At age eighteen, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years older than she was. Merril Jessop already had three wives. As a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FCLD), Carolyn had no choice but to obey. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband's psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives, who were locked into a constant battle for supremacy. Miserable for years, Carolyn wanted out, but she knew if she got caught her children would be taken away from her. In 2003, Carolyn finally chose freedom over fear and fled with her eight children. She had $20 to her name. She successfully escaped, survived, and became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FCLD. In 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses joined others and formed a crucial part of the case that led to leader Warren Jeffs' arrest, conviction and sentence to prison.
