Favorite Wife (55 page)

While he attended Dr. Allred's funeral, Verlan's own life was placed in jeopardy. Ervil's main purpose for assassinating Allred was to bring Verlan out to the funeral where he could become a target. The planned attempt on his life was foiled because of the huge number of people milling about at the funeral. The Ervilites made numerous attempts on Verlan's life. Many of the Church of the Firstborn believe that Verlan's demise from a “car accident” was in actuality the result of a successful murder attempt by the Ervilites.

Ervil's wife, Vonda, was brought to justice for the murder of Dean Vest. She is still serving her sentence in southern California.

Ervil himself was finally captured, tried, and convicted for masterminding Dr. Allred's murder. He was sentenced to life, but died in the Utah State Penitentiary of a heart attack three days before Verlan's death in August 1981.

During Ervil's stay in the penitentiary, he spent much of his time penning a lengthy epistle to his followers, which he called The Book of New Covenants. Shortly before his death, one of his visiting henchmen smuggled it out of the prison. Along with detailed instructions for the carrying on of his “work,” it contained a hit list which Ervil's faithful followers were commanded to fulfill. The hit list contained the names of Dan Jordan, Eddie Marston, Mark and Duane Chynoweth, and a number of other people Ervil had become disillusioned with and whom he felt needed to be “atoned.”

Ervil's teenage children, many of them Lorna's, took the reins of leadership. Thus began their sacred charge: to honor their deceased father's wishes by eliminating the faithless scoundrels named on his list. As the “work” was accomplished, a bloody power struggle between Ervil's children resulted in many of their own murders. Lorna's son Aaron LeBaron became the leader for a time, but he was ultimately captured and imprisoned for the murders of the Chynoweth brothers. Mark and Duane were shot dead in Houston, Texas in 1988, for defecting from Ervil's organization. Also murdered at that time was a small daughter of Duane's. Anna Mae's son Eddie Marston was simultaneously shot for his defection, in a suburb of Dallas.

Police found the body of Robert Simons, the Utah self-styled polygamist, after an informant told them where he was buried.

Dan Jordan, Joel LeBaron's killer, was shot to death in 1987 for leaving the cult.

Naomi Zarate Chynoweth's body was never found. She is believed to be buried somewhere in the desert below Ensenada.

My uncle Bud Chynoweth defected with his two youngest wives and moved to the Yucatán, where he died several years later.

About two years before the date of this publication, I made contact with my Aunt Thelma and my cousin Rena. I've visited with them on several occasions and am happy to say that they are free from the mental and emotional hold of their past as Ervil's pawns. They are repentant and determined to make their remaining years in this life count for good. Rena has accepted the Christian faith and keeps busy doing charity work. She and her husband spent many years fostering more than a dozen of Ervil's young orphans—the children of his cult who lost their mothers to murder or madness. Aunt Thelma is still fairly spry and mentally sound. She lives with the painful knowledge that most of her children, including many of her grandchildren, were lost to the evil of Ervil LeBaron. I also have met several of Ervil's youngest children—the kids who were trapped in his abusive cult and treated like slaves by Ervil's henchmen. These amazing young people have grown up to be strong, intelligent, educated members of their various communities. They are fully aware that their father was a madman and they consider themselves blessed to be alive and free. Most are of the Christian faith today.

Grandma LeBaron died shortly after I left Mexico.

Those from my book who still live in Colonia LeBaron are:

My childhood friend, Francisca Widmar Stubbs, currently married to Lane's brother, Shawn Stubbs.

Debbie Bateman Stubbs, wife of Ritchie Stubbs.

Lane and Estela Stubbs.

Lillie, my former sister-wife, now married to my brother Jay.

Verlan's widows, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Beverly (now remarried), Ester (now remarried), and Priscilla (now remarried).

My sister Ramona and her husband, Joel Jr.

Lillie's mother, and Joel LeBaron's widow, Jeannine.

Joel LeBaron's widows, Gaye, Magdalena, and Isabel.

My sister, RoseAnn Stubbs, and her husband, Harv.

Verlan's brother, Alma LeBaron.

Verlan's counselors, Sigfried Widmar and Ossmen Jones.

My brother Jay and four of his wives live in the jungles of Yucatán, where they have started a new colony. My sister Fara and her family, and also my sister-wife, Lucy, also reside in the new jungle colony, as does Verlan's brother, Floren LeBaron.

Colonia LeBaron and the rebuilt Los Molinos still stand today.

Other books about the LeBarons include:

Verlan's own self-published book,
The LeBaron Story
. The book covers the history of the LeBaron family, detailing how and why the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times began. It covers a timeline of the church's growth and of the dissension between its prophet, Joel and its patriarch, Ervil. It culminates in Joel's murder and Ervil's insane, power-grasping trip down the path of numerous blood atonement killings. Ultimately it relates how the U.S. legal system prosecuted Ervil and several of his followers. Verlan's book was published in 1981 shortly before his death.

Prophet of Blood
, by Ben Bradlee Jr. and Dale Van Atta, published by Putnam Publishing Group in 1982, reveals the known details of the Ervil LeBaron saga, up to the time of its publication.

The Blood Covenant
, by Rena Chynoweth with Dean M. Shapiro, published in 1990 by Diamond Books, picks up the story, and details Rena's involvement with Ervil LeBaron, her traumatic years as his child-bride, and her confession to the slaying, at Ervil's bequest, of rival fundamentalist leader, Dr. Rulon C. Allred. This book follows the saga to its conclusion with the arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of the last of the blood atonement murderers.

The Four O'clock Murders
, authored by Scott Anderson and published by Doubleday in 1993, focuses on the continued slayings by the Lambs of God, primarily, the murders of the Chynoweth men in Houston.

A CBS TV movie starring Brian Dennehy,
Prophet of Evil: The Ervil Le­Baron Story
, produced by Jud Taylor, aired in 1993.

Rulon C. Allred's daughter, Dorothy Allred Solomon, is the author of two books on polygamy that touch lightly on the LeBaron saga.
In My Father's House
, published by Franklin Watts, Inc. in 1984, and
Predators, Prey and Other Kinfolk,
published in 2003 by W.W. Norton.

And last, but not least, my ex-sister-wife Irene's wonderful book,
Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
by Irean Spencer, published in 2007 by Center Street.

Some of the church priesthood leadership at Conference, about 1967. Back row (left to right): Raul Rios, Tom Liddiard, Ervil LeBaron, Brother Hunter, Sigfried Widmar, Harv Stubbs. Front row: Howard Wakeham, Daniel Jordan, Joe Parson, Hector Spencer, Delfino Paisano.

The prophet, Joel LeBaron, in Colonia LeBaron around 1965.

Maud “Grandma” LeBaron around 1974.

Ervil LeBaron around age 19.

Verlan LeBaron at age 18, in 1956.

Susan at age 20 in 1973.

Susan with her two children, Melanie and James, at Colonia LeBaron in 1972.

Susan and Verlan five years into their marriage in 1973.

Verlan LeBaron's wives and their 37 (approximate) children.

Susan and Verlan with their children (from left to right, Jeannette, Forrest, Lance, Melanie, and James) in 1977 after the divorce.

A handwritten note from Joel LeBaron to his brother Ervil challenging some of Ervil's doctrines.