Survivors of decades of abuse and violent violence described their experiences in a fundamentalist Mormon group, led by a polygamist known as “The Mormon Manson,” who is credited for dozens of murders .
In the Hulu documentary “Daughters of the Cult,” first released on January 4, the Church of the First Born Lamb of God in Chihuahua and Mexico, led by the self-styled Prophet Ervil LeBaron is dissected with bloody detail.
It blows my mind. Celia LeBaron said, “I sit and think, This is impossible’.” Celia LeBaron was one of the daughter’s of the cult leaders. If I hadn’t experienced it, I’m not sure if I would have believed it. “Our family was killing others because of our dad.”
Hyrum, another of LeBaron’s children, said that he didn’t know how many brothers and sisters he had on his father’s end. They estimated around 50.
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Daughters of the Cult is a new Hulu document produced by ABC News Studios. It was released on the streaming platform Jan. 4,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church and with headquarters in Utah) abandoned polygamy by 1890.
NBC News reported that Alma Dayer LeBaron, his wife and children, moved south in 1924. Ervil, his brother, and their older sister broke away from the community of their father, trying to join the Latter-day Saints.
After being excommunicated by the church for polygamy the family founded the Church of the First Born as a response.
LeBaron would eventually have 13 wives, and at least fifty children. In the 1960s, he broke away to form his own church. He began to target rival cults, and convinced his followers to follow him in exchange for heaven.
BBC reported that Ervil’s daughter Anna LeBaron said: “We were taught not to be afraid of him, but rather to revere him as God’s prophet and the only true prophet on Earth.”
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Celia LeBaron said, “It blows me away,” in the new documentary. “I think to myself, ‘This cannot be true.’ I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t experienced it. Our father was the reason our family killed people. ” (ABC News Studios)
BBC reported that the deaths were justified by blood atonement, an old Mormon doctrine which allowed sinners be killed in order to purify them from evil. According to Deseret News, church leaders refer to this practice as “theoretical principles” they don’t implement in reality.
LeBaron killed his brother in 1972 to gain control of the group, according to the documentary. Before he was sentenced in 1980 to life imprisonment for the murder of rival sect leaders Rulon and Allred, LeBaron urged his supporters to commit numerous murders in his name.
LeBaron, who was arrested for the murder of his brother in Mexico two years after the crime, had his conviction overturned due to a technicality or, as some people interviewed in the 5-part docuseries claim, because he was paid a bribe.
Verlan LeBaron escaped the destruction of the town by his followers, who killed two people and destroyed Los Molinos.
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Ervil leBaron, who died in jail in 1981 of an apparent suicide at the age 56, was implicated in other murders.
Los Angeles Times reports that the cult will kill at least 25 in Mexico.
Allred was a chiropractor and homeopath in Salt Lake City with 48 wives. On May 10, 1977 two women dressed in red wigs and disguises entered his office and shot him to death on LeBaron’s orders.
Rulon Allred was a leader in the Apostolic United Bretheren sect, which is a rival Mormon sect. Two of LeBaron’s followers killed him in 1977. Two women disguised as red wigs broke into the Utah medical office and shot him in the examination room. (Associated Press)
Oxygen reported that police began to suspect Allred was killed because of his religion after pamphlets were distributed by the Church of the First Born Lamb of God, telling its readers to “repent” or be destroyed.
Near the scene, investigators found two red wigs as well as a box that contained a gun. They were able trace this gun to Rena Chynoweth, his youngest wife.
LeBaron’s web of criminal activities, which included murders, sweatshops, and car theft rings began to unravel when he was arrested.
Even after his apparent suicide death in 1981 at the age of 56, his followers have continued to murder in his name.
In a still taken from the five-part documentary, a group of LeBaron’s children are seen hugging. LeBaron’s children estimate that they have between 50 and 55 siblings, although they don’t know exactly how many they actually have. (ABC News Studios)
Oxygen reported that based on a screed penned by LeBaron while he was incarcerated, his followers created a Hit List consisting of 50 people.
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According to VICE several members of the cult have been arrested since the 1980s and 1990s. One was arrested in 2011 for four Texas murders.
VICE reported that nine members of LeBaron’s family were killed by Mexican hitmen in 2019. They were in a convoy on their way to a wedding. VICE reported that the family was allegedly speaking out against drug dealers and advocating looser gun control to protect itself against them.