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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. At first, the two boys denied any involvement in the break-in at Youngs house. Obsessed with the purity of their bloodline and empowered by a sense of entitlement on par with the divine right of kings, the Kingstons have made incest the cornerstone of a self-serving theology that loathes non whites, fosters homophobia and abhors government authority. 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. Later the Order reportedly bought slot machines from mob-controlled companies. "I'm like, Really? The Kingstons operate in a self-contained universe, completely cut off from the outside world. The Kingstons teach that they are descended from Jesus Christ and these incestous marriages are intended to keep the bloodline pure, but instead have resulted in numerous Clan members being born with disabilties or birth defects, and it's not really that surprising to note that at one point during the second season of Escaping Polygamy, one of This didnt belong to you anyway., As big as the heist was, it attracted almost no attention in Salt Lake. Known variously as Brother Paul, the leader, and the man on the watchtower by Order members, this unremarkable, balding middle-aged man reportedly has 27 wives and over 300 children. There was a guy out here who was married to a couple of young girls, and he was going to get in trouble. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. When Incest Becomes a Religious Tenet - Culteducation.com Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Polygamy Those twoand a fifth boyalso suffer from the condition that all of this family's sons were born with: x-linked hydrocephalus. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been as a boy. The Knight brothers werent afraid to fight, or to stand up to authority. They seemed happy, Ron says. I was scared to death when I left. From a clan ranch in Nevada, Stephen called his brother Ben, who had left the Order a few years before. Asked about these legends, Kingston spokesman Kent Johnson, explained via email that on occasion Order families have asked to spread the ashes of a child lost before or after birth at the Holy Spot. He thinks about his mom, and wonders if she misses him. 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. They threw away their possessions, donned matching blue overalls, and pitched canvas tents on a patch of land north of Salt Lake that would come to be known as the Home Place.. Jessica said she and other children of the Kingston clan a group also known as The Order, the Davis County Cooperative Society, and the Latter-Day Church of Christ dropped the N-bomb all the time, as did their parents. Boys began to show interest in Julie as she matured, but Paul, as the clans leader, warned them away, because of Julies black blood. John Daniel Kingston served 28 weeks after pleading no contest to child abuse following a 1998 episode in which he belt-whipped a girl. 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. "Many of the parents did not want to have to deal with some of those children. Yeah, I believe in it, he said. I'm driving around Short Creek with Alyssawho is in Boise, Idaho, where she is a college sophomorepiped in through the bluetooth-enabled speakerphone in the rental car I'd picked in Las Vegas the previous night. One day, not long after the gold disappeared, Knight got an anonymous phone call. At the lot's northwest corner, a metal gatethe kind you might find on a cattle ranchhangs open on its hinge. Supposedly, LaDonna had a dream wherein it was revealed that anyone who left The Order would be tainted by black blood. Boys are taught that the prophet demands absolute loyalty and that they should be prepared to defend the clan. If I had done it, the Order probably would have killed me. A FAMILY'S TANGLED TIES - Newsweek Seated on a couch, sipping lemonade in his home in a Salt Lake City suburb, he resembles Paul Kingston quite a bit. He charged across the field and started brutally beating Stephens cousin. There is also some overlap with Sovereign citizens, he contends. After the chest of gold was stolen, suspicion among the clans leadership immediately fell on a group of rebellious teenagers who had left the cult a few years before. The lawyers words call to mind another heavenly curse, described in 2 Nephi, Chapter 5 of the Book of Mormon, where God caused a skin of blackness to come upon a group called the Lamanites, supposedly ancestors of Native Americans. In the kitchen, he opened a closet and popped a hatch in the floor that led down to a dark, musty basement. 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. In secret videotapes of Order church meetings aired on Escaping Polygamy, Pauls nephew Nick Young, speaking from a church lectern, identifies himself as a numbered man, number 72, to be precise. The well-kept yellow house sat on the corner of a tidy cul-de-sac called South Bonner Circle surrounded by a black wrought-iron fence. Their neighbors had no idea that the family were prominent members of the Kingston clan, the most powerful polygamist cult in America and one of the most dangerous. Advance Copy and Printing: Since 2017-$62,450. The two boys pulled into the driveway and shifted the green Honda into park. It was all just innocent teenage stuff, recalls Ron, who has since left the clan. Somehow LaDonnas curse was transferred to the Tuckers via Christy, Rons wife, because, Christys mom left The Order and married an Irishman, before leaving him and returning to the fold. Stephens father seemed to marry a new girl every year, each one younger and prettier than the last. Future Planet. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features The girl, who as an adult would unsuccessfully sue the clan, then walked miles to the nearest gas station, where she called the police. It felt like it was us against the world. His older brother Richard, a burly diesel mechanic, taught him how to fix cars. The deputy opened the trunk of the Honda, where he found two duffel bags stuffed with silver. The company was founded in 2007 with an investment from family members. Also, the birth certificate usually does not . Were fucked, they told their cousin. Pulling up, he noticed the getaway car parked in front of the house. Which brings us back to the baby cemetery. She also had a child with a clubfoot, and I think probably half of her children had respiratory problems when they were babies, because they were so related.". A simple urine test will reveal whether there is an excess of fumaric acid in the urine, if the other, more external symptoms aren't obvious enough. I tell her I'm not sure, given the context. On weekends, he was sent out to work at the Orders coal mine with other teenagers. He had yet to lose his hair, and thanks to his fanatical devotion to healthy food and alternative medicine, he had the ropy build of a well-toned athlete. Nothing has come of the raids yet, and the IRS refused comment on the matter when contacted by this publication. "They were called the Second Warders and we were called the First Warders; we weren't supposed to hang out with kids from the Centennial group because they were wicked for having left," she says. 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. "Fred was in charge of the cemeteries, the gravediggers, all of that. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. Johnson maintained that The Orders vast array of businesses which includes a grocery store, pawn shops, a garbage disposal business, an insurance company, a politically-influential biofuels plant, and a high-end firearms manufacturer employs individuals of various racial and ethnic minorities. The grift was exposed decades later, in the 1980s, when the clan paid a $350,000 settlement for swindling the government through welfare fraud. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. 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. He snapped the padlock on the first crate and began stuffing the silver ingots into duffel bags, lugging them back out to the waiting Honda. When youre three years old, they start training you what to say if people talk to you, recalls Jeremy Tucker, a 32-year-old former member of the cult, who now works in construction. Like Stephen, the boys were considered troublemakers by the Order and like Stephen, they knew a lot about how the clan handled its money. One of them approached the front door while the other kept a lookout. A short, blustery man with a hair-trigger temper, Daniel Kingston had reportedly once kidnapped two boys at gunpoint and led them out to the Great Salt Lake (the charges were later dropped). And they avoid the police, opting to handle any disputes in their own brutal manner. Sex. Read more: Women Who Escaped a Polygamist Mormon Cult Share Their Story. Paul was upset any of this had been reported at all, says a former member close to the boys. He was usually off visiting one of his 30 or so wives, or checking on one of the clans many businesses, or in a backroom getting his muscles rubbed in preparation for one of his painful, 40-day fasts, a purification ritual that he endured in order to get closer to God. 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. As for its anti-government views, allegations of fraud against government entities have long dogged the Kingstons. There are also graves lacking any dates whatsoever. The teenagers sitting in the driveway on South Bonner Circle that afternoon in 2009 knew the operation well. Another is a first cousin. He also shared his brothers fascination with herbs and natural medicine. Is it a requirement to gain the highest levels of heaven? So far, however, despite Shurtleffs efforts, the insular and highly secretive nature of the Order has prevented him from finding sufficient evidence to bring a case strong enough to dismantle the clan. The first questions were about his background. Tom Sizemore, Heat and Saving Private Ryan Actor, Dead at 61 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. She directs me to the houses she lived in after that: her stepdad Jim Jessop's home; then the rotten, roach-infested house she and her mother shared with nearly two dozen cousins and friends after being removed from Jim's following the Judgment. It's the kids who are disproportionately handicapped as compared to the demographics of any other comparably small town. I Escaped a Polygamist Cult | Marie Claire One ex-Order member, who asked to be referred to as Scott, instead of his real name for fear of retribution by clan members, said hatred of gays was big in the Kingston clan, with the word f----- in frequent use. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. Until the 1990s, there were only 13 known cases of FD in the world. Terrified, he went out and bought a stash of guns to arm himself, just in case his family tried to gun him down. In the 1980s, the state of Utah sued John Ortell Kingston over welfare fraud related to his many wives. For Stephen and the other kids on the ranch, the highlight of each week came on Sundays, when they traveled the hour and a half south to Salt Lake for church. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Im done with this shit.. What is BBC Future? Dawna's eldest son is now dating a Centennial woman whom he recently found out is a distant cousin. Dawna asks me. I pass the dairy, the zoo, the park, the former birthing clinic, the condemned high school built on a foundation of adobe bricks, and so on. Thats your Uncle Paul, she said. Sometimes his father read the Book of Mormon from the pulpit and talked about things regular Christians would recognize, like tithing or repentance. Dawna Black Bistline (Alyssa Bistline's father's brother's wife) has seen firsthand how the children of cousins suffer. Its a quiet, haunting place, with massive hayfields that stretch to the horizon. Come back, his dad will say. "You have to either accept" the responsibility of caring for so many children with major healthcare needs "or let it destroy you," says this man, whose wife recently suffered a stroke. Blacks were the less valiant people in heaven who sat on the sidelines while others took sides, according to The Order. Family members attribute the defects to the advanced There was also testimony, during one hearing, that someone in the Kingston clan wanted to blow up the courthouse. Is Jasper always unspirited and stony-broke when outvalue some Heisenberg very . They were the type of kids you didnt mess with, says Robert Owen, a former member of the clan. Suddenly, Stephens brother David lost control of the truck and it rolled over, killing David instantly. The clan was reportedly brought to justice by 10 victims, including Blaklyn, in early September. If you find a grave up there that's not marked, that's the way Fred wanted it.". Escaping polygamy and the Kingston clan: Whistleblower Mary Nelson on Family Tree. She was definitely the pick of the litter, and thats why Paul got her, Ron recalls. Elden continued the tradition. The Knight brothers were driving new trucks, and so were their friends, says Levi Kingston. Obviously, we would love to.. The Kingston clan is an endogamous (preaching unity between members of the same family) and polygamous sect formed by a split in the Mormon church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Structural Birth Defects. Former Order members tell of babies being born nearly every week in the church. He is not ready to forgive his father. When it comes to racist Sunday school lessons, the polygamous Kingston clan could teach the Ku Klux Klan a thing or two. 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. A sheriffs deputy traced the license plate of the Honda to a run-down house in a working-class suburb south of the city. Nevertheless, former members of The Order say that incest and racism are inextricably linked in The Orders teachings. According to former members of the Order, decades of inbreeding have resulted in rampant birth defects throughout the family. Another brother, Ben, showed him how to mend fences. The teacher was like, You can never get that out, that is always there now, recalled Jessica, now 29. We havent gotten any big U.S. contracts, Young explained. 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. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). Structural birth defects are related to a problem with the structure of body parts. "There are times when it has gotten kind of gross, like when they marry an uncle to a niece," she continues. Then, moving quickly, the boy at the door let himself in and got to work. "And my oldest daughter, she's 18 and she's dated a couple of my cousins, which makes them her second cousins, and we're like, Eww, that's gross.". Former Order members remain convinced the Knights stole the gold. The clan kids from there would come to school not properly dressed for the cold, and they were always getting in fights. One of her brothers married a woman whose grandmother is a sister to their father. We pass the house she grew up in with her mother, three eldest brothers, and father before he was kicked out of the cult. If they kill me, they kill me, he says. A 1999 Salt Lake Tribune article mapped the Kingstons incestuous family tree, quoting one of Ortells 65 kids, ex-Order member Connie Rugg as saying, My father experimented [with] inbreeding with his cattle and then he turned to his children.. Money, sex and power. Vandoliers Play Tennessee Concert in Dresses to Protest State's New Drag Bill took great pains to never show his wealth and taught his followers to do the same. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) is a polygamous sect straddling the Utah and Arizona state lines; the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, are known collectively as Short Creek (pronounced "crick"). girl, born to John Ortell and Isabell Johnson, was not the product of an incestuous marriage. We figured it was ours anyway, says Stephen, explaining that the clan hadnt paid the boys for bagging coal. It empowered Stephen before that, no one had ever stood up to Daniel Kingston or any of them, says a former member. But mostly he talked about the history of the Order and his ancestors, the men who had started the clan. Like polygamy, incest is a third-degree felony in Utah, and as with polygamy, convictions are rare. Look around, Stephen says. I strongly believe they are an organized-crime family, Shurtleff says. Kollene's father, John Daniel Kingston has 14 wives, and she is the fifth of her mother Shirley Hansen's 12 children. Andrea grew up in a small two-bedroom home in a Kingston-owned coal I didnt even know the n-word was bad until I was like 15 or 16, she told Intelligence Report. Kingston forebears were among those who suffered this fate. The familys dedication to the principle of polygamy already had been established by Kingstons father, who had three wives. Her parents and siblings eventually left as well. SALT LAKE CITY A local non-profit with ties to the polygamous Kingston group is facing multiple questions and accusations regarding its taxes. Over the years, the Order has armed itself to ward off rivals, and once stalked and intimidated a judge who was meddling in the clans affairs. Jonathan Turner, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Riverside, hypothesized exactly that, in an article published by the ABC news network in 2008. UFC 285 Live Stream: How to Watch Jones vs. Gane Online These can include: Cleft lip or cleft palate; Heart defects, such as missing or misshaped valves; Abnormal limbs, such as a clubfoot; Neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, and problems related to the growth and development of the . These specialty firearms can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $8,000 each. Local Policing and Immigration Enforcement, Request for Legal Assistance Economic Justice. 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. They would trek into state welfare offices, their kids in tow, claiming that they had no idea who the father of their children was, or that he was a truck driver who had left them destitute. Stephen didnt know what the law said he only knew that the people he loved were being abused and exploited by his own father. Its who I am., To keep the police from prying into the matter any further, the clan also hired a private investigator to track down the missing gold. The issue is available now on newsstands and in the digital archive. It was all fun, Stephen recalls. Before the call ended, Young insisted that he didnt admit to any kind of incest or anything. When Intelligence Report inquired if Young thought there was anything wrong with first cousins getting married, Young opined that such issues were between the individuals involved and God. The Order denies that it encourages racism and homophobia within its ranks. The kingston clan, kingston polygamy order birth defects and turned to yfz children have been taken into consideration, arizona have been under. "It's like any inbred disorder," Tarby says. I wonder aloud. Incest is endemic in the clan, with uncles marrying much younger female relatives; in 2003, police showed up at an Order barbecue and arrested a clan member for marrying his underage cousin. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 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. There are also accounts of dead babies being buried at the Holy Spot, a tree-shrouded patch of land across the street from a grade school in Bountiful, just north of Salt Lake City. Eventually, Stephen was sent back to Washakie and was placed under the supervision of his uncle, one of the familys most feared enforcers. (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. You better check on your gold, Young told her. Ross LeBaron Jr. recently took to the Internet to express his support for the Bundy family in Oregon, as well as for LaVoy Finicum, the lone fatality in that ordeal. Accounts of clan babies being born with congenital defects and other problems abound, including dwarfism, albinism and children born minus fingernails or without genitals. Intelligence Report then read the names of women believed to be his wives four in all. 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. "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. According to people who have left the Order, the cult exploits its 2,000 members as virtual slave labor and hides profits from tax collectors. YouTube Situated at the base of a rugged mountain range, the Orders spread sat in a pristine valley of glistening hayfields and open pasture.