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A comprehensive guide to every member of the murderous, dysfunctional Lafferty clan.
Ron, the emotional core of the group, threw himself into fundamentalism after his marriage collapsed.
And Allen, the youngest, was torn between loyalty to his brothers and to his wife.
Below, read more about each member of the Lafferty clan.
Watson Lafferty, Sr. After the war, the G.I.
But Watson Sr.s real passion was living a devout life.
His interpretation of Mormon theology was traditional and informed by his far-right political views.
If they didnt, he beat them.
Watson Sr.s abuse of his wife affected his sons differently.
I shook my fist at God, but I was just too little.
Watson Lafferty Sr. didnt only take his violent temper out on his immediate family.
The children once witnessed him beating their dog with a baseball bat so brutally that the dog died.
I just knew as a child to stay away from him, she said.
Ultimately, Watson Sr. was undone by his own rigid beliefs.
He himself suffered from diabetes, but refused to take insulin.
In 1983, his health declined, but his sons rejected medical treatment on his behalf.
Unsurprisingly, their home treatments did not cure him, and he died.
How could someone hear what they were planning and not do anything to warn Brenda?
Brendas sister Betty Wright McEntire asked Krakauer.
I just cant understand it.
As of 2004, Claudine was reportedlyworking at the Provo LDS Temple.
Shedied in 2016, at the age of 96.
He described his childhood to Krakauer in rosy terms.
He noted that he was a particularly enthusiastic young Mormon: I was a hundred-and-ten-percenter [sic].
I sang in the choir.
Throughout this period, he and Matilda had four children together.
Soon, Dan totally rejected medicine and public schooling.
But Matildas daughter Rebecca remembers her mother putting up a fight against Dans increasingly extreme beliefs.
Shed let the chickens run through the house and say, OK, lets live free!
and then shed let the chickens just sh*t all over, Rebecca told theWeekly.
I could either go and leave my kids, or stay and accept it.
As he was sinking deeper into fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, Dan also became obsessed with libertarian ideas.
And I was willing to force a standoff to determine who actually owned that property.
The state was not interested in Dans ideas, and began the process of repossessing the property.
The Lord has strange work to do.
And all I know is, its been pretty strange, if you ask me.
At his second trial, in 1996,he testified, Im not ashamed about what happened …
It was just a matter of business.
Dan Lafferty remains incarcerated at Utah State Prisons maximum security wing, where he is serving a life sentence.
I wanted to kill my father, he told theWeekly.Every time I saw him hit my mother.
He recalled his father running off like a little bitch, crying mother, mother!
He and his wife Dianna, whom hed met on his mission trip, had six children.
According to Diannas friend Penelope Weiss, they were unusually happy together.
I remember a marriage that was so happy for sixteen and a half years, she told Krakauer.
Ron was embarrassed by me, Dan told Krakauer.
He was a devout Saint, and he said I was an embarrassment to the Mormon Church.
He told me, Theres no place in this church for extremes!
But Ron was quickly converted to Dans cause.
Dan and Ron murdered Brenda and Erica on July 24, 1984.
They broke into Chloe Lows house but found no one, and failed to reach Richard Stowes home.
He was tried three times.
If a death sentence is given, it will start the process of their own personal hell.
Allen Lafferty
Allen was the youngest member of the Lafferty brood.
He met his future wife, Brenda Wright, at the ward.
Brendawasa student at BYU and aspired to be a newscaster.
Shed dated a lot of boys before, but she never got stuck on any one person.
Allen was different, her sister, Betty, told Krakauer.
He was a returned missionary, and the Laffertys were the picture-perfect LDS family.
Everybody in Provo seemed to know them.
Plus, Allen is a charmer all the Lafferty boys have this ability to charm the socks off you.
They have this look in their eyes.
And Brenda fell for it.
Allen and Brenda were married on April 22, 1982.
As soon as they were married, however, their relationship became strained.
She became pregnant around two months after their wedding, and subsequently gave birth to their daughter Erica.
Allen, meanwhile, began following in his older brothers footsteps by adopting their libertarian beliefs about taxation.
According to Betty, he didnt even want to get his car registered for fear of government oversight.
She also persuaded him not to officially join the School of the Prophets.
Brenda stood up to those Lafferty boys, her mother LaRae Wright told Krakauer.
She told [Allen] in no uncertain terms that she didnt want him doing things with his brothers.
And the brothers blamed her for that, for keeping their family apart.
The Lafferty boys didnt like Brenda, because she got in their way.
He also testified that he knew about Rons revelation to kill Brenda and Erica.
He knelt next to Brenda and prayed.
As of 2004, reports suggested that Allen was living in Southern California.
While working together as adults, they bonded over long discussions about politics and religion.
According to Dan, his younger brothers would rather mysteriously … show up, unannounced.
And we would have some very, very valuable time discussing issues.
At first, everyone except Ron participated.
(The bet didnt pan out.)
Despite the obvious and concerning signs of potential violence, Mark did nothing to stop his brothers.
He left Utah and the Mormon Church for over 25 years while reckoning with this question.
But the devil doesnt care about them now; hes hung them out to dry.
Even less is known about Tim Lafferty, beyond his participation in the School of the Prophets.
This article was originally published onApril 30, 2022
