Rebecca Wall Musser Escaped The FLDS Church By Scaling A 6-Foot-High Gate
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The newest Netflix docuseries that literally *everyone* is talking about is Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, a four-part true crime documentary that details the corruption in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).
The FLDS is a religious sect that split off from the Mormon (or Latter-Day Saints) church. When the Mormon church decided to end polygamous practices around 1890 to gain statehood for Utah, those who continued to practice polygamy were excommunicated and later joined together to form the FLDS community, per CNN.
Today, the FLDS is a radical polygamist sect that pushes underage marriage and condones sexual assault on many young female members, according to the documentary—and the authorities.
The main culprits of this behavior were Rulon and Warren Jeffs, the eighth and ninth “prophets” or presidents of the FLDS. While Rulon passed in 2002 at the age of 92, Warren is still alive at 66, but is serving a life sentence plus 20 years at the Louis C. Powledge Unit in Palestine, Texas for sexually assaulting two girls.
Rebecca Wall Musser was one of Rulon’s twenty wives who was forced to marry him at the age of 19 by her own father. Throughout their marriage, she says she suffered abuse and n0n-consensual sexual contact.
However, she gathered the courage to eventually escape the community and begin her own life. Today, she is telling her story through interviews and confessionals—one of which is in Keep Sweet itself. If you’re as curious as WH is about her story, read on to learn all about the Rulon Jeffs’s ex-wife.
Who is Rebecca Wall Musser?
Rebecca Wall Musser is an author and activist known for her escape from the FLDS in 2002. In 2007, she testified against Warren Jeffs in his trial, according to The Salt Lake City Tribune.
In 2013, she founded the Claim Red Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to educating people on recognizing and escaping abuse and oppression, per their Facebook page. That same year, she released her book The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice.
Who are her parents?
Rebecca’s parents are Sharon Steed and Lloyd Wall. Steed was just one of Wall’s two wives—he shared twelve children with Steed, and nine with his other wife, a woman named Myrna. Growing up, Rebecca says she was sexually abused by her older half-brother, per an NPR interview.
Who was her husband, Rulon Jeffs?
Rulon Jeffs was the eighth President of the FLDS from 1986 until his death at 92 years old in 2002. By the time he passed, he had 20 wives total—one of which was Rebecca—and about 60 children.
When Rebecca was just 19 years old, her father forced her to marry Jeffs, then 85 years old. As a reward, her father was gifted a third wife, per Jezebel. Eventually, she lost her virginity to Jeffs, according to Daily Mail. When Rulon passed, his son, Warren, started to marry all of his father's wives.
But Rebecca resisted. She decided to escape the community after having a week to choose a new husband after her Rulon passed, according to her essay in Marie Claire.
How old is she?
Today, Rebecca is 46 years old.
How did she escape the FLDS church?
In 2002, she left a note on her bed for her mother and sister. She then scaled a 6-foot-high wrought-iron gate, slipped past security guards, and walked a half mile to freedom.
Ben Musser, her future (and now ex-) husband was waiting for her in a car. Musser is technically her grandson, since he was the biological grandson of Rulon and one of Rebecca's sister-wives, per her essay in Marie Claire.
For ten years, she was the only person in her family who escaped the church, according to NPR.
Did she remarry?
Yes—she married her grandson Ben Musser after she escaped the church with him. He is the biological grandson of Rulon and one of Rebecca's sister-wives.
Did she have children?
Yes, she has a 14-year-old daughter, Natalia, and an 18-year-old son, Kyle.
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