Shanell DeRieux, who is now 29, was forced to marry her first cousin when she was just 18-years-old
Shanell DeRieux grew up in Davis County Cooperative Society, AKA the Kingston Group or The Order, a polygamist sect near Salt Lake City, Utah, as a child. When she turned 18-years-old in 2008, her family went to Grand Junction, Colorado so that she could marry her cousin at the Mesa County Courthouse, because it was illegal to marry a cousin in the State of Utah... unless you're over 55-years of age. It was, however, legal in Colorado to marry a cousin. DeRieux was still in high school when her father told her that she needed to help 'build The Order' and have children. Her 2 sisters were also forced to marry their (adult) cousins when they were only 16-years-old.
After getting married to her cousin, Shanell DeRieux experienced verbal and physical abuse from her husband and eventually escaped the polygamist sect. They eventually split in 2010, after her husband threw her down a flight of stairs following an argument when they were living in Billings, Montana. The divorce was final in 2011 and later met and married another man (who was NOT part of the polygamist sect).