Kriti Mehrotra
Directed by Michael Nankin, Lifetime’s ‘The 13th Wife: Escaping Polygamy,’ also titled ‘The Thirteenth Wife: Escaping Polygamy,’ is a two-part film that lives up to its title in every way conceivable by chronicling the real-life tale of Rena Chynoweth. She is the former wife of an alleged deeply manipulative Mormon fundamentalist polygamist group leader, Ervil LeBaron, but she managed to escape with the help of nothing but her wits and her will. She actually did so following his ultimate arrest on June 1, 1979, unaware that the self-proclaimed prophet would soon appoint one of his most loyal sons, Arturo Morrello LeBaron, as his successor.
Arturo LeBaron Took His Father’s Teachings to the Next Level
Born on April 5, 1957, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Ervil LeBaron and his first wife Delfina Portillo, Arturo Morrello LeBaron grew up in a secluded community that followed the word of his father. They were part of a fundamentalist group by the name of the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God, which the patriarch had established upon splitting up with his brothers. The original core organization, founded by their ancestors, was called the Church of the Firstborn or the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, with his elder brother, Joel LeBaron, later ordained as President.
Ervil was the Presiding Patriarch of the Church and second in command following Joel, but this wasn’t enough for him or the plans he had, so he founded his own separate sect in 1972. According to records, the self-proclaimed prophet subsequently began teaching his followers to be soldiers before also training them to kill those not following what he perceived to be the path of God. He claimed this was mercy on their souls since it would be a form of atonement, and Arturo reportedly turned out to be one of his most trusted and strongest followers/soldiers, with no fear in his eyes.
Therefore, when Ervil was ultimately apprehended, he used his time in prison to pen a 400-page “bible” known as The Book of the New Covenants, wherein he named Arturo his successor. It was then that the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God really began embracing all the different criminal enterprises it had been dabbling in for years, including auto theft, drugs, and more. Little did the new leader know this would only raise more trouble, especially when a fellow loyal follower of Ervil, Leo Evoniuk, would come forward to claim that he was also granted authority to lead.
Arturo LeBaron Died Over the Leadership of the Church
Arturo’s dispute with Leo about who Ervil’s rightful successor is lasted for years, especially since the “prophet” was no longer around to solve the issue — he died in prison on August 15, 1981. However, despite their rivalry often going to extremes, the two leaders reportedly decided to meet on the evening of December 17, 1983, in the hopes of solving all their differences for good. They did so near Caborca in Sonora, Mexico, and it’s there that Arturo was brutally killed by either Leo or a couple of his trusted followers, possibly Gamaliel Rios and Raul Rios – he was merely 26 at the time.
Yet, it’s imperative to note that merely a few years later, on May 27, 1987, Leo Evoniuk also disappeared from the face of the Earth without a trace left behind, never to be seen or heard from again. By this point, Ervil’s son with his fifth wife, Lorna Chynoweth, Aaron LeBaron, was leading the Church, and just a year later, on June 6, 1988, he was the one who orchestrated the infamous 4 o’clock killings. This incident targeted four defectors of the church, all of whom had been named in The Book of the New Covenants by Ervil as people who had to be blood atoned, and it included Aaron’s uncle/Rena’s brother, Mark Chynoweth.
Read More: Erin LeBaron: What Happened to Ervil and Rena’s Daughter?
