You may have watched the fictionalized television series Under the Banner of Heaven, which depicts the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter Erica. Brenda was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). She, and her daughter, were murdered by Dan Lafferty, a man recently released from jail who had been excommunicated from the Church.
Now you can find out what really happened.
FAIR at fairlatterdaysaints.org has posted a video of exclusive interviews with the Chief of Police, involved with the murder investigation, as well as the State Trooper who arrested Ron Lafferty and put him in jail the first time, prior to his murders at Under the Banner of Heaven: Fact vs Fiction – FAIR (fairlatterdaysaints.org). You won’t find this anywhere else.
In addition to these interviews that directly relate to the case, FAIR has put together an episode-by-episode fact check of various claims made in the series about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For example:
Was Latter-day Saint teaching, or history, the cause of the murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty?
Did the brutal murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty and the subsequent investigation of the crime cause the loss of faith of any of the police officers involved?
Was the murder of Brenda and Erica Lafferty a ritual killing known as ”blood atonement”?
Find out the answers to these and other questions at Under the Banner of Heaven: Fact vs Fiction – FAIR (fairlatterdaysaints.org)
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to responding to false claims about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We operate a Website at FAIR – Faithful Answers to Criticisms of The Church of Jesus Christ (fairlatterdaysaints.org) and sponsor an annual conference. You can find more information about our upcoming conference here: 2022 FAIR Conference – FAIR (fairlatterdaysaints.org)
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Contact:
Scott Gordon
FAIR
About the Author
Thank you for providing these interviews. They clearly show that, from the law enforcement side, the UTBOH miniseries portrayal was part of the producer’s fantasy in an attempt to buttress his personal, fictional, and distorted perspective.
We know that the series producers interviewed Sharon Wright Weekes, but chose to ignore the perspective she provided. I wish you would have asked Les Langford and Randy Johnson if anyone from the series had contacted them or requested their consultation in portraying the law enforcement portions of the show. Do you know if they, or anyone from law enforcement involved in the 1984 investigation, were approached at all?
Thanks.
They were not approached at all.
Trevor,
Thanks for the response. I guess I can say I am not surprised.
wrong! dan lafferty is not released from prison. he got two life sentences without the possibility of parole.
You are correct. What the press release was saying is that he had been recently released when he committed the murders. Les Langford (one of the people interviewed) arrested him in 1982 and he was sentenced to 1 to 5 years. He only served for 75 days.