Ervil Morrell LeBaron (February 22, 1925 – August 15, 1981) was the leader of a

polygamous Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one h ...

Mormon fundamentalist Mormon fundamentalism (also called fundamentalist Mormonism) is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Br ...

group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, both within his own sect and in rival polygamous groups, using the religious doctrine of

blood atonement Blood atonement was a practice in the history of Mormonism still adhered to by some fundamentalist splinter groups, under which the atonement of Jesus does not redeem an eternal sin. To atone for an eternal sin, the sinner should be killed i ...

to justify the murders. He was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of an opponent, and died there in 1981. He had at least 13 wives in a

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more ...

, several of whom he married while they were still

underage In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...

, and several of whom were involved in the murders.

History

After

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) officially abandoned the practice of

polygamy Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...

in 1890 (Other sources say 1940 in Salt Lake City, UT), some polygamous Mormons, who were later

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

from the LDS Church, moved south to Mexico to continue the practice without the interference of U.S. law enforcement. One of these Mormons, Alma Dayer LeBaron, Sr., moved his family, which included his two wives and eight children, to northern Mexico in 1924. There, they started a farm called "Colonia LeBaron" in Galeana, Chihuahua. When Alma died in 1951, he passed the leadership of the community on to his son Joel LeBaron, who eventually incorporated the community as the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

.Utah Attorney General's Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office
The Primer: A Guidebook for Law Enforcement and Human Services Agencies who offer Assistance to Fundamentalist Mormon Families
, updated Aug. 2009 Ervil LeBaron, Joel's younger brother, was his second in command during the early years of the church's existence.Anderson, pp.68-82. The group ultimately numbered around thirty families who lived in both Utah and a community called "Los Molinos" on the Baja California Peninsula.

Killings

In 1972, the LeBaron sect suffered a

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

when Ervil fell out with Joel and started the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Later that year, Ervil ordered Joel's murder in Mexico. Leadership of the Baja California church passed to the youngest LeBaron brother, Verlan, whom Ervil tried to have killed over the next decade. In 1974, Ervil was tried and convicted in Mexico for Joel's murder. His conviction was overturned on a technicality; some have alleged this resulted from a bribe.Bradlee & Van Atta, pp.217-218. Ervil's followers subsequently raided Los Molinos to kill Verlan;Anderson, pp.115-128.Bradlee & Van Atta, pp.159-173. Verlan was in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, but the town was destroyed and two men were killed. Ervil LeBaron's attention was also focused on rival polygamous leaders. In April 1975, he ordered the killing of Bob Simons, a polygamist who sought to minister to Native Americans.Bradlee & Van Atta, pp.181-191; 288-292. In 1977, LeBaron ordered the killing of Rulon C. Allred, leader of the

Apostolic United Brethren The Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) is a Mormon fundamentalist group that practices polygamy and is no longer associated in any way with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The AUB has had a temple in Mexico since the 1990s, an en ...

, another

sect.Bradlee & Van Atta, pp. 231-256. Ervil LeBaron's 13th wife, Rena Chynoweth, carried out the murder with Ervil's stepdaughter, Ramona Marston. Although Chynoweth was tried and acquitted for Allred's murder, she confessed in her memoir, ''The Blood Covenant'' (1990).Rena Chynoweth, ''The Blood Covenant'' (1990). She also described her experiences in LeBaron's group, which she characterized as using

mind control Mind control may refer to: Psychology and neurology * Brainwashing, the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques * Brain–computer interface * Hypnosis * Neuroprosthetics, the technology of cont ...

and fear to control its followers. Ervil LeBaron also ordered the murders of members of his own family and those of his supporters. His 10th wife, Vonda White, was convicted and sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

for the murder of Dean Grover Vest, one of LeBaron's henchmen, who had attempted to leave the church.Anderson, pp.144-154.Bradley & Van Atta, pp. 192-202; 298-300. Vonda White is also said to have killed Noemi Zarate Chynoweth,Anderson, pp.128-130.Bradlee & Van Atta, p.201. Note, Noemi's name has been spelled variously "Noemi", "Naomi", and "Neomi". the plural wife of Ervil's father-in-law through his wife, Lorna Chynoweth. Noemi had been critical of Ervil LeBaron's practices and snubbed him at her wedding to Bud Chynoweth.Bradlee & Van Atta, pp.173-174. According to witnesses, Thelma Chynoweth (Bud Chynoweth's first wife, who was Lorna's mother and Noemi's sister-wife) helped kill Noemi. Ervil LeBaron has also been linked to the death of his own 17-year-old daughter Rebecca, who was pregnant with her second child and hoped to leave the group; it is alleged that his stepson Eddie Marston and brother-in-law Duane Chynoweth strangled her in April 1977.Anderson, pp.158-165.Bradlee & Van Atta, pp.228-31; 256-60; 281-82; 287; 297-98. On June 1, 1979, Ervil LeBaron was apprehended by police in Mexico and

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

to the United States, where he was convicted of having ordered Allred's death. In 1980, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Utah State Prison in

Draper, Utah Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. As of the 2020 census, the population is 51,017, up from 7,143 in 1990. Draper is part of two metropolitan area ...

, where he died on August 16, 1981, from an apparent suicide. Ervil's brother Verlan (whom Ervil had tried to murder) died in an auto accident in Mexico City two days after Ervil's body was discovered in his cell. In an October 2012 interview with ''Vice Magazine'', Verlan LeBaron's grandson Brent LeBaron stated that at least some in the LeBaron family believe this may not have been a coincidence.

Continued murder spree

While in prison, LeBaron wrote a 400-page "bible" known as ''The Book of the New Covenants'', which included a commandment to kill disobedient church members who were included in a hit list written by LeBaron. Some 20 copies were printed and distributed. Three of the murders were carried out simultaneously on June 27, 1988, at 4:00 pm, later dubbed the " 4 O'Clock Murders". Duane Chynoweth, one of LeBaron's former followers, was shot and killed with his 8-year-old daughter, Jennifer, while running errands. Eddie Marston, one of LeBaron's stepsons and former thugs, was killed in the same manner, and Mark Chynoweth, a father of six, was shot multiple times in his office in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. Of the seven killers involved in the "4 O'Clock Murders," five were found guilty of murder. One, Cynthia LeBaron, testified against her siblings and was granted immunity. The final suspect, Jacqueline LeBaron, was captured by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

in May 2010. On June 16, 2011, Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct religious beliefs and faced a 5-year maximum sentence in a future sentencing hearing. She was released from federal custody several months earlier than her original sentence was calculated. Although her plea agreement is public information, many docket entries are sealed. Since release, one 2014 report from a U.S. Probation Officer about her supervised release states that Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron had not made any payment toward the $134,000 restitution imposed by the Court; simultaneously, the officer's report states that she "has severe mental health issues" including

mania Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a Psychiatry, psychiatric Abnormality (behavior), behavioral syndrome defined as a state of Abnormality (behavior), abnormally elevated arousal, affect (psychology), affect, and energy level. During a mani ...

requiring

psychotropic medication A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, mind-altering drug, consciousness-altering drug, psychoactive substance, or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that alters psychological functioning by modulating central nervous system acti ...

and which have led her to seek

Social Security Disability Insurance Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) is a payroll tax-funded federal insurance program of the United States government. It is managed by the Social Security Administration and designed to provide monthly benefits to people who ha ...

. It has been estimated that more than 25 people were killed as a result of LeBaron's prison-cell orders. Many of his family members and other ex-members of the group remain in hiding for fear of retribution from LeBaron's remaining followers. However, when LeBaron's daughter Anna LeBaron, who escaped from the cult aged 13, published an account of her life and the cult in 2017, when she was 48, she said that the blood-letting was over and family members were no longer in danger.Anna LeBaron: How I escaped my father's murderous polygamous cult
BBC News 'Magazine', by Brian Wheeler, 17 February 2017

Wives and children

Ervil LeBaron married 13 women and fathered more than 50 children. He also raised several stepchildren. ^* stepchild ⁺ Chynoweth sibling ⁺⁺ Rios sibling ^!cult leader ⁱ Incest

Depictions

; Films * , directed by

Jud Taylor Judson Taylor (February 25, 1932August 6, 2008) was an American actor, television director, and television producer. Early years Born in New York City, Taylor graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. Career Taylor is perhaps best ...

; Television * * *

Under the Banner of Heaven ''Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith'' is a nonfiction book by author Jon Krakauer, first published in July 2003. He investigated and juxtaposed two histories: the origin and evolution of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da ...

, 2022 miniseries based on the book by John Krakauer * Daughters of the Cult, 2024

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

documentary series ;Nonfiction * * * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

* * Bradlee, Jr., Ben, and

Dale Van Atta Dale Van Atta (born 1951) is a speaker, novelist, and journalist. He was a friend of and co-author with fellow journalist Jack Anderson and borrowed money to help him when he was in financial trouble. In 2008 his book ''With Honor'' was relea ...

(1981) ''Prophet of Blood: The Untold Story of Ervil Lebaron and the Lambs of God''. Putnam, * Krakauer, Jon (2003) '' Under the Banner of Heaven : A Story of Violent Faith'', pp. 266–277. * * * * Spencer, Irene (2009) ''Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement''.
"A Deadly 'Messenger of God'"
''Time'', Aug. 29, 1977. * Utah Attorney General's Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office
The Primer: A Guidebook for Law Enforcement and Human Services Agencies Who Offer Assistance to Fundamentalist Mormon Families
updated Aug. 2009.

External links

* *, featuring a section on Ervil LeBaron. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lebaron, Ervil American Latter Day Saint leaders Mexican Latter Day Saints Mormon fundamentalist leaders 1925 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American criminals American people convicted of murder American people who died in prison custody American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Members of the clergy convicted of murder People from Chihuahua (state) People from the Mormon colonies in Mexico People convicted of murder by Utah Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Utah Prisoners who died in Utah detention Religiously motivated violence in Mexico Mormonism and violence Ervil American members of the clergy convicted of crimes Child marriage in the United States American mass murderers Founders of new religious movements American founders Perpetrators of religiously motivated violence in the United States