Summary
Chapters 22-26 cover the Lafferty brothers' trial, appeals, and the emotional fallout of the murders. The chapters become progressively more gruesome as the author delves into Dan and Ron's twisted theology.
With Brenda and Erica's blood still drying on their hands, Dan, Ron, Ricky Knapp, and Chip Carnes go to "remove" Chloe Low, who is not home when they arrive. The group steals Chloe's valuables and destroys her most prized possessions out of spite.
The group escapes to Reno, Nevada, and highway patrol pulls them over for broken taillights. Though Dan and Ron are armed and ready to kill again, the police let them go with a warning. Feeling uneasy about the situation, Knapp and Carnes escape, stealing the car and leaving the brothers at a motel. On the drive over state lines, they throw the evidence, including the murder weapon, out of the car window. The police soon apprehend Knapp and Carnes, who willingly assist in the investigation. Dan and Ron, however, evade capture for weeks, spending their summer hanging around Nevada casinos, making friends, and gambling.
The text then addresses discrepancies in the suspects' testimonies. Though Dan's account of the murders is always consistent, Chip Carnes swears under oath that Ron viciously killed Brenda, and Dan killed the baby, Erica. Dan maintains that Chip lied to avoid the death sentence, as he may have been offered leniency for implicating Ron and Dan in the actual murders.
Chapter 23 recounts Ron's appeal hearing, using the present tense. The text quotes Ron cursing the judge and being generally belligerent. The text then explains how, in the original trial, Ron bungled his opportunity to take an insanity plea, which would have dropped the charges down to manslaughter; Ron felt that taking the plea would have been an admission of guilt.
The Tenth Circuit Appeals Court tosses out the initial charges against Ron on the grounds that he was not mentally competent enough to understand what refusing the insanity plea would mean for him and his sentencing. The defense claimed that Ron's admission that he was only accountable to the laws of God evidenced his mental unfitness. Ron did a stint in a mental hospital and then was deemed fit to stand trial again for the murders.
In his retrial, Ron presents as mentally ill; for example, he believes that the evil spirit of Moroni is trying to sodomize him. Using direct quotations from the trial transcripts, the text outlines the arguments for and against Ron's insanity. The defense claims that these beliefs are so far beyond mainstream theology that they constitute delusional thinking. However, Ron's theology, if inaccurate, is internally logical and consistent with what he learned as a child. Additionally, psychiatrists argue that Ron does not have schizophrenia, as he can engage in relationships with other people, and others accept his brand of Mormonism.
Ron is found guilty again and sentenced to death by firing squad; he selects this method of execution over lethal injection, claiming he has already received "a lethal injection of Mormonism." However, Ron dies of natural causes in 2019 while awaiting execution.
Chapter 24, entitled "The Great and Dreadful Day," opens with a trial transcript rather than a quotation. The chapter reveals that in 1984, Ron tried to kill Dan after Ron received a message from God that Dan should let Ron kill him. Dan submitted to the murder and even helped Ron figure out the best way to kill him. At the last moment, Ron released Dan. In prison, Dan claims he "gave up" fundamentalism and made his own hodge-podge religion, in which he is the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah.
The text then cites, verbatim, Dan's rant about the cosmological basis of his theology; he believes that his murders foreshadow when Christ will come and smite the "children of the devil," who Dan believes have been running the earth for six thousand years. Over time, Dan came to believe Ron was an agent of Satan; Dan thus reasons that Ron's attempt to murder him was the devil attempting to stop the second coming of Christ.
When confronted with the parallels between himself and Osama Bin Laden, Dan rationalizes his faith by saying: "the difference between those guys and me is, they were following a false prophet, and I'm not."
The narrative recounts an interview with Pamela and David Coronado, who are followers of the Prophet Onias even after the Lafferty murders, and then ends with an anecdote from DeLoy Bateman, who appeared earlier in the text searching for the signature of William Dunn. Bateman explains the continued impact having grown up in Colorado City has had on him, even though he no longer believes in God; he admits his upbringing has left him with residual bigotry and shame.
On an optimistic note, Bateman recounts how he took his family to Las Vegas for Y2K, i.e., New Year's Eve 1999, when many religious and secular people believed apocalyptic events would occur. Bateman had his family confront the fallacies in apocalyptic thinking and blind belief firsthand. Bateman nostalgically recalls how, when the clock struck twelve and nothing happened, it made an impression on his family, who grew up awaiting the inevitable end of the world.
Analysis
Dan's recollection of the murder and following events calls into question his and Ron's sincerity about the "removal revelation." Like Joseph Smith, the Lafferty brothers may have intentionally used their faith to avoid responsibility for their crimes. Alternatively, the final chapters could be evidence of the Lafferty brothers' complete lack of self-awareness. For example, when the brothers find that Chloe Low is not home, they ransack her house, steal valuables to fund their escape, and even smash her prized porcelain figurines out of spite. Since the "removal revelation" did not specify taking valuables or taking revenge, these actions can't be explained according to Dan and Ron's logic of divine instructions. However, the brothers retroactively argue that acting on their emotions and providing for themselves by any means necessary is the Lord's will. This belief is later confirmed when the brothers credit God for providing them marijuana and free nachos in Reno.
In Dan's recollection, he, not Ron, leads the charge to finish the murders; Dan claims Ron was extremely unsettled by the violence. In contrast, Dan is confident in his role and obedient to what he believes is God's word, taking every missed turn and inconvenience as a divine sign. On some level, Ron questions whether he decided to murder Brenda purely to settle a grudge; according to Dan, Ron wanted to leave and forget the murders after beating Brenda.
The text vividly describes Ron and Dan's time in Reno casinos. This contrast between the gruesome murders and the fun, road-trip-type adventure the brothers embark on highlights Ron and Dan's remorselessness and complicates the reader's view of their psychology. In some instances, Dan and Ron seem sincerely deluded; in others, they appear convinced of their faith; in many cases, their actions seem to demonstrate a disposition of pure evil.
The placement of this road trip is intentional, as the narrative then transitions into Ron's appeals hearing. Ron is retried because the Appeals Court questioned if he was mentally competent enough in the original trial to understand that he faced the death penalty. Ron certainly presents as unstable; his belligerence and bizarre, insulting nicknames for the judge contrast starkly with the evasive, measured approach he used in the initial trial.
The defense's case hinges on the argument that Ron's extreme beliefs, particularly that he received revelations directly from God, are evidence of delusional thinking. The ramifications of this argument cannot be understated. In a nation like the United States, where most citizens claim a religious affiliation, many hold spiritual beliefs that, when taken out of context, demonstrate no logical basis (the text cites the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation as one such example). If Ron were found criminally insane on such an argument, it would set a troubling precedent for future religiously motivated acts of violence; one could reasonably argue religious motivations are sufficient grounds to dismiss culpability.
When Ron is sentenced to death, Krakauer remarks, "Mormon Fundamentalists are by no means the only modern Americans who believe in blood atonement." This observation highlights the American flavor of Mormon fundamentalism and the hypocrisy of capital punishment.
The text diagnoses Ron as narcissistic and posits that other religious figures were also narcissists. At this moment, it becomes clear that the text's evidence has been building to this central thesis; the accounts of early Mormon leaders, specifically Joseph Smith, have highlighted their narcissistic personality traits, which contribute to, and are fed by, their religious beliefs.
Dan's story concludes with a final interview where he explains how he has again adapted his religious views to suit his circumstances. To process his imprisonment, Dan has cast himself not as a simple, obedient servant of God, who unquestioningly carried out the most gruesome of murders, but as the prophet Elijah. When questioned about whether he is like the 9/11 pilots who took down the Twin Towers in the name of religion, Dan argues that though they are similar, he is following the true God, whereas the terrorists were not. This comment is ironic because, by Dan's own admission, he has followed false prophets his entire life; first, as a member of the mainstream church, which he then realized was corrupt; then as a follower of Ron and the prophet Onias.
Instead of ending with Dan and Ron, Krakauer concludes with a hopeful message that centers on the victims of fundamentalism. DeLoy Bateman's story also distinguishes fundamentalists who are victims of their culture and those who perpetuate it; Bateman abandoned the problematic beliefs he held because he was raised in ignorance, whereas the Lafferty brothers perpetuate those beliefs to bolster their sense of self.
