By Jacquelyn Springgay
Utah County parents appeared in court Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006, morning for allegedly kidnapping their 21-year-old daughter, a BYU student majoring in exer-cise science.
Lemuel and Julia Redd are being charged with kidnapping their daugh-ter, Julianna Myers, the day before her wedding.
Myers (formerly Redd) thought she was going shopping with her parents.
Instead, Myers? parents took her to Grand Junction, Colo., where they stayed overnight, and then drove back to Provo the next day.
Perry Myers, Myers? husband, filed a missing person report when she didn?t show up to their wedding party the night before their scheduled wedding ceremony, Myers said.
Myers didn?t have any way to contact anybody and tell her that her parents had taken her to Colorado.
?They just took me there,? she said. ?I had my cell phone taken away from me earlier in the week. I just thought we were going shopping ? so I didn?t take anything with me.?
Myers said she wasn?t scared about her parents taking her because she knew they weren?t thinking clearly.
Myers and Perry were married on Tuesday, Aug. 8 in the Salt Lake City temple, instead of on the planned date, Aug. 5.
Myers said her parents didn?t want her to get married and gave her reasons why they disagreed with the marriage.
?They have weird reasons,? she said. ?Like saying my husband was abusive because he didn?t give me a diamond on my ring. They have all these strange religious reasons, but I don?t want to get into them.?
According to Myers, her parents liked Perry before the couple was engaged.
?My parents met him before we got engaged and really liked him, and thought he was great,? Myers said. ?All of a sudden, things got really weird. We started planning my wedding and I wasn?t doing things the way my mom wanted.?
Judge James Taylor in the 4th District Court in Provo, told Lemuel and Julia on Thursday that they were charged with the Aug. 4 kidnap of their daughter.
Kidnapping is a second-degree felony resulting in one to 15 years in jail and a $10,000 fine, Judge Taylor said. ?That?s the maximum penalty you can receive,? he told the Redds.
?I?m not angry, and I don?t want revenge,? Myers said. ?The state is pushing the charges. No one wants to see their parents go to jail. But there?s right and wrong, they have to pay for what was done.?
Myers said she wants nothing to do with the case. ?[It] is between the state and my parents.?
Myers is currently not speaking to her parents.
?I did get a letter from my mom, condemning my marriage,? Myers said. ?I?m not communicating with them until they have a change of heart and stop trying to destroy my family.?
In court on Thursday, Gregory Skordas, the Redds? attorney, asked that they have a few weeks before the couple appears in court again so he can review police reports. When told she could have four weeks before her next court date, Julia Redd asked that the date be scheduled for sometime after Thanksgiving.
Lemuel and Julia Redd are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 30 at 1:30 p.m.
A phone call to Skordas, the Redd?s attorney, was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.
