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SAN ANGELO, Texas - As evening fell here Sunday, a small group of women from a besieged polygamous sect could be seen across a wide expanse of lawn at Fort Concho, offering one another slight smiles, hugs and tears.
On the third day of a state investigation into the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, buses ferried more than 250 women and children to this historic military outpost, which is adjacent to the Ralph R. Chase State of Texas Services Center.
The facility, about 45 miles from Eldorado, provides health services for women, infants and children. It is not known how long the FLDS residents - the most people ever taken into detention in Texas - will remain here.
Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the Texas Child Protective Service, said she did not know whether a hearing will be today before the 51st District judge who ordered their removal from the ranch last Thursday.
The state so far has taken legal custody of 18 girls who were living at the ranch. Law enforcement has yet to hold a news conference to describe their work at the ranch, and an affidavit explaining the action is sealed.
The raid began Thursday evening, prompted by two calls to an unidentified state agency a week ago from 16-year-old girl who said she was at the ranch and had been physically abused. The calls were the first reports received of any type of abuse at the ranch, Meisner said.
The girl may be among those taken from the ranch but she still had not yet been identified as of Sunday afternoon, Meisner said.
"I am confident that this girl does indeed exist and I am confident that the allegations that she brought forth are accurate," she said. "But keep in mind we are still looking for other children."
She said the agency's employees are finding it difficult to identify the children.
"Any of you who are familiar with this organization know it is very difficult because of names and sometimes names are changed," she said.
Meisner also said state employees were having a difficult time discerning ages of the women and girls taken from the ranch.
The man named in a Thursday arrest warrant, Dale Evans Barlow, 50, of Colorado City, Ariz., claims he does not know the 16-year-old accuser named by Texas police, his probation officer said Saturday.
The FLDS women and children have been housed at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall and the Schleicher County Civic Center. Just before noon, school buses pulled up to the facilities to collect them. At the Fellowship Hall, women and children came out in single file waves, some clutching each other's hands, others holding garbage bags or suitcases of belongings. They kept their eyes fixed ahead as they boarded the buses.
Each group was accompanied by a Texas Child Protective Services worker, some of whom helped to carry young children. The state employees hoisted sheets to block views of some children and teens.
By 3 p.m., 219 people had been taken to San Angelo, but additional buses made the 45-mile trip to San Angelo later, including one that came straight from the ranch. It arrived at the fort around 6:45 p.m.
At a midafternoon news conference, Meisner said authorities were halfway through clearing the ranch. Apparently, most men remain on the ranch.
Saturday night, a Midland SWAT team entered the sect's most sacred property - its white limestone temple - and took just five minutes to secure it. They then moved to another building, apparently working until the early morning hours to search buildings on the 1,691-acre property.
"The residents didn't want outsiders to enter their place of worship," said Allison Palmer, spokeswoman for District Attorney Steve Lupton. "It created a tense moment" but there was no violence or any arrests.
Authorities have not reported finding any weapons during their search, which continued late Sunday.
The third day of the raid happened to coincide with a date - April 6 - that fundamentalist Mormons, an offshoot of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consider sacred. It is the day the LDS Church was founded, and also the day fundamentalists believe to be Jesus Christ's birthday and the day of his death.
Asked if FLDS members have been forced to leave the ranch, Meisner said, "I do not believe we forced them to leave. They knew what their options were."
Many of the children are with their mothers, she said, will be able to socialize together at the fort.
"I think they are doing remarkably well considering the circumstances," she said, adding that any parent would understand how difficult it is for children to be "uprooted like this, from the only home they have known."
She said the women and children are "being cooperative, they are very low key, they are very polite. I think the interaction has been positive at this point."
* A temple rises: In November 2003, the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints purchased property for its YFZ Ranch outside Eldorado, Texas. A massive limestone temple was built, along with homes, manufacturing sheds and a dairy.
* Warrants served: On Thursday evening, a judge signed search and arrest warrants related to a Monday call from 16-year-old girl who claimed she had been abused. Authorities entered the 1,691-acre ranch and worked through the night interviewing children.
* Children removed: Officials said they had taken at least 52 children from the ranch to Eldorado by late Friday, with 18 girls in custody.
* A rising tally: By late Saturday, 183 boys, girls and women had been removed for questioning. After some resistance from ranch residents, a SWAT team peacefully checked the sect's temple.
* The wanted man: The man named in the arrest warrant, Dale Barlow, 50, of Colorado City, Ariz., says he doesn't know the 16-year-old accuser named by Texas police, his probation officer said Saturday.
* No end in sight? The number of removed residents stood at 219 Sunday afternoon, but hours later, buses continued to leave the compound. The search of the ranch was half complete, officials said. FLDS women and children were moved from Eldorado to a historic fort in nearby San Angelo.