Lost to the Only Life They Knew

Meanwhile, authorities believe Jeffs has left Colorado City and may be staying with family at a 1,600-acre compound the FLDS is building near Eldorado, Texas.

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The spiritual heart of the church lies in Hildale and Colorado City, communities a mile apart with a combined population of about 10,000.

The towns sit at the foot of the remote and majestic Vermillion Cliffs, a place of red rock isolation. Women walk the streets in bonnets and trousers under long dresses. Their hair is pinned high on their heads, often with a braided ponytail hanging in back.

Many of the boys said children didn't attend school past the eighth grade and that they were taught that blacks were inferior -- the offspring of Cain and doomed to slavery. Such views have earned the FLDS a hate-group designation by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The children are told that dinosaurs came from another planet, and man never walked on the moon. More important, they learn the outside world is wicked and salvation comes through obedience to the prophet, who channels God's will.

According to those inside and outside the community, this way of life has become even stricter since Jeffs took over in 2002. Competitive sports -- said to promote pride -- have been curtailed or eliminated. Swimming is frowned upon, and talking to a girl can earn a boy a visit from the local police.

Ross Chatwin, who lives in Colorado City, said when Jeffs took charge, "rumors started going around that if you weren't obedient, you would be kicked out."

Chatwin, 36, was ordered out last year for trying to marry a second wife without the prophet's permission. He refused to budge from his sparsely furnished home in the center of town, and now is in a legal battle with the city, which once moved another family into his house and briefly shut off his utilities.

"The kids here are giving up hope," Chatwin said. "There is nothing for them anymore."

Hildale Mayor David Zitting, an FLDS member, said the exiled boys were defiant.

"The people in this community have certain standards and values," Zitting said. "If you have a son or daughter in your home, and their behavior got worse and worse and they defied you, wouldn't you want them to leave?"

Girls are rarely banished for improper behavior; but there have been several high-profile cases of girls running away to avoid arranged marriages or escape sexual abuse.