Kleasen was baptized into a local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In December 1973, he was arrested for rustling bison and became angered when the church did not send a lawyer to get him out of jail. After his release, members of Kleasen's church became increasingly uneasy with his behavior. Two Mormon missionaries, Gary Darley (20) and Mark Fisher (19), routinely visited Kleasen, who lived in a trailer behind a taxidermist's shop in Oak Hill, on Austin's southwestern outskirts. Despite being warned by their bishop to stop their visits due to Kleasen's behavior, Darley and Fisher decided to see Kleasen one final time.