VICTIMS WERE ONCE ON POLYGAMIST'S SIDE

Eddie Marston and Mark and Duane Chynoweth - who were shot to death in Texas Monday - were once stalwart followers of the late polygamist and murderer Ervil LeBaron. They were even accused of committing murders for him.

But police say each of them later left LeBaron's church after LaBaron was sentenced to the Utah State Prison for the 1977 murder of polygamist Rulon Allred in Murray - a murder that investigators say the three had helped plan.Their stories are nearly identical to those of Dan Jordan, who was murdered near Manti last October, and Leo P. Evoniuk, who disappeared mysteriously in California last year. All once followed LeBaron, all eventually left his church and all have been murdered or have disappeared.

A look at the lives of Marston and the Chynoweths is a look at the murder and mystery that has been entangled with LeBaron's followers for years.

When Marston was a child, his mother left his father to marry LeBaron. According to the book "Prophet of Blood" by Ben Bradlee Jr. and Dale Van Atta, Marston's father was a follower of LeBaron and invited him to try to convert his wife.

But LeBaron converted her to more than his church, and married her. So young Marston was raised constantly hearing LeBaron's teachings.

Mark and Duane Chynoweth came from a family that provided two of LeBaron's plural wives. One of LeBaron's daughters also married a brother of the two Chynoweths. The Chynoweths' mother became converted to LeBaron's church in 1961 after a trip to Mexico to hear his teachings.

As the Chynoweths and Marston grew to be young men, LeBaron considered them stalwarts and had them commit murders on his behalf, according to LeBaron's biographers. However, the three were all later found not guilty on any murder charges they faced.

For example, police say that when polygamist Robert Simons was murdered in Carbon County in 1975, Marston is the one who shot him point-blank with a shotgun. Mark Chynoweth was supposedly standing at his side, and helped bury the body.

Lloyd Sullivan told police that he drove Simons to the remote site on LeBaron's orders, where the others killed him. Sullivan led police to the body. But Sullivan himself died before Marston came to trial. Marston was acquitted.

Police suspect that the Chynoweths and Marston may have been with other followers of LeBaron that in 1974 burned a village of Mexicans who had refused LeBaron's leadership. Two people died in the raid and dozens were wounded.