Succession The Church of the Firstborn has experienced ongoing leadership succession controversies following its founder's assassination. Joel was succeeded by his brother Verlan, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1981. Joel LeBaron, Jr. and Siegfried Josef Widmar headed rival factions of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times. Additionally a new Church of the Firstborn faction had arisen under Alma LeBaron, Jr., referred to as the Economic Government of God; and Floren LeBaron had helped to form a loosely organized faction recognizing no formal leader.
Attacks by Juárez or Sonoran narcoterrorists In 2009, the LeBaron enclave in Mexico received national attention in Mexico within the context of
war against drug trafficking in Mexico, especially in the northwestern region of the state of Chihuahua. On May 2, Erick Le Baron, 17, was kidnapped for an attempted ransom of
US$1 million. However, the spokesman of the LeBaron community had previously announced its decision not to pay any ransom but instead to seek the release of the man, who was freed by his captors on May 10 without a ransom being paid. Throughout this event, the community spoke out publicly, both in the state capital, Chihuahua, and national and international media against the growing insecurity experienced in the region and maintained its intention to continue a policy of refusal to pay ransoms in cases of possible kidnappings. On July 6, 2009, Erick's brother,
Benjamin, and another order member, Luis Widmar Stubbs, were kidnapped and soon thereafter were murdered on the streets of Colonia LeBaron by a group of armed assailants, who left a written message with the victims' bodies which stated that this crime was in retaliation for Benjamin's activism against the traffickers. In the immediate aftermath, the Mexicans manned a
garrison in the town. In 2012, Chihuahua state legislator Alex LeBaron began campaigning for change to
Mexican gun laws to legalize arming citizens for self-defense. A dispute over water between the LeBaron "family" and neighboring people belonging to
El Barzon broke out in violence when members of the family shot at a group of 500 people who wanted to destroy illegal wells on the ranch. In May 2018
El Barzon accused the LeBaron family and other large agribusinesses of violating a 1957 agreement by drilling 395 illegal wells in
Namiquipa,
Riva Palacio,
Buenaventura, and
Ahumada municipalities. They are also accused of using false documents to back their claims. Heraclio Rodríguez of
El Barzon says the LeBaron family are protected by 40 state and federal police. Three women and six children from La Mora, Sonora, all "independent
Mormons" with intermarriage ties to the Church of the Firstborn and who hold dual US-Mexican citizenship, were victims of a
massacre, shot and burned alive in three vehicles on a road in
Sonora on November 4, 2019. Authorities speculated that the group, which was driving from
Bavispe, Sonora, to a wedding in LeBaron, was mistakenly ambushed by one of the rival drug cartels that are fighting for territory in the area. In addition to the nine people who were killed, six children were injured, one was unharmed, and one was missing.
United States President Donald Trump offered to send troops to Mexico to "wage war" on drug cartels, an offer that was quickly rejected by
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who thanked foreign nations for their offers of aid while also saying "War is irrational. We are for peace." Five children injured in the attack were sent to a hospital in the United States.
Memoirs In 2006,
Susan Ray Schmidt, sixth wife of Verlan LeBaron, published
His Favorite Wife, revised in 2009. In 2007,
Irene Spencer, wife of
Verlan LeBaron, published
Shattered Dreams, and
Cult Insanity in 2009. A rebuttal by Thomas J. Liddiard, ''Shedding Light: Some Observations of a Book Entitled 'Cult Insanity
, was published in 2009. In 2016, Ruth Wariner, daughter of Joel LeBaron, published The Sound of Gravel'' about her experience in the group. ==Further information==