tv 2020 ABC February 13, 2016 10:00pm-11:00pm EST
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oh, my god. i could eat this every day. laurel: seriously. i'm so full. pasta game's strong, frankie d. well, it's not just pasta. it's the famous delfino ziti. hey. [ laughter ] hey. a toast. -wait for me. bonnie: just make it strong. we won for today. salute. -salute. -salute. -salut\. annalise: hello? i thought i ruled out... wes? ...once before insane i gave no fight no. no. no. no!
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i searched everywhere... the entire house, but all i found were those pills. i get it now... ...why my mom did it. i never did before, but she just needed to make it all stop. so do i. you said "christophe." you knew my mother, didn't you? [ children shouting ] [ cheering ] christophe: home run! yes! you knew her, and that's why i'm here,
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because you knew who i was. you didn't tell me because there's a story there. hi. hello. you have to take him. i can't! i can't! i said come back! may i sit? of course. you need to rest those feet. yes. a boy, right? oh, how'd you know? you're carrying low. oh. i'm terrified of boys. you'll be fine. [ sighs ] that's mine over there -- in the blue. another hit for the win! oh, he's adorable. at times. [ chuckles ] i'm rose. annalise. batter, batter. go, go, go, go!
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welcoming place to outsiders. >> you back off. back off! >> i have a right to worship any damn thing i want for any damn cause i want. >> reporter: they turned around as soon as we did. now he's right on my tail. drive into this community and you will almost certainly be tailed by the god squad, the private church security team that had encircled sabrina. ask you a quick question? can i just ask you a quick question? >> no. >> reporter: can i ask you a quick question? i guess not. on the rare occasion when you can actually get a church member to speak to you, what you will hear is unvarnished adoration for the imprisoned ped file pro prophet. is that the view what's happening with the prophet? >> yes. >> reporter: people feel like he will come back? >> i do. >> reporter: that is exactly how sabrina does not want her
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but in order to get them back, she's going have to drink from a fire hose of classic flds intimidation tactics. >> just go back a little bit for me, okay? step back a little bit. >> this is how they treat people. >> yep. >> and think think it's okay. >> reporter: while sabrina may seem like a hard-charging flds antagonist, her story goes much deeper. not long ago, she was on the other side, a die hard church member, prairie dress and all. >> when you grow up, that's all you know, you know? that's all you know. >> reporter: the wrenching story of how she left without her children, when we come back. how do robots work? you need a team... ...working together... ...doing all kinds of jobs.
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tt2watu# s4 bt@qop< tt2watu# s4 "a@q_\x tt2watu# s4 bm@qtwt tt4watu# s4 " dztq 0 t tt4watu# s4 " entq @$4 tt4watu# s4 " gzt& y#l tt4watu# s4 " hnt& i- tt4watu# s4 " iztq #dx tt4watu# s4 " jntq 148 tt4watu# s4 " lzt& )yd "a howdy slideuse divided" continues. >> reporter: 2006. >> let's do it. >> ride. >> come on, come on.
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runaway, launches a series of commando style missions to extract his entire family from the church, by any means necessary. >> you can see them sad, depressed, hurt, scared. and i'm like, why not try to get them out? >> reporter: as seen in a documentary called "sons of perdition," his most adamant opponent is his oldest sister, sabrina. yes, ironically, the same woman who would later find herself on the other side of this conflict was then a zealous defender of the church, here literally pulling on one of her sisters to prevent her from leaving. >> she's not going. >> you can never stop praying and obeying. you never stop keeping sweet. >> reporter: when you grow up in know? that's all you know. >> reporter: so, you thought warren jeffs was god's mouthpiece? >> right. family tree is actually quite slender by flds standards. sabrina was raised in a household with one father, just two wives and 22 children. how old were you when you got
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>> i was 17. >> reporter: and was it somebody you wanted to marry, you got to pick, or -- >> no, they're just assigned to you. >> many a young lady gets married thinking her husband should submit to her will, but a woman's duty is to bless her husband. >> reporter: sabrina knew from the recorded sermons of warren jeffs that the job of an flds wife is to obey her husband and bear children. and she did her duty, delivering two boys and two girls in rapid succession. her brother joe had a different duty, working without pay as a manual laborer. how old were you when you were first put to work? >> i was 10 years old. i started driving a forklift when i was 12. in fact, i learned how to drive a forklift before a vehicle. >> so, they're brought up work working, child labor. >> reporter: sam brower is a private investigator who's been looking into allegations of flds child abuse for more than a decade.
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child wants to play with a doll, give her a baby. if a boy wants to ride a bicycle, give him a shovel. >> get out of here! >> reporter: driving around the creek we found children at work everywhere. with shovels, building fences, running heavy equipment. brower says his investigations uncovered flds-organized child labor on an industrial scale at pecan orchards, 20 miles away from the creek. the department of labor sued the parties involved, including the flds church, for nearly $2 million in child labor violations. a hearing is scheduled for this summer. >> there were literally thousands of children in these orchards. and that's the horrible, sad bottom line, that these kids are a commodity and they are used to make money for the church.
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and we would all load up and go pick pecans. >> reporter: so they would shut down the schools? >> they would shut down the schools. >> reporter: ten years ago, at servitude, joe escapes the church and heads straight to the devil's playground. >> i went to las vegas. i mean, it was sin city. it was awesome. i absolutely loved it. >> reporter: he finds his new freedom to be a revelation, one he wants to share with the family he's left behind. >> i could see how the world was you know, i wasn't hurt. i wasn't possessed. the people out here are not evil. they're good people. >> do you want to go? >> reporter: but after that ugly moment we showed you, sabrina rescuing other family members, joe knows it will take something powerful to shake his older sister's faith. what finally does it is a bombshell dropped by her husband, jake. >> he wanted to marry my little sister. and she was 14.
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wanted to marry -- >> wanted another wife, so -- >> reporter: and he wanted to marry one of her little sisters, who was 14. >> yeah. >> reporter: sabrina's husband is banished by warren jeffs, not because he wanted to bed his wife's 14-year-old sister, but because only the prophet can decide how many wives a man can have. sabrina finds herself on the verge of being transferred into multiple wives. >> i'm going to be married off. i'll be second wife, third wife, don't want to be a damn concubine. >> reporter: so, she calls joe and other family members on the >> and they're like, we're coming to help you, you ready? >> reporter: they make a midnight run to a meeting spot in the desert outside the creek. 25-year-old sabrina jumps into the car and races away to a new life on the outside. at first, freedom exhilirating. she gets a new hair cut.
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i can't even -- >> reporter: she enjoys partying. but she's also tormented by the fact that her husband's family is insisting on keeping the children. >> and there was nothing i could do at that point, because i didn't dare go up against the church or anything. >> reporter: because the church is so powerful? >> yeah. i never dared go up against it. i wanted to. believe me, i wanted to. i cried myself to sleep many nights, months, even drank myself to death sometimes. >> she would scream. she would cry because she missed her kids. she would lose her mind, pretty much. and it was sad to see. >> reporter: sabrina is now 33, remarried, with a 3-year-old son. and she has a career as a counselor for troubled youth. she's never lost touch with her first four children, still in
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however, during a scheduled christmas visitation in 2014, it becomes painfully obvious that her kids view her as an evil outsider here, refusing to accept her christmas presents. >> you're not going to open it? >> no. >> okay, keep going. >> reporter: here, refusing to open her christmas present. they know that christmas, gift giving, toys, they violate flds rules, and mean a one-way ticket to hell. this estrangement becomes one of the big reasons sabrina finally musters the courage to fight for custody. the court order, a sweet vindication of her efforts. >> there's no tears. i was too happy to cry. >> reporter: and you got right in the car and went to go get them. >> yeah, we did. >> reporter: which brings us back to the standoff. >> they won't send them out. they won't let me get them. >> reporter: it's now noon. we're 18 hours into this thing. and as the crowd surrounds sabrina's van with video cameras, it is becoming clearer
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siding with the faithful. that's isaac, right there, the eldest. and this is rulon, the younger boy. >> had to lock the doors. little people are throwing chickens in the van. >> reporter: at one point, the boys even try to put a calf in her van. >> i am so sick of this. this is so uncalled for, so unnecessary. >> reporter: what do you think their fear was? why did they so badly not want to go with you? >> because they've been poisoned against me, because i live out here, i'm an apostate. >> reporter: have they been taught that you're evil? >> uh-huh. they called me the devil a few times. you're the devil, you know, you're going to hell. >> reporter: about 20 hours into the standoff, saundrah, on behalf of her siblings, delivers a handwritten contract, pleading for future trips to the creek. >> sabrina, we will only get in your car if you will sign this paper, saying that we can have visitation with samantha. i'm not going to sign anything.
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>> reporter: the war for these flds children is at a stalemate, but across town -- >> they wouldn't open the gate. >> reporter: another mother is fighting a similar battle on another front. >> i'm scared. >> reporter: she was once the queen of the fdls castle. now, she's come back, in order to take back her children. >> i don't want my girls to be raped. i don't want any of my boys to have to sit on the side of their bed and watch their wife get raped. i don't want that. >> reporter: when we come back, her allegations of a new, sadistic sex ritual. plus, is the local government in 2 pocket of the church? are you answerable to the public? we go, uninvited, to the city council for answers. really, nobody wants to respond to that? stay with us.'t make sense that'm a horse whisperer. fancy prance, yo!! but you know what else don't make sense? bai.
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tt0w!ti"hz! %4@-4=l tt0w!ti"hz! el@->: tt0w!ti"hz! ed@-88d tt0w!ti"hz% )8h-xf8 tt0w!ti"hz% kzh-e)d tt0w!ti"hz% n-h-0@h tt0w!ti"hz% 0ph-.'p tt0w!ti"hz% s"h->u0 tt0w!ti"hz% ueh-=7@ tt0w!ti"hz% 7hh-!54 twnt"20/20" continues with dan harris. >> reporter: what is really going on behind these walls where the leadership of the flds resides? >> it's just not the same anymore. >> reporter: charlene jeffs used to be the queen of this castle, and now she's returning to her old home, wielding information that she says could rock this fortress to its foundations. >> my youngest daughter right now is 14. that's the age that they like to do things to them. this was just high weeds when i was here. >> reporter: charlene is perhaps the most provocative new combatant in the civil war over flds children. she is trying to get her kids
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jeffs, warren jeffs' brother and reputed top lieutenant, who now resides in this sprawling, walled compound. >> he was always afraid i was going to rock his boat. well, i'm going to capsize it. >> reporter: charlene was the most senior of lyle's nine wives, running a polygamous family with 34 children, until she was banished into exile nearly four years ago. >> i was told i had complained. i didn't know what i had complained about. but i was told that i had complained. >> reporter: lyle has no idea that his wife is now on the warpath, trying to get her two youngest children back. >> i would say to him, "lyle, you have hurt me more deeply than anyone ever has or ever will. want my children now. all of them." no trespassing. so, i can't be on here, right? >> reporter: he'll find out soon enough, though, because today
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legal notices demanding a for custody of her two youngest children. and the documents contain explosive allegations, detailing her fears for her youngest daughter, suzie. >> susie, come out and talk to me, okay? open the door so i can see you. get involved in the rituals that's going on. >> reporter: the order accuses the church of a profoundly pervese so-called "seed bearer" ritual, in which warren jeffs has allegedly decreed that a select group of his 15 most faithful men be assigned to impregnate the women of the flds with their husbands required to observe the act. >> i don't want my girls to commit adultery and i don't want them to be raped. i want all of them out of there. >> reporter: if true, how could this kind of abuse be allowed to
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because, charlene argues, the local police are in the pocket of the church. this is a claim that many have people here in the creek have made to us, so, we go looking for some answers. if we can get anybody to talk to us. curiously, when i show up at the jeffs compound just days after charlene's visit, within minutes, the cops mysteriously materialize. just looking to talk to lyle jeffs. this man may have long hair and a goatee now, but he used to be the clean cut chief marshal in the creek. he once swatted our camera. >> hey, would you mind putting the camera down, okay? would you mind putting the camera down, please? >> reporter: you pushed our camera. >> oh, was that you guys? >> reporter: you remember that? >> i do.
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foshgs he cooperating with the united states justice department and its ongoing trial in arizona. so, too, is charlene, who was called as a witness this month. is a lee bra sabrina also gave a deposition. governments of using their enforcement authority for the do the police here protect and serve the church primarily? church. >> reporter: to protect the church. >> yes. >> reporter: what you're theocracy? absolutely. this community's always been a theocracy. >> reporter: the former chief spoke to us while surrounded by his wife and his friends, all former church members. did you live in fear that the prophet could actually take your family away from you? >> oh, yeah. >> oh, yeah. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> with one phone call. >> yep. >> reporter: so, when you were asked sometimes to do things, is it the case that sometimes you repulsive because you thought, "if i don't do this, i'll lose >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: we wanted to know what city officials had to say
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so, we went to city hall. hi, my name is dan harris. i'm from abc news. we're looking to see if we can speak to the mayor or the city manager, or the chief of the marshals. >> nobody's in the office right now. just me. >> reporter: just you. okay, where is everybody. >> they're off doing whatever they're doing. >> reporter: town meeting, executive session, 6:30. i know what i'm doing tonight. good evening. my name is dan harris. i'm from abc news. the federal government has sued you, saying you are essentially a wing of the flds church. how do you respond to that? >> you there have our attorney's phone number. >> reporter: they say that you as an elected body, here in the united states of america, are effectively a wing of the church. one whose prophet is in prison for two counts of sexual assault of a child.
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that? >> our response would be -- needs to be from our attorney. >> reporter: we were struck by how many of the councilmembers shared the same last names, a sign of how closely related everyone is here in the creek. is anybody here not a member of the flds? so, you're all members of flds, right? seriously? nobody will answer the question? >> three minutes is up. >> reporter: the city's lawyer tells us the council is not controlled by the church. however, charlene jeffs, a believer turned apostate, fully expects discrimination when she aroois at the local marshal's office to ask for help. >> would like to have permission to check on my children. >> reporter: she has the right to conduct what is called a welfare check with her two youngest kids. but she doubts the local cops will assist the lowly wife, taking on the bishop.
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i'd be happy to help you out. >> oh, there we go. >> reporter: to her surprise, the marshals allow her and her lawyer inside and produce her daughter. >> suzie tried to fight on a hug, and i know it's just because of the teachings, and amon just did a handshake. but he smiled. sincere smile. i know that they love me. they were just confused. >> reporter: for the moment, she's reassured that her kids are okay. but then, late that night, under cover of darkness, our cameras capture three large trailers easing out of the prophet's compound -- destination unknown. >> no license plate. >> reporter: could her kids be in those trailers? could charlene have lost her last chance to get her kids back? >> i'm scared.
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i know that he will put the children in hiding, so that i will never have any kind of contact with them again. >> reporter: when we come back -- >> i'm going to guess there's about 25 vehicles right here. >> sabrina broadbent facing drastic measures to end a stand >> they're trying to figure this out with the judge. permission to get my children and put them in the van. will she finally get her kids back? or leave empty handed and broken hearted? when "a house divided" returns. man, i'm glad aflac pays cash. aflac! isn't major medical enough? no! who's gonna' help cover the holes in their plans? aflac! like rising co-pays and deductibles... aflac! or help pay the mortgage? or child care?
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"20/20" continues with "a house divided." >> reporter: it's 20 hours into sabrina broadbent's standoff with the flds. she still doesn't have her children back. and she's finally had enough. >> they are waiting for me to give the to go. we have a pickup order. >> reporter: she's called in law enforcement. the county sheriffs, who are not accused of being be-holden to the church. and now she tells them, it's time to use force, if necessary, to end this thing. >> what's going on with the cops? they're talking on the phone. what's going on? >> they're trying to figure this out with the judge. the protection order or this pickup order. i'm going to give them permission to take my children and put them in the van. so, here it goes. i am sick of this.
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flds women react. >> i started seeing them bring their suitcases out. i'm like, okay, here we go. here we go. 50 people trying to help the kids out. and the cop, one of the deputies, went up and says, this is your last chance. >> we'll be down the road. >> reporter: finally, escorted by their flds keepers, the children walk towards sabrina's van, crying. that's her older boy there, isaac isaac, covering his face. it seems like things might be looking up for sabrina and her family. but wait. out of the blue, the tide turns. scores of church members descend upon the mouth of the van. it's a sea of prairie dresses and up-dos. >> they're like, "we're not forcing the churn. they have to do it on their own." but they're so brainwashed that they wouldn't even step in the van. >> reporter: sabrina's brother, joe, who's gotten so many of his family members out of the church, was right there. >> they're saying you, you know, "you're leaving with the devil." >> reporter: people in the crowd
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they begin singing an flds hymn. god delights to own and bless you if you strive to do what's right >> reporter: these people have no questions about their prophet even though he's in prison for sexually -- >> oh, that's a that's a big test for them. he's like, "the only way that i'm not out is because you're not faithful enough. he puts so much pressure on the people. they're fasting. they don't eat for three days at a time. and they pray and pray and pray for warren to break out of prison. >> reporter: for a moment, sabrina wavers. >> we were going on two hours sleep. i couldn't eat. they're like, well, we can come back tomorrow. i'm like, no, we're doing this today. this is happening today. >> reporter: the sheriffs are slow to act here, because they say they're worried this tense scene could explode into mob violence. but finally, a sheriff's deputy
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of the van and says, "time to go." >> okay, folks, they've got to get going. >> reporter: at long last, the the van pulls away with the followers of warren jeffs waving and weeping. the arduous extraction of sabrina's children is an inspiration to other ex-flds members, like ron rohbock. ron was banished from the church in 2002, and all of his seven wives and 50 children were reassigned to another man, including his then 4-year-old daughter, sherilyn, pictured here with warren jeffs. then, one day, a strange call from the fbi puts him in the middle of his own harrowing custody dispute. a tipster had directed the agents to this trailer, where sherylin was being housed in shocking conditions.
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to the trailer. they brought her food once a week in a box this big. >> and then she had one other number that she had to call every 15 minutes. the brainwashing was so constant. >> reporter: and this was punishment from the family with whom she was living at the time? >> reporter: the fbi has taken sherilyn into custody. >> just know that they're thinking about you. >> reporter: now ron, and his new wife, geri, decide to bring his daughter into their home. >> she was a little distant, but it was a very short period of time before she had both arms through my arms. >> reporter: on the advice of a lawyer, the rohbocks and sherilyn leave the creek and go into hiding, a secret seven-day road trip to california, to buy some time for the judge to grant the rohbocks legal custody. >> we got down to santa monica. and we got a room. and we walked over to bubba gump's.
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>> she lit up. >> she was having fun. >> reporter: she had been taught world was evil. >> reporter: and here you were >> it wasn't. it was fun. >> reporter: for the rohbocks, these first baby steps toward a new family life for sherilyn seemed to be going well. and for charlene jeffs, a surprise phone call of her own. >> my husband called me and said, "hey, let's settle this out of court." >> reporter: her husband, lyle jeffs, agreed to a secret meeting, and reluctantly gives up custody. >> we're here to file custody paper, so that i can get my two underage children. >> reporter: the judge orders the handoff that day. charlene invites us to document the transfer from a distance with a sheriff, a marshal and church security right there to make sure it all goes smoothly. the kids refuse to get out of the white car they're in, but they do agree to follow their mom to their new home outside of
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>> it was a hope. it was a risk in losing them altogether. i had to just rely on faith and prayers. >> reporter: so, here we are. charlene jeffs, flds royalty breaking free. sabrina broadbent, through sheer determination. and ron rohbock, all now reunited with their children. but will it last? >> the truck door opened up and they grabbed her and pulled her in and she was gone. >> i'm scared. >> it was a nightmare, when we got home. >> reporter: what do you mean? can she turn this ordeal into a happy ending? when we come back. (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noises) (school bell) (sigh) (flourish spray noise) share the joy of real cream...
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we return to "20/20." >> reporter: after a 22-hour standoff, sabrina broadbent departs the creek with her dhirn churn,ildren, enjoying a moment of personal triumph. >> all i wanted to do was shut that door and get the hell out of there, that's all i wanted to do. >> reporter: but it's only a moment. as soon as they drive away from the standoff and head up highway 59 through the red rock mesas and mountains to her home in southern utah, the road gets rocky. how were the kids when they got in the van? >> they were all crying. and my youngest was pulling my hair and throwing things at my head and stuff, but i went back there and just nuzzled up to them and looked at them like they were my friends. like, here i am. >> reporter: how did they react to that?
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they all fell asleep. got home. >> reporter: what do you mean? >> my eldest took a magic marker to my 60-inch screen tv that we just got and cut all the cords to the tv, to the dish. >> reporter: these kids were raised in a world where they were told that the outside is evil. and here you come, pulling them into the outside. >> right. >> reporter: at one point, they packed up their stuff? >> they did. and they sat out on my front lawn with all their blankets and sat out there and cried. >> reporter: and their suitcases? >> with their suitcases. it was dang hard for me to see that. ah! i got it. >> reporter: undaunted, sabrina is determined to reconnect and catch up on lost time with her kids, far away from the flds. >> pull! >> reporter: so, she is filling their days with the kind of fun the prophet warren jeffs would never allow. skeet shooting, hiking, fishing and four-wheeling. >> ru. could you drive this? >> i'm going to. >> you're going to?
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they've come alive the last couple of days. we've been going out doing and activities with them and involving them and stuff, and >> reporter: aided and abetted by the purchase of a new puppy and, of course, lots of maternal patience and love, sabrina's children seem to be coming around. >> only have the automatic ones. >> reporter: so, here we are, a couple weeks later. >> they're doing great. last night was the first time they watched tv. >> reporter: ever? >> the first time in their life. that's a good thing or a bad thing. >> well, it's good stuff. it's like the old disney movies like herbie and apple dumpling gang. >> reporter: it's like they're catching up on childhood. >> yes. >> reporter: to ease the transition, sabrina is letting the girls wear their prar lee dresses until they decide to change on their own. >> and i'm not going to force them to do anything, like their hair, the way they comb their hair, their dresses. everything is happening so fast.
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crossing a different desert, ron and geri rohbock head home to the creek, after five seemingly happy days in california with ron's daughter. but ron and geri notice something odd in sherilyn's behavior. >> she was writing in shorthand. >> reporter: indecipherable scribbles in a kind of cryptic journal. and as they approach the nevada border town of mesquite -- >> she said to me, "oh, we're not stopping in mesquite?" why was she so concerned about not stopping in mesquite? >> reporter: so, at her insistence, they pull off the freeway and drive into this parking lot. >> sherilyn's sitting in the vehicle, okay. she didn't want to get out. so, i walked around to her side of the car, and at that very minute, the truck pulls up. she jumps out of the car. they grab her, she's in the truck and they're gone. i mean, it happened like clockwork. >> reporter: the rohbocks say they have no doubt that she
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so, where is your daughter now? >> my personal belief is that she's right over here in lyle's complex. i helped build that property. you know how many secret hiding places there are in that place? they've got caverns within caverns in there. >> reporter: the resistance and resources of the remaining flds hardcore membership raises some disturbing questions. could they resort to violence as the leadership of this outlaw church loses its grip? >> the people who are left following him are following a madman who, i don't believe, has any hesitation at all, in leading these people out in a blaze of glory. and that's what worries me, is that there may be another johnstown or another waco. >> reporter: ron rohbock, who says he lost a golden opportunity to rescue his daughter from a grim future, of the changes he sees taking place here. an influx of non-flds members, the reopening of the local public school, even a fast food so, where is this situation
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>> as far as i am concerned, given ten years, it's going to normalize to some degree. >> reporter: charlene jeffs, now divorced from lyle, is just simply grateful for the chance to bring her children to the outside, even though their transition, too, has been bumpy. on the first day of her daughter's freedom, charlene sent us this home video. that's her daughter suzie, no longer in danger of being subjected to the alledged seed bearer ceremony, but avoiding the camera and closing the door on her mom. >> all right, the door's closed. still love you anyway. >> reporter: at sabrina's home, there are bold, new beginnings. like the first day of school -- ever. for all of her children. and after three months together, the prar leeirie dresses and judgemental scowls have vanished, replaced with cowboy hats and pierced ears. these are the moments she
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time sabrina was called mom. her first child to do so was latisha. >> it didn't register because i wasn't used to her calling me that, and i turned around and she had a big smile on her face and she was like, thank you. >> reporter: a family united, at last. >> every time i went somewhere, i did something, i always expressed, i wish they see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that i won't stop. until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
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