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Ervil LeBaron was a fundamentalist Mormon splinter group leader who formed a sect of the church where polygamy was allowed, women and girls were reportedly abused, and murders were ordered to protect LeBaron’s power — here’s how many children LeBaron had and how LeBaron died.
Long before LeBaron was born in 1925, the LeBaron clan fled the U.S. to practice polygamy, settling in remote areas of Mexico. The Mormon Church distanced itself from plural marriage around 1890, but some Moron fundamentalists still practice polygamy today. By the late 1960s, Ervil — sometimes called the “Mormon Manson” — formed a fundamentalist sect unaffiliated with the mainstream Mormon church called the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.
Shortly after, the murders linked to LeBaron started, and members of the LeBaron family were often targeted. Those killings were just some of the many crimes connected to LeBaron and his followers.
How many children did Ervil LeBaron have?
Meanwhile, Ervil LeBaron and his followers practiced polygamy in Mexico, and it’s believed that in his lifetime, LeBaron had at least 50 children and other stepchildren with 13 wives. One of LeBaron’s kids, Anna LeBaron, escaped and wrote about her experience with the murderous fundamentalist leader in her book, The Polygamist’s Daughter: A Memoir. Anna also contributed to the 2024 Hulu series Daughters of the Cult.
Speaking with the BBC the year her book came out, Anna said, “We were taught that we were celestial children, having been born from the prophet Ervil LeBaron. And we believed it. Even though we were treated so poorly we still believed we were celestial children.”
According to Anna, Ervil told his family they were God’s chosen people, and that’s why they were persecuted. “That was how they used to explain all the moving in the middle of the night and staying ahead of the law,” Anna said.
How did Ervil LeBaron die?
By the early 1980s, Ervil LeBaron was extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to life in prison for ordering the murder of Rulon C. Allred, another extremist, off-shoot Mormon sect leader. In 1981, however, LeBaron died by suicide while serving his sentence at age 56. He left behind orders for his family and followers to continue to murder in his name, including the now infamous “4 O’Clock Murders” in Texas in 1988. As many as 50 murders are linked to Ervil and his family, among other crimes such as bank robbery, drug and gun trafficking, and the rampant sexual and physical abuse of women and girls.
Daughters of the Cult from ABC News Studios is a five-part true crime documentary series about LeBaron, his family, and crimes expected Jan. 4, 2024, on Hulu.