WALKING out of prison in September 2024, I was so different to the brainwashed young woman who’d been put behind bars nearly two years before.
As tough as prison was, it had saved me – from the cult I’d grown up in, the dangerous man I’d been forcibly married to and the lies that had trapped me.
At the age of 21, Naomi Bistline from Utah was trafficked into a forced marriage to self-proclaimed ‘prophet’ Samuel Bateman Credit: TOLGA KATAS
Cult leader Samuel Bateman Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
I was born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) community – a breakaway polygamist Mormon sect – and grew up on the Utah-Arizona border with 22 full and half-siblings between my father’s two wives.
The leader, or “prophet”, was a man named Warren Jeffs, who had 80 wives and more than 50 children, and who claimed that men could achieve a higher spiritual status through polygamy.
I grew up completely sheltered from the outside world. There was no TV or internet, and girls only received a basic education. Our path in life was marriage and children.
In 2011, Warren Jeffs was convicted of child sexual assault relating to two of his underage wives, and sentenced to life, plus an additional 20 years, in prison.
He attempted to control the community from behind bars, but his absence led to a vacuum of power, and new factions sprung up.
I was 12 when my family first became fractured – my father and three of my brothers were sent away by Jeffs, which he did to thousands of men to retain control of the women and children.
I was separated from most of my brothers for many years. I was sent to live with a number of other families, as were my siblings, and rarely got to see my birth mother. A few years later, I was sent to an older male cousin, LaDell Bistline Jr, who had complete control of my life.
When I was 19, LaDell introduced me to Samuel Bateman. Then in his mid-40s, he had begun to style himself as the next prophet, setting up his own sect called The Samuelites and taking multiple wives – adults and girls as young as nine.
LaDell wanted me to become another of Samuel’s wives. He made me feel deeply uncomfortable – but as a woman, I had no agency. In 2020, when I was 21, LaDell drove me to Samuel’s home and told him: “I give you this girl.” I became Wife 13.
Samuel punished me for my resistance to becoming his wife, physically, emotionally and sexually.
He broke me, and I remember weeping, convincing myself that if this was what God wanted for me, then I needed to accept it and learn to love him.
Meanwhile, he continued to take more wives – some had ”belonged” to LaDell and two other male followers, my cousin and LaDell’s brother Torrance Bistline, and Moroni Johnson. Others were trafficked from the community, like me.
I became one of 25 wives in total, all living with Samuel and the other three men in one house. Every day, Samuel made us get up at 5am and take a freezing shower. Everything was scheduled – who was cooking, cleaning and caring for the young children.
The men ran successful businesses and gave their earnings over to Samuel, while us women were sent to do cleaning and painting jobs to earn money for him.
Documentary-maker Christine Marie filmed the wives’ lives in the cult Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Women in the cult were completely sheltered from the outside world and girls only received a basic education Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Samuel selected different women and girls for sex, sometimes alone, sometimes in a group. Having grown up with children being passed around the community by men, I didn’t know any different.
Unlike some of the other wives, who had Samuel’s babies, I never got pregnant – my menstrual cycle stopped, presumably as a result of stress and trauma – and every month, Samuel would become so angry with me, telling me I was “resisting God”.
To outsiders, I appeared totally devoted to him, but I was just trying to survive. Our lives felt under threat all the time, and I felt so alone.
The dynamic between the wives was awkward and untrusting. We were forbidden from becoming friends or talking about our lives before the cult, and he encouraged us to spy on one another to gain his favour.
He even resented the mothers’ bond with their children, once taking a two-week-old baby from a wife and giving it to another.
‘Cult life was all I knew and the future felt terrifying’
Then, in 2022, the FBI raided the house and Samuel was arrested. A pair of documentary makers, Christine Marie and her husband Tolga Katas had been filming FLDS life for months, encouraged by Samuel who adored the attention and had dreams of becoming famous.
Unbeknown to us, they had been secretly working with the FBI to gather evidence on Samuel in relation to child sex abuse and trafficking.
The child wives were taken into state care, and the adult wives scattered. But even from prison, he was controlling us. When the young wives ran away from care, Samuel ordered us by phone to get them.
Three of us drove them to an Airbnb, then I returned to Utah. The police, who’d been tapping Samuel’s calls, tracked the girls down, and after three days on the run, I turned myself in because I didn’t know what else to do.
It never crossed my mind that I’d be jailed, too. To my shock, I was imprisoned on charges of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice by tampering with an official proceeding, for hiding the girls.
Prison was the first time I’d been separated from the FLDS world, and it was terrifying, but transformative. I learned about the outside world from other inmates and devoured self-help and psychology books.
With time and separation to reflect on everything, I realised my whole life was founded on deceit – I was a victim of the world I’d grown up in, and of Samuel.
That realisation triggered challenging emotions and suicidal thoughts. I knew that I would never go back to my old life, and I felt a profound sense of loss, despite the abuse I’d endured. Cult life was all I knew, and the future felt terrifying.
In prison, I had therapy, and I worked with the FBI who were preparing to put Samuel on trial. Eventually, after two years behind bars, I was released.
With support from an aunt who had left the FLDS, I rented a room where she was living. It was the first time I’d had my own space. I was also supported by Christine, who I’d grown close to, and the FBI agents I’d worked with.
Although it was a scary time, I knew I had to move forward.
Naomi became one of 25 wives in total, all living with Samuel Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Last year, Naomi connected with an FLDS survivor on social media and they are now in a relationship Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
In December 2024, Samuel was sentenced to 50 years in prison, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Eleven others, including LaDell, Moroni and Torrance, as well as some wives, were also jailed.
Now, I’m 27 and studying psychology at college. I still live in that same town, but am very disassociated from everybody here.
Things like meeting a friend or shopping for clothes still feel strange, in a good way, after being controlled.
Late last year, I connected with an FLDS survivor on social media and we are now in a relationship. He understands what I’ve been through.
As well as my aunt, I’m close to my cousins and brothers who’ve left the FLDS, but most of my family remain in the community. I’m determined to use my pain and suffering to raise awareness about women and girls who are victims of cults.
My whole life, I was trapped by the lies and control a cult relies on – but now I’m free.
Watch Trust Me: The False Prophet on Netflix now.
