the health department has set up an official appointment today and they're gonna go look
through the house to see if the water is drinkable if there's mold i'm hoping that
my mom's home can be condemned and it will force her out my mom has chosen her fate time
and time again she's an adult she can make that decision but she's putting her kids at risk and
if she's not gonna leave on her own i want her kicked out of this house
mom does daniel know that your house is gonna be inspected
um we've told him does daniel know they're coming today no do you have a
list of specific things that you want to point out to the inspector everything i don't know
how are you doing hi it's the davis county health department all right if we come in sure go ahead
come in thank you we were hoping you could point out some of the concerns you had in the home
we have leaks through here you put in the pipe yeah you can see under the house and then they
come in and they just put a piece of wood over it hoping it'll cover it and then it continues
to rot out because there was no real fix done to it do you want to see the toilet so that is
the color of the water that comes out of yeah the faucets and it's damaged the washer
and when they take showers it's like we're going to take showers it's dirty hair the inspector is
taking pictures and writing stuff down it's pretty obvious there's and it doesn't work
and i'm feeling like finally somebody is going to listen somebody is going to see the problems
i want to lift this up so you guys can see this floor is gone and daniel will be responsible for
fixing everything or getting my siblings in a better place all right so what else
are we looking at um well i don't know if you want to see where the pump house is
this is the pump house they maintain the pump house like they don't hold their mouth
there's definitely some issues here we really have two options
we can either issue a notice we give the the owner 30 days to come in and fix fix the problem
or we could just actually give you a letter that just documents everything
it's not an enforcement letter it is just saying this is what we found the other way
they can comply with a notice is that they close the unit they don't rent it anymore so we like
to let the renter pick what they would like because essentially you're going to be homeless
i don't know but we could take the heat and
issue the notice probably for right now let's just do the letter findings
i mean i've already been here for 17 years
it's frustrating and it's irritating mom wants to do the letter of findings
which doesn't really do anything mom wants to be able to fall back on staying in this home
chanel is meeting me i got a frantic call from melanie and her family is on to her i left melanie
the plan was we were going to try and break her out tomorrow but melanie said they backed her into
a corner and she had to admit that she was leaving we have to get her out tonight she's not safe
i'm so glad you can make it so it's melanie and she has to get out tonight because they're on to
her and andrea can't even make it this is so last minute so i don't know but right now at her house
everyone's there she has some friends from the gym i don't really know them but the personal trainers
but they're supposed to help okay let's wait in my car okay they'll be here any second
i'm gonna sit down anyway just because it's freezing well there's a car so i don't know
i wonder if that's them i don't know how much they know about the order
but i don't think that they really know what they're in for
are you cody yes i am jessica jessica i'm melanie's sister jessica and i'm chanel
chanel do you know like what you're breaking her out of like yes polygamy do you know who her
biological father is yes okay you know this could be dangerous yes you know her dad could show up
yes let's just go because we don't have much time
call andrea andrew we're on our way to go get her if donald shows up does she have the right to
get her stuff yeah but you should have a problem with her just call the cop right now and be like
okay
yelling and arguing
get up come back with the police officer and get
your stuff you need to let go of her mom she can come back tomorrow
she wants to leave she should be able to go stephanie you can't come to in our house
get up let her out break your window and get out of here
get out you cannot take her get out of our house now get up oh my gosh
she now still in there
we heard yelling and we heard screaming and so yeah
it sounded like she wasn't safe and so we just opened the door and we just ran
in and we just ran to the noise and then they all just saw us and they started yelling
and she's trying to get out they're holding her down
and holding onto her
melanie they don't need to come in for you to leave clearly your mom
was holding her in here guys i'm already gone it's never too late it's not too late
get out why don't you get out i don't want to leave her here with
you get out we're going to push your way through our house we will push you out
and push yourself through your house let me walk get out right now oh my gosh
okay what the hell happened where the police give me the phone no look they're here they're here
we are at a house that belongs to a polygamous family there's an 18 year old girl in there trying
to get out in her and there's like seven ladies in there keeping her in and physically running her
down can somebody go get her really she really she wants help uh what's this family's name
yeah how about you make sure you see her and that she's fine sorry
i just can't believe she had to do this to get out
melanie wants out let her go we are emotional we're distraught because every
time we help somebody leave we're going to have our flashbacks that order that
life was our home for so many years and it was a hurtful disgusting home
well she's downstairs waiting for you guys to help her move her stuff out okay
thank you where do i go
they have a smell of rotten produce because they eat rotten food because that's all they can get
that's the only food they can afford guys don't do anything and it was unfinished did
you notice yeah we're stepping on just the she was not even living in a room no wonder
it was all boarded up it was unfinished it was wait no she's just living in a box
is that everything yeah
leaving the order is a huge betrayal in their eyes
when you leave you lose your family they disown you as if you never existed
melanie is not just saying goodbye to polygamy she is saying goodbye to her
brothers and sisters her whole family and a huge portion of her identity hey guys let's just go
wait come here
oh it's just sad that i have to say my goodbyes because i don't believe the same thing as them
i know that the whole family is hurting and i know it's because
i picked the outside world instead of them it's okay i want both in my life but i can't
but i i hope one day they will want to talk to me because i still love them and i still
want to be in their lives we give ourselves
when i escaped i moved into my friend's house i wanted to feel independent i wanted to feel
like i could do something with my life but i do miss my siblings i see their faces at night and
just remember everything it all just plays back in my head
i'm going to go talk to my other brother alec because i miss him a lot
we were really close growing up we were friends i feel like he was mad at me for leaving
we haven't talked or text or saw each other in weeks so i got in contact and he said he could
meet me tonight i like just texted mom just went to bed alec is still living at mom's house and
still having to sneak out oh my gosh i'm nervous going back to the house
oh crap oh my gosh this is i'm scared
so he says to come to him and she just knocked on his window
i was concerned about you yeah i'm right well um
finally agreed to come talk to you tonight that's because i mean we haven't seen each other in
weeks so what's life like now life is i love it a lot better it makes me wonder why i
was ever in there but the only concern and thing that i missed is the family what's one thing
that you feel like you are able to do now though that you feel like you couldn't do in the order
i just feel like i feel so free like i don't want to go back at all i realize this
might be the last time that we see each other if if you decide not to come home
it just sucks how it has to be that way and that you guys can't just love me for who i am
would you ever consider leaving
do you want to be there
where do you think you're going to be in 10 years
like still doing the exact same thing that daniel wants you to do
i think you should go back before anything happens
i love you guys i hate it i love it out here i just wish i could see my family the
people i grew up with my whole entire life and going back to the house just reminds you that
you can't that's not what i chose i chose something else i can't see them
melanie has physically left but she has 18 years of trauma to process she's been
physically abused sexually abused emotionally abused spiritually abused everything but there
is another life out here there is happiness it's here to be had i just hope she doesn't give up
you