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William Heber LeBaron is a convicted murderer who once led the cult Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.
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William Heber LeBaron is a convicted murderer who once led the cult Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.
William Heber LeBaron was one of 54 children sired by Ervil LeBaron, a member of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group. [1] The LeBarons were descendants of Benjamin F. Johnson, one of the earliest followers of Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith. When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renounced polygamy, Johnson and his family became Mormon fundamentalists and continued the practice.
Johnson's grandson, Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr., believed that Johnson was the rightful successor to Smith, and that Johnson had appointed Alma to follow him. Alma LeBaron moved his family to Mexico, where the government showed no interest in prosecuting polygamists. After Alma's death, his son Joel founded The Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times and named himself the One Mighty and Strong. Ervil LeBaron served as his brother's second-in-command for several years, but in 1967 began preaching that he, and not Joel, was the true leader of the church.
By 1972, Ervil founded his own sect, the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God. He preached the importance of blood atonement, a long-renounced Mormon principle that required that the blood of sinners be shed to ensure that they have a place in Heaven. Ervil LeBaron also claimed that he was the true leader of all polygamous Mormon sects, and that they should all tithe to support him and his church. Those who refused were threatened with violence. [1] Ervil died in jail in 1981, after being convicted of plotting the murder of Rulon C. Allred, leader of one of the largest polygamous sects. While incarcerated, Ervil crafted a list of people who deserved blood atonement, consisting of people who had left his church or otherwise upset him. [1] Ervil's manifesto also included a list of men who would succeed him as leader of the cult. His son Heber was listed second, after Ervil's eldest son Arturo.
Heber LeBaron was 20 years old when he assumed leadership of the cult after his elder half-brother's death. Under his leadership, the cult fully embraced criminal enterprises. [2] He was convicted in Arizona of operating a large auto theft ring. He was also charged with attempted murder of a guard during a bank robbery in Texas. [3]
LeBaron committed to enforcing his father's wish to blood atone perceived traitors. After his younger half-brother Richard agreed to testify against him, LeBaron was convicted of killing former cult member Mark Chynoweth in one of what was known as the 4 O'Clock Murders. Chynoweth's brother Duane, Duane's 8-year-old daughter Jennifer, and LeBaron's half-brother Ed Marston were also killed at approximately the same time, 4 pm on June 27, 1988. [4]
LeBaron claims to have converted to Christianity and to be ashamed of his actions while with the cult. [1]
Anderson, Scott (1992), The 4 O'Clock Murders: The True Story of a Mormon Family's Veneance , Doubleday, ISBN 9780385419048
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. It is variously defined as a cult, a sect, or a new religious movement.
Mormon fundamentalism is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor, the first three presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by the movement's founder, Smith. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were wrongly abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.
Blood atonement was a doctrine in the history of Mormonism still adhered to by some fundamentalist splinter groups, under which the atonement of Jesus does not redeem an eternal sin. To atone for an eternal sin, the sinner should be killed in a way that allows his blood to be shed upon the ground as a sacrificial offering, so he does not become a son of perdition. The largest Mormon denomination, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has denied the validity of the doctrine since 1889 with early church leaders referring to it as a "fiction" in spite of evidence to the contrary and later church leaders referring to it as a "theoretical principle" that had never been implemented in the LDS Church.
Ervil Morrell LeBaron was the leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, both within his own sect and in rival polygamous groups, using the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders. He was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of an opponent, and died there in 1981.
Le Baron, le Baron, or LeBaron may refer to:
The God Makers IIis a documentary-styled film produced by Ed Decker and Jeremiah Films in 1993. The film, a sequel to Decker’s earlier film The God Makers, is intended to be an exposé of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Leroy Sunderland Johnson, known as Uncle Roy, was a leader of the Mormon fundamentalist group in Short Creek, which later evolved into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from the mid-1950s until his death.
Rulon Clark Allred was an American homeopath and chiropractor in Salt Lake City and the leader of what is now the Apostolic United Brethren, a breakaway sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona, United States. He was murdered on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous sect.
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Joel Franklin LeBaron was a Mormon fundamentalist leader in northern Mexico. He was murdered by a member or members of a rival church which was headed by his brother Ervil LeBaron.
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Irene Spencer was an American author and a widow of Verlan LeBaron, brother of former prophet Joel LeBaron of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, a fundamentalist Mormon offshoot.
Rena Chynoweth is an American former Mormon fundamentalist who shot Rulon C. Allred dead in 1977. Acquitted of murder in a criminal trial, Chynoweth later admitted to killing Allred.
Susan Ray Schmidt is an American author, activist and lecturer, notable for her memoir and anti-polygamy activism.
The Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God, also known as the Church of the Lamb of God, was a violent Latter Day Saint group founded by Ervil LeBaron that is responsible for dozens of deaths over two decades. After his death, it was run by several of his sons.
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