS prophet Rulon Jeffs, which made her one of Warren Jeff’s mothers, even though he’s at least twenty years older than her. She also taught at the FLDS school where Warren was the principal so she knew him pretty well.

Since Rebecca was one of the key witnesses for the prosecution in several trials of FLDS members, including Warren Jeffs, she learned even more details about Warren’s horrible crimes than what she show more already knew from living in the FLDS community. I remember when the compound was raided, the country was divided in opinion on whether or not all of the children should have been removed. I myself had mixed feelings about it. Had I known what I know after reading this book, I would have been much more on the side of removing the poor things. Although there was plenty of media coverage about the raid, I don’t recall a lot of coverage of the trials, which is unfortunate.

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve read Carolyn Jessop’s book – now I’d like to go back and re-read it since her FLDS husband was a major player in this book, although it was after she left. I found it interesting that while Carolyn Jessop has pretty much rejected and distains anything connected with the FLDS, Rebecca still seems a bit more sympathetic towards the people affected by the raids that weren’t directly connected to Warren Jeffs. She is also still very connected to God, although it’s certainly a different interpretation of God than the one she grew up with.

If you are intrigued by polygamy, like me, then this is a book you need to add to your reading list. But even if you aren’t particularly and you just like memoirs and/or true crime, then this is a good book for you. show less