Killer Dan Lafferty’s daughter Rebecca describes Journey in New Memoir (exclusive)

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

In 1984, Dan and his brother Ron were convicted of the murder of Rebecca’s Aunt Brenda and her 15-month-old cousin (wife and child to their younger brother Allen) -A notorious crime that would inspire Jon Krakauer’s book and the Hulu seriesThe 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 finally shares its own way forward.

Her new memoir, Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse and My Faders CrimeThis fall through Publisher Union Square and Co. Written with Katie McNey, describes the book Rebecca’s journey towards closing and forgiveness after the tragedy.

Rebecca, a mother of three, is a mother of three, who prepares her own experiences, as well as correspondence with her father and insight from other family members, and gives a mother to three.

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

Read on for an extract from Lafferty Girl.

It is a gray February morning in Salt Lake City. Although I have lived in Utah for decades now, I am still not used to how winter’s gloom weighs on my soul. In winter, an inversion occurs here in the valley: Wasatch mountains form a pool that captures a dense layer of cold air under a layer of hot air, and all contaminants are caught with it. The result is a thick soup with yellow -gray smog that remains from December to February.

The dense smog loses my energy, which means that even the simplest tasks act as 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 will be caught forever, just like the air.

I deliberately fold a pile of laundry when my phone rings.

“Hello,” says an automated recording. “This is a call from Dan Lafferty, a prisoner in 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 begins to compete.

Why does he call me?

I have been writing to him for several years now, and I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see one of his letters in the post. But talking on the phone is different, more real. At least with writing, there is time to read and process each letter before answering. There is safety in the space between. But on the phone … what should I say? What will do the say?

My finger shakes when I press zero.

“Rebecca?”

To hear his voice immediately makes me feel that I am a child again.

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

“Hello Dad.”

Dad tells me he only has 15 minutes to talk. He does not waste for a moment. He speaks quickly and updates me about life in prison. He has taken care of an older gentleman who has dementia, and he tells me that his new job is to clean the bathrooms. Some of those prisoners have supplemented him for how clean everything looks, which makes him proud. But it’s Dad.

Whatever he does, he will hold on to it until he mastered it – even if it cleans a bathroom in a state criminal law.

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

And just as it is the magic formula broken. The familiar pain returns to my chest – a biting mixture of bitterness and disappointment. After all this time, Dad still thinks he is a prophet.

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

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

Extended from Lafferty Girl by Rebecca Lafferty with Katie McNey. Copyright © 2025 by Rebecca Lafferty with Katie McNey. Published by Union Square & Co., an impression by Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group.

Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse and My Faders Crime Will be published on September 30 and is now available for pre -order, wherever books are sold.