“Daughters of the Cult”: Who Was Polygamous Cult Leader Ervil Morrell LeBaron?

Ervil LeBaron — who was nicknamed the "Mormon Manson" — is the subject of the new documentary "Daughters of the Cult"

Ervil Morrell LeBaron was responsible for the deaths of at least 20 people but allegedly never actually pulled any triggers himself.

The son of a Mormon polygamist church founder, Ervil became the leader of the polygamist Church of the Lamb of God. He was later nicknamed the "Mormon Manson" for his control over his followers, whom he ordered to murder defectors, rivals and even his own family members, including his brothers and children (of which he had more than 50).

Ervil, the subject of ABC News Studios' Daughters of the Cult on Hulu, lived with an extensive network of followers throughout Mexico and the southwestern United States, traveling frequently to evade law enforcement. Even after Ervil's death in 1981, his influence over his followers continued, leading to more slayings in the decades that followed.

"Even from the grave, he was able to control people and their actions and that is just mind-blowing," one of LeBaron's daughters, Anna K. LeBaron, told BBC News in 2017. "That from the grave he was able to do that."

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Here's what to know about Ervil Morrell LeBaron, the self-proclaimed "one true mighty" man behind dozens of murders.

His family led polygamist sects of the Mormon church

Ervil was born on Feb. 22, 1925, in the Galeana Municipality of Mexico. His father, Alma Dayer LeBaron, moved to Mexico with his family, comprising two wives and 11 children, in the early 1920s after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) banned plural marriage in 1890, according to the Los Angeles Times. At the time, it was common for polygamist Mormons to settle in northern Mexico.

Alma founded his own Mormon colony in Mexico that encouraged polygamy. Ervil and his brother Joel initially were followers of their father's teachings, then joined the main LDS church, but eventually, Joel broke off and founded his Church of the First Born of the Fullness of Time, with Ervil as his right-hand man and main support.

After Alma's death, Ervil, who The Daily Beast reported towered over his followers at a staggering 6'8", began preaching and prophesying outside of Joel's teachings. He never had a paying job and he was accused of "stealing" other men's wives, as his children alleged in Daughters of the Cult, and these actions caused friction between him and Joel.

Joel tried reining Ervil in, but when he failed, Joel ex-communicated Ervil from the Church of the Firstborn. Joel and their brother Verlan continued running their church in Los Molinos, Mexico, leaving the LeBaron colony behind. Ervil took a faction of members and formed the Church of the Lamb of God.

He had at least 13 wives and more than 50 children

Ervil married at least 13 women and had more than 50 children, 11 of which were his stepchildren from wives who'd been previously married. His children said in Daughters of the Cult that they weren't sure how many siblings they had, with some saying Ervil had 51 children and his daughter Celia LeBaron saying he had 55.

"We just say over 50 children because nobody knows the exact number," his son Hyrum said. Ervil's daughter Anna, who also said in the documentary that she believed her father had 14 wives and not 13, explained, "People will come up with different numbers depending on different circumstances. Polygamist math is hard."

Ervil's children recalled living in fear of him and of moving frequently because Ervil was trying to evade law enforcement. The family had no running water and would bathe in galvanized tubs once a week. They rarely wore shoes and didn't have electricity in the colony, and said they stole their clothes from donation boxes (which they called "gift boxing"). They moved frequently throughout the southwest United States and Mexico, recalling that when they lived in the States, they'd have to cover their windows if Ervil visited because he was hiding from authorities.

The children worked in appliance repair shops called Michael's Appliances. According to Daughters of the Cult, the business was essentially a way to funnel money to Ervil, with young boys doing repairs and girls cleaning the appliances. Celia recalled working 12-hour days beginning when she was 9 years old, with Ervil's right-hand man, Daniel Jordan, berating and scaring the "child slaves" into compliance.

Hyrum said he was "beaten a lot because [he] didn't [obey]" his father's teachings.

"We were supposed to be special, we were supposed to be the chosen ones," Ervil's daughter Adine Marc said. "If we were so chosen, why were we suffering so badly?"

He preached of "blood atonement"

In Ervil's church, he preached the concept of "blood atonement," the belief that some sinners had to die in order for God to forgive them. Ervil told his followers that he frequently had "revelations" and messages from God, his descendants said in Daughters of the Cult, some of which were instructions to marry underage girls and others of which were to kill those who crossed him.

Ervil's was a doctrine that strayed from the official teachings of the LDS, which said in a statement to The Deseret News in 2010, "So-called 'blood atonement,' by which individuals would be required to shed their own blood to pay for their sins, is not a doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe in and teach the infinite and all-encompassing atonement of Jesus Christ, which makes forgiveness of sin and salvation possible for all people."

He was convicted of murdering his older brother — but the verdict was later reversed

The first in a long line of victims in Ervil and his church's wake was his brother Joel. Ervil claimed to his followers that Joel needed to die for disobeying him as God's "one true mighty" prophet on Earth, and his followers did as they were told.

Ervil and Jordan armed the children in the LeBaron colony and trained them in the use of firearms, including machine guns, survivors recalled in Daughters of the Cult. It was Jordan and several others who would commit the first sanctioned murder on record for Ervil.

"Ervil and Dan went off the deep end together," Donna Goldberg, Ervil LeBaron's niece, said in Daughters of the Cult.

On Aug. 20, 1972, Jordan lured Joel to an abandoned shack. When Joel was alone, Jordan and one of his "henchmen" beat Joel with a chair leg, then Jordan shot Joel to death, according to the Los Angeles Times and Goldberg's testimony in Daughters of the Cult.

"We were just in shock, we were devastated," Goldberg said, adding that she and other followers feared Ervil would kill them if he was willing to kill Joel.

In 1974, a Mexican court convicted Ervil of Joel's slaying, but the case was later overturned on appeal, and Ervil was released from prison, per the Los Angeles Times.

Ervil's followers tried killing another one of his brothers

After Joel's murder, their brother Verlan LeBaron took over Joel's church. Verlan knew taking over for Joel would put a target on his back, Goldberg said in Daughters of the Cult, and Verlan and his followers' fears grew significantly after Ervil was released from prison.

In December 1974, The New York Times reported that Ervil's followers set a fire in a tower in Verlan's Los Molinos colony, leading many to come out to help put out the fire — and when that happened, Goldberg recalled, Ervil's followers began shooting.

Two men were killed, 19 people were injured and scores of homes and buildings were burned down in the attack, some with fire bombs and Molotov cocktails. According to testimony from survivors in Daughters of the Cult, Verlan was in Nicaragua at the time because he knew Ervil was out to kill him, leading him to flee to the Central American country for his safety.

His youngest wife murdered a rival Mormon leader for him

One of Ervil's wives, Rena Chynoweth, said in the BBC special A Mission to Kill in 1989 that Ervil first began pursuing her romantically when she was 12 years old. "I didn't want anything to do with him in that respect. I felt respect for him as a leader and as a prophet," she said. They married when she was under the age of 18 because Ervil told her that if she didn't, she'd go to hell.

Ervil allegedly chose Chynoweth and his stepdaughter, Ramona Marston, to murder Rulon Allred, a naturopathic physician and a leader of a rival polygamist Mormon sect. In May 1977, Chynoweth and Marston entered Allred's Murray, Utah, medical office wearing wigs, sunglasses and bulky clothing to disguise themselves.

In a court deposition obtained by The Deseret News, as well as in her book The Blood Covenant, Chynoweth recalled that when she and Marston were sent to kill Allred, Ervil specifically told them to ensure he was dead. Chynoweth shot Allred, then fled from the medical office — but, unsure whether or not he'd perished, the girls ran back inside and Chynoweth shot Allred again, this time in the face. According to Chynoweth, Marston couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger either time. Chynoweth shot Allred a total of seven times before she and Marston fled the scene.

In Daughters of the Cult, Goldberg claimed that Ervil had Allred killed as a means of luring Verlan to Allred's funeral, at which point he'd then have Verlan killed. When three of Ervil's followers came equipped with automatic rifles, they saw police officers at the funeral and left without trying to kill Verlan — and feared that Ervil would then kill them for not murdering Verlan.

Marston and Chynoweth hid from authorities in Mexico but were soon apprehended. In May 1979, Chynoweth, then 20 years old, along with her brother Mark Earl Chynoweth and Ervil's stepson Thomas Marston, were tried for the second-degree murder of Allred and attempted murder of Verlan and conspiracy, The New York Times reported. One of Chynoweth's other brothers, Victor Lee Chynoweth, was tried for attempted murder and conspiracy only.

After two weeks of testimony, during which Chynoweth said under oath that she wasn't involved in the slaying and witnesses were unable to identify her because of her disguise at the time of the shooting, she was acquitted of all charges, according to The Deseret News. She later confessed to the killing in her book, a court deposition and several televised interviews and was found liable for Allred's death in a civil suit.

Ervil was apprehended in Mexico in 1979 and extradited to Utah, where he was convicted in 1980 of ordering Allred's murder, The Houston Chronicle reported. He was sentenced to life in prison.

One of his wives was convicted of murdering a defector

In July 1978, Vonda White, one of Ervil's wives, was charged with the murder of Dean Grover Vest. Vest reportedly served as one of Ervil's bodyguards and "henchmen," but expressed an interest in leaving the church. According to The Daily Herald, Vest was washing his hands when White shot him three times in the back. White was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

He died in prison in 1981

Ervil was found dead in his Utah State Prison cell on Aug. 16, 1981, The New York Times reported. He was 56 years old.

Authorities claimed that they believed he died by suicide in his maximum security block, as he left a note that read, "I've gone to meet my maker." Detectives claimed that Ervil may have had a death pact with a woman, with one investigator telling the Times, "There was a gal that he was writing to and he said they would be together in a couple of days."

Ervil's cause of death was speculated to be either from striking himself in the throat, leading to suffocation, or possibly from an overdose of drugs. All other prisoners in his cell block were locked in their respective cells at the time of Ervil's death. Later reports, including one from the Los Angeles Times, reported that Ervil died from a heart attack, while BBC News reported he had a seizure.

He was called the "Mormon Manson" — and his reign of terror continued after his death

Ervil's legacy led him to earn the nickname "Mormon Manson" after Charles Manson, who orchestrated his own followers to murder seven people in August 1969.

Even after Ervil died in prison, his followers still murdered in his name. Ervil's son Aaron LeBaron took over the church, as well as Ervil's mission of blood atonement, after Ervil's death.

Though the LeBaron colonies and followers were reportedly involved in numerous criminal activities at the time, including vehicular theft and attempted robbery, per the Los Angeles Times, it was their history of slayings that garnered the most attention.

While incarcerated, Ervil reportedly wrote a 400-page manifesto titled The Book of the New Covenants, which included a hit list of people for his followers to kill. On the list were a prosecutor in his case (Salt Lake City attorney David Yocom), former President Jimmy Carter and many people who'd defected from Ervil's church or otherwise crossed him. Jordan was on the list, and was found murdered in October 1987, at which point authorities told the Associated Press that they began taking Ervil's writings more seriously.

Three others on the list, Eddie Marston (one of Ervil's stepsons) and former followers Mark and Duane Chynoweth, as well as Duane's 8-year-old daughter Jennifer, were murdered around 4 p.m. on June 27, 1988. According to The Houston Chronicle, Aaron ordered his brother William Heber LeBaron to shoot Mark in Houston, brother Richard LeBaron to shoot Duane (Jennifer wasn't on the list, but died because she was present at the scene) in Houston, and Douglas Barlow to shoot Eddie Marston in Irving, Texas.

In 2011, The Houston Chronicle reported that Aaron's sister, Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the slayings after being on the run for nearly two decades. She was sentenced to three years in federal prison for providing money to her siblings to travel in efforts to evade capture by police. Her sister Cynthia, who'd watched Mark through binoculars leading up to the killings, was granted immunity from prosecution and gave testimony leading to the arrests of her siblings in connection with what became known as the "4 O'Clock Murders." Douglas Barlow, William Heber and fellow follower Patricia LeBaron were previously sentenced to life in prison in connection with the murders, while Aaron was sentenced to 45 years. Richard LeBaron was sentenced to five years behind bars in a plea deal.

It's unknown exactly how many killings were linked to Ervil

Estimates vary in the number of murders connected to Ervil and his followers, in part because some bodies of presumed victims have never been recovered, as well as because of the geographical complications involved: The colony, its killers and its victims were spread out between Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Texas and California. The Los Angeles Times reported that one expert estimated there to be between 25 and 30 slayings linked to Ervil and the cult, while The Daily Beast put the number at as high as 50.

One presumed victim was Ervil's own daughter Rebecca by his first wife, Delfina. Rebecca's siblings described her as "mentally ill" in Daughters of the Cult. According to the documentary, several of Ervil's followers took Rebecca somewhere remote and strangled her to death, then buried her in a shallow grave that has never been found. Others connected with the cult who went missing include one of Ervil's wives, Lorna Chynoweth LeBaron; rival Mormon polygamist Robert Hunt Simons and defectors Naomi Zarate and Leo Evoniuk, per The New York Times.

Some of his descendants were linked to Mexican cartel crimes

In 2009, a local drug cartel near Colonia LeBaron took Erick LeBaron, a then-16-year-old descendant of Ervil, hostage and held him for ransom. The LeBaron community pressured the Mexican government for Erick's release, and The Daily Beast reported that Erick was eventually freed without any payment.

Two months later, Erick's older brother Benjamin, who'd lobbied for Erick's release, and Benjamin's brother-in-law Luis Carlos Widmar, were each found shot to death, allegedly at the orders of local cartel leader Jose "El Rikin" Escajeda. After the murders of Widmar and Benjamin, the LeBaron community reportedly began arming themselves, with Benjamin's brother Alex telling Vice News in 2012 that they smuggled guns in from the United States as a means of self-defense from cartels.

In November 2019, nine descendants of the LeBaron family, including three women and six children, were murdered by a Mexican cartel. Eight other children, five of whom were wounded, survived the attack, the Los Angeles Times reported. The attack was reportedly an ambush, with one woman and her four children dying after their vehicle ignited when a bullet hit their gas tank, and the rest of the victims being shot to death.

The victims were Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29; Dawna Langford, 43; Trevor Langford, 11; and Rogan Langford, 2. Also killed were Rhonita Miller, 30; Howard Miller, 12; Krystal Miller, 10; and the 8-month-old twins, Titus and Tiana Miller. They were members of the LeBaron family, The New York Times reported, and were en route to a wedding when they were killed.

A suspect was arrested a year later, and in July 2022, a judge ordered the Juarez cartel to pay the victims' families $4.6 billion.

One of his daughters wrote a memoir about her experiences

Anna wrote The Polygamist's Daughter: A Memoir about growing up in Ervil's cult and escaping when she was 13. "I walked out of the house with just the clothes on my back," Anna recalled in Daughters of the Cult, her voice breaking. She told BBC News that her friends Lillian and Mark Chynoweth helped facilitate her escape before Mark was murdered. Even after Ervil's death, Anna said that her mother, Anna-Mae, remained a devout member of his church.

Anna said she believed her father was mentally ill, explaining to BBC News, "It is sad to me that he was experiencing these things and not able to reach out and get the help he needed. But, of course, when you are the prophet, how much help do you actually think you'll need?"

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