 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ‐ A Utah death-row inmate who killed his brother’s wife and her toddler because of his strong polygamist beliefs in a case made famous by the book "Under the Banner of Heaven" has died of natural causes, prison officials said Monday.
Ron Lafferty, 78, died at the state prison in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper, Utah Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kaitlin Felsted said.
The state attorney general’s office had expected him to be executed next year and become the first American put to death by firing squad in nearly a decade.
Lafferty’s case became well-known after it was featured in Jon Krakauer’s 2003 book about radical offshoots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Krakauer also wrote "Into Thin Air" and "Into the Wild."
| Clearly the man is fond of prepositions. |
Lafferty claimed he had received a revelation from God to kill the mother and child in 1984 because of the sister-in-law’s resistance to his fundamentalist belief in polygamy. Lafferty carried out the killlngs with his brother, Dan Lafferty, who received a life sentence.
| Did anyone ever check him for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder? |
Brenda Lafferty was beaten and strangled with a vacuum cleaner cord. She and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, died after their throats were slashed. |