Dan believes all organized religion is of the devil, although religion is his favorite topic of conversation. Now the murders of 24-year-old Brenda Lafferty and 15-month old Erica in 1984 have inspired diver Tom Daley's husband to write a grisly drama series about the faith he escaped from in his teens. Mark told them he thought Allen had the firearm in question. Dianna told a friend a different person came home that evening, one who seemed to want a servant instead of a wife. On the way, Ricky asked what had happened with Brenda, and Dan told Krakauer he described how he murdered her and Erica. They are both said to have followed the doctrine of Mormon extremist Ervil LeBaron, which deemed that certain 'crimes' against their strict faith were deserving of blood atonement.. The next day they drove to American Fork, where with a 10-inch boning knife, Dan Lafferty killed Erica and Ron Lafferty killed Brenda Lafferty. Chip testified that earlier in the day he had told Ron he didn't think there was a need to kill a baby, and Erica's uncle told him that she was "a child of perdition"and, Ron also said, once the child didn't have a mother anymore it would be a blessing to take her life, too. He chose decades ago to be killed by firing squad instead of lethal injection, a choice given at the time to death row inmates. I'm sure Allen thought I was talking about an unpardonable sin. Her throat also had been cut, her body cold and her bedding soaked with blood. They also slashed Ericas throat, nearly decapitating the child, Deseret News reported in 2019. "This one was different in the case, that it was religiously motivated. Three years ago, his oldest son, now 26, visited him on Christmas with his wife. A tearful Allen Lafferty told a 4th District jury Monday that several months before his wife and infant daughter were slain, his brother Ronald W. Lafferty informed him that God had ordered the two "removed.". Jim Wright told Salt Lake City's KUTV in 2019 that it was for the best that Ron had just died, without the spectacle of an execution. (Utah Department of Corrections, via AP, File ), FILE - This Oct. 24, 2011, file photo released by Utah Department of Corrections shows Utah death row inmate Ron Lafferty. There have been only a handful of capital murder cases in Utah County since. The TV series, which airs on Disney Plus at the end of this month, has received glowing reviews in the United States where it is already streaming. Ron Lafferty, who was scheduled to stand trial with his brother, attempted suicide on Dec. 30, 1984, and was found unconscious hanging by a T-shirt tied to a towel rack in the Utah County jail . Dan said he walked back into the kitchen, straddled Brenda and cut her throat, again closing his eyes, "so I didn't actually see anything." He was like a wonderful big brother to us. Monday, the Utah Department of Corrections said Ron Lafferty died from natural causes while on death row. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. She was also a talented singer and actress who majored in broadcast journalism at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Samuel Lafferty (Rory Culkin) Samuel Lafferty is based on real-life brother Watson Lafferty, Jr. Ron was once again found guilty and given the death penalty. As per sources, Allen became a lifestyle coach, mentor, and motivational speaker. "I don't want to have anything to do with it.". Lafferty, 78, died of natural causes Monday at the Utah State Prison after apparently being ill for some time. Paramedics resuscitated him but he spent two days in a coma, and the judge ruled he should undergo further psychiatric testing before going on trial, so just Dan's went ahead. According to a 2004 article from the Deseret News, a subsidiary of the Deseret Management Corporation, which is controlled by the LDS Church, her neck had been slit after being suffocated by a vacuum cord. He said his brother told him many times that he was upset with Brenda Lafferty for "meddling in their affairs." "We love going to this temple," his wife added. Threatened with capital murder charges, they agreed to share everything they knew. State prosecutors allege that Ron and Dan Lafferty killed their sister-in-law and niece almost 12 years ago out of revenge and hatred. They would use only the knives. Fox also had an 18-month-old daughter at the time, a connection that wasn't lost on him. Influenced by reading the 1842 pamphlet "The Peace Maker," it was Dan who first started to espouse the righteousness of polygamy, which the church outlawed in 1890, and practicing the most extreme, patriarchal version of their 150-year-old religion. Her 14-year-old daughter baby-sat Erica three days a week, she says, and on the day of the murders Brenda had called to ask for a baby sitter. "I don't blame anyone for not understanding it. Allen Lafferty eventually made his way back to Utah, this time relocating to Saratoga Springs. Dan has never talked to Allen about murdering his wife and daughter. "There's some things you can't repent for. Chip later testified, however, that Ron was the one who told them in great detail how he killed Brenda and then thanked Dan for "'doing the baby, because I don't think I had it in me.'". He wanted to talk about bloodshed. "Everyone looked at him, like, 'What was your part?' "What I meant is, you don't repent for things that aren't wrong.". For years, he followed the script for successful young church members. Ron had the sawed-off piece of Dan's shotgun hidden up his right sleeve and a 10-inch boning knife tucked into his left boot. Dan Lafferty, speaking to the Deseret News on July 26, 2002, says he and his brother were instructed by God to commit the killings. Allen Lafferty came home to a nightmare on July 24, 1984. American Fork Police Lt. Terry Fox said that during a search of Ron Lafferty's Orem home, he found the "removal revelation" written on a sheet of yellow note paper inside one of Ron Lafferty's shirt pockets. ", Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. Ron was found guilty of murder but during proceedings to decide if he should face the death penalty, he told his lawyer to sit down because he thought Gods powers would fail if he relied on others. But I don't let it.". "I went over to Brenda, and I prayed," cried Allen Lafferty during the 1980s court case that would send his two brothers to prison for murdering his wife and daughter. However, the truly shocking twist was that the perpetrators were Dan and Ron Lafferty, two of Allen's brothers. "Allen once asked my mom why I wouldn't repent," he says. But Ron put the blame for his divorce on Brenda and Erica, as well as two of Brendas friends. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He hadn't seen either brother in three months. Dan and Ron had broken away from Mormonism to join an off-shoot cult called the School of the Prophets that allowed polygamy, among other dubious attributes. In the end, the killings of Brenda and Erica Lafferty were brutal crimes that scattered an unusually close-knit family, drove others into hiding, and deeply scarred those left in their wake. News. "If he had told Brenda about Ron's revelation, she would have been out of there in a minute and she'd still be alive today," Betty said. After going on his post-high school mission trip, he began attending a Latter Day Saints (LDS) congregation for students. That night, the four checked into a motel but Chip and Ricky took off in the Impala once the brothers were asleep. No longer tethered to the church they'd belonged to all their lives"For the first time I was able to get high with a clear conscience," Dan remembered to KrakauerRon and Dan took off on a road trip around the western U.S. and Canada that May, mostly together, but splitting up at times. She didn't believe Ron or Dan were prophets, and she let them know it. When they left, their brother's wife and infant daughter lay dead, one on the kitchen floor, the other in her crib. His skin is pale, almost translucent, which is to be expected of a man who has spent the past 19 years in prison. Brenda, Allen and Erica Lafferty in a family photograph. "She could have been there. Brothers Ron, left, and Dan Lafferty appear in a court hearing on Aug. 21, 1984, where they asked to act as their own counsel. Ron does not talk to the press. Moments after noticing the car, they heard a loud thud that sounded like someone moving a large piece of furniture in Brenda Lafferty's apartment. "I've seen a lot of death in my career," former American Fork Police Department Chief Terry Fox, who in 1984 was a detective on his city's then-10-man force, reflected to Salt Lake City's KSLTV in 2019. I knew they were here [in town] and that their disposition had changed radically, but I couldn't anticipate anything like this happening." According to Dan, blood splattered all over the wall from Ron hitting Brenda's face over and over again and she eventually lost consciousness. Dan's mother used to visit him, but he hasn't had a visit from the family he was born into in 15 years. For now, they sit in the Utah State Prison, one awaiting execution by firing squad, the other waiting for the prison walls to come crumbling down. Dan asked Allen what he thought of the so-called revelation, and the younger brother said he'd defend his wife and child at all costs. He later shared it with the School of the Prophets, to the alarm of its members. Scheduled to testify Tuesday afternoon is Barry Crowther, a former member of The School of Prophets. Dan Lafferty was sentenced to life in prison, where he remains today. "And then as I stood," he testified in court years later, "I surveyed the situation a little more, and realized that there had been a grim struggle.". ", TV's Most Killer True Crime Transformations. ", "Reading what she wrote in her journals," Betty recalled, "my dad started thinking, 'Why didn't I do something to save her? Advised against attending the trials in the 1980s to spare themselves the pain, the Wrights had skipped them, but they attended this one. He is also described as an uncredited propmaker on the hit television series "House" and a carpenter for a 2018 John Legend Christmas special. Walking into the kitchen of the apartment he shared with his young family in American Fork, Utah, at 8 p.m., he found his 24-year-old wife, Brenda Lafferty, lying in a pool of blood. Allen Lafferty came home to a nightmare on July 24, 1984. Dan said he and his brother were led by God to beat Brenda unconscious, wrap a vacuum cord around her neck until she went limp, and then slit her throat. Some of Ron's sons have also apologized for what their father did. He wears an orange jumpsuit, rubber flip-flops, and the look of a man pleased with himself. Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. Allen Lafferty had to die due to the reluctance to track down his better half, Brenda and 15-month-old girl Erica. "It brings us lots of joy, especially when we're faced with a lot of challenges, and we've had our share.". "But I'd be pretty surprised if I'm not.". "But when they got home from dinner it was obvious she and Allen had had a fight. He was the one who walked down the hall and killed Erica in her crib. The murders formed the basis of Jon Krakauers 2003 non-fiction book Under the Banner of Heaven, which Dustin adapted into the television series. However, other members of the school rejected the revelation as false. Before his own hearing in April 1985, Under the Banner of Heaven 's Mormon Ron Lafferty attempted suicide in jail, with the incident leading to physical and mental damage that put him in Utah State Hospital. With a healthy mind, body, and spirit, my students experience better incomes . Juries convicted both brothers of the crimes in separate trials in 1985. On the afternoon of July 24, 1984, Ron, 42, and Dan, 36, set out to fulfill the revelation. In March 1984, Ron recorded on a yellow legal pad what would come to be known as "the removal revelation." 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