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POLYGAMY DIARIES

In one of the most remote corners of America's Southwest desert sits the little dusty town of Colorado City, Ariz., home to the largest concentration of polygamists in North America.


It's a secretive society hostile to outsiders where the practice of polygamy -- one man, multiple wives and often dozens of children -- is the norm, a place where young girls are routinely married as "plural wives" to much older polygamist men and where the larger families are often subsidized by tax dollars.


It is a town run almost entirely by the all-male leaders of a fundamentalist sect and where critics say women and girls are often victimized on a scale that rivals the brutality of the Taliban.


Reward offered for Jeffs' capture

A $100,000 reward is being offered for the capture of Warren Jeffs, the leader of thousands of practicing polygamists living in Colorado City.
Part I | Part II | Part III
New charges filed against Jeffs
Jeffs on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list
Possible Jeff's hideouts

Battle brewing over control of UEP

With Warren Jeffs on the run, a battle is now brewing over control of the multi-million dollar trust known as the United Effort Plan or the UEP. It's a battle that will ultimately be decided by a judge in Utah.
Part I | Part II

The search for Warren Jeffs

3TV
Mike Watkiss runs into Seth Jeffs, the brother of fugitive polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs, as he leaves a Denver court.

Follow 3TV reporter Mike Watkiss as he crosses the Western United States in search of fugitive polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs.

Slideshow: The Search for Warren Jeffs
Day 1| Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Seth Jeffs sentenced

E-mail Mike Watkiss

National media outlets like CNN and MSNBC are turning to 3TV reporter Mike Watkiss with questions about polygamy. Now, here's your chance. If you have a question for Mike about his coverage, Warren Jeffs or anything else related to polygamy e-mail Mike Watkiss here.

"Colorado City and the Underground Railroad"

-- Winner of a 2005 Edward R. Murrow Award
-- Winner of a 2005 Rocky Mountain Emmy for Best Documentary
-- The most watched, locally produced prime time news special in Arizona history

"Colorado City and the Underground Railroad" is an extraordinary journey inside America's Taliban and an even more extraordinary journey out. It is the harrowing story of some courageous women who escaped the polygamist culture of Colorado City, Ariz., and are now risking their own safety to help other women and children to do the same.
Reporters from around the world are now scrambling to cover this incredible saga but journalist Mike Watkiss was there first. "Colorado City and the Underground Railroad" is an award-winning documentary that pulls together dozens of Watkiss' exclusive, groundbreaking stories that are the reason polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs is on the run.
In fact, they are stories that have changed the course of Arizona history and reversed nearly 50 years of neglect and indifference.

-- Recently featured on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deuthsch," CNN's "Larry King Live," and the "Dr. Phil Show."

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Media glare focuses on polygamy

The revolutionaries

Encore presentation: Colorado City and the Underground Railroad

Where is Warren Jeffs?

Armed and dangerous

Featured Story
The strange case of polygamist gardener Arvin Shreeve

Before you watch HBO's new series glamorizing polygamy, watch this cautionary tale about the realities of the polygamist lifestyle.
View video

Featured Story
Colorado City marks historic day

It was exactly 53 years ago that Arizona law enforcement officers raided the large polygamy community that is now known as Colorado City.
View video

Featured story
Ruth Stubbs -- Four years later

She's a 23-year-old mother of four who fled her polygamist police officer husband. Mike Watkiss catches up to her four years later.
View video

Polygamy Diaries ... "credible reporting on polygamy in Arizona and Utah." -- Phoenix New Times, Jan. 2006

Cheri Taylor:A 15-year-old girl flees the polygamist town of Colorado City in the summer of 2001 and sits down for an exclusive interview with Mike Watkiss.
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John Singer: A 25-year-old bloodfight between religious fundamentalists and secular law enforcement may serve as a cautionary tale to officials.
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Pennie Petersen: Pennie Petersen is highly respected anti-polygamy activist who has played pivotal role in the indictment of several men on charges related to polygamy. She now works to try to break what she calls the cycle of slavery.
View video

Matthew Smith: Mohave County Attorney Matthew Smith made history after filing the first-ever criminal charges against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
Part I | Part II

Ruth Stubbs: Ruth Stubbs may be the Rosa Parks of the anti-polygamy movement. At 16, she was given as a third wife to a polygamist police officer. At 19, she fled the marriage with her three children and helped bring unprecedented criminal charges against her polygamist cop husband. And she shared her story exclusively with Mike Watkiss.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

Rodney Holm: Polygamist police officer Rodney Holm was sentenced to a year in jail for bigamy and illegal sex with a 16-year old girl he took as a third wife.
Part I | Part II

Kris Knowlton: Utah prosecutors make their case against a polygamist cop.
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Elizabeth -- We're not abused: Pro-polygamy women gather to defend plural marraige at Utah's first polygamy summit in August 2003.
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Jason Williams: Jason Williams says his life has been torn apart by polygamy. The same religious leaders who allegedly place teens in polygamist marriages also arranged for Williams' wife, Suzanne, to become the second wife of another man.
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Elizabeth Smart: Child bride? Was Elizabeth Smart kidnapped for the purpose of making her a child bride?
Part I | Part II

Governor Napolitano: As Arizona Attorney General, Janet Napolitano acknowledged that it was Mike Watkiss' work that first prompted her to order a probe into alleged polygamist wrongdoing, thus reversing a half century of neglect and indifference. But as governor, Napolitano seemed to abandon the issue and in this fiesty November 2004 interview, Watkiss asks the governor "why?"
Part I | Part II

Alvin Barlow: Despite claims of malfeasance and misuse of public funds, Alvin Barlow remains head of the Colorado City school district.
Part I | Part II | Part III
In December 2005, the state of Arizona takes over control of the scandal-rocked Colorado City School District.
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Warren Jeffs: The man many polygamists consider a religious prophet is reportedly in trouble with the law and planning a possible move to Texas.
Part I | Part II

Floyd Spencer: Floyd Spencer is a practicing polygamist living in Mexico and in a February 2004 interview said his lifestyle is very different from the polygamists of Colorado City.
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Dan Barlow: The former Colorado City mayor was one of several men ousted from the town under the leadership of Warren Jeffs in January 2004.
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Linda Walker: Anti-polygamy activists take their case to the capitol in September of 2002 during the gubernatorial campaign.
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Dan Fischer: In August 2004, Salt Lake City philanthropist tries to help the lost boys of polygamy -- young men kicked out of Colorado City to decrease competition for women.
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Lenore Holm: An Arizona mother fights to save her teen-age daughter from a polygamist marriage and faces eviction from her Colorado City home in May of 2003.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

Debbie West: Debbie West lives next door to the large polygamist community of El Dorado and like many in the town, she said in April 2005, she's not happy about it.
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Gary Engles: Career police officer Gary Engles has been shot and wounded in the line of duty, but he says his toughest assignment is working in Colorado City.
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Randy Barlow: Randy Barlow is among eight alleged polygamist men who recently turned themselves in to Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan. Their surrender came after the men were charged with sex crimes against teenage girls.
Part I| Part II

Seth Jeffs: The brother of fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was arrested in Colorado. Now authorities are hoping they are one step closer to the man who has a $10,000 bounty on his head.
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Deb McCarley: FBI special agent Deb McCarley could neither confirm nor deny whether FBI agents raided a community meeting in the polygamist town of Colorado City on Jan. 14, 2006. However, sources say the raid was an attempt to hand out subpoenas to the followers of polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs.
View video

Tamara Phelps: Tamara Phelps said she escaped an abusive polygamist marriage in which she was beaten, brainwashed and raped. She then fought to save her children from a similar fate.
Part I| Part II

Orson Black: Orson Black holds a unique position. He's charged wth crimes associated with polygamy, and he's also on the run in Mexico where Mike Watkiss tracked him down in early 2004.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

Flora Jessop: She has been called the Martin Luther King of Arizona's anti-polygamy movement. Flora Jessop is a passionate and tireless crusader for the victims of polygamy. She is a main player in many of these stories and it was Jessop who alerted authorities to the polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs' move to Texas.
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Laurene Jessop: As a child, she was molested by her father. As a young woman, she was given as a wife to an already married man. As a mother, she fought to protect her children only to be thrown in a mental institution. Like most of the major polygamy stories of the past decade, Watkiss broke the story and has been following this courageous mother's saga since she and her children turned up on the streets of Phoenix in May 2004.
Part I | Part II | Part III

Alex Joseph: A Utah polygamist finds himself battling cancer at a time when he's defending his lifestyle.
Part I | Part II

Fawn Holm and Fawn Broadbent: With the help of activist Flora Jessop, two young girls flee the polygamist community of Colorado City in January 2004 hoping for a better future. Their explosive story, first reported by Mike Watkiss, changed forever the way Arizona deals with polygamy escapees.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

Rulon Jeffs: Thousands of practicing polygamists turned out to attend the September 2003 funeral of Rulon Jeffs, a man considered a prophet by followers of a fundamentalist religious sect.
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Fabian Dawson: Fabian Dawson has been covering polygamy in Canada for years and in December 2000 he attended a potluck dinner where anti-polygamy activists and polygamy victims talk about the problems in Colorado City and the Canadian connection.
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Terry Goddard: In March 2005, Arizona's Attorney General said he's dedicated to helping the beleaguered children of plural marriage.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII

Dick Mahoney: Independent gubernatorial candidate Dick Mahoney made the alleged abuses of polygamy a hot-button issue during the campaign in September 2002.
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Elaine Tyler: The woman behind Hope for the Child Brides said in a March 2005 interview, she aims to inform people about plural marriage, not end it.
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Mark Shurtleff: Utah's Attorney General has taken a tough stance on the alleged abuses of children and women in Hildale, Utah.
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Sam Roundy: In March 2005, Colorado City's police chief had his Utah police certification revoked because of his polygamist lifestyle.
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In October 2005, Roundy lost his Arizona certification.
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Gary Maschner: Gary Maschner is heading up the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board's efforts to decertify Colorado City polygamist police chief Sam Roundy and one of Roundy’s polygamist officers, Vance Barlow.
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Joanne Yarrish: Women lobby at the state capitol to defend the practice of polygamy, claiming bills that try to prohibit the practice are discriminatory.
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Fred Jessop: Thousands of mourners paid their respects to the former Colorado City leader who mysteriously turned up at a Colorado hospital before his death in March 2005.
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David Doran: El Dorado's top cop said he'll keep a close eye on activity at an alleged polygamist compound in Texas.
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John Dougherty and the Colorado City school district: In a series of extraordinary articles in the Phoenix New Times magazine, crusading journalist John Dougherty exposed the alleged wrongdoings in the Colorado City school district -- stories that led to the state's crack down on the district.
Part I | Part II

Don Cox: Don Cox was one of the first dissidents in Colorado City. His family's dispute with polygamist leaders 20 years ago helped set the stage for the crisis today.
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Sam Brower: Sam Brower works as a private investigator for many people who have left Colorado City including Warren Jeffs' nephew, who claims he was sodomized by the so-called prophet.
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Dawn House: In the mid-90s, Utah reporter Dawn House and other journalists from the Salt Lake City Tribune published the first in-depth study of alleged welfare fraud inside the polygamist community of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.
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Bruce Griffen: Bruce Griffen is the attorney representing the Colorado City 8 -- the eight men indicted for having sex with underage girls. Griffen calls the charges against the men "unfortunate."
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Isaac Wyler: Isaac Wyler is a life-long Colorado City resident who says large portions of the town's property are being dismantled and carried off in the night by followers of fugitive prophet, Warren Jeffs.
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Candi Shapley:A brave, young woman, who may be a key witness in the case against Warren Jeffs, says she never meant to be a crusader.
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Deputy Eric Medina On a dark night in October 2005, Pueblo County Sheriff's Deputy, Eric Medina, pulled over an SUV on a dark Colorado road -- a routine traffic stop that turned out to be anything but.
View video

Slide Show
Related Stories
Sources More info
Video: Reporter's Picks
New problems for fugitive polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs2006-04-06
Polygamy Diaries2006-03-28
Arvin's gardens2006-03-03
Jeffs' lawyers want case thrown out2006-02-21
Ruth Stubbs four years later2006-02-16
Jessop: Colorado City squandering federal funds2006-02-10
Pressure mounts for Polygamy leader2006-01-26
Reward raised for Jeffs' capture2006-01-17
Brother of fugitive polygamist leader pleads innocent2005-11-17
Fugitive's brother arrested2005-11-01
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About Mike Watkiss

For more than 25 years, award-winning reporter Mike Watkiss, who himself comes from a polygamist background, has covered the intimate, personal stories from inside America's polygamist underworld. "Polygamy Diaries" is a collection of reports that Watkiss has produced for 3TV during the last decade. To e-mail Mike Watkiss, click here.

What people are saying

3TV's Mike Watkiss has been interviewed by the national media for his coverage of polygamy over the past three decades. Find out what people are saying about his original, investigative and bold reporting.

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