Dianna Lafferty is the wife of Ron Lafferty whose life is impacted by the Mormon fundamentalism of her husband.
The FX Hulu’s crime series Under the Banner of Heaven is based on a book written by Jon Krakauer. It is based on the true story of the Lafferty family in Utah.
Two detectives, Jeb Pyre and Bill Taba investigate the mysterious murder of Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica. One gets to see the dark side of fundamentalism, violence, and relationships as the mystery of the homicide unfolds.
Having grown up with a devoutly religious and aggressive father Watson Lafferty Sr., the childhood trauma of Dan Lafferty shaped him to be dictatorial and violent.
The eldest brother Ron and the younger one, Dan blindly followed the fundamentalist ideology that they knew no moral bounds. They thought everything they do was a part of their LDS (Latter-day Saint) belief.
In 1984, they murdered the wife and daughter of their own youngest brother Allen Lafferty. When asked about it, they felt no remorse about the brutality.
Where Is Dianna Lafferty Now?
Dianna was completely out of Ron’s sight after their split. She was devastated to hear that her responsible and loving husband could do such inhuman activity in the name of God.
Pyre and Tada found the CCTV footage of Dianna visiting a store in Florida. It was found that she was shifting from place to place and changing her address in order to protect herself and her children from the Lafferty brothers.
Does It Represent Real Life Person?
Dianna Lafferty is a real-life person portrayed by Denise Gough in the mini-series and every episode of the series is based on true events.
Dan Lafferty was an obsessive Mormon who was married to Matilda- a divorcee with two children. Dan found the practice of polygamy biblically justified that he even considered marrying his 14-years old step-daughter. But later he dropped the idea of marrying his daughter and got married to another woman.
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Slowly soaking up Dan’s fanaticism, Ron also started to get lured toward plural marriage. He started to abuse Dianna and considered her a slave to him.
After getting excommunicated from the Church of LDS, the brothers joined the School of Prophet. Soon after that financial troubles started to take a toll on Dianna’s life. Dianna wrote a letter to the Prophet, Stake President Kimball about the illegal deeds of the Lafferty siblings.
Terrified and unable to bear the abuses of Ron, Dianna reached out to Brenda who advised her to file a divorce. After the divorce was finalized in 1983, Dianna fled to Florida with her six children.
Ron was outraged by Brenda’s support to Dianna for their divorce and schemed to kill her. The Lafferty brothers accused her of manipulating Allen against them and thwarting him from joining the School of Prophets.
Misguided by their ideology, Ron and Dan slit the throat of Brenda and her daughter. They were also planning to kill Dianna as she was an obstacle in the path of the rules of Heavenly.
They were arrested and sentenced to death. Ron died of natural causes in prison while Dan is waiting for his execution in prison.
Dianna Lafferty Affairs & Relationship Status
Dianna was a nursing student in Florida before meeting Ron. She fell in love with Ron when he was on a mission trip to Florida.
The couple moved to Utah and were living a happy life together with their six children. They were together for about seventeen years but things began to change when Dan started influencing Ron with his beliefs.
She has kept her life and relations very private since the incident.