Killer Dan Lafferty says his ideas influenced Strack family suicide
(KUTV) One of Utah’s most notorious murderers believes he may have influenced a Springville couple to kill themselves and possibly 3 of their children.
Dan Lafferty and his brother Ron killed their sister-in-law Brenda and her 15-month-old daughter in 1984 when she refused to join their extremist polygamist group.
Lafferty spoke with Associated Press Reporter Lindsay Whitehurst Thursday from inside the Utah State Prison. Lafferty tells Whitehurst, he was first contacted by Kristy Strack and her husband Benjamin, 10 years ago. The Strack’s killed themselves and possibly their three children last September in their Springville home. Police say the couple had an apocalyptic world view.
Police say the couple carried on a relationship with Lafferty beginning in 2005 after Kristy read the controversial book, “Under the Banner Of Heaven,” about the murders committed by the Lafferty brothers.
“He (Lafferty) says this was all started about 10 years ago and that she (Kristy Strack) reached out to him, kind of wrote him a letter and they struck up a relationship,” says Whitehurst of her conversation with Lafferty, “he (Lafferty) says that all three became very close, they came for all the visits that he was allowed which was about three times a month,” says Whitehurst.
Lafferty tells Whitehurst that Kristy Strack and he were in love, and that Ben was aware of the affections but was not bothered by it. Lafferty, who had not cut his hair or beard in 15 years, did eventually, at the request of Kristy.
Lafferty says he sent the beard to the couple. The Strack’s had even been granted permission to take care of Lafferty’s remains once he died. In 2008 the Strack’s where charged with felony crimes and were then banned from visiting the prison.
Lafferty says their relationship had become strained because, Lafferty, a religious zeolot, who has crafted his own religious beliefs, insists he is the Prophet Elijah.
Kristy, according to Lafferty, did not believe him, and after 2008, she stopped answering his letters.
"He says they never talked about suicide, he didn't know of any plans and actually this relationship had ended years before they actually took their own lives,” says Whitehurst.
While it appears Lafferty didn’t think he had any influence on the Strack’s suicide when he spoke with police during the investigation, he now seems to think his influence may have been greater than initially stated to investigators, “his (Lafferty) point of view is that this hell that we are living in now, there is a reason we are going through all that, in order to get to the second coming,” says Whitehurst of her conversation with Lafferty, “he believes that those types of viewpoints did influence their mindset,” she continues.
Whitehurst says she did talk a bit about the 1984 murders, she says Lafferty has little if any remorse about the brutal crime, “he sounds like he's got a little more remorse sort of, around the edges, for some of the results for his actions, but in terms of the action itself he's not remorseful at all, he still thinks he was directed by God (to kill the pair)” says Whitehurst.
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Copyright 2015 Sinclair Broadcast Group
