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Affidavits Give Peek Into Secretive and Incestuous Polygamist Clan
BY GREG BURTON August 2, 1998, THE SALT LAKE TIBUNE
Like other women and children born to the polygamist Kingston clan, the eldest daughter of
John Daniel Kingston was doe-eyed and obedient.
She went to school when asked and dropped out when told.
She lived in a dilapidated white shack in a Salt Lake County coal yard even though her father
and uncle are heirs to a $70 million communal empire.
And at 16, she secretly married and, investigators believe, had sex with her 32-year-old uncle.
On Monday, in a groundbreaking move, detectives will give police in Salt Lake and Davis
counties affidavits alleging incest and unlawful sexual contact between the girl and her uncle,
launching one of the first open examinations of incest within a secretive polygamist clan of about
1,500 members.
On the same day, John Daniel Kingston's daughter will turn 17.
With the Kingstons, the pattern of couplings is intricate and sometimes bizarre. John Daniel
Kingston and the mother of the 16-year-old girl at the center of the incest investigation were
themselves fathered by the same man.
Besides the 16-year-old, John Daniel and Susan Nelson, his wife and half-sister, have nine
other children.
In most cases where incest is brought to light, friends or close confidants are the catalysts for
prosecution.
``But in the polygamist clans, they don't have friends outside, they have no contacts, no way to
get the word out -- we never, ever hear a word about incest within these groups because the
children are sheltered,'' says Sgt. Don Bell, who heads the sex-crimes unit for Salt Lake City
police.
But when John Daniel Kingston's 16-year-old daughter fled her arranged marriage -- twice --
she was belt-whipped, allegedly by her father, and dumped semiconscious near a
turn-of-the-century barn in Box Elder County owned by the Kingstons.
Alone and severely bruised, she walked several miles to a gas station, called police and opened
the closet door of the Kingston clan -- where investigators say they have found evidence of child
abuse and incest.
We believe there is enough to go on -- the sexual crimes did not happen here, but in other
jurisdictions,'' says Lynn Yeates, chief deputy of the Box Elder County Sheriff's department.
``And we are going to send those jurisdictions a copy of the reports and they can decide from
those how to proceed.''
The affidavits gathered by investigators alleging incest between David Ortell Kingston and his
niece -- which grew from the child-abuse case against John David Kingston -- will be delivered
to police in Bountiful, Salt Lake City and Sandy.
Those three municipalities are common to Kingston land holdings, dwellings, businesses and,
ex-members say, courtship and consummation between the Kingston brothers and their many
wives -- who often are close relatives of theirs.
The ultimate decision to pursue charges falls to prosecutors in Salt Lake and Davis counties.
Salt Lake County prosecutor Neal Gunnarson did not immediately return phone calls, but
deputy county prosecutor Walter ``Bud'' Ellett says the incest case is weak if it is based solely on
the girl's testimony. Prosecutors need some kind of corroborating evidence.
One investigator disagrees.
``Have we taken he-said, she-said cases? Yes, we have. Have we lost cases based on that? Yes,
we have. Have we won cases based on that? Yes, we have,'' says Bell. ``Sex offenses usually
come down to he said, she said. There usually are not a whole lot of other witnesses.''
But the fact the alleged sexual activity took place months ago does not preclude the possibility
of physical evidence. If the girl had not had sexual intercourse prior to privately ``marrying'' her
uncle, or since, a medical examination could prove intercourse took place.
Sex crimes involving close relatives are not uncommon and are commonly prosecuted.
In 1901, 56-year-old Wayne County farmer Jonathan Hunt was convicted of incest with his
daughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He had three polygamous wives who died after
delivering 23 children.
In 1996, when Gary Morris, a 58-year-old Michigan man, was sentenced to as many as 40
years for repeatedly raping his granddaughter -- who investigators believe was also his daughter
-- Michigan and New Jersey were the only two states without a criminal incest law on the books.
Utah's statute defines incest as intercourse with an ``ancestor, descendant, brother, sister,
uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or first cousin.'' Or sex with a stepchild while the marriage is in force,
or sex between a half-sister and half-brother.
Of an average 150 sex crimes investigated each month in Utah, about 60 percent involve close
relatives, according to statistics from the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS).
``A majority of the cases the division investigates involve someone that is either a caretaker or
sibling or extended relative,'' says Katy Larsen, regional director of DCFS's northern division,
where John David Kingston's 16-year-old daughter has been sheltered since her May escape.
``The reason we get involved is protection issues,'' Larsen says. ``Incest is a prevalent problem,
one that doesn't get the exposure because investigators and the media, out of kindness, want to
protect the parties involved.''
(The Salt Lake Tribune does not publish a sex abuser's name if it identifies the victim, and in
cases of incest, will only say a ``relative'' was victimized.)
Unfortunately, Larsen adds, the choice not to publicize the crime shields the extent of the
problem.
And there are many problems for children of incestuous couplings.
Former clan prophet John Ortell Kingston, who died in 1987, paid the Medicaid bills for a
child born with severe birth defects after Utah investigators linked the wealthy father of more
than 65 children to the baby.
While he never admitted paternity with any of his children who received federal or state
assistance, in 1983 Utah collected $200,000 in welfare-fraud damages from him. This includes
an estimated $60,000 hospital charge for the deformed baby, who investigators said John Ortell
Kingston likely conceived with a close relative.
At least two of his children, in turn, secretly ``married,'' and conceived the 16-year-old girl
who told police she had been given in marriage to David Ortell Kingston, her uncle. David is also
John Ortell Kingston's son.
Children born from brother-sister, uncle-niece matings come from a closely shared and,
consequently, less diverse gene pool than children from unrelated parents.
Because of more easily paired negative, recessive genes, inbred children have far higher rates
of birth defects and low intelligence, including mental retardation, impaired fertility, congenital
birth defects and weakened immune systems.
``For, say, parent-offspring or brother-sister matings, they share half their genes so half their
genes are identical,'' said Lynn Jorde, a professor of human genetics at the University of Utah
School of Medicine who researches genetic causes of birth defects. ``So if you have any recessive
disease gene, you have a higher probability of getting two of them.''
``There have only been a few studies done on the biological effects of incest, it's obviously
hard to get subjects,'' he continued. ``But the studies that have been done generally show that a
fourth to half of those children have problems.''
Salt Lake Tribune reporter Norma Wagner contributed to this story.