Is Under the Banner of Heaven based on a true story? You might have found yourself wondering as you watch the harrowing crime drama.
Two years after it was first released, Under the Banner of Heaven has landed on ITVX and is available to stream for free in the UK for the first time. The miniseries tells a harrowing story of murder and faith and stars Academy Award winner Andrew Garfield as Detective Jeb Pyre and Gil Birmingham as Detective Bill Taba, with Daisy Edgar-Jones as Brenda Wright Lafferty. As they investigate the devastating murder of Brenda and her baby daughter in Utah, they uncover more about the origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.
Before long, they realise how far some members of the Lafferty family are prepared to go for their beliefs and it’s perhaps no surprise that some viewers might be wondering an all-important question - Is Under the Banner of Heaven based on a true story? As ITVX introduces this series to a new audience, we have all the details about what inspired this heart-wrenching drama.
*Warning: This article contains references to sensitive subject matters*
Is Under the Banner of Heaven based on a true story?
As horrific and hard to comprehend as it sounds, Under the Banner of Heaven is based on a true story, or to be more precise, it was based on a true crime book of the same name by Jon Krakauer which told a devastating real story. Although Detective Jeb Pyre (played by Andrew Garfield) and Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham) is a fictional addition to the story, the miniseries explores the events that lead up to the devastating real life murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her baby daughter Erica in 1984 in Salt Lake Valley, Utah.
Brenda grew up in a devout Mormon family and her husband Allen Lafferty was a member of a Mormon family who held especially strict beliefs.
As per Time, Brenda sometimes disagreed with her brothers-in-law, Dan and Ron Lafferty, who had particularly strong views. Dan and Ron had previously been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but were excommunicated for their fundamentalist views, including embracing polygamy.
The Lafferty brothers went on to join another group, the School of Prophets, and Dan and Ron began to try and convince their other brothers, including Allen, to follow them and adopt their beliefs.
They apparently believed that they could speak directly with God and Brenda stepped in to stop Allen from joining the School of Prophets, placing her in opposition to her brothers-in-laws’ views. Ron Lafferty also blamed Brenda for his wife Dianna leaving him when he suggested that he wanted to take a second wife.
Ron allegedly wrote a note in which he described Brenda and Erica as “obstacles” and following this, the School of Prophets apparently forced him and Dan to leave their group. The brothers murdered Brenda and her daughter just months later, with Ron later claiming that he’d received a divine message from God to carry out these appalling crimes.
How did the Lafferty brothers get caught?
Brenda’s brothers-in-law Dan and Ron Lafferty were arrested for Brenda and Erica’s murders a few weeks later. According to E! News, it was Allen Lafferty who suggested that the police should be questioning his brothers about his wife and daughter’s deaths, knowing of the animosity they bore Brenda for her opposing views.
They were eventually found in Reno, Nevada and had reportedly planned to also take the lives of a church leader who counselled Dianna Lafferty during her divorce from Ron, as well as a LDS president who’d been involved in Ron’s excommunication.
Initially, the Lafferty brothers were set to stand trial for their crimes together but in December 1984 Ron attempted both to kill Dan and also take his own life whilst in jail. They ended up going on trial separately the next year and both were convicted.
Where are Dan and Ron Lafferty now?
Ron was found guilty of Brenda Wright Lafferty’s murder in 1985 and was sentenced to death. After his conviction was appealed, it was overturned but he was convicted for a second time in 1996 and chose to be executed by firing squad. Ron Lafferty later died of natural causes in 2019 at the age of 78 after being one of the longest-serving condemned inmates in the US.
Dan received two life sentences to be served concurrently without the possibility of parole after the trial uncovered that he had been the one to murder Erica Lafferty. He is currently still in prison in the US serving his sentences.
What happened to Allen Lafferty?
Allen Lafferty found Brenda and Erica after his brothers had murdered them and he went on to testify at Ron Lafferty’s trial. The distraught husband and father told the court that his brother had told him on multiple occasions that he was upset with Brenda. As revealed by the Deseret News, Allen explained that his brother had told him that God had ordered for Brenda and Erica to be “removed”.
In response, Allen testified that he’d said to Ron that God “had made no such revelation” to him and that he “would protect them with [his] life”. It’s since been reported that Allen Lafferty has gone on to remarry and still lives in Utah.
What happened to Dianna Lafferty?
Dianna Lafferty is understood to have left Ron Lafferty and sought a divorce after he expressed his desire to take a second wife. Her divorce was granted in 1983 and after this she moved to Florida with their six children - something that Ron later held Brenda responsible for. Since then Dianna has maintained a high level of privacy. She apparently did testify to a Utah County prosecutor for Ron’s trial after he was arrested.
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