Customer Reviews

The Blood Covenant

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If O.J. Simpson wrote a book and confessed that he killed his wife, and that he lied in court to beat the murder rap, how many stars would you give it?

Yes, I suppose the author did come off as "heartfelt, honest and sincere"... like Squeaky Fromme of the Charles Manson Family! She did NOT take responsibilty for her actions in shooting Rulon Allred. If she took responsibility, she would have confessed it in court instead of lying repeatedly under oath and claiming innocence. She did not express any real remorse about killing of a man she had never met before and who had done nothing to her or to Ervil. It does give an inside look into the cult, and you can see the mental gymnastics that she went through (and still does, apparently) to put herself and Ervil in a good light, even though she claims she didn't like some of the things he did and told her to do. She also defends her sister wife Vonda who murdered a friend in cold blood, saying that Vonda has "more than paid for her crime" after serving 10 years of a life sentence. She claims to fervently believe in the Ten Commandments, even as she and the family lie, shoplift, steal cars, murder and then commit perjury to beat the cases in court. It's all for God, you see. In the end she feels like a victim and that she does not deserve to be sued, jailed or hunted by the other fanatics. She does not see the karma of what she did. She seems almost smug that she deceived the jury with her lies, then she turns around and mocks the police and journalists for not having all the details just right.

For an interesting follow-up, google Rena Chynoweth!

Two years to the day before Dr. Rulon Allred died
....his daughter said he wrote in his journal--"MAY
10TH. 1975 ..I HAVE 2 YRS. TO PUT MY AFFAIRS
IN ORDER." May 10th 1977 he was killed by Rena
Chynoweth-LeBaron.

Rena Chynoweth LeBaron, (her brothers) Mark
& Duane Chynoweth, Eddie Marston & his sister
Ramona were all tried for murder and found not
guilty.

Years later Rena wrote this book and confessed
to the killing.

Please DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. Do not put any
$$ in her pocket. NO REMORSE ! Do you know
this book was released on a MAY 10th. That is
cold.

Read.. Daughter of the Saints by Dorothy Allred
Solomon instead. Start on page 290. Also read..4
o'clock Murders by Scott Anderson.

This is an old book....Rena is 49yrs old now (09).

This is an insider account of a member of the Ervil LeBaron Mormon fundamentalist cult, which was responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s. It is quite interesting because of Ms. Chynoweth's perspective as one of LeBaron's plural wives, but be aware of her bias and her need to put spin on her own criminal activities. Ms. Chynoweth killed Dr. Rulon Allred in his office in Murray, Utah. Other members of the cult, which included her mother, sister, and several brothers were responsible for many other murders as they followed the ravings of Ervil LeBaron. Ms. Chynoweth's brothers and her sister were eventually murdered themselves as the group turned on one another after LeBaron's death. This is the author's take on their beliefs and what led them to kill so many people.

Ms. Chynoweth paints herself and her family as victims of LeBaron's madness. However, other accounts, as well as court testimony by other cult members, show her in a much less innocent light. So, how does one decide who is telling the truth? I start with the knowledge that she and the various members of her family flagrantly lied on the witness stand during her murder trial as well as Ervil's trial. Not only did they lie about their own crimes, they also tried to pin their crimes on innocent people. She explains how she was found innocent because God was on her side. She does now admit she was the killer--now that she can't be tried again because of double jeopardy laws.

I found her very unsympathetic. When she whines about being alone and pregnant in jail before her trial, I couldn't help thinking that was much better than being dead on the floor with seven bullets in you, as she left her victim. Even if she was brainwashed, which I question, where is the remorse now? She paints herself as the victim with little or no sympathy for the victims and their families. However, when the tables are turned and her brothers are murdered she is grief stricken and outraged at the murders. Well, of course, you would feel sorrow at the death of your family, even if they were murderers, but why can't she make the connection between how she felt and how the families of her victims felt?

I can only hope that she has matured and taken more responsibility for her actions in the years since this book was written.

Although this is a very interesting story, I was bothered by the fact that no real remorse was shown. I could understand the killing, somewhat, but was a bit disturbed over the fact that she never seems to feel bad or even say anything about lying about it in court. I learned, through additional reading online, that the family of the slain did not know the truth until reading this book. It was heartless to allow them to find out this way and on top of it to show no remorse.

This excellent book was written by Rena Chynoweth , the last and youngest of Ervil Lebaron's 13 wives.The Chynoweths were one of the core families to follow Ervil LeBaron. Rena and her older sister Lorna were married to him and bore him 10 children between them. 3 of her Brothers ranked high in the church and her Parents were both dedicated followers.There have been a few books about the LeBarons and Ervil's group-The Church of the Lamb of God, but no other insider has written a book except Rena.She takes you through her family's entire story with the group from the early 60s to 1989. And she has one amazing story to tell.In other books about the group Rena has been much maligned , but I thought she came off as heartfelt, honest and sincere.I felt she took responsibilty for her actions in shooting Dr. Allred , although I agree with her that she was under mind control to some degree at the time and is not entirely responsible for her actions.Rena and her family paid a very heavy price for their involvment in the group-2 of her Brothers, her niece and her Sister ended up murdered in the 80's by some of Ervil's children for breaking away for the group or I guess in Lorna's case, fearing she was about to.
They also lost other family and friends to murder due to their involvment with the group.. This is as close to the inside workings and events in the group as anyone on the outside could ever hope to get or know. If you want to learn about Ervil LeBaron and his group,I recommend starting with this book first.

This book started out so interesting, and then........WOW...this woman is unstable to
say the least. In one chapter she claims although she is in love with another man
while married to the evil Ervil she could never sleep with him and commit adultery
because she was not brought up that way, she would never sin against God. THEN the chapter
before this she has told in detail how she murdered a Doctor in cold blood
. I mean....come on does she ever tell the truth?..I lost interest completely in
this book intended just to make money.

I wanted to know what would prompt someone to do this hideous crime. It is appauling what people do in the name
of religion to the point of murder. This is a hard to read book in the fact of it being true and not fiction. The
truth is stranger than fiction is so true, especially in this instance. It is hard to understand the minds of men
and women sometimes. This book is a good indication of that.

I thought maybe Rena would get raw with the truth, maybe she did. It seems like shes saying she was in the dark. I wanted to hear more .

Touching story., August 28, 2007
By ErinTickle
I found this book to be very informative and touching. The author was willing to talk about very painful things from her past with the hope that doing so would help others trapped in a mind controlling cult.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have grown up in a more "normal" environment might learn to look with more compassion on those who are living -or have lived- in situations where they had no rights or say in their own lives.
I think it took a lot of courage for her to write this book.

Thank You Rena for exposing the truth of these sick demented freaks. Thank You for your courage to escape and may God Bless you and your future as a Christian woman in Gods grace.