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Apr 23, 2008 10:56 pm US/Central
North Texas Woman Talks About Polygamist Lifestyle
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
One woman knows all too well the inner workings of the polygamist lifestyle. Mary Mackert was a teenager when she says she was forced to marry an older man in the name of religious duty. She told her story to CBS 11 News from at a Fort Worth church.
"I was terrified. I barely knew this man," she said. According to Mackert her wedding day was the saddest day of her life. She described the event saying, "I'm going there knowing that I will never see my brothers and sisters again."
At age 17 she was forced to marry a 50-year-old man in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"I kept just praying, God just, just have that lightning strike this tree and have it fall on us and just kill us all," she said.
As a teenager Mackert says she stayed believing she was doing her duty. The then young wife and mother said she was told that if anyone ever left they would die and go to hell.
But Mackert said after 16 years, she couldn't go on sharing a house and a husband with six other wives. "He sent his older sons, they abducted me, locked me in my room for a day and a half and he threatened to kill me."
In 1985 she says she finally broke free, taking her five sons with her. "I said, Lord if these are your people send me to hell. I don't want to be where they are."
Today Mackert shares her story in hopes of shedding light on the polygamist community. She says women in the environment are treated like women in Afghanistan and based on her experience she believes many children are sexually abused. "You think every daddy and his little girl have that special love," she explained.
Mackert has three sisters and four step-daughters in the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. She says the laws against polygamy need to be enforced and that those who don't get help should be prosecuted.
For now Mackert simply watches as children from the West Texas polygamist ranch are cared for by Child Protective Services and hopes they are adopted by outside families. She says, "The damage to the children is on the inside."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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