While awaiting trial, Ron Lafferty attempted suicide by hanging in the Utah County jail. In the meantime, Dan was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Ron's trial was more complicated. Several psychiatrists and psychologists said he had a severe mental illness, but he understood the murders he committed were illegal.
The two hitchhikers, Charles "Chip" Carnes, Richard "Ricky" Knapp, testified against the Lafferty brothers, saying in court that in the car after the murders Ron pulled a knife out of his boot and said, "I killed her. I killed her. I killed the b****. I can't believe I killed her." Then Carnes said he handed the knife to Ron and said, "Thank you, Brother, for doing the baby because I don't think I had it in me." Dan said. "It was no problem." per The Salt Lake Tribune.
Ron was sentenced to death, but then that sentence was overturned only to be handed down again after a second trial. However, Ron Lafferty, who was slated to die by firing squad in 2020, died of natural causes at 78 years old in 2019, CBS News reported.
According to what Brenda's father, Jim Wright, a former Bishop in the Mormon Church, told KUTV in 2019, he has visited the graves of his daughter and granddaughter almost every week since they were killed. He said, "They laid Erica on Brenda's chest like she's holding her. I do find comfort here."
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