Carolyn Jessop (born January 1, 1968) is an American author and former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who wrote Escape, an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight from that community.
"[3][4][5] In 2007, she co-authored her book Escape with Laura Palmer, which chronicled her life in the FLDS organization, her adulthood and disillusionment, and her eventual flight.
[9] Jessop was born Carolyn Blackmore and raised by her parents in Hildale, Utah, with her older sister and younger siblings.
[1] The autobiography describes a year-long stint in Salt Lake City, Utah, which gave her a taste of the world outside her religious community.
The final pregnancy was life-threatening and required an emergency hysterectomy, during which time, as Jessop maintains, her husband and his family regarded her condition with disinterest.
Jessop also reveals the various sources of strength and resources on which she has drawn as she overcame the obstacles to achieving success after a lifetime of trauma living inside a cult.
[12] Texas law enforcement officers began a raid of the YFZ Ranch on April 3, 2008, following a phone call with allegations of physical and sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl.
With assistance from Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, in 2003 Carolyn became the first woman who left an FLDS community to be awarded full custody of all of her children.
[20] In several criminal trials in Texas resulting from the April 2008 seizure of evidence at the YFZ Ranch, Carolyn was called as a witness for the State.
Since returning to the FLDS, Betty has openly disputed the claims in Carolyn's book, particularly those alleging that Merril Jessop was abusive, saying, "it just makes me want to laugh.
"[24] She describes her years outside the sect as traumatic, explaining that public school was a shock and that the task of caring for her siblings fell to her due to her mother's health problems: "With the responsibility landing on me so hard every morning, I was an emotional wreck, and after a while, I hardened into a frazzled bundle of nerves.