Massacre of U.S. citizens puts spotlight on Mormon community with deep roots in Mexico

Members of the LeBaron family mourn alongside the burned car where some of the nine murdered members of the family were killed during an attack in the Sonora mountains, Mexico, on Tuesday. Unfortunately, this incident only adds to that association.” The family is perhaps best known for a series of killings perpetrated in the 1970s and 1980s, in both Mexico and the United States, by Ervil LeBaron — once called the “Mormon Manson” — and a group of his followers. “We are heartbroken to hear of the tragedy that has touched these families in Mexico,” said LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins. “Though it is our understanding that they are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our love, prayers and sympathies are with them as they mourn and remember their loved ones.” Mason, who wrote “The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South,” said descendants of fundamentalist Mormon communities in Mexico today often include dual U.S.-Mexican citizens who frequently travel across the U.S.-Mexico border to visit relatives. The extended LeBaron family has spoken out for years against drug cartel violence in Mexico and for looser gun laws, saying its members need to protect themselves.