Convicted Killer Dan Lafferty’s Daughter Rebecca Details Healing Journey in Memoir The Lafferty Girl (Exclusive)

In 1984, Dan and his brother Ron were convicted of killing their sister-in-law and her daughter. The case inspired the book and series ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’

Rebecca Lafferty grew up in the shadows of her father, Dan Lafferty.

In 1984 Dan and his brother Ron, were convicted of the murders of Rebecca’s aunt Brenda and her 15-month-old cousin (the wife and child of their younger brother Allen) — an infamous crime that would inspire Jon Krakauer’s book, and the Hulu series, Under the Banner of Heaven. Dan, who had been influenced by a radical fundamentalist group, received a life sentence, while Ron died in prison in 2019. 

In a new book, Rebecca is finally sharing her own path forward.

Her new memoir, The Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father’s Crime, is out this fall through publisher Union Square and Co. Written with Katie McNey, the book details Rebecca’s journey toward closure and forgiveness in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Drawing on her own lived experiences, as well as correspondence with her father and insight from other family members, Rebecca, now a mother of three, offers a “riveting, raw and unfiltered” look at her family, per the book’s synopsis — and provides a guidebook for others too.

“With this book, Rebecca hopes to encourage other survivors of trauma to chart their own path to healing and peace,” the publisher says.

Read on for an excerpt from The Lafferty Girl.

It’s a gray February morning in Salt Lake City. Even though I’ve lived in Utah for decades now, I’m still not used to the way the winter gloom weighs on my soul. In the winter, an inversion happens here in the valley: The Wasatch Mountains form a basin that traps a dense layer of cold air beneath a layer of warm air, and all the pollutants get trapped with it. The result is a thick soup of yellow-gray smog that lingers from December to February. 

The dense smog drains my energy, making even the simplest tasks seem like wading through wet concrete. My head is sluggish, but I know I have to keep moving. Because if I stop, the concrete will set, and I’ll be trapped forever, just like the air. 

I’m mindlessly folding a pile of laundry when my phone rings. 

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“Hello,” says an automated recording. “This is a call from Dan Lafferty, an inmate at the Utah State Prison. To accept this free call, press zero. To refuse this call, hang up or press one.” 

The words cut straight through the fog, and my heart starts to race. 

Why is he calling me? 

I’ve been writing to him for years now, and I still get butterflies in my stomach whenever I see one of his letters in the mail. But talking on the phone is different, more real. At least with writing there is time to read and process each letter before responding. There’s safety in the space between. But on the phone … what will I say? What will he say? 

My finger trembles as I press zero.

“Rebecca?”

Hearing his voice immediately makes me feel like I’m a child again.

Out of habit, my body starts to tense, and I have to remind myself that I’m safe. I take a deep breath. 

“Hi, Dad.” 

Dad tells me he only has 15 minutes to talk. He doesn’t waste a moment. He speaks quickly, updating me on life in prison. He’s been taking care of an elderly gentleman who has dementia, and he tells me that his new job is to clean the bathrooms. Some of the inmates have complimented him on how clean everything looks, which makes him proud. But that’s Dad.

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Whatever he does, he’ll stick with it until he masters it — even if it’s cleaning bathrooms in a state penitentiary.

Dad says it’s nice to hear my voice, and I say the same. Then he tells me he believes things are changing and that soon it will be time for him to fulfill his role as the Prophet Elijah. 

And just like that, the spell is broken. That familiar ache returns to my chest — a biting blend of bitterness and disappointment. After all this time, Dad still believes he’s a prophet. 

“Do you want to hear the script I’ve prepared to announce Jesus Christ’s return?” His voice is so earnest and eager. 

I close my eyes against the pain. “Sure, Dad. Tell me.”

Excerpted from THE LAFFERTY GIRL by Rebecca Lafferty with Katie McNey. Copyright © 2025 by Rebecca Lafferty with Katie McNey. Published by Union Square & Co., an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group.

The Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father’s Crime will be published on Sept. 30 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.