Brenda Wright Lafferty was a young, ambitious and extremely intelligent woman. She had started dating Allen after meeting him at an LDS student congregation and by April 1982 at just 21 she had married him. It was only a few months into their marriage that things had started to change. Allen did not like the thought of Brenda being a career woman, she had a degree in Broadcasting which she wished to pursue, but Allen wanted her to be a house wife, to cater for his every need. She knew she had made a mistake in marrying Allen but she was pregnant with her first child so believed she had to stay.
After giving birth to a baby girl, named Erica, Brenda was convinced that she would be able to bring Allen round and back to the person he once was, she truly believed that she could do this and she was determined to see the bad days through.
Even though Brenda believed that she could talk sense into Allen, she believed that her brother-in-law, Ron Lafferty, was so deeply involved in fundamentalism that he was never going to be converted back to his old faith. Brenda believed that because Ron had tried to hold back from Dan’s teachings, the moment that he succumbed to them he did so 100 per cent.
Dianna Lafferty was good friends with Brenda and went to her to talk about her new found anguishes as Ron’s wife. Brenda told Dianna that she felt that unlike Allen, Ron was never going to change and urged her to escape whilst she still could and file for divorce. It was the hardest thing Dianna was ever to do but after much deliberation she took her sister-in-law’s advice, packed her bags and moved herself and her six children to Florida.
REVELATIONS FROM GOD
From the moment that Dianna left Ron his world fell apart, he was excommunicated from his LDS church and was shunned by many people who had once loved and respected him. Ron became an angry man, he felt cheated and lonely, he lost his job and was left with nothing apart from his family and his religion. He poured himself into this and soon started to have visions from God.
Dan Lafferty was so proud of his brother and they would have long discussions regarding the prophecies that Ron had received.
One of Ron’s prophecies in particular was important to Dan as God had described Dan being akin to Nephi. According to the Mormon faith, Nephi was a great prophet and son of Lehi in The First Book of Mormon.
Dan was extremely proud that he had been spoken about by God in this way and was suddenly in awe of Ron.
The Lafferty brothers started to make their discussions open to others with similar views and it was during one of the seminars that they met Robert Crossfield. Robert was a Canadian who claimed to be a prophet. He told the Laffertys that he had received a message from God ordering him to teach the six brothers how to receive revelations and how to ‘organize themselves into the School of Prophets’.
All the brothers, except Allen, started to have revelations but it was Ron’s revelations that were the most intense and bloodthirsty. God spoke to him about removing certain people from the Earth that were getting in the way of the cause and it was one prophecy in particular that would change the family’s life forever. Ron had a revelation of removal that stated:
When Ron discussed this revelation at The School of Prophets it was only Dan and Watson who were in agreement to carry out the order. The School disbanded due to the disagreement but Dan and Ron continued believing in what they had to do.
ROAD TO MURDER
In the spring of 1984, Ron and Dan embarked on a road trip up through America’s mid west and into Canada, they broke up their journey by dropping in on various fundamentalist communities that they knew about. They took it in turns to drive and spent the days having intense discussions about the removal revelations that Ron had had. Although Dan was proud of how far his brother had come, he also noticed he had turned into a violent and savage man.
At times Dan wondered if he should break ties with his brother, and if things had gone too far, but each time he had these thoughts something inside him told him to stick with Ron.
Ron would deliberate over the meaning of the removal revelation and commented that the four people mentioned in it had all been part of the reason that his wife and left him. Brenda being the main protagonist. His eyes would blank over when he spoke to his brother about slaughters that were soon to take place.
On July 24, 1984, Ron and Dan met up with two polygamist friends called Chip Carnes and Richard Knapp. They had planned to go to Salt Lake City – the home of the Mormons – for the day. Before leaving, Ron told the other three that he thought that they should first go to Mark Lafferty’s house to pick up a hunting rifle.
Upon arriving at Mark’s house Ron immediately asked for the gun. Mark gave it to him but wished to know what he was going to hunt as Ron had given up the sport years previously. Ron replied, ‘Any fucking thing that gets in my way’.
The four men then headed to Allen’s apartment, which was in American Fork, a sleepy suburb on the freeway between Provo and Salt Lake City. Ron had said they were going there in search for another rifle. Carnes and Knapp, who were both in the back could hear the brothers discussing whether the removal revelation was to be acted upon that day. Ron really seemed like he was on a mission.
When no one answered the door at Allen’s house they got back in the car and headed for Salt Lake City.
They had not got very far when Dan felt a great urge to turn back and try Allen Lafferty’s house once more. Dan knocked on the door and Brenda answered. He asked her if Allen was in and she said that he was at work. He then asked if he could step inside to use her telephone. Brenda started to sense that something was up and said that he could not enter the house.
A rage had taken over Dan by this point and he was not taking no for an answer. He pushed Brenda out of the way and let himself in. The sound of Brenda and Dan fighting could be heard from the car and it was this point that Ron made his way into the house.
The two friends were left in the car and could now hear Ron yelling expletives at Brenda at which she was yelling: ‘Please don’t hurt my baby! Don’t hurt my baby!’ A deathly silence then came over the duplex and the Lafferty brothers emerged in blood-soaked clothes.
Brenda Lafferty had received a severe beating. An incision had been made to her throat which had sliced through her trachea, both jugular veins, both cartoid arteries and her spinal column. She had then been strangled by the cord of a vaccum cleaner. She had been brutally murdered.
Fifteen month old Erica Lafferty had also had her throat cut from ear to ear – the only thing left holding her head onto her shoulders was the bone. Brenda and Erica Lafferty were to be found dead and lying in pools of their own blood by Allen Lafferty when he returned home from work later that day.
Once back in the car, Dan, Ron, Chip and Richard made their way to the Chloe Low’s house. Chloe had been a good friend of Dianna’s and had also coaxed her into leaving Ron. They rang the door but no one was in. After breaking in and stealing a handful of Chloe’s belongings, the brothers returned to the car and spoke about heading to Richard Stowe’s house – Stowe was the bishop who had excommunicated Ron soon after Dianna had left him.
Luckily for Stowe, the brothers took a wrong turn, which was enough for them to give up with completing the removal revelation. Instead they headed toward Wendover where they rented a holiday flat for the night. The Lafferty brothers cleaned themselves up and put their blood stained clothes into the boot of the car, the four men then put their heads down for the night.
Chip Carnes and Richard Knapp snuck out of the apartment in the middle of the night and made their getaway
