Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney who has acted as a spokesman for the FLDS, said he was not surprised by the indictments. "The real question is, what evidence would they have to support a conviction?" he said.

"The indictments issued today are part of an ongoing and continuing criminal investigation," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.

The grand jury is expected to reconvene on Aug. 21.

Abbott would not comment on where he believed the five men in question were but stressed that authorities were launching an "aggressive effort to apprehend" them. The attorney general said he would also seek to have Jeffs extradited to Texas as quickly as possible.

"We will work with prosecutors to locate the indicted parties," Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said in an e-mail to the Deseret News.

In Utah, Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said he had spoken with Doran but was not asked to locate anyone related to the grand jury indictments in the FLDS enclave of Hildale.

Speculation, tension

Tuesday's grand jury proceedings were full of drama as speculation and tension ran high about possible charges.

Some of that speculation was sparked by the appearance of Abbott arriving at the start of the day. Judge Barbara Walther was also seen at the building where the grand jury was meeting, but it was unclear what her purpose was there. Walther has been at the heart of most of the drama since the initial raid on the YFZ Ranch, presiding over the massive custody case involving hundreds of FLDS children.

Sheriff's deputies and Texas State Troopers surrounded the complex Tuesday. Yellow police tape encompassed the entire block, pushing news media even farther back than they were at last month's grand jury proceedings.

About a half-dozen FLDS women and girls in their traditional dresses walked in and out of the Schleicher County Memorial Building. Unlike the hearing last month when Teresa Jeffs, the daughter of Warren Jeffs, climbed a tree, the mood among the women was much more low-key and almost somber.

Most of the women sat together either under a tree or on the lawn of the complex that holds the courthouse and the sheriff's office. One by one, they were called into the building next to the courthouse to testify. Their attorneys would follow them to the doors, but they were not allowed to accompany their clients inside. Some of the women were led in and out of the building several times.

There was a flurry of paperwork at one point. Attorneys and Texas Child Protective Services workers carried papers back and forth from the courthouse to the grand jury's building, particularly during the time when Walther was there.