Ervil LeBaron: Joel's murder started the bloody feud

In 1972, Joel LeBaron, leader of a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Mexico, was brutally murdered. The order came from his own brother, Ervil LeBaron, and the killing triggered a bloody feud that spanned three decades and claimed at least 25 lives. This spiral of violence was driven by Ervil's burning ambition to become the undisputed prophet of a growing polygamist movement.

The self-proclaimed prophet, known for having over 50 children with 13 wives, established a notorious cult and exerted terrifying psychological control over his followers. He manipulated them into committing brutal murders – even while serving prison sentences, earning him the ominous nickname 'Mormon Manson.' The story of Ervil LeBaron and his Church of the Lamb of God is a dark tale of religious fanaticism, deadly family feuds, and a cycle of revenge and violence that continued long after his death.

Family roots in Mexico: Polygamy and power struggles

The roots of the conflict trace back to 1924, when Alma Dayer LeBaron moved his family to Mexico to practice polygamy, a practice the official Mormon church in Utah, USA, had abandoned decades earlier. Alma and his sons continued the tradition of plural marriage in the isolated desert regions of northern Mexico. After Alma's death in 1951, a bitter power struggle erupted among his sons, particularly Joel, Ervil, and Verlan LeBaron.

Joel established the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times in 1955, with Ervil as his right-hand man. However, disagreement over the controversial doctrine of blood atonement – a teaching that certain sins can only be expiated by death – divided the brothers. Ervil considered Joel an apostate who deserved the death penalty for not enforcing blood atonement strictly enough. This led Ervil to found his own rival religious sect, the Church of the Lamb of God.

Joel's murder, Ervil's hit list, Allred's killing '77

On August 20, 1972, the brothers' dispute culminated when Ervil's followers attacked Joel's home in Colonia LeBaron, Mexico. They beat Joel unconscious and shot him. This cold-blooded familicide, however, did not lead to the power grab Ervil had anticipated. Instead, it intensified resistance and betrayal within the fractured LeBaron family and movement.

While Ervil was serving a sentence in Mexico for his involvement in the murder, he authored a manifesto, *Book of the New Covenants*. This scripture contained a hit list of individuals he deemed traitors and enemies who were to be eliminated. His own brother Verlan, who had taken over leadership of Joel's congregation, was among those condemned on the list. Ervil's reach and influence extended far beyond prison walls. In 1977, he orchestrated the murder of Rulon C. Allred, leader of another polygamist group, the Apostolic United Brethren. Allred was gunned down in his Salt Lake City, Utah, office by Ervil's 18-year-old wife, Rena Chynoweth, and stepdaughter, Ramona Marston, in front of shocked patients.

Ervil's deadly legacy: '4 O'clock Murders' in 1988

Ervil LeBaron died of a heart attack in a Utah prison in 1981, but his deadly influence did not end with his death. He had left detailed instructions for his children and apostles to continue eliminating the individuals on his hit list. This macabre legacy led to a series of coordinated killings on June 27, 1988, which became known as the '4 O'clock Murders.'

At precisely 4:00 PM that day, several people Ervil had condemned decades earlier were murdered in different locations across Texas. In Houston, Mark Chynoweth was shot in his workshop by his half-brother, Heber LeBaron. Simultaneously, Mark's brother Duane Chynoweth and Duane's eight-year-old daughter, Jennifer, were killed in an ambush in a vacant house. In Irving, Texas, Ed Marston was shot and killed. The subsequent trial revealed the profound psychological control and manipulation Ervil had exerted over his children. They genuinely believed they were acting on God's command by carrying out these brutal slayings, resulting in life sentences for several of them.

LeBaron name's shadow: Violence and cult's trauma

The LeBaron name continues to be associated with violence and tragedy in both Mexico and the United States. Although not directly related to Ervil's cult, nine American women and children with LeBaron family ties were brutally murdered by a Mexican drug cartel near the border in 2019, shedding light on the dangerous environments in which parts of the family have lived.

For the many children who grew up in Ervil LeBaron's shadow, the legacy has been burdensome. His daughter Anna LeBaron, in her memoirs, described a childhood marked by constant fear, religious indoctrination, and songs about blood atonement. Several of Ervil's children and grandchildren are still serving life sentences in the US for the crimes they committed under his influence. The case of Ervil LeBaron and the Church of the Lamb of God stands as a chilling example of how charismatic leadership, combined with religious extremism and fanaticism, can lead to unimaginable violence, familicide, and generational destruction.

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