The Shocking Murder of Brenda Lafferty: A Family’s Descent into Religious Extremism and Bloodshed
On a warm summer evening in 1984, Allen Lafferty returned home to what should have been a peaceful domestic scene. Instead, he stepped into a nightmare. His 24-year-old wife, Brenda, lay lifeless on the kitchen floor, a vacuum cord wrapped around her neck. Their 15-month-old daughter, Erica, was brutally slain in her crib, the walls soaked in blood.
The horror of that night in American Fork, Utah, was beyond comprehension. But what made it even more disturbing was the fact that the killers were family. Allen’s own brothers—Ron and Dan Lafferty—had slaughtered Brenda and her child in what they chillingly described as a divine mission from God.
The Path to Murder: When Faith Turns Fanatic
Raised in a strict and devout household as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Lafferty brothers had always been religious. But in the years leading up to the murders, Ron and Dan took a dark and radical turn. Their rejection of modern government, refusal to pay taxes, and distrust of medical treatment were just the beginning.
After being excommunicated from the church in 1983, the brothers immersed themselves in an extremist fundamentalist sect called the School of Prophets. Within this radical fringe group, Ron claimed he had received divine revelations—including one commanding him to “remove” his sister-in-law and niece, whom he saw as obstacles to his spiritual path.
Brenda, a college-educated and independent woman, had openly defied the brothers’ beliefs. She encouraged Ron’s wife, Diana, to leave him, taking their six children and escaping to Florida. In Ron’s mind, Brenda’s influence had cost him his family and his status as a prophet. His hatred festered until it turned deadly.
A Message from God—or a Delusion?
Ron’s journal entries, later presented in court, detailed his chilling “revelation” to kill Brenda and Erica. He shared this vision with his brother Dan, convincing him that he was the “arm of God” and meant to carry out the murders. Dan, desperate for his own spiritual enlightenment, followed his older brother’s lead.
Allen Lafferty, the youngest of the Lafferty brothers, was made aware of Ron’s so-called prophecy. Though he dismissed it as madness, he never warned Brenda. That decision would haunt him forever.
The Gruesome Execution
On July 24, 1984, Ron and Dan entered Brenda’s home while Allen was away at work. She fought back fiercely, but Dan overpowered her, beating and strangling her before slitting her throat. Moments later, he turned his knife on baby Erica, ending her short life in an act so monstrous it defies reason.
Rather than fleeing immediately, the brothers remained in Utah, intending to kill two more individuals Ron believed had wronged him. But after failing to locate their next targets, they fled the state, only to be arrested weeks later in Reno, Nevada. When caught, neither showed remorse. Ron claimed he was merely following God’s orders. Dan described the killings as “a matter of business.”
Justice and the Legacy of a Crime
The trials of Ron and Dan Lafferty became infamous. Both were convicted of the brutal murders, but their fates diverged. Dan received two life sentences without parole. Ron, sentenced to death, spent 34 years on death row, ultimately dying of natural causes in 2019.
Even decades later, the horror of the Lafferty murders continues to haunt those who knew Brenda. Her sister, Sharon Wright Weeks, has fought tirelessly against the death penalty, despite Ron’s crimes. “It was never about religion,” Weeks has said. “It was a crime of passion disguised as prophecy.”
A Story That Still Resonates
Brenda’s tragic fate has been immortalized in books and television adaptations, including Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven. But beyond the headlines and true crime adaptations, her story serves as a grim reminder of how extremism—whether religious or ideological—can twist minds and destroy lives.
More than four decades later, the question lingers: Was Ron Lafferty truly a man of God, or just another murderer hiding behind faith? The chilling truth is, perhaps, both.
