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Still on the run: Orson William Black
Orson William Black is charged with crimes associated with polygamy, and he's also on the run in Mexico where Mike Watkiss tracked him down in early 2004.
Orson William Black (Feb. 25, 2004)
Ross Lebaron
Taboo that may be tearing one polygamous family apart, Ross Lebaron is accused of fathering children with his own daughter.
Mind Games: Rena Chynoweth
Rena Chynoweth said she knows all about mind control, after being forced to commit a murder by her self-proclaimed polygamist prophet when she was only a teen.
David Draper's death
Family members of David Draper say polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs had a hand in prompting the young father of nine to take his own life.
Bold, original reporting
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.
The search for Warren Jeffs
Follow 3TV reporter Mike Watkiss as he crossed the Western United States in search of fugutive polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs.
New charges filed against Jeffs
Jeffs on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list
The Documentary
"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 Deutsch," CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and "Larry King Live," Fox News, "Verdict with Dan Abrams," Canadian Broadcast Company and the "Dr. Phil Show."
Prophets and Players
Arvin Shreeve
Before you watch HBO's new series glamorizing polygamy, watch this cautionary tale about the realities of the polygamist lifestyle.
Alex Joseph
A Utah polygamist finds himself battling cancer at a time when he's defending his lifestyle.
John Singer
A 25-year-old bloodfight between religious fundamentalists and secular law enforcement may serve as a cautionary tale to officials.
Warren Jeffs
The man many polygamists consider a religious prophet is reportedly in trouble with the law and planning a possible move to Texas.
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.
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.
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.
View video
Sam Roundy
In March 2005, Colorado City's police chief had his Utah police certification revoked because of his polygamist lifestyle.
View video
In October 2005, Roundy lost his Arizona certification.
View video
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.
Orson William Black
Orson William 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.
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.
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.
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.
Advocates and Journalists
John Doughtery
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.
Fabian Dawson
Fabian Dawson has been covering polygamy in Canada for years. .
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.
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.
Debbie West
Debbie West lives next door to the large polygamist community of El Dorado and said she's not happy about it.
Linda Walker
Anti-polygamy activists take their case to the capitol in September of 2002 during the gubernatorial campaign.
Elizabeth - We're not abused
Pro-polygamy women gather to defend plural marraige at Utah's first polygamy summit in August 2004.
Joanne Yarrish
Women lobby at the state capitol to defend the practice of polygamy, claiming bills that try to prohibit the practice are discriminatory.
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.
The Revolutionaries
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 at 23 she shared her story exclusively with Mike Watkiss.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Issac 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.
Jason Williams
Jason Williams says 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.
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.
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.
Cops, Lawyers and Politicians
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.
Matthew Smith
Mohave County Attorney Matthew Smith made history after filing the first-ever criminal charges against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
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.
Mark Shurtleff
Utah's Attorney General has taken a tough stance on the alleged abuses of children and women in Hildale, Utah.
Terry Goddard
In March 2005, Arizona's Attorney General said he's dedicated to helping the beleaguered children of plural marriage.
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?".
Dick Mahoney
Independent gubernatorial candidate Dick Mahoney made the alleged abuses of polygamy a hot-button issue during the campaign in September 2002.
David Doran
El Dorado's top cop said he'll keep a close eye on activity at an alleged polygamist compound in Texas.
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.
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.
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.
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."
Blog
"Confessions of an Ambulance Chaser"
3TV Reporter Mike Watkiss writes of his stories, encounters and experiences in covering daily news, special projects and big events. Click here to read what Mike has to say.
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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.
