The Muddle of Monozygotic Moms

They're trying to figure out who all those kids are descended from at the Yearning For Zion (YFZ) Ranch.

Families that include half brothers and sisters, and those that include reportedly married first cousins, can be particularly challenging to unravel. Dr. Arthur Beaudet, chairman of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said DNA testing can easily deal with these types of complexities.

Sure, those are easy. It's identical twins that DNA flops on. Do you think any of the moms could have been identical twins?

Justice Doyle is one of the few townspeople ever allowed into one of the buildings at the YFZ ranch. One of Jeffs' wives, Barbara, died there of breast cancer in July 2004. Doyle had to issue the death certificate. "Her twin sister was with her," he said. From his own research on the sect, he learned that Jeffs likes to marry twins because they're compatible.

The leader liked twins. Did he care which kind?
Would he marry all twins he happened to find?

If he favored identical over fraternal,
maternal uncertainty could be eternal.

DNA, alas, won't show
which goes with which. But the moms will still know.