Where Is The 16-Year-Old Polygamist 'Victim'?
Experts say Texas polygamy case may unravel if girl is not found.
SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 17, 2008 — -- Among the hundreds lawyers, families and caseworkers who will take part in an unprecedented child custody hearing beginning here today, one person will be noticeably absent -- the 16-year-old girl whose call for help sparked a raid on a fundamentalist religious sect.
In late March, a person who identified herself as a 16-year-old girl named Sarah made several petrified calls to an abuse hotline, complaining that her 49-year-old husband physically and sexually abused her, court records say.
The calls prompted government officials to raid the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas and take more than 400 children from the Fundamenalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints into custody, setting in motion one of the largest child custody cases in U.S. history.
Texas authorities say they have not located or identified Sarah, though they have said they believe she exists and is in state custody.
But, some are now questioning whether she exists at all.
Though the girl is not key to today's hearing, her absence looms over the case. Without her, any potential criminal charges that might be brought against members of the sect in the future could be jeopardized, legal experts say.
"This girl is proving to be the linchpin of the entire operation," Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, told ABC News. "If she doesn't exist, it's going to make it very difficult to defend this search. And if you can't do that, you can't use anything they found in there."
Several women who live on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch told ABC News that Sarah does not exist.
"She's a bogus person," a woman who identified herself as Joy said earlier this week.
Investigators were apparently searching for information about the girl and seized medical records for several women who shared the name given by Sarah during their search of the compound, according to court records. Though an arrest warrant was issued for a man thought to be her husband, police did not arrest him.
Related Stories
ABC News Live