Life at polygamist ranch was austere, controlled

ELDORADO, Texas — It was a year ago that the outside world got its first glimpse beyond the battered green gate of the YFZ Ranch. And the view was mesmerizing: Women in pioneer-style dresses, their hair swept up in braids. Men who married multiple times — sometimes, it was said, to underage girls. Children snatched by authorities from their mothers, for fear that they might be abused. ... all but one of the 439 children who were taken away in one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history have returned to their families. About two-thirds are back at the ranch ... The documents obtained by The Associated Press offer a window into an industrious, prayerful community in which marriage was considered a mandatory ticket to heaven, where legal marrying ages are secondary to divine matches ordained by Jeffs. But more than anything else, these papers testify to a simple truth: At the YFZ Ranch, Warren Jeffs controlled everything.