The Horrifying True Story of Under the Banner of Heaven

The Horrifying True Story of Under the Banner of Heaven

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re discussing The Horrifying True Story of “Under the Banner of Heaven.”

For this video, we’ll be looking at the 1984 killing of Brenda Lafferty and her baby Erica, which inspired FX’s 2022 miniseries on Hulu.

Did you watch “Under the Banner of Heaven”? Let us know in the comments.

The Lafferty Family

Watson and Claudine Lafferty had six boys and two girls. Watson ran his own chiropractic clinic while his wife was the traditional stay-at-home mother. In their home of Provo, Utah, the Laffertys were known to be upstanding members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, Watson was an authoritarian, often violent with his wife and children, as well as their pets. Following the strict gender hierarchy of the Mormon faith, the Lafferty patriarch was in control of everything. His extremely conservative views, and refusal to use conventional medicine, among other things, would influence his sons in their adult lives.

After high school, Ron, the eldest, went to Florida on a mission trip, where he and his future wife Dianna got acquainted. The two settled back in Utah and had six children. Ron found work in construction, was involved in the community, and remained a devout Mormon.

On Dan’s mission trip to Scotland, he met Matilda, who was divorced with two daughters. Their paths would go on again years later in the States, where they ended up tying the knot. The pair briefly lived in California while Dan learned the chiropractic trade, before going back to Utah, where he joined his dad at work. In addition to his two stepdaughters, Dan fathered four children with Matilda.

Brenda Wright Joins the Family

Unlike the Laffertys, LaRae and Dr. James Lewis Wright raised their children with a more liberal view as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Growing up in Twin Falls, Idaho, Brenda Wright was an aspiring journalist. She attended college in Idaho, before eventually transferring to Brigham Young University in Utah to study broadcast journalism. Brenda even worked as a news anchor on the school’s television channel KBYU.

In 1981, she met Allen, the youngest Lafferty brother, and the two began dating. After a 1982 wedding, they put down roots in Utah’s American Fork. Soon, Brenda had to put her journalist dreams on hold to start a family. Her and Allen’s daughter Erica Lafferty was born on April 28, 1983.

Brenda was caring, confident, strong-willed, and always quick to speak her mind, which did not mesh well with the strict, dominating Lafferty family. Ron and Dan saw Brenda’s curiosity and outspoken nature as a problem, especially when she befriended their wives and encouraged them to leave their increasingly unstable, violent husbands.

Fundamentalism & the School of Prophets

Believing he didn’t need to obey earthly rules, Dan stopped doing basic things like paying taxes and traffic tickets. The more anti-government he became, the more he was drawn to Mormon fundamentalism, and encouraged his brothers to follow his lead. Dan believed the modern-day LDS church had strayed too far away from the church’s original teachings and practices. In his research into Mormon history, he came across “The Peace Maker” published in 1842. The pro-polygamy text outlined archaic beliefs which Dan put into practice at home. Matilda’s freedom was greatly limited, and life at home got unbearably hard.

Dan and most of the Lafferty brothers joined the School of the Prophets. Led by Bob Crossfield, who went by Prophet Onias, a distinct group centered around polygamy and “divine revelations.” Ron was seen as being a logical sibling, so Dianna asked him to talk some sense into Dan. However, their meeting had anything but the intended effect, as Ron quickly became obsessed with the fundamentalist ideology. That didn’t bode well for him at work, and he was fired. In addition, his marriage crumbled.

In 1982, Dan was excommunicated from LDS after trying to wed his teenage stepdaughter. A year later, Ron was also kicked out for his extremism. Around the same time, Dianna filed for divorce and moved to Florida with their kids.

By 1984, Ron began experiencing divine revelations, and in March, he wrote the “removal revelation.” He claimed that God gave him the names of people that needed to be “removed in rapid succession”, including his notoriously outspoken sister-in-law Brenda and his niece Erica. Also on the list were Chloe Low, Dianna’s friend, and Richard Stowe, who oversaw his removal from the church. These are the people Ron saw as instrumental in ending his marriage.

All of the School of the Prophets members were aware of the so-called revelation, including Brenda’s husband Allen. While he didn’t agree with it, he also didn’t tell Brenda about it.

The Deaths of Brenda & Erica Lafferty

On July 24, 1984, Utah’s Pioneer Day, 24-year-old Brenda Lafferty was home alone with 15-month-old Erica while Allen was out. Dan reportedly entered the home first, and Ron followed. Two men they’d been traveling around with, Chip Carnes and Ricky Knapp, waited in a green station wagon outside. Brenda was savagely attacked, and Erica’s fate was just as gruesome. That night, Allen Lafferty came home to find a grisly scene with Brenda on the kitchen floor and Erica in her crib, both sadly deceased.

After the crimes, the men moved on to the next name on the list, breaking into the home of Chloe Low and stealing some of her belongings. Luckily, she wasn’t there at the time. On their way to Richard Stowe’s house, they failed to take a necessary turn and continued heading out to Nevada.

On July 30, Ron’s vehicle was spotted, but when investigators arrived, they didn’t find the Laffertys, only their two accomplices. In August though, the Lafferty brothers were finally found in Reno and taken into custody.

Utah v. Lafferty

Ron and Dan Lafferty were charged with two counts of criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated burglary, and two counts of conspiracy to commit homicide. In exchange for their testimony against the Laffertys, Carnes and Knapp faced less severe charges.

Shortly before their trial was set to begin, Ron attempted to take his own life in his prison cell. It was decided that the brothers would have separate trials, allowing Ron time to recover. In January 1985, Dan’s trial got underway, and despite being appointed attorneys to aid in his defense, he represented himself. The jury found him guilty on two counts of first-degree murder, in addition to other charges. He was given two life sentences that carried no possibility of parole.

Though his competency was in question, Ron’s trial started in April 1985. A jury found him guilty on all accounts, and he was sentenced to death. But in 1991, Ron’s attorneys got the verdict overturned due to his mental state and alleged incompetence. Ron was retried in 1996 and once again given the death penalty.

In November, 2019, 78-year-old Ron Lafferty died of natural causes. As of June 2022, Dan remains incarcerated.

Under the Banner of Heaven

Author Jon Krakauer published his controversial book about the Lafferty murders, “Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith,” in July 2003. In the work, Krakauer also examines the founding of Mormonism by Joseph Smith and how a history of violence ties to the Laffertys’ crimes.

In April 2022, Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black’s dramatized miniseries adaptation premiered on FX on Hulu. Both the book and series have received plenty of backlash from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brenda’s sister Sharon Wright Weeks has also spoken out against the show. According to her, the portrayal of her late sister, played by actress Daisy Edgar-Jones, is inaccurate. She’s not fond of the series’ depiction of Mormons more generally, either.