Stolen Innocence - Lisa Pulitzer [185]
“What was her emotional state?”
“She was sobbing…sad, hopeless, depressed.” Teressa shook her head slightly, remembering the desperation in my voice. She then went on to describe my visit with Allen to Canada.
“Did you talk about Elissa’s relationship with Allen that week?”
“Yes, we did. He was touching her, doing things that she didn’t want him to. In the FLDS we didn’t know what sex is before marriage. We didn’t use those words.”
“How did Elissa behave around Allen Steed?”
“She hated to be near him. They were with us for four or five days, maybe a week. She was terrified of him, and standoffish.”
“Did you go to Hildale in the winter of 2002?”
“Yes.”
“Was there a change in Elissa’s demeanor?”
“Only that it was worse than before. She was depressed and tired. She just wanted to sleep all of the time. She couldn’t function. She was just a terrified little girl. I wanted her to come back to Canada and help me with my new baby.” Teressa went on to detail the roller-coaster ride that our request for my trip had been, from asking Allen to the frustrating meeting with Warren. “And then Allen finally said if it was okay with Warren, then, fine, she can go. And we packed up and left within ten minutes.”
“Why did you go this route instead of just leaving?”
“Roy would have gotten his family taken away,” she explained. “You have to get permission for a trip or…anything you wanted to do. Everything went through Warren.”
Not surprisingly, the defense had no questions for Teressa. She stood down from the witness stand, with Kassandra up next.
“Can you please describe the members of your family?”
Kassandra stifled a sweet, glittery laugh. “All of them?” she asked incredulously. “My father is Douglas Wall and my mother is Sharon Steed Wall. I have fourteen siblings from my mother. Elissa Wall is my younger sister by ten years.”
As Kassandra spoke of our father, I took comfort in knowing that both my sisters and I had Dad’s support. Although he hadn’t come to the courthouse to be there for us in person, he’d been phoning me to offer private words of encouragement. He and Mother Audrey had treated my sisters and me to dinner on the eve of the trial, and would continue to share meals with us and two of my brothers, Brad and Caleb, in the coming days. I was heartened to see my brothers in the gallery offering their support. I was also grateful to Mother Audrey. Over time, I’d come to appreciate her dearly and had begun to understand so much more about our family life. It meant a lot to me to have at least one of my mothers still in my life.
“Have you lived in Salt Lake City your entire life?” Wally Bugden asked Kassandra.
“I moved when I was married at nineteen to Colorado City. Now I live in Idaho.”
“Did you grow up in the FLDS Church?”
“Yes.” Kassandra continued in her soft, bubbly voice. She was asked about Alta Academy and how she knew Warren Jeffs. Her story was somewhat different from mine and Teressa’s, as she had been able to finish high school at Alta Academy. She then went on to teach fifth grade in the fall of 1994. As my sister opened the discussion of her time as a teacher at Alta, I shot back to that classroom in my mind.
“It was considered honorable,” Kassandra explained of teaching. “Warren Jeffs was principal there. He would go to Father [Rulon] for the final decisions on everything.”
“How long did you work as a teacher there?”
“Through September of 1995. Then I was married to Warren’s father, Rulon Jeffs.”
Kassandra’s testimony delved deeper into the structure at Alta Academy, describing some of the facets I had only heard about and to which I had never been subjected, since my time there ended so much earlier than hers.
“Did the students at Alta Academy receive instruction from Warren Jeffs?” the state’s attorney asked.
“Yes. He was the primary teacher. He taught devotional. He taught us math, chemistry, geography, history, and priesthood history. There were religious teachings every day. Every subject was based around priesthood history—stories of Christ and Joseph Smith.