Fresh leads generated in LeBaron search

The FBI said it is pursuing new leads in the decades-old manhunt for a fugitive member of the LeBaron polygamous sect who was recently added to the agency's Most Wanted list.

Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron was recently placed on the list by FBI agents in Houston, where she is charged with playing a role in masterminding a series of closely timed assassinations in Texas.

The fresh leads were generated after a Deseret Morning News story last Saturday publicized LeBaron's addition to the Most Wanted list.

"A couple of them appear that they might have some substance to them," Special Agent Shauna Dunlap said Tuesday from the FBI's office in Houston. "They are certainly worth following up on and looking into."

But a relative of Tarsa LeBaron, who has since left the polygamous family, called the fugitive a "victim."

"She didn't have a chance, the way she was raised," Susan Ryan Schmidt said. "Especially having a father like Ervil."

Federal prosecutors said that on June 27, 1988, four people were killed in separate attacks in Houston and Irving, Texas. The slayings all took place at approximately 4 p.m. The killers were carrying out a "hit list" drafted by LeBaron's father, Ervil.

Ervil LeBaron was a polygamous leader with 13 wives and 54 children. He attempted to unite fundamentalist Mormon polygamous sects under one umbrella and was ultimately convicted of ordering the murder of a rival polygamous leader, Rulon Allred.

LeBaron died in prison in 1981. A scripture he wrote made its way into the hands of his children, containing what some authorities believe was a "hit list." It ordered blood atonement for those who left his church or crossed him. Over the next several years, a series of killings and suspicious deaths shook Utah's polygamous communities and those close to the LeBarons.

In 1992, six members of the LeBaron clan were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges including murder, conspiracy to obstruct religious beliefs and racketeering for the "four o'clock murders." Five members were captured and convicted. Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron remains at large.

Schmidt said she was raised in the LeBaron group and at 14 was being courted by Ervil LeBaron's brother, Verlan. She said she was summoned to see Ervil and told he wanted to marry her. "He said, 'I just want you to know the Lord wants you in my family,' " she said Monday from her home in Idaho. "I was shocked and repelled. I was not in the least bit attracted to Ervil." -->