Under The Banner Of Heaven
• Absurd Inurbane Witless
On July 24, 1984, brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty entered the home of their sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, in the dull suburb of American Fork, outside Salt Lake City. They bound and beat Brenda. Dan used a sharp hunting knife to cut the throat of her baby daughter. Then he went back to Brenda. There was no frenzied attack, just a calm slaughter, as one might kill a sheep.
Why did they do this? Ron and Dan were Mormons of an old-fashioned kind, so neither had been surprised when God told Ron to kill Brenda, her baby, and two other people out of tune with the brothers' fanatical beliefs. (Luck saved the other intended victims.)
Awaiting trial, Ron hanged himself. Dan is serving two life terms. He has no remorse and denies murdering Brenda and the baby. Killing on divine instructions is not murder: "Ron had received a revelation from God that these lives were to be taken. I was the one who was supposed to do it. And if God wants something to be done, it will be done. You don't want to offend him by refusing to do his work."
Krakauer wants to explain this particular religious lunacy, and others. One is last year's kidnapping, rape and nine-month captivity of Elizabeth Smart, 14, daughter of a rich Salt Lake City Mormon family. The alleged perpetrator was a Mormon fundamentalist named David Mitchell, aka Immanuel David Isaiah.