"I Broke Free from Warren Jeffs' Disturbing Cult as His 65th 'Wife'—But the Nightmare Continued with a Copycat Prophet"

It has been almost 14 years since Briell Decker fled cult leader Warren Jeffs and the fundamentalist Mormon sect that controlled every aspect of her life.

Briell Decke was the 65th wife of the ‘prophet’ who led an extreme Mormon cult Credit: Briell Decker Briell said polygamy remains her deepest trauma Credit: Rachel Jeffs The cult leader Sam Bateman had 23 wives and convinced them to obey him Credit: Netflix

Now 40, Briell has rebuilt her life. She has remarried, become a mother, and transformed the 44-bed mansion she once shared with Jeffs and his wives into a refuge for vulnerable women, many of them former FLDS members trying to start again.

But the shadow of the FLDS still looms over Short Creek – the Arizona-Utah border town long considered the epicentre of Mormon fundamentalism and, for most of Briell’s life, her home.

So when a new Netflix documentary exposed the rise of another self-proclaimed “prophet,” Sam Bateman, it confirmed her worst fears.

“I was always worried there would be prophets after Warren Jeffs,” Briell says. “And there probably still will be after Sam Bateman.”

The four-part documentary, Trust Me: The False Prophet, charts how Bateman attempted to fill the vacuum left after Jeffs’ imprisonment. Like his predecessor, Bateman took multiple wives – 23 in total, nine of whom were children – and ran a child sex abuse ring.

In 2024, Bateman, then 47, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his crimes.

Jeffs had already been convicted in 2011 of widespread child sexual abuse. His offences included forcing underage girls into “spiritual marriages” and orchestrating child marriages. He received a sentence of life plus 20 years.

Both men exerted total control over their followers, particularly women, dictating everything from clothing and living arrangements to punishments and marriages.

For Briell, Bateman’s story is hauntingly familiar.

Born Lynette Warner into the FLDS, she was raised in the sect from birth. Her older sister, Colleen, was already one of Jeffs’ wives – and had previously been married to Jeffs’ father, Rulon, when he was in his 80s.

At 18, Briell was assigned to become Jeffs’ 65th wife.

Recalling their “wedding,” she says: “After the ceremony, he asked me to sit on his lap. I just froze. I had no words.”

Although she says the marriage was never consummated, she describes deeply disturbing “training” sessions.

“The training was basically teaching sex acts,” she says. “When Warren Jeffs first introduced it, he tricked us. He had us all in a room and told us to take off our clothes but keep our focus on him.

“It was only afterwards we realised there were other people in the room, including underage brides, watching us.”

Jeffs, now 70, then told the women they could leave – but would need to return if they wanted to “learn more.”

“By doing that, he was making us accomplices,” Briell explains. “We were agreeing to come back knowing what might happen. I didn’t want any part of it.”

Instead, she began planning her escape.

“I wrote to him saying I needed more time. He seemed to believe me and let me leave the mansion. After that, I became openly rebellious so he wouldn’t want me back.”

Briell believes the indoctrination under Jeffs was even more extreme than what is seen in the Bateman case.

“We were brainwashed from the very beginning,” she says. “Warren Jeffs was my principal at school. Every day we’d have four hours of his teachings read to us.

“We were never taught critical thinking. It was all about obedience. So questioning things didn’t come naturally.”

Warren Jeffs who led the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and some of his wives Credit: Netflix Warren Jeff on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives list, was arrested during a traffic stop. Credit: AP:Associated Press Jeff’s was on the FBI’s most wanted list Credit: Getty

Jeffs went on the run in 2005 after being indicted in Arizona for forcing a 16-year-old girl to marry a 28-year-old already-married man. He was later added to the FBI’s most wanted list.

In 2006, he was arrested near Las Vegas. found multiple disguises, 16 mobile phones, four computers and more than $55,000 in cash in his vehicle. Investigations later uncovered extensive evidence of child abuse and forced marriages.

Even from prison, Jeffs continued to exert influence over the FLDS, dictating family separations and excommunications.

Meanwhile, Briell remained trapped.

She says she was moved between states by FLDS elders to prevent her from escaping and was sometimes drugged into submission.

“I was barely able to walk,” she claims. “I was completely helpless.”

She attempted to run away multiple times but was always tracked down and brought back.

Finally, in 2013, aged 27, she escaped for good.

Held in a secret trailer park, she managed to unscrew a window using scissors, climb out, and run to a neighbour’s house. The neighbour contacted a support group that helps women flee the FLDS.

Briell was taken to a safe house in . Four years later, in 2017, she returned to Short Creek with a mission: to help others escape.

In a remarkable twist, she set up her refuge inside Jeffs’ former mansion.

After Jeffs’ arrest, the FLDS’s vast property trust – once worth over $100 million – was seized by the state of Utah. Properties were leased to former members at low cost.

Briell applied to buy the mansion, explaining her vision of turning it into a place of healing. The state discounted the price by $800,000, leaving her to raise the remaining $400,000.

She received support from the Phoenix Dream Center, a that now helps manage the facility.

Today, the Short Creek Dream Center houses up to 40 residents at a time and has supported thousands of former FLDS members.

“It’s definitely different now,” Briell says. “The layout is the same, but almost all the rooms have been remodelled.

“One of the rooms I lived in is now a resident room. Another is an office. It’s not retraumatising – I only lived there for four months before I left.”

She now uses her experience to guide others.

“When I’m helping someone who’s just left, I listen and share insight. It doesn’t feel like I’m carrying the trauma like I used to.”

Despite her work, reaching current FLDS members remains difficult. As an apostate – someone who has abandoned the FLDS – she is shunned by those still inside the sect.

The copycat ‘prophet’ confirmed Briell’s fears Credit: Netflix Samuel Bateman in Trust Me: The False Prophet Credit: Netflix

That’s why she praises Christine Marie and her husband, videographer Tolga Katas, who infiltrated Sam Bateman’s group.

The pair gained the trust of members while secretly gathering evidence for the FBI – a story documented in the Netflix series.

“I first met Christine about ten years ago,” Briell says. “She came to Short Creek and helped me write the business plan for the Dream Center.

“I told her it’s not easy to build trust as an outsider – but she managed it.”

Christine’s work came at a cost.

“When Bateman was first caught, people saw her going in and out of his house and thought she was part of the group,” Briell says. “There were pages accusing her.

“They didn’t know she was working with the FBI.”

Briell claims Christine even faced danger.

“There were supposedly people who tried to drive her off the road,” she says.

“And then when the documentary came out, people were angry again because they felt she’d betrayed their trust.

“But the children are more important than any of that. I praise her and Tolga for what they did.”

Today, Short Creek is no longer under FLDS control, though its legacy remains visible.

Many homes are still unfinished – a result of old FLDS rules requiring members to build only as funds allowed. The town now has elected governance, as well as a winery and bar – unthinkable during Jeffs’ rule.

At its peak, the FLDS had more than 10,000 members. Briell estimates that number has halved, with only about 10 per cent remaining in Short Creek.

We were never taught critical thinking. It was all about obedience. So questioning things didn’t come naturally.

Still, she believes many have yet to confront the past.

“A lot of people don’t want help,” she says. “They think, ‘we made this mess, we should clean it up ourselves.’

“But I don’t believe that. This is a big mess – and we need help.”

Briell found her own path forward. Ten years ago, she married Stevan, now 47, a non-FLDS member she met through adoptive connections after leaving the sect.

She admits learning to trust again was difficult.

After eight years of trying to conceive, including IVF, they welcomed their son, Este, now two.

“Joy for me now is my son,” she says. “It’s a miracle we even succeeded.”

However, her son may never meet his biological grandmother.

“We haven’t spoken in over 14 years,” Briell says. “She’s still in the FLDS, along with my sister. When you leave, they shun you – they cut you out of pictures.

“It hurts. I think she would love him if it wasn’t for the church.”

Briell continues to live with the psychological and physical effects of her past.

“I still get flashbacks, but the has improved,” she says. “In the first six years, I was hospitalised five times. In the last eight years, only once.”

She also faces ongoing challenges, including , which she believes may be linked to the she was given while in the sect.

Polygamy remains her deepest trauma.

“It’s hard to accept that it’s OK to want my husband to myself,” she says. “I have a new belief system now. I want to be the only wife.” But her old beliefs are hard to shake.

Determined to break the cycle, she is raising her son differently.

“In the FLDS, we’d say, ‘do this because that’s what father would do.’ I don’t talk like that.

“If we say no, we explain why. We want him to think critically, to understand things.”

Despite everything, Briell remains realistic about the future.

“Warren Jeffs put underage marriage into doctrine that some still follow,” she says.

“I don’t want to think about him anymore. I have my own family and my work.

“But there may well be more ‘Warren Jeffs’ after he dies.”

For more info on Briell’s charity go to https://www.shortcreekdreamcenter.org