Assisting with the escape - Part II

This is the second in a series about Marty and Jen Mechaley and their involvement with assisting several of Warren Jeffs’ daughters in leaving the FLDS.

For a while, when numerous daughters of self-proclaimed Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints prophet Warren Jeffs came to visit Marty and Jen Mechaley in Custer County, they would stay late—really late.
And, it was on these trips that the girls would more closely mirror the behavior of normal young women, and in some case, teenage girls. They fought about who would get to make the long drive to the Mechaley home on any particular weekend, and those who were left behind were not happy about it. And like teenagers who want to stay out a little late, they would concoct stories about their whereabouts when they went. While Marty and Jen aren’t sure exactly what they told FLDS higher ups they were doing when they came to Custer, they know they would lock their doors and say they just weren’t coming to the door. They also suspect they would tell FLDS members they were headed to Custer to attempt to regain some of their property. There was a time that Annette, Warren’s first wife, and another of Warren’s daughters came to Custer to meet with Marty. Marty could tell the purpose of the trip was to get to the bottom of why the girls kept coming to Custer.
“They were testing me. I was nice to them,” Marty said.
Sometimes they would come in two vehicles. As the hours ticked by, Marty and Jen would tell them it was probably time to go. The girls would have a visceral reaction to having to leave the Mechaley household to drive back to Williston, N.D. The giggles and joy the Mechaleys saw all day was replaced by terror when they knew it was time to drive home that night.
“Their faces would be horribly sad,” Jen said. “There were never any tears, but they didn’t want to leave.”
Once they returned to North Dakota they would immediately start texting the Mechaleys about how much they missed them.
The two were concerned with the girls driving home so late and driving for so long from Custer to Fargo. Sometimes, Marty said, they would talk about falling asleep while driving. It finally reached a point where Marty offered the girls the empty basement as a place to stay, turning what was a one-day stay into the possibility of a weekend stay. The girls didn’t need any convincing to do so, and before long were at the home all weekend, learning, growing and becoming addicted to riding UTVs. Boy, did they love those UTVs.
At this point, the girls were still wearing their FLDS prairie dresses, and would get them muddy from head to toe. Jen suggested they consider wearing jeans to ride UTVs. The next weekend they came to Custer they stopped by the Boot Barn in Rapid City and purchased jeans and shirts for the first time. At first, two of them changed into the clothing for the weekend adventures. Before long others joined them.
“They were super embarrassed what they looked like,” Jen said. “They had never worn pants or shirts like that.”
The changes didn’t stop there. Before long, the girls were asking Jen to do their hair. They also asked her about the finer points of applying makeup. She was happy to oblige both queries. Some of the girls even wanted to get a haircut, which was a huge no-no in FLDS culture. So was wearing “regular” clothing. However, it was that beginning to wear regular clothing (which some of the girls were still against) that helped them start to see the outside world wasn’t so bad. They quickly found out it helped them blend in.
Marty recalls a time when they came to town in their prairie dresses. He planned to take them to the Custer sign at Big Rock Park and they stopped by a convenience store first. The minute they walked into the store, everyone stopped to stare at the group of girls who stuck out like sore thumbs. One of the girls asked Marty if he would get in trouble for being around them.
“I felt terrible. I was like, ‘no, I won’t be in trouble because I’m with you. You dress different from everybody, that’s why they watch you,’” he said. It bothered Marty that these sweet, intelligent girls were being snickered at because of what they were wearing or how they wore their hair. A few people would try to engage the girls, complimenting their dresses or something to that effect. They would never respond. However, on July 4, 2021, Marty took the girls downtown in their new clothes and they walked around and took in the atmosphere. There were no stares. People were friendly.
“It took some time but they realized it’s not as bad as they thought,” Marty said of the girls’ perception of people outside the FLDS.
Throughout the entire time the girls would come to visit the Mechaleys, there were certain topics never broached and certain things never said. First and foremost, the Mechaleys never—not once—encouraged the girls to leave the FLDS. Instead, Marty said, they promised the girls that whether they were in the FLDS or not, they had lifelong friends in the Mechaley household.
Secondly, they did not speak to the girls about Warren Jeffs.
At the time, Warren was still very much in the girls’ life. Some of the girls carried two cell phones. One was for when their father called. No matter where they were or what they were doing, the girl who received the call from Warren, who was in prison by this time, would run out of the room to answer the phone. At first, the Mechaleys weren’t sure why the girls would run out of the room when these particular calls came. It didn’t take long to figure it out, however, and the Mechaleys told the girls they didn’t have to hide they were talking to their father. Rather, they would make sure the girls were in a place with service when they needed to be so the calls could come through.
At the time, Jen said, the girls still fully believed their father was innocent of the crimes of which he had been accused. They would tell her it was only a matter of time before he was released from prison. Jen and Marty knew better, but they never shared their thoughts on the matter.
Until one day, Marty was asked what the thought of Warren Jeffs.
One of the girls approached him and wondered why he never talked about her father. He told her he didn’t want to hurt her. She persisted, asking what Marty thought of Warren, saying she was prepared for whatever Marty said.
He didn’t mince words.
“I said he’s probably the most hated man in America,” Marty told her. “That’s what I think of your father.”
The girl nodded.
“He might be,” she said.
In the FLDS, nobody says anything that isn’t glowing about Warren Jeffs. You don’t question the prophet. The girls made it a point not to search articles about their dad on the internet, because they quickly learned there was nothing good written about him.
The same girl asked Jen the same question, wondering what she thought about Warren. Jen’s answers mirrored that of her husband. The Mechaleys never focused on the bad, however. The girls they had come to befriend were more than enough proof that the FLDS is full of good people as well.
“There are a lot of good people in the FLDS who would never cause harm or break the law,” Marty said. “There are some very horrible people in the FLDS. Instead of trying to look at the bad all the time we wanted to let them know we are their friends and we are here to help you either way.”
As the girls got to know the Mechaleys better, they also got to know their children and grandchildren. Their questions became more pointed, as they asked about jobs, college and what “normal” people their age do. They would comment that they wanted to be married and have children. They were confiding in the Mechaleys—at least some of them were—that they had thought of life outside the FLDS. Eventually, the Mechaleys had two of the girls—Naomi (now Jaska) and Josephine—talk to each other about a potential FLDS exit, as they had both expressed that desire.
On July 12, 2021 Jaska became the first of the girls who had made those long trips to Custer to leave the FLDS.
Marty received a message saying Jaska was going to be moved to another home in the FLDS, and the move was not going to be good for her. She asked Marty and Jen for help. Once Marty got off work he headed for Buffalo, and at 11 p.m. another sister dropped Jaska off with Marty at a gas station. On the drive back to Custer, the two stopped in Deadwood, where Marty conversed with a police officer he knew. The officer asked Marty what he was doing.
“I said ‘I guess I’m kidnapping somebody,’” he laughed.
In reality, of course, Marty wasn’t kidnapping anybody. Jaska was 18, and free to leave the FLDS if she chose. Jaska moved into the basement of the Mechaley household. The Mechaleys had discussed the issue with their children, telling them that Jaska was going to be sent away by the FLDS, and getting feedback on what they thought should happen. There was no hesitation.
“They all said to bring her home,” Marty said.
A lifetime in law enforcement helped Marty head off FLDS tactics to get Jaska back. He emailed law enforcement in North Dakota and identified himself and apprised them that he was going to help Jaska leave the FLDS. He knew the FLDS would report her to authorities as a runaway. Right on cue, they did just that.
“They wanted to track her down and find out who helped her. I was able to stop that,” Marty said. “I told law enforcement she was safe and she is an adult.” He sent North Dakota law enforcement a copy of her ID to verify her age.
Meanwhile, the girls in North Dakota were being interrogated by FLDS members, who demanded to know who helped Jaska get to Buffalo. They held strong, saying they didn’t know.
Before long, seven others wanted out as the pressure to find out who helped Jaska mounted. Marty referred them to several organizations that could help the girls. They only trusted Marty and Jen, however. It seemed both daunting and overwhelming that the Mechaleys take in all of the girls. But, they felt it was the right thing to do. They knew they’d need a plan. Birth certificates. Driver’s licenses, a path to GEDs. Oh, and they would need a trailer. Or two. As most parents could tell you, transporting one teenage girl, let alone a handful, means a lot of stuff to transport—even if those girls are in the FLDS.
But, Marty told the girls, they had to be sure they truly wanted out. He knew, contrary to what FLDS officials say, they would fight tooth and nail to get the girls back into the FLDS. There couldn’t be waffling.
“So,” he told the girls, “If you’re not sure, don’t leave.”
Next week, the girls break free of the FLDS and begin normal lives for the first time.