SALT LAKE CITY -- One of Ervil LeBaron's 13 wives claimed his body Monday while authorities awaited results of chemical tests to determine if the fanatical polygamist leader committed suicide in his prison cell or died of an unexplained seizure.
LeBaron, 56, was serving a life term for ordering the murders of rival polygamy leaders. He was Bound dead on the floor of his maximum security cell Sunday beside letters telling his followers he was going to see his Heavenly Father.
Anna Mae Marston, identified as one of LeBaron's wives, was given permission to claim the body from the medical examiner. Authorities said the woman indicated a funeral would be held somewhere in Texas, possibly Houston.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Ben Forbes said an autopsy was inconclusive and he was awaiting the results of drug tests on LeBaron's body before concluding the death was suicide.
'He may have just had some kind of seizure,' the homicide detective said. 'The tests could take several days.
'There were several letters in his cell and he wrote in them that he would be with his 'Heavenly Father,'' added Forbes. 'But they didn't say it was to be today, or next week, or next year or 50 years from now.'
Another detective, Earl Julian, said one of the letters found in the cell indicated LeBaron may have made a suicide pact with one of his 13 wives. The letter was addressed to Vonda White, who is serving a prison term in California for first-degree-murder.
But Forbes dismissed the suicide pact idea. He said the letter indicated only that he would see his wife sometime in the future 'in the presence of our Heavenly Father.'
'But I don't know whether he meant tomorrow, or in 20 years,' said Forbes.
LeBaron was the leader of a cult of about 100 polygamists who moved around the southwestern states and Mexico. In 1980, LeBaron was found guilty of sending his followers to kill Rulon Allred, patriarch to a large group of polygamists who live in the Salt Lake Valley. Allred, a naturopathic physician, was shot to death in his Murray, Utah, office May 10, 1977.
LeBaron also was convicted of plotting to kill his brother, Verlan LeBaron, leader of another polygamist church, during Allred's funeral. He was sentenced to two life sentences.
The religious zealot also served time in a Mexican prison for masterminding the murder of another brother, Joel LeBaron, and he was a suspect in the slayings of several other polygamist cult members.
Deputy Utah State Prison Warden Ken Shulsen said LeBaron recently underwent psychiatric treatment at the prison hospital. He was moved to maximum security after he tried to organize a group of followers in the medium security unit.
Shulsen said foul play was ruled out in the death because LeBaron was locked in a cell, isolated from other inmates.
