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The Cult Dossier · No. 080 · Christian-Derived

The Lafferty brothers

the School of the Prophets

1983 – 1984 · American Fork and Highland, Utah

IX. THE FUNDAMENTALIST AND POLYGAMOUS GROUPS

Fully religious — Mormon fundamentalist splinter of two men

Who led it

RON LAFFERTY (1941 – 11 November 2019) and his brother DAN LAFFERTY (b.1948), excommunicated LDS members who joined a fundamentalist group called the School of the Prophets and began receiving personal revelations.

What it worshipped and taught

Continuing personal revelation in the Mormon tradition, taken to its logical extreme by men with no institutional check. Ron produced a written REMOVAL REVELATION in March 1984 naming four people God wanted removed, including his sister-in-law and her baby, because she had encouraged his wife to leave him.

Who was in it

Ron Lafferty; Dan Lafferty; the victims BRENDA WRIGHT LAFFERTY, 24, and her 15-month-old daughter ERICA LAFFERTY; Dianna Lafferty, Ron's ex-wife; Prophet Onias (Robert Crossfield), leader of the School of the Prophets; Jon Krakauer, whose Under the Banner of Heaven (2003) made the case famous and drew a formal objection from the LDS Church, and was adapted as an FX/Hulu series in 2022.

How it ended, or where it stands

Both imprisoned; no organisation survived.

The dead

2 (a woman and an infant)

Of note

Included because it is the smallest possible cult — two men — and demonstrates that the mechanism does not require numbers, buildings or money. All it requires is a doctrine of personal revelation without accountability.

Its timeline

  1. 1983 Ron's wife Dianna leaves him and takes their six children, encouraged by Brenda Lafferty. Ron is excommunicated.
  2. March 1984 Ron writes the removal revelation.
  3. 24 JULY 1984 Ron and Dan enter Allen Lafferty's home in American Fork. Dan cuts the throats of BRENDA LAFFERTY and her BABY DAUGHTER ERICA with a boning knife. The date is Pioneer Day, the Utah state holiday commemorating the Mormon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.
  4. 7 AUGUST 1984 Both arrested in a buffet queue at the Circus Circus casino in Reno, Nevada.
  5. 1985–2019 Ron convicted and sentenced to death; his conviction is overturned in 1991 on competency grounds and he is retried and re-sentenced in 1996. He dies of natural causes on death row at the Utah State Prison on 11 November 2019, aged 78, after 34 years under sentence of death. Dan receives two concurrent life sentences without parole; a single holdout juror spared him the death penalty.

Its people

Ron Lafferty

—

Co-perpetrator, the School of the Prophets killings · 1941 – 11 November 2019 · active 1983–1984

An excommunicated Mormon who joined a fundamentalist group and began receiving personal revelations. In March 1984 he wrote a 'removal revelation' naming four people God wanted removed, including his sister-in-law Brenda and her infant daughter, because Brenda had encouraged his wife to leave him. The case is the smallest possible cult — two men — and demonstrates that the mechanism requires no numbers, buildings or money, only a doctrine of personal revelation without accountability.

Before the law. CONVICTED of two counts of capital murder. Died on death row after 34 years.

Where things stand. Deceased 2019, aged 78, after 34 years on death row. His brother Dan — spared execution by one holdout juror — is serving two concurrent life sentences without parole in the maximum-security wing of the Utah State Prison, and is still alive.

  1. 1983 His wife leaves him; he is excommunicated.
  2. March 1984 Writes the removal revelation.
  3. 24 July 1984 Brenda Lafferty, 24, and her 15-month-old daughter Erica are killed. The date is Pioneer Day.
  4. 1985 Sentenced to death; overturned 1991 on competency grounds; re-sentenced 1996.
  5. 11 November 2019 Ron Lafferty dies of natural causes on death row, aged 78, after 34 years.
  6. 1985–2026 DAN LAFFERTY WAS SPARED THE DEATH PENALTY BY A SINGLE HOLDOUT JUROR. He is serving two concurrent life sentences without possibility of parole, held since 1985 in the maximum-security wing of the Utah State Prison. He remains alive and has never expressed remorse.
  7. 2020s BRENDA LAFFERTY’S SURVIVING FAMILY HAVE CAMPAIGNED FOR THE ABOLITION OF UTAH’S DEATH PENALTY — the relatives of the victims arguing against executing the man who ordered the killings.

Checked 2026-08-24

Brenda Wright Lafferty and Erica Lafferty

—

Killed by the Lafferty brothers · d. 24 July 1984 · active 1984

Brenda Wright Lafferty was 24, a former television news presenter in Utah, a college graduate, and the wife of Allen Lafferty. Her offence, in her brothers-in-law's account, was encouraging Ron Lafferty's wife to leave him and stand up for herself. She was named in Ron's written 'removal revelation'. She and her fifteen-month-old daughter Erica were killed in their home on Pioneer Day. Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven made the case internationally known, and Brenda's family have since objected that the retellings centre the killers rather than her.

Before the law. Both killers convicted. Ron died on death row in 2019; Dan remains imprisoned.

Where things stand. Both deceased 1984, aged 24 and 15 months.

  1. 1982 Marries Allen Lafferty; leaves a broadcasting career.
  2. 1983 Encourages Ron Lafferty's wife Dianna, who leaves him.
  3. March 1984 Ron Lafferty writes the 'removal revelation' naming her.
  4. 24 JULY 1984 She and her 15-month-old daughter Erica are killed at home in American Fork, Utah.
  5. 1985–2019 Ron dies on death row; Dan serves two life sentences.

Checked

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