Messages sent to Paul and David Kingston as well as representatives of the Latter Day Church of Christ, the Kingston Groups religious organization, and other named defendants in the lawsuit were not returned. This article related to the Latter Day Saint movement is a stub. She does not favor a change in the marriage age. It was all fun, Stephen recalls. For, nearly 75 years after they were born, Peter and Paul Kingston are as inseparable now as they were inside their mother's womb. That usually means marrying a Kingston descendant. The clan is lead today by Charles E. Kingston's son, Paul E. Kingston, who is said to have more than 30 wives. It wasnt like we thought about it a lot. Stephen moved in with his brother. He picked fights at school, shot a teacher in the face with a water gun and refused to do homework or answer questions. Snow and her mother, Shirley Hansen, have differing stories on what the moms role was in her daughters marriage. Within the clan, the pieces started to add up. One woman who was married in 2014 at age 16 said she did so for the same reason most people do: She fell in love. Shortly after 10 p.m. on June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh called 911 from his property in Islandton, South Carolina, to report that he had found his 22-year-old son Paul and his wife Maggie, 55, murdered. Paul Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the leader of the Kingston Clan on his father's death in 1987. If God gives him direction on whom to marry, he goes to his dad. Former Order members remain convinced the Knights stole the gold. The doorknob to her room was removed. The couples wedding certificate says Stoddard officiated the ceremony April 26, 2008, in West Valley City. In an analysis written in 2015, a University of Maryland sociologist found that nationwide 37 percent of people who marry before age 20 divorce in the first 10 years. Complete statement from Davis County Cooperative Society: For decades, the DCCS has encouraged its members to be well-educated, well-informed, independent thinkers. Lawful marriage and the way it binds people together legally and financially, Hansen said, is seen as a way to keep the more rebellious girls in the Kingston Group. Paul Kingston wore secondhand suits that hung off his slender shoulders, and he spoke in a flat, emotionless monotone. He and Carl are members of the Utah State Bar, despite signing state oaths agreeing to uphold the Utah Constitution, which specifically outlaws polygamy. He went days at a time without eating, convinced it helped provoke visions, and believed that by the laying on of hands he could heal his followers from sickness and disease. The lawsuit does not allege any wrongdoing by SLCC. The suit was filed against the groups leader Paul Eldon Kingston and 21 other members. If Paul Kingston or the designee signs off, the groom next goes to the girls father. Paul F Kingston. Jessica Kingston said within a year of getting married, her husband started looking for a plural wife. He was angry and confused, says a former member of the cult. Snow said the classes also taught the girls to be submissive to their husbands and to keep a good house for them. Eventually, there was a meeting between Jessica Kingston, her parents and Paul Kingston. Attorneys for the Nelsons and Michaels also did not return messages seeking comments. During his tenure, some members have continued the practice of plural, and intra-family marriage,[3] although neither is practiced by the majority of members and the practice is not required to gain status in the group. The couple have since divorced. She didnt want to be in that house anymore; it reminded her of my brother. To test her devotion, Stephens father began calling her in the middle of the night and telling her to move the family to a new location. In Salt Lake County, for example, there were 45 marriages in which the bride or groom was 17 or younger, according to data from the county clerks office from Feb. 1, 2016, to April 10, 2018. In response to questions from the newspaper, Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society, sent an email saying marriages should occur within the age of legal consent and not be coerced. Paul J. Kingston Sr., 93, of North Huntingdon, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. Marriage preparation can accelerate at puberty. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. Paul Elden Kingston is an accountant and attorney who has served as the Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination,[2] since 1987. Like other teenagers who leave fundamentalist Mormon communities, Stephen was not prepared to enter the world at large. Hansen said some men try to use their children to improve their status in the sect. Many of these men are also given stewardship of the Orders business holdings sent out to run the clans coal mine or ranches, or to oversee one of its many storefronts. But the more the deputy pressed, the more their stories didnt add up. According to written histories, John Ortell Kingston, father of the current leader, also encouraged his family members to marry other kin to improve their own bloodline. Luke Brown now insists that he and his brother simply borrowed the silver, and planned to return it to their aunt later. Theyre trying to paint a picture, Markey said, give the judge and, frankly, the defendants, when they see the complaint, give them the context, which is to the effect, We know what's up. To her horror, all that remained was a ring of dust, marking the place where a chest of gold coins had once stood. Thats your Uncle Paul, she said. The suit says sect members might have obtained tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars through false applications. For more than a decade, the group has publicly spoken out against child-bride marriages and the DCCS has a policy encouraging its members to marry within the legal age of consent. Jessica is hardly the only girl to make such a choice. Hanging up the phone, she rushed to her closet. It would be several more years before Stephen learned that Paul Kingston was his father, and that his mother was just one of his dads many wives. The theft of the silver bars from Rachel Youngs basement, they concluded, had been a copycat crime. In all likelihood, Stephen and his brothers had stolen the gold from Patty Kingston first and then the Brown boys, in an effort to emulate their cousins rebellious acts, had robbed their aunt weeks or even months later. They both have the same high cheekbones, the same pale skin, the same wide-set eyes. Now, former members say, girls who will be plural wives meaning they have only a spiritual marriage to their husband are left alone until they are 18 so laws about sex with a minor wont apply. The DCCS reaffirms that each individual has their free agency to choose whom and when they will marry, the statement said. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been. Inseparable: Twins Peter (left) and Paul have lived. All rights reserved. (Courtesy photo) Paul E. Kingston, seen here in this undated photo. The father preferred another who had inquired about marrying Jessica. Jessicas dad told her the wife can get only as high as her husband rises. It was time. I honestly didnt even know there was any gold until they accused me of taking it, he says. Sometimes he parked his immaculately buffed burgundy Ford Thunderbird on the curb, but it was rare to see the man himself. The group has drawn legal attention before. So it means being a first [wife]. Boys are taught that the prophet demands absolute loyalty and that they should be prepared to defend the clan. But women who are disobedient and fail to bear children including because they miscarry face ostracism, the lawsuit claims. The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. He bragged that he had worn the same black shirt every day for a year. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Kingston had told gaming regulators in California. They did so July 3, 2008, in Grand Junction, Colo, where records show two other couples from the Kingston Group married that day. A Tale of Two Chads: More Drama From Nineties Band Live. Five of the women suing alleged they were coerced into marriage as minors and raped by their husbands. John Daniel Kingston, who according to court testimony once had 14 wives, was on hand in 2011, when his sons held an open house at the Washakie production plant in Plymouth near Interstate 15 and . Managed by: The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax Some children are born blind, others with missing fingernails or undersize heads. Paul Kingston told her congratulations. Girls, many of them teen brides, answer phones at the Orders law office, bag groceries at its supermarket or tend to the clans many children. He thinks about his mom, and wonders if she misses him. While the Kingston Group, founded in 1935, is not affilated with the FLDS, members practice a fundamentalist version of Mormonism that involves polygamy. As a favored son of the prophet, Paul had the freedom to disregard the strict discipline his father imposed on other members of the Order. Its hard to leave when thats all youve known, says one former member, who was forced to marry her cousin when she was 15. A lawsuit alleges leaders of a Utah polygamous sect bilked federal student aid programs by instructing teenagers to omit their fathers and other sources of income when applying for benefits. Paul Valls's wife is Sharon Vallas. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. The two most recent of those marriages, according to wedding certificates, occurred in April. Colbert Reimagines Disney Park as 'De-Wokeified' DeSantis World, Sex, Drugs, and the Biggest Cybercrime of All Time, I could boil down what theyre about in three words, says a member who broke with the Order. She was instructed, the complaint adds, to deposit the excess funds at a South Salt Lake office building, where the sects bank is located. Or wed set traps and raise them as pets., In many ways it was an idyllic childhood, except for the fact that the ranch also doubled as a work camp for disobedient clan wives and rebellious kids. The group also teaches its members that only those with so-called pure blood will survive the apocalypse, according to the lawsuit. Child trafficking is the illegal movement of children, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation (Erase Child Trafficking). The teenagers sitting in the driveway on South Bonner Circle that afternoon in 2009 knew the operation well. The jury in Alex Murdaugh's high-profile murder trial will visit the scene where his wife Maggie and son Paul were brutally murdered, before they decide the disgraced legal scion's fate.. Thanks for your understanding. But the Kingstons have remained in Salt Lake, operating virtually undetected in a city of more than 1 million people. When someone is interested in marriage, the process is something more like a job interview than a courtship. Former sect members testified in favor of the measure, but its unclear whether the pressures faced by teens in the Kingston Group constitute forced marriage. 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A sheriffs deputy traced the license plate of the Honda to a run-down house in a working-class suburb south of the city. He then severed her index finger, cleaned off the three bones, and carried them with him the rest of his life, believing that the totem kept her spirit with him. . Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Instead, he had walked away from the family three years earlier to make a life of his own. A statement from the only higher education institution mentioned in the lawsuit, Salt Lake Community College, said it has not received any subpoenas or inquiries. Members of a powerful polygamous group in Utah claim they were forced into underage marriages with their relatives to keep their blood pure, were raped by their husbands and had to perform child labor, according to a bombshell lawsuit. The Order's top man, Paul Kingston, counts a half-dozen such relatives among his 20-plus wives, according to ex-members and Attorney General's investigator Ron Barton. The lawsuit was filed May 24 in Salt Lake Citys federal court by Mary and Bryan Nelson. During the approval process, the young man had begun texting Jessica something forbidden but that she says is common among Order teens who have an interest in one another. The memorial was held in Maxwell Park in Hildale, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015. Noticing Stephen, he put the barbells down and came over to the boy. Family photo: Kollene's father, John Daniel Kingston has 14 wives, and she is the fifth of her mother Shirley Hansen's 12 children +9 View gallery Controlling: They got married in March 2009,. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been as a boy. Over the last four years, these audits have occurred for DCCS members at a rate 9.5 times higher than the average population. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). In the kitchen, he opened a closet and popped a hatch in the floor that led down to a dark, musty basement. Investigators have said 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh was shot four or five times with a rifle, while 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh was killed by two shotgun blasts near kennels on the family's . The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives and 911 children. Viewers Can Watch Prince Harry Talk to a Trauma Expert for $33.09 They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. According to former Order members, they worked long shifts sorting coal and operating heavy machinery in unsafe conditions. She's since left the marriage and wants the legal marriage age raised to 18. Then one of them exhaled slowly, his breath shuddering in the cold air. Stephen calmly waited until his uncle got close, and then he reached behind the seat and pulled out a shotgun, leveling it at his uncle. Knight was born in Salt Lake City, the sixth child of third-generation polygamists. He became particularly obsessed with a plant called comfrey, which he believed would protect his clan from the nuclear war that would usher in the apocalypse. But because they were the sons of the prophet, they got away with it., Stephen vehemently denies that he or his brothers had anything to do with the heist. What he told me was, Hansen said, Get her married so we dont have to take care of her anymore.. The Order was founded by Elden Kingston, Stephens grand-uncle, at the height of the Great Depression. The statement also said that of the Kingston Group individuals who married under age 18 in the past 20 years, 95.1 percent remain married, 94.2 percent have earned a high school degree, and a third, most of them women, have graduated from a public college or university. During his tenure, Kingston has followed his father's practice of plural, child, and intra-family marriage. According to former members of the Order, decades of inbreeding have resulted in rampant birth defects throughout the family. Two of Hansen's daughters legally married when they were under the age of 18 to young men in the Kingston Group. Paul Eldon Kingston, the leader of Utah's polygamous Kingston Group, also known is the order, is named as a defendant in a bombshell lawsuit alleging sex trafficking. The son of the clans prophet, Knight, then 18, had once seemed destined for a leadership role within the Order. They also knew that much of the clans wealth was stashed inside the unassuming suburban house on the corner. Dating or romance among young people before marriage is forbidden in the Kingston Group, but the sect does hold dances. According to people who have left the Order, the cult exploits its 2,000 members as virtual slave labor and hides profits from tax collectors. In Utah, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, plans a bill that would raise the minimum marriage age to 18. 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