| Into the compound | |
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By Norma Najacht Custer County Chronicle | |
Susie Johnson may never know her mother came to visit her last Saturday. She and her children may never receive the presents her mother lovingly chose and left for her. Jane Blackmore knew she didn’t have much hope of seeing her daughter, Susie, when she made the 932-mile, two-day trip to Custer from her home in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, but still she came. "For the most part, it’s maternal," she said simply. "She’s my daughter." Jane wasn’t asking for much; just a short visit with her daughter, who she’s seen only once since July 2003. She didn’t even ask to see Susie’s four sons, two of whom she has never seen. One was born approximately a month ago, but Jane has not been informed of his birth date or his name. At the age of 17, Susie was taken by her father, Winston Blackmore, to Salt Lake City to marry Ben Johnson. They met for the first time just five minutes before the ceremony. In early 2004, Susie went missing from their Colorado City, Ariz., home. Jane received a call from Susie in June of that year, begging Jane to stop trying to track her down. There was an obvious strain in Susie’s voice. Finally, Susie said, "Mother, my time is up. I have to go now." Johnson then got on the line and warned Jane that God did not want her to find Susie and their three young sons. For two years, Jane did not know where Susie was. In September 2004, Jane asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Interpol and the FBI to try to find her daughter. But what those agencies could not do was but a small feat for one Cookie Hickstein of rural Custer County, who regularly noted the goings-on at the nearby compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). When Hickstein noticed Johnson’s picture which had been taken at the compound here, the mystery of Susie’s whereabouts finally began to unravel. Once the person in the picture was confirmed by the Custer County Sheriff’s office as the person in charge of the FLDS compound near Pringle, Jon Krakauer, author of "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith," a book about the FLDS, then notified Jane. Jane had assumed that Susie was at the FLDS compound near Eldorado, Texas, when she disappeared. "I didn’t even know about this place at all," Jane said about the enclave here. Jane saw Susie last March when Krakauer met her at the Denver airport and drove her to Custer. Jane asked to take Ben and Susie and the children to lunch, but Johnson refused to eat with her. He agreed to bring Susie to a park in Rapid City so Jane could visit her. Jane did not get to see her three grandsons. "She seemed ‘flat,’" Jane said of Susie, who she said was always a very happy, vivacious person. "She was always able to say when crap was crap, that it was crap, and now she can’t do that," Jane said. "Whatever the prophet says is right." Their visit was decidedly impersonal, with Susie not offering any information about herself or her life. She told Jane the boys were normal kids, and they liked to play and get dirty. "That was about all she would say," Jane recalls. "Ben interjected every so often. I said it would be really nice to watch the kids play, and he said, ‘Well, we have to keep our kids safe from evil influences.’" Jane told Susie that if she ever needed anything to let her know. "That’s about as close as I could get," Jane said. At that point, Johnson interjected, "God is taking care of us." Susie, 26, was pregnant at that time with her fourth child. Her blood is Rh-negative and all her children have been Rh-positive. Jane replied, "I really hope that God provides your RhoGam, Susie," to which Johnson repeated, "God is taking care of us." Nobody — including Susie — is forced to stay at the compound, Johnson told Jane. "With that fence and watchtower, it gives me a message," Jane replied. "You’re either trying to keep people in or keep people out." "We don’t want people in," Johnson said. "But you’re also keeping people in," Jane answered. "People who are free to go don’t need fences and watchtowers. There are other ways to control people other than a watchtower." Jane is no stranger to control. (See related story in this issue about Jane Blackmore’s life). Jane called Johnson 18-20 times in the two weeks before coming to Custer last Saturday and received one answer in return. Johnson told Jane he was trying to keep his family away from "evil influences." She called Sheriff Rick Wheeler before coming and told him of her plans to see Susie. He informed her that she would be trespassing if she went on the compound without their permission. "Well, what would you do to me," she asked him. When he said he’d have to ask her to leave, she thought, "Well, I can handle that." And so she came — unwanted and uninvited — with no guarantees of seeing her daughter, but only with a burning desire to let Susie know she was there if she ever needed her. While Jane believes Johnson is a good father and a good husband, she just wants to have visitation rights. She believes there are human rights — which include the right to liberty and freedom of thought and expression — violations going on at the compound. "Reading materials are censored," she said. "They are not allowed to communicate with any family members. They are totally isolated. Yes, rights are being violated." Jane isn’t on a crusade to change the FLDS. She just wants to see her daughter and grandsons. And so she, two of her sons, Hyrum and Peter; their wives, Cecilia and Millie; one of her daughters, Mary; and assorted other family members drove out to the Pringle compound to find Susie on Saturday afternoon. Before arriving at the compound, she said if the gates were closed, she intended to crawl under the fence to find her daughter. The first two gates were closed, but further down the road, a fence was down, so Peter drove right in on a road that led into the compound. Immediately a bevy of men — some wearing cheap wigs and talking into walkie-talkies — drove up to and circled around the van in four-wheelers. When Jane asked for Ben, she was informed that he was not available. She got out of the van and started walking toward one of the homes. A group of men armed with cameras and walkie-talkies stopped her. The other members of her entourage followed after her on foot. When one of the men from the compound told Hyrum he was going to be arrested, he held out his hands and said, "Good. I’ve always wanted to be arrested." "Well, the sheriff is coming," he retorted. "You can wait in your van." "I’m waiting right here," Jane answered. "They only had three lines," she later said. "You’re not welcome here. Would you please leave, and they’re not available." The young women from Canada were familiar with the men at the compound, as they had all been friends in Colorado City before the Canadian group split off from the U.S. FLDS when Warren Jeffs seized power. "There’s a Barlow," they said, as they discussed who was who. And, "Isn’t that Merrill Jessop’s son?" The Canadian girls called out to their former friends who were now giving them the silent treatment while filming, videoing and taking down the van’s license number. Every time the men would snap a picture or video the Canadian group, everyone in the van would hold up their own cameras and snap pictures of the men from the compound and video them. "Hey, Wayne, your sister misses you. You’re still her favorite brother!" they said to Wayne Fisher, who used to be a regular guest at their home. When Wayne continued to silently video them, Mary held up a 3-week-old baby. "Hey, make sure you video her and then send us the video!" she said. When the girls mentioned the wigs, the boys, embarrassed, took them off, only to reappear later with them on again. The Canadian group enjoys many more freedoms than those at the compound, including what the women wear. While the FLDS women wear peasant garb and long braids, the Canadian girls also wear long dresses, but they are much more fashionable and do not stand out as being "different." Their hair may be long, but it is not typically in braids. After a two-hour standoff, a Custer County Sheriffs Department deputy arrived and informed the Canadian group they were trespassing and must leave. While the FLDS young men tried to convince the deputy to confiscate all the pictures taken by the Canadian group, the deputy refused. Hyrum put his arm around his mother and guided her back to the van. Heartbroken and stifling tears, Jane set down numerous packages for her daughter and grandsons on the ground beside the van. "Please allow Susie to have these," she pleaded with the young men. No one answered and as the van drove away, they were left sitting beside the road in the dust. Unable to talk for much of the ride back to Custer, Jane was asked if she felt the trip was worth while. "I had to come," she choked out. When asked if she will come back, she nodded. "I’m not a bad person," she said. Mary said she knew Susie would want to see her family, but not badly enough to defy her husband. "I believe she loves us as much as we love her but wouldn’t jeopardize what she’s doing," she said. "In a good world, she would have the freedom to stay with her husband and still have the freedom to see her family." Jane agreed. "I know she wants to see me. She just can’t express that right now," she said. "Even if she told me she didn’t, I wouldn’t believe her. I know the kind of relationship we’ve had." Jane said the FLDS very much believes in what they are doing. "They are doing it for their salvation," she explained. "But you have to get past the fact that we always believed that if you left you’d go to hell. You have to believe you’re not a bad person. The God I believe in would not send me to hell just because I chose to do something different." When asked if she thought Susie would ever want to leave, Jane hesitated, obviously searching into her own not-so-distant past. "It takes a long time to come to that realization and it takes a long time to deal with the guilt," she finally said. She readied for the long ride back home, where she will go back to work and get on with her life. "I want Susie to know I’d do anything for her if she needs help," she said. "And I want Ben to know I’m not just going to forget about her." | |
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CusterCountyNews.com Originally published August 30, 2007 | |
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