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The Blood Covenant
The youngest of Ervil LeBaron's thirteen wives and mother of two of his fifty-seven children relates the chilling tale of Ervil LeBaron and his polygamous sect, detailing the trail of murder that continues even after his death
370 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 8, 2025
I knew Rena's perspective on things would be interesting, considering what she did (or was orchestrated to do by Ervil), but I wasn't expecting all the other romantic relationships she had throughout her life to take central stage.
She really emphasised that they were just like anyone else, but with different beliefs, it was still a bit of a shock though, because pretty much every other polygamy memoir I've read had the girls married young, and then they'd find someone / true love after leaving the cult. Rena married young too, but she was with someone before Ervil (an outsider too, gasppp), and had multiple other choices as she aged as well.
The trial section took up more page time than the murder itself, and I get why, but it was kind of disappointing and didn't read as very remorseful. But, knowing how much Rena has helped Ervil's remaining children after this book was published, I'm sure she has more than repented in the time since.
I'm glad I finally picked this up, I'll have to give the two Lifetime movies a watch too.
She really emphasised that they were just like anyone else, but with different beliefs, it was still a bit of a shock though, because pretty much every other polygamy memoir I've read had the girls married young, and then they'd find someone / true love after leaving the cult. Rena married young too, but she was with someone before Ervil (an outsider too, gasppp), and had multiple other choices as she aged as well.
The trial section took up more page time than the murder itself, and I get why, but it was kind of disappointing and didn't read as very remorseful. But, knowing how much Rena has helped Ervil's remaining children after this book was published, I'm sure she has more than repented in the time since.
I'm glad I finally picked this up, I'll have to give the two Lifetime movies a watch too.
October 22, 2017
A biased Memoir written by Rena Chynoweth about herself, Ervil LeBaron, and his cult
This Memoir seems mostly an insincere, immature, biased, apologist and cold hearted revisionist tale written with a hidden agenda by the infamous Rena Chynoweth. It also seems she rather brags about the part she played in the sad and dirty story of her serial killer husband's bloody, violent and psychotic cult. And this 1993 edition leaves out some very interesting informaton Rena gave us in her first edition published in 1990 -- stuff I had hoped to re-read in this 1993 edition, but it was omitted!
Also, all is not fact-checked nor factual, much is omitted, and she writes more about her girlish romantic escapades and herself than anything. It appears largely her attempt to be in the limelight and cash in on the notoriety of Ervil LeBaron, so as to make money and be a star -- albeit a notorious one.
We are lucky to get two paragraphs about her forced, cold-blooded murder of Dr. Rulon Allred. And the best apology she can come up with, as to the "Lambs of God" atrocities and murders is, "This did not need to happen.”
But you may find her book worth a perusal just to see how a member of Ervil LeBaron's murderous cult thinks. But if you want to get the real scoop, read "The 4 O'clock Murders" by Scott Anderson. And "Prophet of Blood" by Ben Bradlee and Dale Van Atta.
All these books may be found in the public libraries as well as at bookstores like amazon.com and Kindle books.
This Memoir seems mostly an insincere, immature, biased, apologist and cold hearted revisionist tale written with a hidden agenda by the infamous Rena Chynoweth. It also seems she rather brags about the part she played in the sad and dirty story of her serial killer husband's bloody, violent and psychotic cult. And this 1993 edition leaves out some very interesting informaton Rena gave us in her first edition published in 1990 -- stuff I had hoped to re-read in this 1993 edition, but it was omitted!
Also, all is not fact-checked nor factual, much is omitted, and she writes more about her girlish romantic escapades and herself than anything. It appears largely her attempt to be in the limelight and cash in on the notoriety of Ervil LeBaron, so as to make money and be a star -- albeit a notorious one.
We are lucky to get two paragraphs about her forced, cold-blooded murder of Dr. Rulon Allred. And the best apology she can come up with, as to the "Lambs of God" atrocities and murders is, "This did not need to happen.”
But you may find her book worth a perusal just to see how a member of Ervil LeBaron's murderous cult thinks. But if you want to get the real scoop, read "The 4 O'clock Murders" by Scott Anderson. And "Prophet of Blood" by Ben Bradlee and Dale Van Atta.
All these books may be found in the public libraries as well as at bookstores like amazon.com and Kindle books.
April 6, 2017
StephanySpencer.com's Book Review of "The Blood Covenant," a ghostwritten Memoir about Rena Chynoweth, Ervil LeBaron, and his cult.
This Memoir, written around thirty years ago, struck me as the work of an immature apologist and revisionist. Its bias toward Uncle Ervil's cold-hearted cult hangs like a cobweb over the entire tale authored by none other than my Ex-Aunt, the infamous Rena Chynoweth.
That said, the book is still in the public libraries, et Al, but is sadly in need of a rewrite and update. How do I know? Because yesterday I had the fortunate opportunity to meet one of my Uncle Ervil's more than fifty children, the brilliant, gifted, and beautiful Gabriella (Norma) LeBaron, soon to graduate from the ivy league Cornell University.
She told me how Rena had indeed taken in Uncle Ervil's kids and raised them, chancing her own life and well-being while she helped them get out of Ervil's cult and become good law-abiding citizens! Hats off to Rena!
This is a long story I hope Gabriela will eventually write, herself. For it is the story of great love, sacrifice, dedication, and redemption -- especially on the part of Rena, her husband, and others who helped her, including the invaluable nonprofit group, "Discovery."
In her old memoir of over thirty years ago, it seemed she bragged about and exploited, at times, the soldier part she played in the sad and sordid tale of her serial-killer husband Ervil's bloody, violent, and psychotic cult. At the same time, though, she ended her book with these words:
"I was given a 'second chance.' Maybe God wants to use me to reach those kids [Uncle Ervil's children]. Because I've been through years of intensive self-deprogramming myself, I feel I can help them through my own experiences because I understand their very complicated background.
"They should also receive extensive professional help, guidance, and a chance to be around people who really care what happens to them. Simply putting the younger children in foster homes and hoping for the best is not the way to handle the situation.
They will only run away and return to the lifestyle they always knew, breaking the law and posing a danger to people's lives. They should not be allowed to grow to adulthood without being given a chance to learn proper values.
"These last remnants of Ervil LeBaron's flock are still a risk to the rest of society. They are the last ones who may still feel bound by his blood covenant that has claimed so many innocent lives.
They have grown up around violence and violent teachings, and there is grave danger they will pass these values on to their own children. I want the killing to stop. Only by finding those still out there and getting them the help they need can we stop the bloodshed.
"What John, my mother, and I envision is a ranch –- a place where these young people can live with family who loves them, where they can finally have the chance to go to school and church, and be be able to receive the counseling and guidance that will help them become assets to society.
There are a few of us who are willing to do anything we can to give them a chance. If God is willing, and with His help, we shall succeed.
"If anyone has information that would help us reach out to the LeBaron children please contact ... " Note: Here Rena gave an address and a phone number where she could be contacted. But the resource was around thirty years old, so was likely not worth my posting here, I felt.
But I also had reservations as to how helpful she would be to Ervil's remnants, given the tone of her memoir. But as of yesterday, April 5, 2016, I learned that she did indeed do a great service to the remnants of Ervil's children still left in his cult. In fact, Rena and her cohorts are largely responsible for having brought to an end the devious cult Ervil LeBaron started!! WOW!!
So I am very impressed, now, with Rena -- How she not only remade herself, but used her personal awakening to also help remake and save other unfortunate cult inductees born and raised in my uncle Ervil's bizarre and dangerous mafioso cult.
When her memoir was published, it sounded to me like she had lots of deprogramming and repentance left in her wake before she could convince me she was no longer caught up in the beliefs of "The Lambs of God" and it's avenging angels.
So I didn't see how it would be helpful to stick Uncle Ervil's warped children off on some ranch. That sounded like just another reclusive cult to me. I felt the best way to civilize warped children was to fully emerse them in a much better environment than the one they came from.
I didn't think it would be beneficial at all for a messed up and confused band of cult and ex-cult members to all be living together on some ranch with simply more of their own kind who also grew up in their backwards, brainwashed, degenerate, and vengeful cult past.
It seemed to me, to best heal and overcome "damaged human goods," They would need to mix and mingle with a normal and better example of beings -- strong people they could emulate and learn from -- not some adults who still likely had a lifetime of healing left ahead of them before they fully emerged from their bloody cult mindset and the harm it left in its wake.
And, as an aside, I had also recently seen some of the Lambs of God and The Book Of Revelations "Avenging Angels" literature being passed out in my area! It is scary stuff and told me the cult still had its leaders who were indoctrinating Ervil's progeny, and were trying to bring converts into this bloody cult.
But still I had said, "I would be very happy if Rena, et Al, did have a hand in ending this malevolent cult. Let's pray that's the case." Well, it is and was the case!
As I said, yesterday Gabriela told me it was thanks to Rena's loving and devoted care of her ex-husband Ervil's kids that she, herself, was brought out of the cult's mess she had grown up in.
And Gabriela has since become a new person, on her way to doing wonderful service to help make the world a better place to live in! Plus she's a writer, blogger, poet, and artist. I'm expecting great things of her in the future, in keeping with the great things she is doing now.
But getting back to my review of Rena's book, the 1993 edition leaves out some very interesting information Rena gave us in her first edition published in 1990 -- stuff I had hoped to re-read in this 1993 edition, but it was omitted! Darn! But I'm sure some people are most happy they are not mentioned in her 1993 edition!
I must add that Rena's old memoir desperately needs to be fact-checked! Not all is factual. Also she makes assumptions about a number of serious things that took place in Ervil's life, as though she were an authority on the subjects. But her assumptions are based only on uneducated and wishful thinking.
For example, she claims such things as "Ervil had nothing to do with the JFK murder." What does she really know about this? She wasn't around Ervil or the cult in 1963. I was. Furthermore, she was only a small kid at that time.
Continuing with my criticisms, important parts of "The Blood Covenant" history were conveniently omitted. She wrote more about her girlish romantic escapades and her "middle class" self than anythng -- though she and her family hardly did fit the sociological definition of "middle class." "Lower-lower middle class" or "working-class" was more like it.
The chronicle of her life as Ervil's wife appeared to be largely an attempt to be in the limelight and cash in on the notoriety of her Ex-husband, Ervil LeBaron, so as to make money and be a star -- albeit a notorious one. Maybe we can't blame her?
So, sadly, we were lucky to get three paragraphs about her cold-blooded murder of Dr. Rulon Allred. And the best apology she could come up with, as to the "Lambs of God" atrocities and murders was, "This did not need to happen."
Here's what Scott Anderson had to say:
"In 1990, Rena published her autobiography, "The Blood Covenant." The ghostwritten book is rather bizarre, a rewrite of "Perils of Penelope," in which Penelope has a gun and knows how to use it.
Interspersed with gratuitous digs at her murdered sister, Lorna, and insistent claims to having been a "victim," Rena offers long and clinically detailed accounts of her many brushes with oversexed male suitors.
The small matter of Rulon Allred's murder is dealt with in a few paragraphs. In 1979, the baby-faced, eight-months-pregnant Rena had taken the witness stand to tearfully deny any role in the elderly man's slaying. In her book, and with all the passion of a financial reporter, she admitted to being the killer." (Author of "The 4 O'clock Murders")
Suffice it to say, you may find her book worth a perusal just to see how a member of Ervil LeBaron's self-appointed murder-for-God cult used to think.
But if you want to get a better handle on the real scary scoop, read from start to finish "The 4 O'clock Murders" by Scott Anderson. And "Prophet of Blood" by Ben Bradlee, Jr. and Dale Van Atta.
Note: These books may be he found at public libraries, bookstores like Amazon.com, and possibly on Kindle.
Note: Some entries in the above documentaries are not always exactly right, but hats off to these Author's for doing as well as they did with a subject that was often hard to get "the truth" about.
And as an added note, this many years later since those books were published, there has been great change and progress in Uncle Ervil's children and families: true tales of redemption and of what's amazingly possible in the human spirit, against all odds.
To get an idea of what I mean, read Uncle Ervil's daughter's memoir published in March of 2017, "The Polygamist's Daughter," available in bookstores everywhere. You may also check her website: AnnaLeBaron.com
You may use your search engine to look up people and topics, if you wish more information on anyone or anything I mentioned in this blog. Also check YouTube, Wikipedia, and other sites.
This Memoir, written around thirty years ago, struck me as the work of an immature apologist and revisionist. Its bias toward Uncle Ervil's cold-hearted cult hangs like a cobweb over the entire tale authored by none other than my Ex-Aunt, the infamous Rena Chynoweth.
That said, the book is still in the public libraries, et Al, but is sadly in need of a rewrite and update. How do I know? Because yesterday I had the fortunate opportunity to meet one of my Uncle Ervil's more than fifty children, the brilliant, gifted, and beautiful Gabriella (Norma) LeBaron, soon to graduate from the ivy league Cornell University.
She told me how Rena had indeed taken in Uncle Ervil's kids and raised them, chancing her own life and well-being while she helped them get out of Ervil's cult and become good law-abiding citizens! Hats off to Rena!
This is a long story I hope Gabriela will eventually write, herself. For it is the story of great love, sacrifice, dedication, and redemption -- especially on the part of Rena, her husband, and others who helped her, including the invaluable nonprofit group, "Discovery."
In her old memoir of over thirty years ago, it seemed she bragged about and exploited, at times, the soldier part she played in the sad and sordid tale of her serial-killer husband Ervil's bloody, violent, and psychotic cult. At the same time, though, she ended her book with these words:
"I was given a 'second chance.' Maybe God wants to use me to reach those kids [Uncle Ervil's children]. Because I've been through years of intensive self-deprogramming myself, I feel I can help them through my own experiences because I understand their very complicated background.
"They should also receive extensive professional help, guidance, and a chance to be around people who really care what happens to them. Simply putting the younger children in foster homes and hoping for the best is not the way to handle the situation.
They will only run away and return to the lifestyle they always knew, breaking the law and posing a danger to people's lives. They should not be allowed to grow to adulthood without being given a chance to learn proper values.
"These last remnants of Ervil LeBaron's flock are still a risk to the rest of society. They are the last ones who may still feel bound by his blood covenant that has claimed so many innocent lives.
They have grown up around violence and violent teachings, and there is grave danger they will pass these values on to their own children. I want the killing to stop. Only by finding those still out there and getting them the help they need can we stop the bloodshed.
"What John, my mother, and I envision is a ranch –- a place where these young people can live with family who loves them, where they can finally have the chance to go to school and church, and be be able to receive the counseling and guidance that will help them become assets to society.
There are a few of us who are willing to do anything we can to give them a chance. If God is willing, and with His help, we shall succeed.
"If anyone has information that would help us reach out to the LeBaron children please contact ... " Note: Here Rena gave an address and a phone number where she could be contacted. But the resource was around thirty years old, so was likely not worth my posting here, I felt.
But I also had reservations as to how helpful she would be to Ervil's remnants, given the tone of her memoir. But as of yesterday, April 5, 2016, I learned that she did indeed do a great service to the remnants of Ervil's children still left in his cult. In fact, Rena and her cohorts are largely responsible for having brought to an end the devious cult Ervil LeBaron started!! WOW!!
So I am very impressed, now, with Rena -- How she not only remade herself, but used her personal awakening to also help remake and save other unfortunate cult inductees born and raised in my uncle Ervil's bizarre and dangerous mafioso cult.
When her memoir was published, it sounded to me like she had lots of deprogramming and repentance left in her wake before she could convince me she was no longer caught up in the beliefs of "The Lambs of God" and it's avenging angels.
So I didn't see how it would be helpful to stick Uncle Ervil's warped children off on some ranch. That sounded like just another reclusive cult to me. I felt the best way to civilize warped children was to fully emerse them in a much better environment than the one they came from.
I didn't think it would be beneficial at all for a messed up and confused band of cult and ex-cult members to all be living together on some ranch with simply more of their own kind who also grew up in their backwards, brainwashed, degenerate, and vengeful cult past.
It seemed to me, to best heal and overcome "damaged human goods," They would need to mix and mingle with a normal and better example of beings -- strong people they could emulate and learn from -- not some adults who still likely had a lifetime of healing left ahead of them before they fully emerged from their bloody cult mindset and the harm it left in its wake.
And, as an aside, I had also recently seen some of the Lambs of God and The Book Of Revelations "Avenging Angels" literature being passed out in my area! It is scary stuff and told me the cult still had its leaders who were indoctrinating Ervil's progeny, and were trying to bring converts into this bloody cult.
But still I had said, "I would be very happy if Rena, et Al, did have a hand in ending this malevolent cult. Let's pray that's the case." Well, it is and was the case!
As I said, yesterday Gabriela told me it was thanks to Rena's loving and devoted care of her ex-husband Ervil's kids that she, herself, was brought out of the cult's mess she had grown up in.
And Gabriela has since become a new person, on her way to doing wonderful service to help make the world a better place to live in! Plus she's a writer, blogger, poet, and artist. I'm expecting great things of her in the future, in keeping with the great things she is doing now.
But getting back to my review of Rena's book, the 1993 edition leaves out some very interesting information Rena gave us in her first edition published in 1990 -- stuff I had hoped to re-read in this 1993 edition, but it was omitted! Darn! But I'm sure some people are most happy they are not mentioned in her 1993 edition!
I must add that Rena's old memoir desperately needs to be fact-checked! Not all is factual. Also she makes assumptions about a number of serious things that took place in Ervil's life, as though she were an authority on the subjects. But her assumptions are based only on uneducated and wishful thinking.
For example, she claims such things as "Ervil had nothing to do with the JFK murder." What does she really know about this? She wasn't around Ervil or the cult in 1963. I was. Furthermore, she was only a small kid at that time.
Continuing with my criticisms, important parts of "The Blood Covenant" history were conveniently omitted. She wrote more about her girlish romantic escapades and her "middle class" self than anythng -- though she and her family hardly did fit the sociological definition of "middle class." "Lower-lower middle class" or "working-class" was more like it.
The chronicle of her life as Ervil's wife appeared to be largely an attempt to be in the limelight and cash in on the notoriety of her Ex-husband, Ervil LeBaron, so as to make money and be a star -- albeit a notorious one. Maybe we can't blame her?
So, sadly, we were lucky to get three paragraphs about her cold-blooded murder of Dr. Rulon Allred. And the best apology she could come up with, as to the "Lambs of God" atrocities and murders was, "This did not need to happen."
Here's what Scott Anderson had to say:
"In 1990, Rena published her autobiography, "The Blood Covenant." The ghostwritten book is rather bizarre, a rewrite of "Perils of Penelope," in which Penelope has a gun and knows how to use it.
Interspersed with gratuitous digs at her murdered sister, Lorna, and insistent claims to having been a "victim," Rena offers long and clinically detailed accounts of her many brushes with oversexed male suitors.
The small matter of Rulon Allred's murder is dealt with in a few paragraphs. In 1979, the baby-faced, eight-months-pregnant Rena had taken the witness stand to tearfully deny any role in the elderly man's slaying. In her book, and with all the passion of a financial reporter, she admitted to being the killer." (Author of "The 4 O'clock Murders")
Suffice it to say, you may find her book worth a perusal just to see how a member of Ervil LeBaron's self-appointed murder-for-God cult used to think.
But if you want to get a better handle on the real scary scoop, read from start to finish "The 4 O'clock Murders" by Scott Anderson. And "Prophet of Blood" by Ben Bradlee, Jr. and Dale Van Atta.
Note: These books may be he found at public libraries, bookstores like Amazon.com, and possibly on Kindle.
Note: Some entries in the above documentaries are not always exactly right, but hats off to these Author's for doing as well as they did with a subject that was often hard to get "the truth" about.
And as an added note, this many years later since those books were published, there has been great change and progress in Uncle Ervil's children and families: true tales of redemption and of what's amazingly possible in the human spirit, against all odds.
To get an idea of what I mean, read Uncle Ervil's daughter's memoir published in March of 2017, "The Polygamist's Daughter," available in bookstores everywhere. You may also check her website: AnnaLeBaron.com
You may use your search engine to look up people and topics, if you wish more information on anyone or anything I mentioned in this blog. Also check YouTube, Wikipedia, and other sites.
June 4, 2011
Two splinter offshots of the Mormon Church clash, resulting in several members' execution.
Ervil LeBaron was the patriarch who initiated much of the violence. Victims number more than 25.
His final book - a Death Book titled _Book of the New Covenant_ is attributed to more bloodshed after Ervil's death. These murders were committed by several of his offsprint. Clan members are still at large, locations unknown. Many of his family members and other ex-members of the group still remain in hiding for fear of retribution from LeBaron's remaining followers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ervil_Le...
Ervil LeBaron was the patriarch who initiated much of the violence. Victims number more than 25.
His final book - a Death Book titled _Book of the New Covenant_ is attributed to more bloodshed after Ervil's death. These murders were committed by several of his offsprint. Clan members are still at large, locations unknown. Many of his family members and other ex-members of the group still remain in hiding for fear of retribution from LeBaron's remaining followers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ervil_Le...
January 18, 2016
This was okay. It was definitely interesting. I knew a lot of the plot from reading Susan Ray's book about the same church. But this was from one of Ervil's wife, and a woman who murdered someone. The writing was fairly straightforward and factual, with little elaboration. What surprised me was how little she talked about the murder she committed, in terms of emotions. It was pure fact. She didn't express remorse or anything. She is still, in essence, a member of this church. It is strange. She almost defers all responsibility. Anyway, it was interesting.
May 28, 2010
An autobiography of someone who shows no remorse for having murdered.
January 5, 2016
Very courageous tell-all perspective from the 13th wife of infamous polygamist Ervil Lebaron. Only a strong woman could endure what she has and then have the guts to put it all down in a book.
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