FBI arrests the daughter of  Ervil LeBaron, Jacqueline LeBaron

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READ THE FBI PRESS RELEASE HERE

Jacqueline LeBaron was arrested in Honduras in 2010. Jacqueline LeBaron. She was wanted by the FBI for a series of murders in the 1980s, carried out based on the “Book of the New Covenant.” It was scriptures that her father wrote while in the Utah State Prison, where he was serving time for murder. However, federal authorities called it a “hit list.”

Five members of the LeBaron clan were arrested in the killings – only Jacqueline avoided capture. The FBI added her name to the FBI’s Most Wanted list in Houston, Texas based on new information from her brother William Heber, who says he “found Jesus” in prison.

During the late 19th century, polygamy was frowned upon in the United States and by 1890, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had officially abandoned its practice of this. A group of dedicated Mormons moved to Northern Mexico to continue their practice of polygamy away from the scrutiny of society. Among the many Mormons who moved to Northern Mexico was Alma Dayer Lebaron Sn. who was excommunicated from the LDS church in 1924 and went on to start a farm for his family under the name “Colonia Lebaron”, it was located in Galeana, Chihuahua. Ervil was a member of his father’s church until 1972 when his desire for sole power overcame him and he broke away from the rest of the family to start his own church, The Church of the Lamb of God. This ‘church’ propagated the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders of numerous people.

It is believed that Ervil Lebaron was responsible for over 25 deaths during his rampage throughout America and northern Mexico. Among the victims were rival Mormon fundamentalist leaders, such as Bob Simons and Rulon Allred,  and members of his own family, including his brother, Joel, and daughter, Rebecca.

During his imprisonment at Utah State Prison, Ervil Lebaron wrote his most famous piece of work, The Book of the New Covenants. At least 20 copies of this 400 page ‘bible’ were printed and distributed to the most dedicated of Lebaron’s followers. It contained not only religious doctrine but also a hit list – over 50 names of disloyal church members, police officials, anyone who had disrupted Lebaron’s plans for omnipotence – Lebaron demanded blood atonement for their sins. The killing of those marked in this list have continued even after Lebaron’s death.

The following links contain excerpts from two religious texts written by Ervil Lebaron:

Message to a Covenant People Final (1972)

Hour of Crisis (1974)

Ervil Morrell Lebaron was born into a polygamous Mormon family in Chihuahua, Mexico, 22^nd February 1925. In 1951, he became second in command of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Time, the Mormon group founded by his father, Alma Dayer Lebaron Sr. Upon the death of their father, Joel Lebaron became leader of the community, much to the displeasure of Ervil.

After several years serving as second in command to his older brother, Ervil broke away from the Church of the Fulness of Time in order to take his rightful, God-given position at the head of his own church. Thus, the Church of the Lamb of God was created in San Diego, California, 1972. Using his charismatic authority, Ervil cultured a following of loyal supporters who carried out his every command. Over a period of ten years, Ervil Lebaron ordered the deaths of more than two dozen individuals, including two of his brothers and his own daughter, who was 19 and pregnant when she was strangled to death.

It was not until 1^st June 1979 that he was finally captured by Mexican police and extradited to the United States. Lebaron carried out only one year of his sentence of life imprisonment before he died in jail in 1981.

Having been pursued by detective Dick Forbes for many years, Ervil Lebaron was finally apprehended by Mexican Police on the night of 1st June 1979, during an audacious SWAT raid.

In 1882, the government of the United States implemented the Edmunds Act, which not only declared polygamy to be a felony but also forbade polygamists from holding political office and revoked their voting rights. As a result, large numbers of Mormons re-settled in Mexico to continue their lives free from persecution. Colonia Juarez in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua was such colony, and it was here that Ervil’s father, Alma Dayer Lebaron Sn. lived before he was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Colonia Lebaron is located in Galeana, Chihuahua.

Following the decision of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to abandoned the practice of polygamy, certain families were excommunicated from the Church. Alma Dayer Lebaron Sn. established Colonia Lebaron in 1924 and moved there with his two wives and eight children in order to continue to freely practice polygamy.