Saturday, April 8, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.
Editor's note: The Salt Lake Tribune used the pseudonym "Mary" in this story to protect the identity of the woman. By Brooke Adams
As Mary tells the story of how she became a plural wife at age 16, the shock of it all is still fresh.
On March 27, 2002, her father announced she would be married the next day. To whom? Mary asked. Her father told her it was "a Barlow boy" but could not recall his first name.
"I was scared. I thought, 'Whatever,' I mean, I just kind of didn't understand because my father didn't even know who he was," Mary said.
She said her mother later supplied the man's full name: Randolph Barlow, then 28 - a man she had never talked to or even met.
The next morning, Mary and her father, accompanied by his six wives, made the 2 1/2 hour drive from Colorado City, Ariz., to the Hot Springs Motel in Caliente, Nev. Shortly after arriving at the motel, Mary was spiritually married to Barlow as his first wife stood by.
The man she says conducted the ceremony? Warren Steed Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious sect located at the Utah/Arizona border that practices polygamy. Jeffs is wanted by Arizona authorities on charges related to Mary's marriage, and a federal fugitive warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Mary told her story to a grand jury last summer, a transcript of which was found in public court files of several men from Colorado City now facing sex-related felony charges in Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman, Ariz. A judge refused to let The Salt Lake Tribune have a copy of the document, but agreed a reporter could read it.
The woman's testimony sheds rare light on the furtive underage marriages that are said to be commonplace in the FLDS church. It also highlights the key role Jeffs has played in pairing men with child brides - among them, one of his own teenage daughters.
Mary, now 20, left her husband after 18 months and is no longer a member of the FLDS community. She may be the only woman who testified before the grand jury - and she did not come forward voluntarily, appearing only after she was subpoenaed.
She said she has 56 siblings, although at the time of her marriage 30 family members shared a home with 20 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms.
Growing up, she said, "We're taught that we're supposed to be good mothers, grow up and get married ... We were taught that we're here to bring children onto the Earth and raise them as sweet as possible."
In late 2001, about four months before her "marriage," Mary accompanied an older sister and their father to see Jeffs and his father, Rulon Jeffs, then the FLDS prophet.
One of the men asked her sister's name, age and about her belief in plural marriage. Warren Jeffs jotted the information down in "his little black book." They then asked Mary her full name and age.
That was it until March 27, when her father delivered the stunning news she was to be married the next day.
"When I married him ... I actually thought it was the right thing to do because of how I was raised," Mary said.
According to Mary, Jeffs conducted eight to 10 marriage ceremonies that day. Among the brides was one of his own 16-year-old daughters, she said.
Mary testified her union was consummated two days later, after she returned to the two-bedroom trailer home that Barlow shared with his first wife and their four children - despite her protests that she was not ready to have children. About six months later, she again tried but failed to fight him off, she alleged.
A year later, after turning 18, Mary had an affair with another man in order to sever her relationship with Barlow.
The reluctance of Mary and the other women to speak out about these arranged pairings mystified some jury members.
Mary tried to help the jury understand the women's silence.
"We were taught that we would go to hell" for speaking out, she said. "After I got away from that religion, I still felt like I would be damned if I 'spoke out' because that's just how I was raised."
So ingrained is that belief that Mary wavered after her grand jury appearance. She failed to show up at Barlow's original trial, which was set for March 13. Arizona authorities issued a subpoena for Mary, who was picked up days later.
She now has been ordered to attend a June 5 trial for Barlow, who faces two felony counts of sexual assault.
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