SHE LATER DIED AT THE HOSPITAL. POLICE ARE NOW SEARCHING FOR
THAT DRIVER.
THAT DRIVER. >>> THE F.B.I. IS NOW
INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS OF
NINE AMERICAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN
IN MEXICO.
IN MEXICO. THE VICTIMS ALL MEMBERS OF A
MORMON COMMUNITY.
MORMON COMMUNITY. THEY WERE AMBUSHED LAST WEEK
NEAR THE U.S. BORDER.
F.B.I. AGENTS ARE SUPPORTING THE
MEXICAN AUTHORITIES’ EFFORTS TO
FIND THE KILLERS.
AND TONIGHT CHANNEL 2
INVESTIGATES FINDS A LINK
BETWEEN THAT COMMUNITY AND A
TRIPLE MURDER HERE IN HOUSTON
SOME 30 YEARS AGO.
PHIL ARCHER HAS MORE ON THE
FAMILY’S VIOLENT HISTORY.
>> Reporter: JUNE 27, 1988, A MURDER INVESTIGATION UNLIKE ANY
HOUSTON POLICE HAVE DEALT WITH
BEFORE OR SINCE.
TWO CRIME SCENES, THREE PEOPLE
KILLED, EXECUTION STYLE.
TWO ADULT BROTHERS AND AN
EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL, ALL SHOT IN
THE HEAD TWICE AT CLOSE RANGE.
>> WE BEGAN TO SEE A CONNECTION
AND IT BECAME VERY APPARENT THAT
THEY WERE RELATED.
>> Reporter: POLICE WOULD LATER
LEARN THEY WERE BLOOD ATONEMENT
FOR THE VICTIM’S SIN OF LEADING
THE POLYGAMIST MORMON CULT.
HE WAS DESCENDED FROM MORMONS
WHO WENT TO MEXICO TO PRACTICE
POLYGAMY.
POLYGAMY. UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP, THE CHURCH
BECAME A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE.
>> STOLEN CARS.
THEY WERE HEAVY INTO CREDIT CARD
ABUSE, FORGERY.
ABUSE, FORGERY. THEY HAD DONE A COUPLE OF BANK
ROBBERIES.
ROBBERIES. >> Reporter: STRAYING FROM THE
TEACHINGS COULD BE FATAL.
TERRY CLARK WAS THE FEDERAL
PROSECUTOR IN THE CASE.
>> IT’S IN THE COVENANT,
CHILDREN THAT ARE DISCIPLINED
NOR OBEY ARE TO BE KILLED.
PEOPLE WHO DON’T ACCEPT MY
LEADERSHIP ARE TO BE KILLED.
>> Reporter: IN THE 1970S A
SCHISM SET OFF AN INTERFAMILY
WAR THAT LED TO THE MURDERS OF
AT LEAST 33 PEOPLE.
MOSTLY FAMILY MEMBERS.
LA BARREN DIED IN PRISON IN
1981, BUT LEFT A HIT LIST OF EX
FOLLOWERS MARKED FOR DEATH.
THE NAMES OF MARK AND HIS
BROTHER WERE ON THAT LIST.
THEY SPLIT WITH THE CULT AND
MOVED TO HOUSTON TO START NEW
LIVES.
LIVES. BUT THAT ENDED WHEN LA BARON
FOUND THEM.
FOUND THEM. MARK WAS GUNNED DOWN AT HIS
APPLIANCE SHOP ON BLAYLOCK.
BROTHER DWAYNE WAS LURE TO DO A
VACANT HOUSE AND KILLED.
TRAGICALLY, DWAYNE’S
TRAGICALLY, DWAYNE’S EIGHT-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER,
EIGHT-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, JENNIFER, WAS WITH HIM.
>> SHOT HER ONCE IN THE MOUTH
AND ONCE IN THE TEMPLE.
>> IT STUNNED POLICE.
16 DETECTIVES WERE ASSIGNED TO
THE CASE.
THE CASE. INVESTIGATORS WERE ENERGIZED BY
JENNY’S MURDER.
JENNY’S MURDER. >> THEY WERE HORRIBLE CRIMES.
THEY WERE THE LAST IN A SPRING
OF MANY HORRIBLE CRIMES.
BUT WAS THE FACT THAT AN
EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL WAS THE LAST
VICTIM, YEAH.
VICTIM, YEAH. THAT STUCK.
THAT STUCK. >> Reporter: VECTORS QUICKLY
IDENTIFIED POTENTIAL SUSPECTS
AND TWO WEEKS LATER, THERE WAS A
BREAK IN THE CASE WHEN SIX CULT
MEMBERS BEING SOUGHT WERE
ARRESTED IN PHOENIX ON AUTO
THEFT CHARGES.
THEFT CHARGES. BUT NONE OF THEM WOULD TALK.
IT WOULD BE THREE YEARS BEFORE
PROSECUTORS GOT THE SECOND BIG
BREAK IN THE CASE WHEN FAMILY
MEMBERS CYNTHIA LA BARON CAME
FORWARD TO NAME NAMES.
>> SHE WAS INVOLVED IN THE
HOMICIDES IN HOUSTON.
ALONG WITH HER WAS HERATH
Was that they had killed Natasha
killed Natasha lebaron in Mexico so Cynthia
became concerned my goodness
I’m not be next on the list,
I’m out of here.
>> It would take until 2011 to
round up the last of the suspects in the case that
parcel
parcel she was finally apprehended in
Honduras and sentenced to 3
years in
years in it was a long slow march to
justice for a crime that still
haunts in some ways the men and
women who sold.
>> Why has a good come out of
the amount of any good came out
of this and all other than we
stop
stop the killings.
the killings. >> For investigators the years
of relentless work to catch
the killers.
the killers. >> We’re all about justice for
Jenny now sadly once again the
PERPETRATORS UNKNOWN.