of the blood atonement policy. One of the assassins, Daniel Ben Jordan, was later arrested for the murder, but he was released when witnesses were too afraid to testify against him. The other killer, Gamaliel Rios, remained free. To Ervil's surprise, Joel's followers did not flock to his side; instead they advocated for Ervil's arrest. He was convicted of planning the murder but freed a year later by an appellate court. While imprisoned, Ervil continued to release pamphlets and books insisting that he was the Mormon One Mighty and Strong and that, as God's representative on earth, he could decide who should die for their sins. He was most interested in executing his brother Verlan, who Joel's followers had elected as their new leader. Fearing for his life, Verlan had gone into hiding. In an effort to flush him out, on December 26, 1974, Ervil's underage thirteenth wife Rena Chynoweth and her brothers Mark and Duane Chynoweth raided Los Molinos. They threw firebombs at houses and shot at residents, killing two young men and injuring 13. They failed in their primary goal; Verlan had just moved his families out of the colony to Nicaragua. Ervil was arrested for masterminding the raid, but was released due to lack of evidence. Increasingly upset by the violence, Noemi Zarate, a wife of Bud Chynoweth (father of two of Ervil's wives), threatened to leave and go to the police. On Ervil's orders, his tenth wife Vonda White drove Zarate into the desert and killed her. Her body has never been found. 1975-1980 Ervil LeBaron moved part of his family to San Diego, California. He wrote letters to and visited many polygamist leaders, threatening their lives if they did not switch their allegiance to the Church of the Lamb of God and tithe accordingly. Robert Simons, a leader of a small polygamous sect in Utah, denounced Ervil after learning that Ervil wanted to marry one of Simons' wives. Simons was killed in April 1975 by Mark Chynoweth and Eddie Marston, on Ervil's orders. That same year, another of his followers, Dean Vest, prepared to leave the group. Ervil was already angry with Vest for refusing to sell a houseboat that he owned and tithe half of the proceeds to the cult. On Ervil's orders, his tenth wife Vonda White executed Dean in her kitchen. She was later convicted of the murder. Ervil told her that