Wanted for Murder (page 2 of 3)

The Hit List

It was a cult’s gruesome revenge—simultaneous murders in two Texas cities. And years later, one of the main conspirators still eludes justice.

Members of the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God—a polygamous and disavowed mutation of the Mormon faith—didn’t think of it as murder. “Blood atonement” was the phrase coined by Ervil LeBaron, the founder of the Mexico-based Lamb of God sect, and it compelled his followers to kill anyone who abandoned the cult. Ervil not only spelled out the need to murder these “sons and daughters of perdition” in a covenant he wrote while in prison (for murdering his brother, Joel, over a doctrinal dispute) but named specific targets: Duane Chynoweth, Mark Chynoweth and Ed Marston. These former members of the Lamb of God had rejected Ervil’s teachings and left the cult over a period of time between 1979 and 1981. The Chynoweth brothers moved to Houston, and Marston to Dallas, and each man got involved in the appliance-repair business.

When Ervil LeBaron died behind bars in 1981, his role as “grand patriarch” went to his successor, his oldest son, Aaron. And Aaron’s indispensable counselor and confidante became his half sister Jacqueline.

“Aaron LeBaron didn’t do anything without conferring first with Jacqueline,” says Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Clark.

Aaron inherited his father’s hit list but didn’t do anything about it until Jacqueline urged him to action. According to court testimony from Jacqueline’s half sister Cynthia LeBaron, Jacqueline was moved by a “sign from God” that arrived in the trunk of a stolen car. The cult helped finance itself by stealing cars in the United States and selling them in Mexico. In 1988 Jacqueline and the others discovered weapons in one of the cars brought to the Lamb of God residence in Mexico. Jacqueline, authorities say, told Aaron that this unexpected cache was God’s way of telling them it was time to go after the pernicious ones—and the planning for murder began.

Jacqueline’s quiet manner, not to mention her high, squeaky voice, belied a person with steely resolve. “The killings wouldn’t have happened without her,” says Terry Clark.

The plan was to enlist murderers from within the Lamb of God family. They would travel to Houston and Dallas and kill their targets on the same day, so as not to alert any of them to flee. In two cases, the strategy was a ruse: Duane Chynoweth and Ed Marston would be lured to abandoned houses, on the pretext that they were to pick up used appliances, and they would be shot on the spot. Other assassins were to show up at Mark Chynoweth’s office and kill him there.

Jacqueline, according to court papers, personally gave $500 in cash to half sister Cynthia LeBaron so she could travel to Texas and help coordinate the action. The contract killings went off like clockwork, except for one thing. When one of the murderers confronted Duane Chynoweth in his truck, he discovered that Duane’s eight-year-old daughter, Jenny, was with him. Having orders to kill any potential witnesses over the age of four, the assassin aimed his .357 Magnum and shot the girl twice in the face.

Within a few weeks, the killers were captured by police in Phoenix. It took another eight years before Aaron was arrested in Mexico and extradited. All of those caught are now serving life sentences, except Aaron, who got 45 years, due to the terms of our extradition treaty with Mexico. Cynthia was given immunity and testified against her half siblings.

Jacqueline LeBaron alone remains on the lam. The FBI thinks she may be earning a living in Mexico by teaching English to the children of wealthy parents (a job she’d previously had in the village of Aguascalientes). The Bureau also says it’s possible she has crossed the border back into the United States. Jacqueline, who turns 42 this month, is adept at hiding from the law. In the past, she has used at least a dozen aliases and has worn multiple disguises. She also owns firearms, and the FBI says she should be considered armed and dangerous.

Among the more chilling possibilities is that, even today, Jacqueline and cohorts are committed to Ervil LeBaron’s covenant. And some names still remain on his hit list.

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