David Coronado

David Coronado was born in Colonia LeBaron, Mexico, into the LeBaron clan, whose history included religious violence. As an adult he came to regard fundamentalist Mormonism as the true path to God. He and his wife, Pamela Coronado, joined Onias’s Work in 1984, and their continued commitment after the Lafferty murders placed their faith in sharp contrast with the fear and suspicion surrounding them.

Background and Family History

David’s childhood was shaped by danger associated with his family’s religious past. During the period when Ervil LeBaron’s followers were killing people, one of them fired at David’s mother. She left Mexico for the United States with David and his eight siblings to escape the violence. The account does not describe David’s own role in that history; it presents the family’s migration as a response to the danger around them.

Conversion and the Work

As an adult, David became convinced that the fundamentalist form of Mormonism represented the right path to God, despite being troubled by the violence in his family background. Pamela, raised in a traditional Mormon family, had become increasingly doubtful of the mainstream church after her mission. After their marriage, she came to share David’s fundamentalist outlook.

In 1984, the couple encountered Onias after finding The Book of Onias at a used-book store and reading his revelations. David contacted the press that had published the book to learn how to reach its author. They were told that Onias had moved his base of operations to the Provo area, where the Coronados lived. At a meeting held in the Lafferty family home, they met him and joined the Work. Their entry into the group followed a deliberate chain: reading, seeking contact, attending a meeting, and choosing to affiliate.

The Lafferty Murders and Its Aftermath

Six months after the Coronados joined, Dan Lafferty murdered Brenda Lafferty and Erica Lafferty. The killings frightened people around the group, while the Coronados’ association with the Lafferty family led others to assume they must be evil. David and Pamela were excommunicated, and for a time Pamela’s family feared for their lives. The episode thus brought consequences beyond the immediate horror of the murders: association became a source of public suspicion and personal fear.

The violence did not persuade David or Pamela to abandon Onias or the Work. Their continued belief distinguishes their response from the public reaction around them: the murder and the persecution that followed altered their circumstances, but, as the account presents it, did not undo their religious commitment.

Beliefs and Narrative Significance

David and Pamela both regarded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ decision to admit Black men to the priesthood as an apostasy, and both believed in plural marriage as a religious principle. They had not practiced plural marriage themselves. Pamela described having considered it repeatedly, while the couple’s shared belief in the principle stood apart from its practice in their household.

David’s story connects two forms of religious inheritance: the violence attached to his family’s past and the religious community he chose as an adult. The contrast is not presented as a simple escape from one world into another. Although troubled by the violence in his heritage, he embraced a fundamentalist faith, and even a shocking act committed by members of the circle with which he was associated did not lead him and Pamela to renounce it. Their trajectory illustrates how conviction, family history, and the consequences of association could remain entangled.