Rena Chynoweth has twice admitted to killing Dr. Rulon Allred. Once in her book, "Blood Covenant," and once in a sealed deposition filed in U.S. District Court.
Chynoweth drove to Salt Lake City with a friend in early May 1977 for the sole purpose of killing Allred, according to her deposition. Her friend, identified only as Ramona, took a baby with her.The two women walked into Allred's office, gunned him down in front of three witnesses and walked out, according to the deposition and the book in which she gave the following account:
On the afternoon of May 10, 1977, Chynoweth and Ramona met some of Ervil LeBaron's men a few blocks from Allred's office. The men gave Chynoweth and Ramona each a gun, according to the book. Ramona gave the men her baby, according to the deposition.
Then the two women drove to Allred's office. Each wore jeans, a T-shirt, a wig and a parka. They carried the guns in the pockets of the parkas, Chynoweth said in her book.
The two women parked behind Allred's office and walked into his waiting room.
"There were three other people in the waiting room, a man sitting by himself and a couple who looked like they were married. Ramona went over and sat down next to the lone man, while I walked over to the glass cubicle where the office was and peered inside," the book says. "As I looked through the door, Dr. Allred was coming out of one of the examining rooms. . . .
"He was no more than three to five feet away from me. I knew the moment had come to do what I was sent there to do. Reaching into the pocket of the blue parka I was wearing, I pulled out the gun and fired at him. There were seven shots in my clip and I emptied it. I heard him gasp, `Oh my God!' once as he fell to the floor, bleeding."
Allred's wife Melba ran in after hearing the shots. " `What are you doing? What do you think you're doing?' she shouted. She grabbed for me but I shook her off as Ramona got up and walked toward the door. When we got outside, I didn't know if he was dead and I told Ramona to go back and make sure. I was out of bullets," the book says.
The deposition contains some details the book doesn't. In the deposition, Chynoweth says she aimed her gun at Allred's chest. The deposition also says that immediately after the killing, the women "drove over and met the guys a few blocks away." The women handed the men their disguises and "Ramona got her baby from Ed; we gave them a brief report; we got in the car and left," the deposition says.
Fragments of the sealed deposition are contained in public court records.