"Their religious beliefs, he feels, have been under attack for years," McKee said of Barlow.

Safe houses

Here in Colorado, a number of homes have reportedly served as safe havens for Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs when he was a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

In a lawsuit, Jeffs' former courier Wendell Musser alleged that he acted as a caretaker for several of the FLDS leader's wives living in secret homes in the Colorado towns of Williamsburg, Florence and Westcliffe. (In 2005, Jeffs' brother Seth was arrested near Pueblo, Colo., with cash, cards, phones and documents addressed to the FLDS leader.) Search warrant returns taken from the raid on the YFZ Ranch detailed "mail from houses in hiding," but authorities have not provided additional details.

"The men that are going in hiding are wanted by the law, wanted for questioning or wanted for depositions in a civil case, so they have to put up things to hide them," said Sam Brower, a private investigator working for lawyers suing the FLDS Church.

Warren Jeffs, 52, was convicted last year in Utah on charges of rape as an accomplice. In Arizona, he is facing more charges accusing him of performing more child-bride marriages.

With the search still on for the 16-year-old "Sarah" whose phone calls of abuse and sexual assault triggered the Texas raid, Brower said it is possible the girl could be hidden away in a "safe house."

"That girl could be anywhere," Brower said. "They have the ability to make her disappear."

Some in law enforcement are keeping an eye out, too.

"We're certainly aware that's a possibility, but unless we have some indication she's here, that's all it is — is a possibility," said Montezuma County, Colo., undersheriff David Hart. "We will keep our mind open to it."

Some FLDS women and men interviewed by the Deseret News in Texas recently have insisted the girl does not exist. Texas child protective services workers have said they are still trying to identify her from among the 416 children removed from the YFZ Ranch.

New construction

In Mancos, Colo., Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald Wallace flew over the FLDS compound on Monday. It is the only way to see the 100-acre property, which is secluded in a heavily forested area. The property was purchased by David Allred, a Jeffs loyalist who also purchased the property in Eldorado and in Pringle.

Hart said they saw no people, but a few vehicles and a fair amount of construction for new houses.

"There's some pretty big buildings," he told the Deseret News on Wednesday. "There's some pretty good sized houses, the more communal-type houses."