This archive report was first published on 8 November 2019.
On November 8, 2019, a devastating massacre in northern Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains left nine American citizens dead, including six members of the LeBaron family.
The LeBarons belong to the Church of the Firstborn, a breakaway Mormon sect founded in 1924 in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Francisco Jara, an expert on Mormonism, notes that Mexico became the first country in Latin America where the Mormons settled in 1875, fleeing persecution in the United States.
Many Mormons in Mexico have broken away from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), which banned polygamy in 1891.
Joseph Smith, Mormonism's founder, had endorsed polygamy, citing a divine revelation on the godliness of 'plural marriage.'
Today, around 40 Mormon breakaway sects in Mexico still practice polygamy, often discreetly, according to Jara.
One such community member, Dawna Langford, was her husband's second wife, but relatives were reluctant to discuss the matter with the media.
The LDS claims 1.2 million Mormons in Mexico, making it the second-largest Mormon community worldwide after the United States.
However, Mexico's last census in 2010 counted only 314,932 Mormons, attributing the discrepancy to breakaway groups refusing to identify with the mainstream church.
The LeBaron family has a long history of conflict with drug cartels in the region, dating back to 2009 when teenager Erick LeBaron was kidnapped and later freed after the community refused to pay a $1 million ransom.
Benjamin LeBaron, a family member, founded a crime-fighting group called SOS Chihuahua, which advocated for a crackdown on drug cartel violence.
However, the cartels were incensed, and a group of 17 gunmen killed Benjamin and his brother-in-law in July 2009.
The family continues to organize 'peace caravans' and rejects the Mexican government's assertion that their relatives were caught in the crossfire between warring cartels, believing they were deliberately targeted.
Additionally, the LeBarons have been involved in disputes with local farmers over water, a scarce resource in the arid north.
