NBCUniversal "Dateline NBC," the network's former flagship news magazine, is back with more true crime stories you've got to see to believe.
In an episode of Dateline NBC, the story of Rebecca Musser vs. Warren Jeffs, one of the FBI’s most notorious fugitives will be examined in depth. Musser’s sister, Elissa Wall, is interviewed in the episode.
Wall is one of Musser’s 14 siblings, and she has referred to her education in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (FLDS)-run academy as “brainwashing”.
The Dateline NBC episode features interviews with Musser, her former classmate Andrew Chatwin, private investigator Sam Brower and more.
Here’s what you should know about Elissa Wall:
1. She Is a Former Member of the FLDS Church
Wall was born into a polygamous family in Salt Lake City, Utah and attended the FLDS-run Alta Academy along with her 14 siblings. Wall’s biological mother, Sharon Steed, was the second of her father’s three wives, and her mother was later reassigned to marry another man.
As a member of the FLDS church, Wall was expected to follow every order including getting married when she was just 14 years old.
Thanks to the “brainwashing” growing up, Wall believed that marriage was the sole purpose of a woman, as did her then-husband Allen Steed.
2. She Was Forced to Marry Her First Cousin
At the age of 14, Wall was forced to marry her then 19-year-old first cousin Allen Steed. Because of her religious beliefs, she was forced to go through with the marriage, though she did meet with leader Warren Jeffs to ask him for more time or a different husband.
In April 2001, they were married by Jeffs himself, and Wall was routinely sexually and physically abused by Steed. By the time Wall was 17 years old, she had had four miscarriages and given birth to a stillborn child.
Four years into the marriage, she began sleeping in her truck and met the then 25-year-old former FLDS member Lamont Barlow who convinced her to leave her husband and the church to start a life with him outside the confines of the church.
Wall pressed charges against her former husband Allen.
3. Wall Published a Book About Her Story
In 2009, Wall published Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs. The reviews of the book say that it is “creepy… and quite moving.”
The book has become a New York Times bestseller. By March 2013 there were over 400,000 copies printed.
Wall used pseudonyms for most of the people who appeared in the book, though she did keep the names of the plaintiffs and a few other members of the church. Lisa Pulitzer was a ghostwriter on the memoir.
4. She Was a State Witness Against Warren Jeffs
Like her sister Rebecca Musser, Wall was a state witness against Warren Jeffs. In 2011, Jeffs was convicted in Texas on sexual assault charges unrelated to her case.
In 2005, Wall filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the FLDS, Warren Jeffs and the UEP Trust with the intention to assist other members of the FLDS in leaving the community.
In 2009, she offered to settle the suit for $308,000, the land her family lives on, and some other property.
Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence in a Texas prison after being convicted of child sexual assault related to underage marriages there.
5. She Ran For City Council in 2019
In June 2019, Wall was running for public office in Hilldale, Utah. She confirmed at the time that she had filed to run for Hilldale City Council.
“I look forward to representing the residents of Hildale as a future city council member,” she told FOX 13. “Alongside the mayor, council, and citizens, we will continue to work together to be resilient, rebuild, and create a vision for our future.”
She was one of four candidates running for three spots on the city council. She did not win the election.
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