In the 1940s, a group of Mormon dreamers started a town in the Mexican desert. But what began as a utopian vision quickly turned sour when the founding family’s son, Ervil LeBaron, struggled for control of the community and unleashed a multi-generational crimewave – the ripples of which are still being felt today.
From bank robbery to drug smuggling, auto theft rings to multiple murders, a deadly cult evolved into a sophisticated organized crime family. In Deliver Us From Ervil, journalist Jesse Hyde tells the story of Ervil LeBaron and the unlikely ensemble of reporters, cops, survivors and family insiders trying to halt his bloody legacy.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
Publisher
iHeartPodcasts and Novel
Category
religion & spirituality · society & culture · true crime
Host [Host Name] explores a chilling season of betrayal where technology shatters a community's reality, revealing a hidden deceiver and the path back to trust.
27 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Introducing: The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight
Host Patt Gibbs explores how 1960s American Airlines stewardesses fought sexism and discrimination to gain control of their careers and lives in this interview.
20 Dec 2025
Introducing: The Girlfriends: Untouchable
When Niko Quinn saw her favourite cousin murdered in broad daylight, her life turned upside down. She went looking for justice, but instead uncovered a dark scandal at the heart of her community: A police detective had spent decades targeting, threatening and sexually abusing black women across Kansas City Kansas. Detective Roger Golubski used the power of his badge to launch a reign of terror. He acted as if he was above the law, until Niko, and an incredible group of women, came together to take him down. The Girlfriends: Untouchable tells the story of a courageous sisterhood who exposed the dark underworld of a corrupt police officer, and brought their city’s horrifying truths to light. Because when the women of Kansas City Kansas realised the police weren’t coming to save them from their abuser, they stepped up to save themselves.
Listen here (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-girlfriends-untouchab-118226591/) and subscribe to The Girlfriends: Untouchable on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!
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30 May 2023
Introducing The Fighty Pucks
The Fighty Pucks is the story of the most violent hockey team on the planet. A team of lovable bad boys, misfits and bruisers, led by a teenage boy - AJ Galante. Together with his father, a powerful business man with a dark past, AJ ran the team as they went rampaging on a path to glory. But all the while, the team was being secretly watched by their toughest opponent of all - the FBI.
The Fighty Pucks is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
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20 Jul 2022
13: Chasing Ghosts
Over a decade after she first escaped the clutches of law enforcement, the final suspect in the 4 O’Clock Murders is finally caught. She was living in hiding, for years, in Honduras. She’s charged, convicted and sentenced, but has her imprisonment finally brought the bloody legacy of Ervil LeBaron to an end? Jesse Hyde explores whether the threat of Ervil LeBaron is really over and whether those that spent so long pursuing the cult believe this multigenerational cycle of crime and abuse is finally at an end. Jesse travels back to Colonia LeBaron, where this whole story began, to find some surprising connections being made.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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13 Jul 2022
12: The Tide Turns
In the aftermath of the 4 O’Clock Murders, the Kingdom of God is facing a crisis. For Gabriela and her siblings, the early 90s marked a turning point for the cult. Meanwhile, investigators from across the country have formed a team named after the youngest victim: the Jenny Task Force. Their progress is slow, until a chance auto theft arrest in Phoenix, Arizona seems to snare several of the cops’ main suspects: some of Ervil LeBaron’s eldest children, using fake aliases. But there’s one influential cult leader who is still on the run.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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6 Jul 2022
11: At Four O’Clock
It’s 1988. One summer’s day, in a sleepy suburb of Houston, a team of experienced police officers are called to the scene of the first in a series of horrific crimes. Several murders have been carried out in different parts of Texas at exactly the same time: 4 o’clock. There’s another link too, all the victims were former associates of Ervil LeBaron. The brutally executed assassinations send shockwaves through the public, and bring together investigators and prosecutors from across the country, all united in their goal of bringing the multi-generational crimewave sparked by Ervil LeBaron’s legacy to a grinding halt. But first, they’ll need to work out who, exactly, was responsible.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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29 Jun 2022
10: The Book of Daniel
For years, Dan Jordan was Ervil LeBaron’s right-hand man. But by the time Ervil was imprisoned, the relationship between the two men had soured and Dan Jordan was marked for death in the Book of the New Covenant. In the autumn of 1987, Utah law enforcement are called to investigate a mysterious hunting incident involving Dan Jordan, and a campground full of Ervil LeBaron’s children. But will they be able to put the pieces together?
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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22 Jun 2022
9: Who Wears The Crown?
In the aftermath of Arthur’s death, Ervil’s son Heber LeBaron takes over the mantle of the “One Mighty and Strong”. 19-years-old, and raised in an extremist and violent faith, Heber’s leadership evolves the Kingdom of God into a kind of organised crime family: drug smuggling, auto-theft and of course, violent retribution against their father’s enemies.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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15 Jun 2022
8: The Reign of Arthur
Ervil LeBaron spent two years in a Utah State Prison before his death in 1981. It left him with plenty of time to write a 500-page-long manifesto on his enemies. The Book of the New Covenant would go on to become a sacred text to Ervil’s many children, who had been raised in poverty, neglect and violence. Jesse Hyde sits down with one of Ervil’s daughters, Gabriela, to get an unprecedented look inside the lives of Ervil’s indoctrinated children who, after his death, would be led by Ervil’s eldest son Arthur. To them, the Book of the New Covenant was more than just scripture: it was a hit list.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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8 Jun 2022
7: Ervil Comes Home
Cops and prosecutors try for another conviction against the cult of Ervil LeBaron. Difficulties arise when their key witness suddenly dies but events finally swing round in their favor when Ervil is arrested and, finally, locked behind bars. Jesse Hyde hears how in 1979 the spell seemed finally to have been broken. But if the law thought Ervil’s reign was over they were about to be disappointed.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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1 Jun 2022
6: The Betrayal
Police try to gain information from new insiders in Ervil’s cult. As more members of the cult break away to talk to the police the cops swoop in to make arrests. By 1978 Ervil remains on the run but prosectors now have enough evidence for a murder trial on his most high profile killings. As the trial leads to an unexpected conclusion, Ervil’s reputation causes further woes for the cops.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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25 May 2022
5: Rena’s Confession
We hear the astonishing confessions of one of Ervil LeBaron’s most influential cult members, who was groomed from childhood as both his wife and assassin. Over the course of an interrogation that lasts days, we listen in as the inner workings of this cult and organised crime family are revealed, murder-by-murder. As her interrogator continues to push, a strangely intimate picture of cult life emerges and builds to a startling conclusion.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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18 May 2022
4: The Hunt
Journalists on Ervil’s trail hear about an imminent murder in Utah and alert the cops. They arrive too late but decide to team up in the hunt for Ervil. As the press investigate, the astonishing scale of his crimes are revealed – but, as new murders come to light, the journalists become targets of Ervil and his deadly cult. Meanwhile, the cops start to identify suspects, though without an informant they’re yet to make any arrests. As the summer of 1977 passes, the police are about to be given an eye-opening inside account of Ervil LeBaron’s cult.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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11 May 2022
3: Welcome to the Family
How was Ervil LeBaron able to instill such devotion among his followers? Devotion that allowed him to commit untold violence and terror. In this episode, Jesse explores how key members of Ervil’s cult were recruited, and how they morphed into a sophisticated organized crime family. In 1977, when the group failed to extort money from a high profile target, Ervil sets his most audacious attack into motion: a double murder intended to take out his biggest rivals. But you can’t organise an assassination without attracting some attention and soon, the press are on Ervil’s trail.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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4 May 2022
2: The Massacre in Los Molinos
Ostracised from his family and his home, Ervil continues to build his cult from across the border in the US. When he starts threatening Colonia LeBaron with an attack, the townsfolk prepare their defences and brace themselves for the worst. But when Ervil LeBaron’s followers eventually do act, they manage to catch their victims unaware. Jesse returns to the scene of a 1974 massacre, only to find some survivors with surprising loyalties, despite the devastation.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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4 May 2022
1: The One Mighty and Strong
It’s 2022, and journalist Jesse Hyde arrives in Colonia LeBaron. It’s a strange but thriving Mormon town, deep in the Mexican desert. While investigating a cartel massacre, Jesse uncovers the story of the LeBarons – a family whose dreams of founding a utopian community swiftly turned into a dystopian nightmare, as a faction of their town transformed into a murderous cult. Jesse traces the origins of this place, from the 1940s to the present day, its founding family and the feud between Joel LeBaron and his fanatic brother Ervil that started it all.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
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20 Apr 2022
Introducing Deliver Us From Ervil
In the 1940s, a group of Mormon dreamers started a town in the Mexican desert. But what began as a utopian vision quickly turned sour when the founding family’s son, Ervil LeBaron’s struggle for control of the community unleashed a multi-generational crimewave – the ripples of which are still being felt today.
From bank robbery to drug smuggling, auto theft rings to multiple murders, a deadly cult evolved into a sophisticated organised crime family. In Deliver Us From Ervil, journalist Jesse Hyde tells the story of Ervil LeBaron and the unlikely ensemble of reporters, cops, survivors and family insiders trying to halt his bloody legacy.
Deliver Us From Ervil is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio.
For more from Novel, visit novel.audio (http://novel.audio)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
Inside a recent episode
Introducing: Betrayal Season 6
Published 26 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] You have someone who had intimate knowledge of someone's life and used it against them. For nine months, Someone infiltrated every aspect of Carl's life, threatening to ruin him. Do you ever worry about your reputation? It was extortion, threatening the release of private photos. And then the text threats escalated. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. It's playing out in real life and not just on the phone. He said someone there had a knife. Carl's stalker suggested... He was willing to take it all farther. He was asking me, like, if I wanted you to tell somebody, how much would you charge? […]
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