All language subtitles for D.o.t.C.S01E05.The.4.OClock.Murders.1080p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-MADSKY_track4_[eng]

[♪ suspenseful music]

[Scott] A man walks
into the appliance repair shop.

Mark Chynoweth
is in there by himself.

[♪ intense music]

And the killer opens fire.

[gunshots]

[music continues]

Simultaneously, Eddie Marston

is at a house
in an Irving neighborhood.

A black Silverado pickup truck
pulls up, a guy gets out...

[♪ music continues]

Shoots Eddie Marston dead.

[♪ music continues]

While those two murders
are happening,

a black Silverado pickup truck
pulls up on Rena Street.

[♪ music continues]

Gunman gets out...

[♪ music continues]

Shoots Duane Chynoweth
dead in the driveway.

[gunshot]

[gunshots]

[Lindsay]
Sitting in the pickup truck

is eight-year-old
Jenny Chynoweth,

who just witnessed
her father being murdered.

[Scott] The little girl,
Jennifer, starts screaming.

[muffled screaming]

The killer reaches in
through the window

and just shoots her
point-blank range in the head.

[gunshot]

[♪ music continues]

[tires squealing]

[♪ unsettling string music]

This was the first time

in all of the years
I lived with Mark and Lillian

I did not have to go
to work sick.

But I was gonna have
to stay home

and take care of the kids.

[♪ suspenseful music]

[Emily]
Like a typical summer day,

I'm home with my siblings
in Houston,

12 years old. School's out.

Was outside playing basketball,

and the phone was ringing.

[telephone ringing]

And it was one of the men
that worked for Mark.

And he's like, "Anna,
are you and the kids okay?"

I was like, yes.

And he's like, "There's
a truck and a car coming.

They'll be at your house
any minute.

Get the children,
gather them up,

and you get in the cars
as quickly as you can."

[♪ music continues]

The energy
just leaves your body,

and your knees are shaking.

Everything just starts shaking.

[♪ music continues]

I came in, and I said,
"Well, you know, what happened"?

She told me that,
"Now I just need you to listen

and do what I'm saying".

I-I knew instantly.

[stutters] This was, like,
the dreaded day.

I thought, my dad's dead.

I have that awareness, too,
that this was probably our dad.

[crying] I just remember
just, like, hitting my knees

and just praying
that nothing was happening,

you know, to Dad. Like, God,
please protect my dad.

Please don't let this be.

I gathered up the kids
as quickly as I could.

I start, you know,
getting them out the door.

[♪ music continues]

I have no idea what's going on,

but my worst nightmares,
I know, are coming true.

[reporter] In Texas,
four people were murdered

in separate attacks
within 15 minutes.

In Houston,
Mark Chynoweth was shot dead

behind the counter
of his secondhand store.

We do not know
what the motive for it is.

We have been told
by several persons

that, uh, he was a member

of some type
of a fraternal organization.

Three middle-class
businessmen,

one innocent
eight-year-old child,

all killed in the same day,

all killed about the same time,

all shot by weapons
of destructive caliber.

Even in Houston, which has
more than its fair share

of homicides, this is...

this is different.

These murders get dubbed
"The 4 o'clock Murders."

The press picks it up.

And June 27 at 4 o'clock

is not just any time
for Mormons.

It's the exact time
Mormon founder

and prophet Joseph Smith
was killed in Carthage Jail

by an angry mob.

The homicides, all three,
were very well organized.

And they almost
always wanna make sure

the victim was at some place

where they felt comfortable
or normal.

These are assassinations.

[Scott] They were carrying
these murders out

in broad daylight.

What the killers
decided to do was,

they would all wear
matching disguises,

and they would all have
the same stolen pickup truck

that they would be driving.

So, if there were eyewitnesses,
and there were,

all the descriptions
would perfectly match.

Somebody had really
thought this thing through

and really planned.

[♪ music continues]

[Lindsay]
So now police are left with,

who would have come up
with such a coordinated

and complex plot to execute
these men at the same time?

[♪ dramatic music]

[Anna] They bring all the kids
to this friend's house.

Nobody will tell me
what's going on,

and I'm like, "Can you please
tell me what's going on?"

We have to just wait.
You have to just wait.

[Emily] It was actually
the pastor of our church,

his wife gathered us together
in this friend's living room,

just said it really straight
to all of us.

"I hate to tell you kids,
but your dad's dead."

And there was just, like...

[voice breaking] Just this,
just horrible, like, wailing.

To this day,
that sound never leaves.

[voice breaking]
I knew that I didn't want Celia

to find out about Mark
from anyone else but me.

[♪ music continues]

She says, "Celia,
Mark has been shot."

[inhales sharply]
And my knees just grow weak,

and I lose it.

[♪ music continues]

And then we find out that Duane

and his little daughter Jenny

and our half-brother Ed
were also murdered.

[Scott] When police talked
to the families,

they started figuring
out the connection.

They learned
about this hit list.

They had a sense
of who was behind this.

[♪ music continues]

We knew,
and no one had to tell us.

- No one had to tell us. Yeah.
- We didn't have to ask.

It was other parts
of our family.

- Other people that we loved...
- [Anna] Mm-hmm.

Were killing
these precious humans...

- that we adored.
- [Anna] Mm-hmm, yeah.

This time, when the authorities
and the police

are asking me to name names
and identify people...

[♪ music continues]

I was able to say who I knew
and what I knew.

I didn't have to say,
I don't know.

We knew
they were blood atonements.

They were carrying out
our-our father's revelations

from The Book
of the New Covenant.

[♪ music continues]

Chynoweth and Marston families
were devout followers

of Ervil LeBaron.

But apparently they defected,

a sin, according
to LeBaron religious doctrine.

Some people close to that sect
would say that on June 27th,

they were punished
for their sin.

[♪ music continues]

After they had interviewed
the Chynoweth family,

there were people that they
suspected of being involved,

specifically the group

called the Kingdom of God
on Earth, the KOG,

that's run by Heber LeBaron,

along with his brother Aaron
in Mexico.

Law enforcement was puzzled
by these four murders in Texas.

They needed more information
in order to understand

how this could happen
the way it happened.

And being the lead Assistant
U.S. Attorney at the time,

it became my responsibility

to coordinate things
from here.

It was a really tough case.

Houston PD did not have
a lot of evidence to work with,

no fingerprints,
no positive identifications.

They were getting nowhere.

[Lindsay] They knew
who'd ordered the murders,

but they couldn't arrest him,

because Ervil LeBaron
had been dead

for over seven years.

[♪ dramatic music]

After Mark died,
we all got to go home,

me and the children--
to be with Lillian at our house.

We know that it's possible

that somebody
could come after her, too.

There was
a very compelling belief

that my mother, Lillian,

was supposed to be killed
the same day,

that they would come back
and kill her.

And because a child
had been killed,

would more children be killed?

We were absolutely terrified.

And there's a SWAT team
surrounding our house.

Um, they had installed
motion-detection lighting.

We could not go outside at all.

[♪ music continues]

And I'm at the iron downstairs,

helping get the clothes
ready for the funeral.

And all of a sudden...

all the lights go out
in the house,

and we are left in pitch-dark.

When the lights went out,
it felt like,

"Wait a minute,
the security's failed".

[Emily] Yeah.

We were in the pitch-black,
just crawling.

[♪ music continues]

[Anna] I'm scrambling around.

I find Celia, and we're like--

[Celia]
We go hide in the bathtub.

[Anna] We go hide
in the bathtub.

We make ourselves
as small as we can.

[Celia] Barely breathing.

[Anna] We're just shaking
with fear,

thinking, somebody's going to

come in here and shoot me.

I thought people were gonna
burst in--

Burst in and murder us,
for sure.

[♪ suspenseful music]

[Anna] Time passes.

And then all of a sudden,
the lights come back on.

And it was faulty wiring
with the motion detectors.

[♪ music continues]

After the 4 o'clock murders,

we were still in Denver,

and we were...

still trying to live our lives,
we were...

but we knew my mom, Anna Mae,

was on that hit list.

So, at the age of 13,

I was given a gun.

[♪ music continues]

Whenever my mom
answered the door,

I was to aim that gun
out the living-room window.

And if it was
any of my siblings,

if you saw anybody draw a gun,
you were to pull the trigger.

[♪ music continues]

[Hyrum] It was understood,
there was probably gonna be

somebody coming
trying to kill us, so

you have to shoot first.
You shoot to kill.

We were petrified, we thought
they would come

and kill us at any moment.

And they knew where
all of our homes were,

'cause they were living with us.

We were like,
"We have to get out of town.

We have to leave Denver".

The map was spread out, and
there was these conversations

going back and forth
about where we should go.

But nobody really had
any real-world experience

of anywhere else.

I had heard about Oregon before,

and it sounded really
cool to me. So I was like,

"We should go to Oregon".

It seemed far enough away
to be safe,

and nobody would expect it

because that's nowhere
we'd ever lived before.

Pretty soon, the decision was
made, we're going to Oregon.

We had a huge caravan.

We all left
in the middle of the night.

Our homes
were completely intact.

We took a few clothes,
a few things, and left.

[Anna] Do you know that after
the 4 o'clock murders happened,

I had to start
carrying a gun, too?

I didn't know that.

[Anna] I was working
in the appliance shop,

and I carried a gun to work.

I remember the feeling
of the heaviness of it

in my pocket.

I remember driving back.

After Mark was killed,
I had to go back into the shop.

And so they said,
"It hasn't been cleaned up yet".

[Celia] Oh! How many days after?

Like, the next day.

- Oh, no, really?
- [Anna] It was like...

[breathes deeply]

The carpet
still had his blood on it.

[distant siren wailing]

[♪ intense continues]

[Emily] The day of the funeral,
the emphasis was

not on grieving their loss.

It was on survival.

It was a terrorizing event.

Fear had gripped everyone.

[reporter]
The victims were all members

of the Chynoweth family.

They'd been linked with
several murders themselves,

but they'd left the LeBaron
church to start a new life

away from the violence.

Using the past example
of the Rulon Allred funeral,

designed to lure Verlan
to his death,

the authorities were
really worried that

that the same thing
could happen with the,

with the Chynoweth
and the Marston funerals.

There are some
who aren't here,

who would like to be here.

They're concerned
for their safety.

- [man] Your brother Victor?
- Yes.

- [man] Your sister Rena?
- Yes.

[♪ music continues]

There was a perimeter created

around where we were gonna
bury our loved ones.

[Celia] They were protecting
us from anybody else

that might wanna take out
more hits during the gathering.

There were snipers
in the trees.

There were friends of mine
who didn't come to the funeral

and told me,
"I'm very sorry, I can't go

to your dad's funeral.
I'm afraid I'm gonna be killed".

There's an overarching
sense of just terror.

The boogeyman is really big.

Anywhere, anytime, you don't
really know what or why.

[♪ music continues]

Right after the funeral,

literally within 24 hours,
we had to be packed and ready

and were whisked away
by the FBI

into Witness Protection.

They changed
our last name to DeVeaux,

and that we had to be
very careful.

We couldn't tell
anyone where we were.

We couldn't hardly ever leave.

And our mother,
she had lost everything.

She had lost
her whole community,

her support structure,
her family.

She was spiraling
into just a depressive state.

[Lisa] My dad was such a rock...

I mean, for her, for us...

- [Emily] Mm-hmm.
- For our community.

That loss was really
incalculable.

And I think it's something that,

um, you know, honestly,
she just never recovered from.

[♪ intense music]

[camera shutter clicks]

[David] We have four murders.
These weren't random killings.

They were
targeted assassinations.

Law enforcement
had a pretty good idea

Heber and Aaron did this,

but they didn't have
the necessary evidence

to prove it.

And then not long
after the murders,

there was a development

that proved
to be very important.

[♪ intense music]

[Lindsay] Police in Arizona get
a tip that this group of people

are staying
in this dingy motel,

acting a little suspicious.

And when police arrive,
they find this group

of clean-cut kids
driving stolen cars.

As police dig through
the cars for evidence,

they find a copy
of a newspaper

reporting on
the 4 o'clock murders

the day after it had happened.

There's also a map
of the Houston area.

Rena Street is circled
right in the middle...

the street where Duane

and his eight-year-old
daughter Jenny were murdered.

There were a number
of other things,

like what appeared
to be disguises.

The stuff
that was in these trucks

was pretty good
circumstantial evidence

that these people
had something to do with

what had gone on in Texas.

[Lindsay] The police arrested
them on auto-theft charges.

And one of the men...

happens to be Heber LeBaron.

[reporter] Authorities say
it wasn't until a week later

when
a Phoenix investigator called

the Houston Police Department

that they realized
who they had.

Investigators began
talking to one another

and put together some details
that were similar,

both in Houston and in Phoenix.

And it was that type
of information yesterday

that, uh, led our investigators

to believe that the people
that we already had in custody

could, in fact, be involved
in some cases in Houston.

I've been a prosecuting
attorney for over 40 years.

I was called to the office
of the United States Attorney,

who had a case that they would
like us to handle for them,

and this turned out
to be the LeBaron case.

[Lindsay] So, as they start
piecing together

this terrifying LeBaron puzzle,

they think that Heber
is the leader

of the 4 o'clock
assassinations.

But the problem is, they're
having a very difficult time

putting together
a case to try him

and other members of the KOG.

[distant siren wailing]

[Scott] The big problem
with the case was,

you have these murders

where they match up
in almost every way.

It's like one killer
had cloned himself or herself,

acted in three places
at the exact same moment.

And in American law,

you have to know
which one did which murder.

[♪ dramatic music]

The police knew, the FBI knew
who the three killers were.

They were very confident
that the killers were Heber...

[♪ music continues]

Richard LeBaron...

and Doug Barlow.

What they couldn't do
was match up

which of those three
had done which murder.

And if you can't do that, you
can't bring somebody to trial.

[♪ music continues]

[Terry] What did we have?
We had nothing.

No one can put them there
at the time,

no person to put them in Texas
at the time,

no person to put them,

you know, acquiring
these things, really.

And even then, if you could
put them acquiring the things,

how could you relate the things

to the actual event?
You couldn't.

You can think
you've got the right people,

but you still have
to meet the standard.

You have to prove things
beyond a reasonable doubt

when you get to trial.

But in Arizona,

officials aren't having
a hard time at all

building a pretty solid
auto-theft case.

[judge speaking indistinctly]

[Scott] When they get busted
on the auto-theft charges,

they make the decision

to-to plead out,
to plead guilty to them.

My feeling is they do it because

you'll get a lesser sentence
by pleading guilty,

rather than going to trial.

And then maybe you sort of
fall off the radar down the road

of, on these murders you did.

So I think that for a lot
of strategic reasons,

they-they-they thought,
"Okay, let's just plead out".

[♪ intense music]

[Lindsay] You've got
Heber LeBaron and Doug Barlow

sentenced to 10 years,

and Richard LeBaron
is sentenced to

three and a half years,
because he's a minor.

But in 1988,
it was pretty common

for convicts to serve half
the time sentence or even less.

So they were still a threat.

[♪ music continues]

Before Mark died,
I had already been accepted

into a college.
I was so excited.

After Mark died

and the 4 o'clock murders
happened,

there was a big discussion
among the administration.

They thought that if the parents
found out who I was

that they would unenroll
their children

if they didn't think
they were safe.

They told me
if I changed my name

and swear that I was not going
to reveal who I was

to any of the students,

they would let me come.

It was a very weighty
decision for me,

especially because I knew

how much
Lillian depended on me.

But at the same time,
I felt like

I had to move on with my life.

So I told Lillian
that I had made the decision

that I wanted to go ahead
and continue my education

and go to college.

And she was supportive
of that.

I mean, it was hard to leave
the children behind...

you know, Emily and Lisa
and the other kids,

because I was so close to them

and I was so, um,
involved in their lives.

But I felt like I was doing
the right thing.

During this time where
my mother was really suffering,

her life as she had known it
had collapsed.

And I think that as strong
as my mother was, of course,

there was just an aloneness
at that time

that just can't be overstated.

I remember that morning.

I got up and went to check
on the laundry.

And my mom
was standing in there.

She turned around,
and she was crying.

And then I said, "Mom,
I just wanna let you know,

we're gonna be okay, that
I really feel like, you know,

God's going to take care of us
and we're gonna...

we're gonna be okay."

[♪ mellow music]

And I hugged her.
I went back to bed.

And, I mean, it was really
only minutes later,

I heard the sound of
what, you know,

you know is a gunshot sound.

And then...

[♪ music continues]

I just, I knew she was gone.

[crying] I just remember
thinking, I can't believe

our whole life is turned
so upside down.

[sniffles]

[Anna] When Lillian
took her own life...

I remember just being shocked.

It was like losing your mom.

The tragedy
of Lillian's suicide

is that
she was just one in a list

of many former followers
who took their own lives.

Three years after testifying

against his own father
in court...

Isaac LeBaron
died by suicide as well.

[♪ suspenseful continues]

[telephone ringing]

[David] In this period after,

the murder case in Houston
had cooled off some.

Leads had been exhausted.

All the people that could have
been talked to were talked to,

but it really wasn't leading
to anything specific.

[Lindsay] Police have Heber
in jail for auto theft...

but he's essentially
gotten away with murder.

Without a major break

or someone from the KOG
coming forward,

the murders are in danger
of never being solved.

You don't prosecute
a Mafia don

without somebody
in the family turning

and giving evidence
against the Mafia don.

It's the same thing
with this family.

They may be even
a tougher nut to crack

because they're related by blood

and they're related
by this ideology

that has vengeance
and violence at its core.

What law enforcement
needed badly

was someone on the inside
who could open the door.

[telephone ringing]

The Utah detective
gets a phone call...

from Cynthia LeBaron,

who was down in Mexico.

Cynthia is a daughter
of Ervil LeBaron.

Cynthia tells the detective

that some things have happened
in, in Mexico,

that she and her sister
were afraid for their lives,

that they would be willing
to talk.

She wants us
to meet her in Texas.

This is a huge break
for law enforcement

because she was part
of the group in Phoenix.

They know she knows who did
what in the 4 o'clock murders.

[♪ intense music]

So Cynthia comes across.

She's met by investigators
at the US-Mexican border.

[♪ music continues]

[David] Now, on the one hand,
we thought

we're being set up
for an ambush.

On the other hand, we thought,
"Well, maybe they're serious.

We can't ignore
this possibility.

We have to take
advantage of it."

That very same day,
they cut a deal.

Anything she says
in this interview...

will not be used against her.

So, once she gets that promise,
she starts singing.

[♪ music continues]

Cynthia and I were
best friends as little girls.

Cynthia and her siblings

lived with us in Ensenada.

Their mother would go
to the US to work,

and my mom helped raise
those children at the time.

So we knew them very well.

Cynthia admitted to her part

in the plot
to kill the people in Texas.

She admitted
to keeping surveillance

on one of the victims.

[Terry] Cynthia
was basically a lookout.

She called Heber and said,
"He's there now."

[♪ music continues]

[David] She knew all about
the plan, she was part of it.

She described
who was assigned to do what,

who was to kill Duane,
who was to kill Mark,

who was to kill Ed.

She not only names Heber

and the other killers
in the 4 o'clock murders.

She gives investigators
another piece of evidence,

which is,
Aaron is in charge of the KOG.

[♪ intense music]

Heber is his hitman.

And they had planned
the 4 o'clock murders

for two years.

[Scott]
All along, law enforcement

has been thinking
that Heber LeBaron

was the one mighty and strong,
he is the leader of the cult.

But in fact,
it was Aaron LeBaron

who was
the one mighty and strong.

[♪ music continues]

Basically, we learned
that Aaron is more like Ervil,

in the sense that Aaron

understands the religion
really, really, really well

and is-is more hands off.

[David] They were told
from the time they were born

that they were the anointed,
that they were the exceptional,

that they were the people
that were going to inherit

the Kingdom of God on Earth

if they did the things
Ervil expected them to do.

The information
that Cynthia had

became extremely valuable
in multiple cases,

including Dan Jordan's murder.

[David] Cynthia knew the plan
for killing Dan Jordan.

She knew who was communicating
to the people in Mexico

to get it done.

Cynthia told them
that the KOG purposely played

on Dan's sympathies
to get in with the family.

This really was a long con.

While KOG members and Aaron
are living with Dan Jordan,

Heber's hiding out
in Mexico for months,

just waiting for the right time
and the right moment

for Dan Jordan's murder.

They knew the hunting trip
would be a time

that Dan would be isolated.

Aaron tells Heber
when and where they would be.

Heber comes up from Mexico.

Now he's hiding in the woods,
lying in wait

to kill Dan Jordan.

[gunshot]

Aaron orchestrated

a near-perfect crime.

Aaron was still out there
on the run,

and the possibility
of him coming to kill you

for one reason or another
still existed.

But what we'd just been told
by Cynthia

was a game changer.

It was what we needed
to get a case prosecuted

in Texas,

and Cynthia was taken into
the Witness Protection Program

almost immediately after
she gave us this information.

Even though Aaron
remains a fugitive on the lam,

the Feds decide
to go ahead and prosecute

the remaining suspects
in custody.

[♪ dramatic music]

But until
Aaron is behind bars...

the threat of violence

is always in the back
of people's minds.

[♪ dramatic music]

[Anna] For my birthday,

Mark and Lillian
had purchased me...

- a, um, hope chest.
- Hope chest, yeah.

Where I could begin planning

for my future life
as a married woman.

And so, when I had a boyfriend
for the very first time,

I strongly suspected that he was
going to ask me to marry him.

And, you know, of course,
the answer was yes.

I was operating on probably
less than a shoestring budget.

And Celia
had a friend of our family

give me a beautiful dress.

I got to be her bridesmaid.

[Anna] I had looked forward
to Lillian

helping me plan my wedding
and looked forward to Mark

giving me away
on my wedding day.

[Celia] Mark and Lillian
were very absent.

[Anna] And Mark and Lillian
were very absent.

[♪ dramatic music]

We were trying to move on
with our lives,

but things from our past

kept coming back
and kept coming back.

It was still
in the back of our minds,

- the KOG and the events and...
- [Anna] Yeah.

That we could be in, you know,
there could be danger.

[♪ intense music]

[reporter] The victims
were one-time followers

who dared break away
and were cut down

in what is known
as a blood atonement.

This is how
authorities view that

atonement
in the indictment.

Conspiracy to commit
murder for hire,

interstate and foreign travel

for the purpose
of murder for hire.

Prosecutors believe
that they'll be able,

with a conviction,
to get a lengthy sentence

without any probability
of parole.

Even though they're in prison
under auto-theft charges,

Heber and his associates,

Richard LeBaron
and Doug Barlow,

get put on trial.

As an assistant
federal public defender,

I was assigned
to represent Heber LeBaron,

the lead defendant in this case.

I did not expect him to be...

as college-kid-looking
as he turned out to be...

nor in the end,
did I expect him to be

as candid as he was with me.

Heber truly believed...

what his father had told him
and raised him to be.

He believed
that they were obligated

to kill the people
they were told to kill

in order to inherit

all the material
and spiritual wealth

of the world.

[♪ instrumental music]

[David] During the trial,
Heber was as detached

as anything else,
just detached, not part of this.

I'm above it all, I'm not gonna,
I'm not gonna give this

the dignity of paying
careful attention,

although I think they were
listening very carefully

to everything
that was being said...

Particularly when Cynthia
took the witness stand.

I had to deal with the devil,

and I'll stand by that deal.

But without her,

there would have been
no prosecution, none.

[David] Cynthia laid things out

just as she had
laid them out for us...

[♪ intense music]

Fearlessly, without looking
or sounding intimidated,

nervous, or uncomfortable
in any way...

although I'm sure
she was all three.

The trial lasted for four days.

At the end of four days,
it was given to the jury.

It was in the jury's hands.

The outcome was in doubt,

because it's a jury trial,

and we only had to win
one juror's imagination

to hang it up.

I felt if we did not get
a conviction,

more people were going to die.

After so much injustice
that followed this family,

the verdict comes down,

and it's guilty
for all three perpetrators.

Heber and Doug
get life sentences

for the 4 o'clock murders.

I think Heber
has killed before,

and I think he enjoyed killing.

So, no, I don't think
life's appropriate.

The death penalty is.

As for Richard,

he reaches a plea agreement
and serves five years.

When I found out later
about the verdict

and that they
were gonna be spending time--

a lot of time in prison,

um, I felt safer.

[Celia] It was better
that they be in prison,

but there are

- a lot of mixed emotions.
- Yes.

These are people that you love,
that you care about.

It was heart-wrenching.

I mean, anybody would,

that was
close to the story,

I think, felt
a collective relief.

[Lisa] You know,
Heber did send us a letter

that he wanted to
take responsibility

and acknowledge
for killing our father

and, uh, acknowledge the role

that he played
in our mother's death.

[♪ instrumental music]

But I will never forget
our mother,

in her deepest grief,
prayed and forgave him

and told us,
you have to forgive him

and, like, release him,
that God will handle it.

We did not grow up with
the burden of unforgiveness.

And, um, it's the most
tremendous gift

that our mother
really could've ever given us,

as far as I'm concerned.

- Lisa and I have been through--
- A lot.

A lot of, a lot of
complex situations.

And, you know, here we are,
we still have a very close bond.

- And I'm very grateful.
- Mm-hmm.

There was just
such profound fear for so long.

So I was like, I'm not
gonna let this run my life.

I'm not gonna run away
from death

and these gruesome things,
I'm going to...

make it my bitch.

[chuckling]

It's hard to decide

if justice is ever served
when so much is lost,

but I think this was finally
a step in the right direction.

But someone
was still skirting justice.

[reporter] Aaron LeBaron, now
24, leader of the conspiracy,

according to authorities,
still at large in Mexico,

Aaron having been designated
as the grand patriarch

of this violent sect.

In 1995, we learned
that Aaron's been taken

into custody in Mexico.

[♪ dramatic music]

We finally were able
to convince, uh, Mexico

to arrest him
and, uh, get him extradited.

I didn't give, uh, orders,

neither am I leader of a cult
like the newspapers say.

I'm a, um...

director of an English,
uh, school.

I believe in, um...

uh, giving to other people
and helping other people.

[♪ intense music]

[David] I wouldn't look at him
and say, "Jeez,

this guy is a master criminal."

But then I knew differently.

I knew that he'd had a lot
more to do with all of this

than anybody really believed.

[♪ music continues]

Ervil had indoctrinated
these people for years.

And we're, like,
two generations in now.

When you've been indoctrinated
your entire life

to believe that murder
is a Godly act,

that really complicates
your morality.

[Terry]
He was tried and convicted

because he was the intellectual
author of the homicides.

He's the one
that put it in motion.

And he was sentenced
to 45 years in prison.

[♪ music continues]

I never met Ervil LeBaron
in the flesh,

but I lived and worked

in the shadow of his ghost
for years

and didn't stop until after

the conviction of Aaron
in Texas.

It's hard to get
an exact count

in the wake
of this 30-year crime spree,

but we do know that
around 33 people were killed,

somewhere around
nine completed suicide,

and countless others suffered

at the hands
of all of this violence.

As long as that
doggone book's out there,

The Book of the Covenant...

there's always a potential for
someone to pick it up and say,

"I'm the one mighty
and strong now,"

and that should be
a concern to everyone.

[♪ instrumental music]

Colonia LeBaron,
where Ervil first started out,

still exists today.

The people living there
are trying to

put the past behind them.
And then 2019 happens.

Families mourning
after a brutal massacre,

three mothers and six
of their children killed.

The LeBarons find themselves
in the headlines again

for murder and death.

[♪ intense music]

Three cars
are crossing the border

from Mexico into Texas
when the cars are ambushed.

[♪ music continues]

And inside the cars are women,
mothers, and their children.

At first, I thought to myself,
"Oh, my God,

is the-is the cult back?

Is this the new,
the new chapter?"

Since then, it seems clear that

other, other factors
have been at work.

[reporter] Mexican officials
believe they were caught

in the crosshairs
of cartel violence,

saying that a criminal gang
confused them

for a group aligned
with the Sinaloa Cartel.

It's just so sad, because
these families living there

completely disavow
Ervil's teachings.

And yet, it seems like

the sort of curse of LeBaron
murderers isn't going away.

[♪ music continues]

[♪ soft music playing
on television]

[Adine] Oh, my God.

[Celia] So they have to start
with Los Molinos?

[Faye] This is Los Molinos.

- [Celia] Oh, God.
- [Adine] Oh, my gosh.

There was a made-for-TV movie
that came out in the early '90s

called Prophet of Evil.
It was about our father, Ervil.

[♪ music continues]

- [Celia] Oh, man.
- [Anna] This is horrible.

[Adine] That's terrible.

Watching it now,
it's just horrifying

how much violence there was
in our family history.

Just heart-wrenching to see

because they're representing
people that I love.

So it's hard to see what
they've done with their lives.

And the thing is that
they were just brainwashed.

And when you take away
that brainwashing,

we were always good people.

[♪ somber music]

[Faye] The places that they're
showing there are way too nice.

- I know.
[laughter]

We did not live
this nice, okay?

Something was bumping me,
and I couldn't figure out

what it was, it's just like
this really nice house,

well kept, maintained...

[Anna] And we weren't
even allowed outside!

- ...with white picket fence.
- [laughter]

Through it all,
I never really lost my faith.

I always had
a relationship with God.

I have 10 children,
21 grandchildren,

and it just tickles my heart

to be with them
and play with them.

And even though
I went through all that crap,

I'm a very happy person,
and I have a very happy life.

[♪ music continues]

Oh, there's the Mexican jail
where you were...

- [both] Conceived!
- [laughter]

I wanted to become a nurse,

but my life was set out for me
by religious doctrine.

So I didn't think
I was smart enough.

I didn't think
that was possible.

But now as an adult,
I became a nurse,

and I recently became
a master gardener.

If that little girl
could just see me now...

[children] Kill the police.
Kill the police.

Kill the police.
Kill the police.

No way would that ever happen.

We were taught to say,
I don't know!

- I don't know!
- I don't know!

[laughter]

Currently, my beliefs
about religion is

basically an atheist.
I think all religions are cults.

It's just
some are better than others.

[♪ instrumental music]

I'm a Sergeant First Class
in the US Army.

I've deployed four times.

[♪ music continues]

I try to be beneficial
to humanity and the planet.

You were considered
the military leader...

Oh, that's Bryan Cranston
right there.

[Celia] Oh, my God!
Breaking Bad!

- Wait. Rewind, rewind!
- [Anna] Who is he?

[Celia] Breaking Bad!

[Hyrum] He's only one
of the most famous--

[Adine] The guy
from Malcolm in the Middle!

Yes! Oh, my God.

[Hyrum] I didn't know
who he was the first time

- I watched this 20 years ago.
- [Anna] What?

This is where
he made his big debut.

Debut.

It's been over 40 years since
I escaped my father's cult.

[♪ instrumental music]

I mean, it was a shock to me
that I, when I learned

that what we had experienced
is called trauma.

To be able to grow and become
the person that I am today,

to heal enough

that I was able
to write my own story

and to publish my book...

I want to be an inspiration
to others...

anyone who's experienced
abuse, neglect, abandonment.

Those things
don't have to define us today.

[♪ instrumental music]

I have overcome all of the odds,

and here I am.

So it's me and Hyrum
that are in the movie so far.

- Yes.
- We were in the Veracruz raid!

[Celia] Not specifically,
but you were one of those kids.

Hyrum assisted
by opening the door.

Thanks, Hyrum.

I ran away
from the cult 36 years ago,

and I never turned back.

I have three grown children.

I have a career in finance.

And in my process,
I had to evaluate

every belief that I had,

every thought, practically,
that went through my mind

and look at it and say,
"Do I really believe this?

Or is this what
I was taught to believe"?

[♪ music continues]

[narrator on TV]
Since Ervil LeBaron's death,

his children and members
of his church

have committed
15 additional murders.

His legacy has continued.

- But no more!
- Not anymore.

- [Anna] No more.
- No more.

[Anna]
There's no telling this story

without bringing up this past.

[♪ music continues]

[Celia] I am ready now
to embrace the wholeness

of who I am

and what it means today
to be a LeBaron.

Mm-hmm.

It's something
that I'm proud of.

It's been over 30 years.

Ervil's children
are not about that anymore.

Ervil's children are the ones
who want all of that

- to stop more than everyone.
- [Celia] Yeah.

I promise you that.

[♪ instrumental music]

[♪ instrumental music]