with this murder she had ensured her presence in heaven. In 1977, Ervil also ordered the death of his pregnant teenage daughter Rebecca, the wife of Mark Chynoweth. Angry that she had been separated from her toddler son, Rebecca threatened to go to the police about the group's activities. A witness testified that her body was stuffed into the trunk of a car, and Ervil drove it around town for the afternoon; when someone commented that the car was riding low, he casually remarked that it must be because of Rebecca. When Rebecca's mother, Ervil's first wife Delfina, discovered that her daughter had been murdered on the orders of her husband, she strongly objected. Another of her daughters, Lillian (who was also married to Mark Chynoweth) warned her that if she did not settle down and accept the righteousness of Rebecca's death, she would also be marked for blood atonement. Believing that her son-in-law and daughter were preparing to murder her, Delfina and her youngest daughter snuck out of Lillian's house and fled to Mexico. Ervil had never given up the idea of killing his brother Verlan. He hatched a plan to flush Verlan out of hiding. He convinced his now 18-year-old wife Rena Chynoweth and his stepdaughter Ramona Marston (a wife of Daniel Jordan) to kill Rulon C. Allred, the leader of the Apostolic United Brethren, one of the largest polygamist sects. Three of Ervil's other followers, including Ramon's brother Ed, attended the funeral with orders to kill Verlan and anyone else who got in their way. They aborted their mission when they realized that police were stationed all around the funeral area to protect the mourners. Ervil was captured in Mexico and tried and convicted in the United States for planning Allred's murder. It was the first time he had been charged with a crime in the United States. Rena Chynoweth and Ramona Marston were acquitted by a jury for their role in the murder. While he was incarcerated in Utah, he continued to write testaments for his followers. One of these, the Book of New Covenants, contained a list of 50 people that Ervil marked for blood atonement. The book also contained a list of who should succeed Ervil as leader of the cult. Ervil died in jail in 1981. His brother Verlan died in a car crash in Mexico several days later. Arturo LeBaron Ervil's book