Jeffrey Lundgren & The Kirtland Cult Murders
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It was April 1989. An army of God was gathering in the woods of West Virginia. Their commander-in-chief, 39-year-old Jeffrey Lundgren, was drunk with power. The US Navy vet and former LDS church preacher had taken his radical beliefs to a new extreme. He led a small cult of dedicated followers, so dedicated that they'd give him all their money and worldly possessions.

They'd throw their lives away and follow him to the ends of the earth. They'd even kill if he commanded it. Like David Koresh and the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas, Jeffrey Lundgren stockpiled weapons as if the end times were near. His followers dug trenches and foxholes. Armed guards patrolled the camp on rotating shifts. They allegedly had an anti-aircraft submachine gun to take down wandering helicopters. Here, in the forests of West Virginia,

Jeffrey's teachings pushed his followers a little too far. He ordered the married men of his group to turn over their wives, so that Jeffrey's seed may cleanse them. Many complied out of fear, fear of what Jeffrey had already done to some of them. But for people like Larry Keith Johnson, someone who'd been with Jeffrey since day one, murder and wife stealing was a bridge too far.

On New Year's Eve 1989, Larry contacted a friend who doubled as an informant for the Kansas City Police Department. Agents agreed to meet with him, and Larry poured his guts out. Later that day, a fax arrived at the FBI office in Cleveland, Ohio. It was a hand-drawn map of a barn in Kirtland, a rural town about 23 miles northeast of the city. The map allegedly showed the locations of five bodies buried under the property.

However, the agent who received it didn't think it was legit, or at least legit enough to waste his time on. He simply gave his fellow agents the phone number for the Kirtland Police Department, thinking they could handle this wild goose chase.

Chief Dennis Yarborough and Deputy Ron Andulsek of Kirtland PD drove to the farm, where they met the owner, Stan Scribis. Stan had been renting the property to Jeffrey Lundgren and his band of lunatics. They always paid the rent, and Stan never asked any questions. But in his heart, he knew something was off about them. So when Chief Yarborough and Deputy Andulsek asked to search the barn, he obliged.

The officers arrived on January 3, 1990, and followed Larry Johnson's map to the northeast corner, where the land was clearly disturbed. Their hearts sank when they realized they were likely standing on a grave. The fire department arrived later with heavy tools and shovels. Several inches into their six-foot dig, the pungent smell of death leaked from the grave and stung their noses. Some moved back and gagged, while others were outright sick.

The deeper they dug, the worse it smelled. Soon, blood-soaked water began pooling in the hole. Pieces of human flesh floated to the top. After hours of digging, police discovered the first of five bodies buried under the Kirkland farm. It was the badly decomposed remains of an adult male. With him were an adult female and three young children. They were the Avery family, followers of Jeffrey's who were deemed sinners in the eyes of an angry lunatic.

Dennis and Cheryl Avery were a quiet, hardworking couple. They were the loving parents of three daughters: 15-year-old Trina, 13-year-old Becky, and 7-year-old Karen. The only thing they loved more than their children was God. They prayed, but were ultimately preyed upon. Like so many cult followers, they were brainwashed into believing Jeffrey's lies. He had them, and about 20 others, wrapped like string around his finger.

He was a con man, a charlatan, but most of all, he was petty. How did this pathetic preacher rise to such prominence? How did he manipulate and brainwash his followers like Charles Manson? What mortal sins did the Avery family commit that their only means of atonement was death? Part 1: An Arrogant Loner Independence, Missouri is a large suburb within the Kansas City metro area.

It's home to roughly 123,000 people, many of whom belong to the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a splinter of the LDS Church. The church owns about 5,000 acres of land in and around Independence. The city is sacred to the faith, as it's the home of Joseph Smith's Temple Lot, one of the first worship buildings built by the LDS movement.

The temple, built in 1831, was called the City of Zion. During the end times, it was to be the gathering spot for the LDS church. Jeffrey Lundgren was born into the church on May 3rd, 1950. His parents, Don and Lois, were dedicated members and ruled their home with a conservative fist. Don earned good money in construction, while Lois raised their children and kept their house immaculate.

According to family friends, Don and Lois favored discipline over love. Don was a strict father, often punishing and abusing his children over trivial things. Meanwhile, Lois was distant and inflexible. She knew what standing up to Don would likely earn her. As a teenager, Jeffrey was considered an arrogant loner. He didn't have many friends, nor did he attempt to make them. His strange behavior likely drove most people away.

For example, one neighbor claims they saw Jeffrey crucify a rabbit before beating it to death. When Jeffrey was older, his father introduced him to hunting and fishing. He taught Jeffrey how to care for and maintain his weapons. And the impressionable teen fell head over heels in love. After high school, Jeffrey enrolled in Central Missouri State University. He spent most of his free time at the RLDS student house on campus.

where he met Larry Keith Johnson and Alice Keeler. The former would be his undoing, the latter would soon become his wife. Alice's family settled in independence, believing it was where Jesus Christ would return to build Zion. Her parents met shortly after World War II, and Alice, the eldest of four, was born in 1951. Like Jeffrey, her father worked tirelessly as her mother stayed home to raise the kids.

If Alice wanted it, Alice got it. "She was very, very, very spoiled as a youngster," her mother would later say. That changed in 1964 when her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He could not provide, meaning Alice's mother had to work. But because she never finished high school, she wasn't qualified for any "high-earning" positions. She took an overnight cooking job that didn't pay very well.

For the first time in her life, Alice's parents told her no. Her father's cocktail of medications ate up a good chunk of their money. The drugs, combined with growing depression, often led to violence toward Alice and her siblings. Like Jeffrey, Alice was a loner in high school. The RLDS church gave her a sense of belonging. It also gave her a stage. "Alice always wanted to be the center of attention," said her sister Susan.

She loved being in the spotlight, and at church, she was center stage. She told fantastical stories about fending off the devil in her bedroom. According to her brother, she lived in her own little fantasy world. She was always waiting for her knight in shining armor to come and scoop her up. That knight was Jeffrey Lundgren. They were inseparable, spending all their time together at church and in the bedroom.

Alice got pregnant out of wedlock in 1969, forcing both she and Jeffrey to drop out of school. Their respective parents were distraught. Don and Lois refused to attend their 1970 wedding. To support his new family, Jeffrey enlisted in the US Navy. Their first child, Damon, was born after Jeffrey left for basic training. He served four years as an electronics tech and was honorably discharged in July of 1974.

By then, Alice had given birth to their second son, Jason. Life after the Navy wasn't friendly to Jeffrey. He couldn't hold a job for more than a few weeks due to his combative nature and irresponsible attitude. He loved to argue, especially about religion. The most heated debates concerned the role of women in the RLDS church.

Liberal members favored letting women become priests. Jeffrey, who was ultra-conservative, believed only men should be ordained. These debates often ended in blowout fights. Jeffrey would storm out and invite his conservative RLDS friends back to his home, where they could bask in their own echo chamber. Yet, as conservative as he claimed to be, Jeffrey had extreme sexual fantasies and fetishes.

"Jeffrey was impossible to satisfy when it came to sex," Alice would later say. One night, he confronted her about his sexual expectations. Those expectations, according to Alice, were extreme, ungodly, and downright disgusting. As the story goes, Jeffrey brought Alice to a farmhouse they were renting shortly before Thanksgiving. He left the kids with her mother and told Alice to go upstairs and bathe.

While she was in the tub, Jeffrey walked in naked and drained the water. He then climbed into the tub, turned around, and defecated on her breasts. That's when Alice learned about Jeffrey's twisted fascination with his own feces. According to Jeffrey, he'd been using it to masturbate since he was 13. Alice, understandably, didn't want to play along. If she wouldn't satisfy his twisted fantasies, then Jeffrey would find a woman who would.

It was no secret that Jeffrey cheated on her regularly. Alice believed a third child would solve their marital problems. Their daughter Kristen was born in 1979. Unfortunately, her birth and the financial strain only made things worse. Jeffrey allegedly began abusing Alice and the kids. One time, he pushed Alice down a flight of stairs, causing her to rupture her spleen. Despite all this, the abuse, the feces, the cheating,

Alice stayed with Jeffrey. They welcomed their fourth child, Caleb, in 1980. In 1981, the RLDS Church asked Jeffrey to become a priest. Ironically, Jeffrey had lost all faith in the church due to its liberal tendencies. He really hated the idea of female priests. A woman's place was in the bedroom. Her duty was to her husband. To him, scripture was the end-all be-all.

Geoffrey took it upon himself to find the answers to all the world's problems. He practiced what he called "chastic interpretation." In literature, chiasmus is a-b-b-a structure in a sentence. The first half mirrors the second, though both have subtly different meanings. Some of the most famous examples are "all for one and one for all," "The Three Musketeers," "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,"

JFK. Eat to live, do not live to eat. Socrates. Geoffrey used chiasmus to find truth in scripture. If the sentence in question falls between two consistent phrases, then it must be true. If it falls between contradictory phrases, then it must be a lie. As you can imagine, this approach made scripture easy to manipulate. Only Geoffrey could understand it, and this deep knowledge attracted followers to his circle.

In reality, they were like-minded people being told what they wanted to hear. His flock expanded, and soon, Jeffrey had his own little cult to do his bidding.

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Early cult members included Alice, Larry Johnson, and other friends Jeffrey had met in college. They worshipped the ground he walked on and believed he was communicating with God. And God was telling them to give Jeffrey all their money. And all their money wasn't enough. Unhappy with the small sums, Jeffrey announced that the flock would be moving to Kirtland, Ohio, the early headquarters of the LDS Church.

In 1831, Joseph Smith moved the church from New York to Kirtland. There, they built the first LDS temple, an opulent building known simply as the Kirtland Temple. Jeffrey's flock arrived in August of 1984. After surveying the town, he claims a strong force pulled him toward Chapin Forest, a park about five miles from the Kirtland Temple. He claimed to have seen the forest in his dreams.

He was drawn to a path and hurried down it, claiming that the golden plates upon which the original Book of Mormon was written were reburied here. He told his followers that Joseph Smith had left them in Chapin Forest for Geoffrey to find. Upon arrival, Geoffrey and Alice were offered positions as tour guides at the Kirtland Temple. The job paid $125 per week and demanded long hours.

However, the church offered them free room and board in a home behind the building. Jeffrey used the job to sprinkle his radical beliefs into LDS history. Like a moth to the flame, people flocked to him due to his endless memory and knowledge of scripture. Rumors spread around the Kirtland Temple that Jeffrey purported to be more than a mere tour guide. He claimed to be a descendant of the late Joseph Smith.

Navy veteran Kevin Currie traveled to Kirtland in 1984 for a religious pilgrimage. He was shocked to find his old friend, Jeffrey, preaching at the temple. Jeffrey invited Kevin back to his home, where the indoctrination began. Kevin was so entranced that he agreed to follow Jeffrey in Kirtland. Soon, every dollar he earned went straight into Jeffrey's pocket. This song and dance repeated until Jeffrey had a flock of about 20 people.

Most of them were his personal friends or friends of friends. In all cases, Jeffrey brainwashed and exploited them. By September of '86, Jeffrey's teachings had become extravagant, bordering on radical. His sermons often referenced devious sex acts and calls to violence. He got away with it because he convinced his followers that he was descended from Joseph Smith.

Once a Mormon believes someone shares the founder's blood, they'll typically believe everything they say. To them, Jeffrey was a living prophet. To question him was to be disloyal. Everything else, including family, friends, work, and scripture, took a back seat. To keep anyone from leaving, Jeffrey began prophesying about the return of Christ.

He claimed that Jesus would soon return and destroy everyone on earth except those worthy enough inside the Kirtland Temple. It was to happen on May 3rd, 1988, Jeffrey's 38th birthday. He claimed that, for Christ to return, a blood sacrifice must be made. The group formed a hit list of RLDS church officials and locals. Basically, anyone who might stand in their way.

The plan was to arm themselves to the teeth and take the Kirtland Temple by force. But doing so would take time, practice, and more money. Jeffrey's son, Damon, was in charge of training the troops. They learned to march in formation and load and reload guns quickly. They did calisthenics and studied military tactics. To amp themselves up, they watched the most violent movies they could find.

Rumors about Jeffrey's cult spread to the RLDS church and the local police station. Kirtland Chief of Police Dennis Yarborough became suspicious and questioned Jeffrey one day. But it was to no avail. The silver-tongued prophet knew how to dance around Yarborough's questions. In February of '87, Jeffrey instructed two of his followers to move into the apartment across from the police station to keep an eye on Chief Yarborough.

The Avery family arrived in Kirtland in April of the same year. Dennis and Cheryl knew Jeffrey from Independence and were enthralled by his sermons. They sold their home for $19,000 and moved north with their daughters, 15-year-old Trina, 13-year-old Becky, and 7-year-old Karen.

Jeffrey and Alice always hated the Avery family. Specifically, they didn't like how Cheryl made decisions around the home. They saw Dennis as weak and subservient to his wife. When the Averys arrived in Kirtland, Alice asked Jeffrey why he allowed them to come. His answer was rather blunt. "So I can get their money," he said. Of that $19,000, the Averys turned $10,000 over to Jeffrey, believing he'd use it to meet their needs.

Jeffrey didn't want the Averys living under his roof, so he arranged for a realtor to show them some property nearby. They arrived at a small farm on Chillicothe Road, owned by Stanley Skirbis. As they toured, Stanley mentioned another 15-acre property he owned at 8671 Kirtland Chardon Road. Jeffrey said nothing but made a note of it for a later date. Part 3. Excommunicated

Word of Jeffrey's sermons spread through Kirtland and the broader RLDS church. They revoked his credentials and banned him from giving any more tours. Had he not withdrawn voluntarily, he would have been expelled from the church. Jeffrey didn't need the church, he was the church. When the Kirtland temple kicked him out of the house, Jeffrey called Stanley Skirbis to ask about the farm on Kirtland Chardon Road.

Jeffrey moved his cult onto the farm while the Avery family lived nearby. Their arsenal ballooned, and Damon began running mock military exercises around the clock. Their master plan was to attack and seize control of the Kirtland Temple. They spent hours each day reviewing blueprints, diagrams, and maps of the area. Jeffrey wasn't just some whack job on a farm. He was a domestic terrorist, and he was ready to open fire.

Some in his flock were not so eager. In early 1988, Jeffrey's old naval buddy, Kevin Curry, felt it was time to leave the group. Fearing for his life, he covered his tracks as he traveled northeast to Buffalo, New York. However, he couldn't get the Kirtland Temple assault plan out of his head. He contacted the FBI, but agents wrote his story off as a prank. They simply passed it along to Chief Yarborough, figuring he could handle it.

Back on the farm, Jeffrey's sermons became longer and militaristic. He often wore combat fatigues and always kept a loaded pistol within reach. Everything was a sin. Reading scripture on your own, talking amongst each other, keeping money for yourself, adding too much garlic to your food. Sin, sin, sin, sin. The Avery family, not surprisingly, was guilty of all these sins and more.

If Jeffrey's cult was to achieve salvation, the sinful tumor must be cut out. Jeffrey began revising the battle plan. Instead of killing 10 people, he claimed that Christ would gift them Kirtland Temple if they sacrificed the Averys, including the children. On April 10th, 1989, Jeffrey instructed Larry Johnson and another follower to dig a grave in the barn. Four days later, they dug a six by seven foot grave roughly four feet deep.

Meanwhile, the women were instructed to pack all their belongings. Jeffrey told the Avery family that they were preparing for a pilgrimage into the woods. The Avery girls were excited to go camping. April 17th, 1989 was a dark, misty night in Kirtland, Ohio. The only light outside came from the New England-style barn, which smelled of animals, hay, oil, and sweat.

In secret, Jeffrey's followers moved all of the Avery family's belongings from their home to a rented room at a nearby motel. Meanwhile, the Averys gathered with everyone else in the farmhouse overlooking the barn. They sat down at 6:30 for what would be their last supper. The mood was solemn. Everyone but Dennis, Cheryl, and the girls knew what was about to happen. After dinner, Jeffrey rose from the table and instructed the men to meet him in the bedroom.

One by one, they entered to find Jeffrey seated with a .45 caliber Colt pistol. He asked each if they were with him or against him. After each pledged their allegiance, Jeffrey walked them out to the barn, where they'd wait for the calling to commence. Dennis Avery was the only one who did not meet with Jeffrey. Distracted by his family, he didn't notice what was happening. In the barn, Jeffrey explained that each member of the Avery family would be let out individually.

They were to be bound, blinded, and placed in the pit. Then, they'd be shot execution-style. Jeffrey asked if there were any questions. Nobody dared speak. Just before 7:30, the muffled voices of two approaching men were heard outside the barn doors. They opened, revealing Dennis Avery and another cult member. Without warning, Dennis was hit with a 50,000-volt taser. The shock wasn't enough to knock him out.

Instead, he jumped back and screamed, "No! No! This isn't necessary! Please! This isn't necessary! God damn it! God damn it! God damn it!" The others held him down and wrapped him in duct tape. They dragged him into the pit where Jeffrey was sitting on a small pile of dirt. He rose, aimed his .45 Colt, and signaled to another follower.

That man, Greg Winship, pulled the cord on a chainsaw to muffle the sound as Jeffrey fired twice into Dennis' back, killing him. When the chainsaw stopped, all they could hear were Dennis' last, gurgled breaths. "Okay, bring in the next one," Jeffrey said. Cheryl came next, believing that Dennis needed help in the barn. Her clueless daughter stayed behind and watched TV with the other children. Other mothers within Jeffrey's flock paced nervously.

thinking of what would soon befall the children. They could hear the distant chainsaw. They knew exactly what it meant. Men grabbed Cheryl and wrapped her in duct tape when she entered. She didn't put up much of a fight. How could she? Because she was a woman, Jeffrey didn't think she was worthy of seeing her killer. He ordered that duct tape be placed over her eyes before she was lowered into the death pit.

Then, he straddled her body and fired three times, striking her twice in the torso and once in the stomach. "Bring out the next one," he said firmly. 15-year-old Trina Avery was in the living room reading a magazine when she was told that her parents needed her help in the barn. She rolled her eyes and sighed as any teenager would. The men swarmed her as she entered.

They wrapped her arms, legs, and face with duct tape, claiming it was part of a game. She didn't fight or ask questions, despite them wrapping her head like a mummy. The men lowered her into the pit, and Jeffrey opened fire. The first bullet grazed her head, and through her wrappings, Trina shrieked. "Ouch!" Jeffrey quickly lowered the gun and fired twice into Trina's back. She slumped forward and stopped moving. Jeffrey didn't think he needed to shoot again.

He remained silent this time after killing the teenager. One of his followers, Ron Luff, walked back to the farmhouse and approached the youngest Avery girls. He asked if they wanted to come see the horses, and both excitedly shouted, "Yes!" They jumped up and ran for the door, but Ron told them they'd have to wait. Only one could go at a time, or else they might scare the animals. Thirteen-year-old Becky went first.

As they did with Trina, the men bound her in tape under the guise of playing a game. They placed her atop her mother in the blood-soaked pit. Becky likely had no idea. The chainsaw revved and Jeffrey fired twice. The first bullet struck Becky's thigh, while the second pierced her chest. Neither was enough to kill her. Instead, they left her to bleed to death, squirming atop her dead parents and sister.

Ron returned for seven-year-old Karen, who was eagerly bouncing up and down, waiting for her turn. He gave her a piggyback ride as they walked to the barn. She put her arms around his neck and laughed the whole way. It made him think about the piggyback rides he gave his own children. She didn't resist as the men wrapped her. The 36-pound child was easy to bend and manipulate. They carried her to the pit and laid her atop the corpse pile. I fired straight down into her skull, Jeffrey recalled.

I was less than two feet away and I pulled the trigger. Bang, bang. It was close to 11 p.m. by then. Jeffrey ordered Ron and the others to pour bags of lime over the bodies to help them decompose. They then covered the bodies with rocks and filled the grave with dirt. On his way home, Jeffrey stopped in an apple orchard to pray. The cold-blooded murderer looked to the heavens and said, "I have been thy sword of judgment this day. May my offering be acceptable."

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Investigations into Jeffrey's cult finally caught the FBI's attention. Maybe Kevin Curry wasn't kidding. Maybe Jeffrey was the real deal. Around 9 a.m. on the morning of April 18th, Chief Yarborough and FBI agent Robert Alvord briefed a 16-person task force about Jeffrey and the cult. They knew nothing of the Avery family murders. In fact, the Averys were at the bottom of their suspect list.

The farm looked abandoned when police arrived. Yarborough kept his hand in his pocket, clutched tightly around his snub-nosed 38. Alice answered in her bathrobe when police knocked on the door. She directed them to the barn, where Jeffrey was already waiting. FBI agents questioned Jeffrey and his flock about the Kirtland Temple takeover. They had no idea they were standing only a few feet away from a mass grave. Jeffrey had trained his followers for this day.

They were tight-lipped and didn't give police anything to work with. Shortly before noon, Chief Yarborough and the FBI called it quits. Having already packed, the cult left for their pilgrimage later that night. They were bound for the woods of West Virginia in search of the golden sword, which they believed was the Sword of Laban, as mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Jeffrey claimed that the sword rested with the original golden plates and that he was destined to find them.

He may have forgotten that he had played this card upon their arrival in Kirtland, but who was going to call him out? Especially after the previous night. The cult settled in a secluded campsite east of Davis, West Virginia, about 60 miles southeast of Morgantown. Their site sat roughly 3,200 feet above sea level and was surrounded by trees and the Appalachian Mountains. It was the perfect hiding spot for a religious militia that had just murdered five people.

Jeffrey's demeanor changed drastically in the woods. He was prideful and loved that his followers were deathly afraid of him. He boasted about killing each member of the Avery family. He talked about shooting each one of them without a shred of remorse. Their camp resembled a military stronghold. Meanwhile, Jeffrey's teaching became more radical by the day. He began taking other men's wives, which didn't sit well with people like Larry Johnson. He and the others started doubting Jeffrey.

Maybe he wasn't a prophet after all. Winter was coming, and funds were running low. Jeffrey instructed everyone to abandon the campsite and travel back to Missouri. They would disband for the winter, with the men getting jobs to raise enough money for the group to return the following summer. For some, the breakup was their ticket out. Cult members Richard Brand and Greg Winship packed up on Halloween and never looked back. They inspired others to do the same.

Days later, members Sharon Blunchley and Katherine Johnson left the group with Ron. Both women were pregnant with Jeffrey's children. Jeffrey grew paranoid, worried that people like Ron, Sharon, and Richard would go to the police. He moved his family to Southern California, where he stashed all their guns in a storage locker outside of San Diego. Finally, on New Year's Eve 1989, Larry Johnson went to the police in Kansas City.

He told them everything he knew about Jeffrey and the Avery family massacre. Word got back to the FBI and Chief Yarborough. On January 3, 1990, they tore apart the Kirtland farmhouse and followed Larry's map to the grave in the northeast corner. They dug until the smell forced them to stop. Firefighters arrived with better equipment but accidentally struck a drain while digging, causing the grave to fill with water.

It was getting late, so everyone agreed to resume the excavation in the morning. It was 2 a.m. when Yarborough finally returned to his car. The hard cop made sure nobody was looking. Then, he vomited in the grass. "I wanted to retire right then," he later said, "because I knew what we were going to find in the morning." Part 5: Eternal Damnation It was January 4th, 1990. The Lundgrens were living out of a San Diego motel room.

That's when Danny Kraft, who was like an adopted son to Jeffrey and Alice, burst through the door screaming, "Dad! Mom! The barn is on TV!" They raced to the TV set and flipped on the national news. Sure enough, their Kirtland barn was swarming with cameras and police. They watched paramedics carry the bodies of the Avery family out under blankets. Then, an old photo of Jeffrey appeared on the screen.

His photo was followed by a press conference by Lake County prosecutor Stephen LaTourette, in which he said Jeffrey and his followers were going to fry. Jeffrey, Alice, and the kids scrambled to their car and peeled out of the parking lot. They drove around for hours until they found another cheap, rundown, non-chain motel to hide in. By then, Alice was shaking. Their story was on every major network. Their faces were quickly making their way across the country.

"I want you to kill the children and me," she begged of Jeffrey. "Do it now while they are asleep, but kill me first." Thankfully, Jeffrey couldn't kill his own children as easily as he killed the Avery girls. Instead, he called Alice's mom to see if she'd come and get the kids. Little did he know that ATF agents had already tapped Donna Keeler's phone. They learned Jeffrey was hiding in San Diego and were able to corner Donna as she left the driveway.

By then, Donna Keeler couldn't stand her son-in-law and feared Alice was too far gone. All she cared about were her grandchildren, and getting them out safely was her top priority. Jeffrey had given Donna a number to call once she was far enough west. The ATF tracked that number to a motel in Santa Fe, roughly six miles north of the Mexican border. Inside, they found Jeffrey talking on a payphone.

Agent Richard Halst pressed his revolver behind Jeffrey's ear and said, Jeffrey Lundgren, you are under arrest for murder. Another team kicked in the motel room door to arrest Alice and Damon. Inside the room, they found an AR-15, two .44 Magnum revolvers, and several boxes of ammo. As agents dragged Damon out, he allegedly cried, I didn't do the actual shooting!

Over the next few days, FBI and ATF agents around the US arrested 13 other members of Jeffrey's cult. Richard Brand, who had escaped before Halloween, pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and agreed to testify against Jeffrey in exchange for a lesser sentence. Other members, including Greg Winship, Sharon Blunchley, Susie Luff, and Debbie Olivares, also took plea deals offered by the state of Ohio.

Because Jeffrey didn't allow any women in the barn that night, those remaining inside the home were only charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Ironically, his misogyny saved them from spending the rest of their lives in jail. Alice Lundgren's trial began on July 24th, 1990, about a month before Jeffrey's. Her lawyers argued that she was an innocent victim.

They claimed Jeffrey was an abusive and overbearing husband who made Alice complicit in his crimes. Multiple witnesses, including former cult members, testified against her. They claimed Alice was Jeffrey's second in command. Debbie Olivares described Alice as a spy who would chastise other cult members and push the idea that Jeffrey was a prophet. It would have been impossible for Alice not to know about the murders.

Debbie recalled a conversation in which Jeffrey asked how best to kill the Avery girls. Alice chimed in, suggesting they find out if 13-year-old Becky had begun menstruating, so Jeffrey would know whether to rip her guts open or bash her head against a wall. It's unclear what menstruation had to do with either form of death. Then again, nothing about Jeffrey's cult or behavior makes any sense. During closing arguments, her lawyers compare Jeffrey to Adolf Hitler,

During rebuttals, the prosecuting attorney said: "If Jeffrey Lundgren is Adolf Hitler, Alice Lundgren is the angel of death, Joseph Mengele." In case you're unfamiliar, Joseph Mengele was a doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he experimented on prisoners and handpicked people for the gas chambers, earning him the nickname "Angel of Death." The battered woman defense didn't work out for Alice Lundgren.

She was found guilty of conspiracy, complicity, and kidnapping and sentenced to five life terms in prison. Jeffrey's trial kicked off in late August 1990. The most damning evidence against him came from his former followers as they described his demeanor before, during, and after the murders. His defense team had nothing. They admitted that Jeffrey was a killer but claimed his abusive childhood drove him insane. They couldn't find a single person to testify in his favor.

On August 29th, after only two hours of deliberation, the jury found Jeffrey guilty on all five counts of murder. In Ohio, a defendant facing the death penalty is allowed to make one final plea to the jury before being sentenced. Jeffrey used this opportunity to deliver his final sermon. "I am a prophet of God," he began. "I am even more than that, much, much more."

For the next five hours, Geoffrey described his religious journey. He talked about chiasmus and the patterns in scripture, never once apologizing for killing the Avery family. "Prophets have been asked by the Lord to go forth and kill since the beginning of time," he said. "Repent ye, repent, for the kingdom of God is close at hand. Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Two hours later, the jury sentenced him to death.

Damon Lundgren was found equally guilty and sentenced to 120 years to life in prison for aggravated murder. Ron Luff, the man who carried the youngest Avery girls to their death, was sentenced to 170 years to life. Danny Kraft, who had already pleaded guilty, got 50 years to life in prison. Various other cult members were locked up until 2010 or early 2011 when they were finally eligible for parole.

Fringe followers and those who couldn't be tied to the night of the murders were sentenced to 12 months of probation. On October 24th, 2006, Jeffrey Lundgren entered the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. As they strapped him to the gurney, prison officials asked if Jeffrey had any last words. He said, "For my last words, I'd like to profess my love for God, my family, my children, and my beloved wife.

I am because you are. At 10:26, Jeffrey was pronounced dead from lethal injection. Nobody claimed the false prophet's body and he was buried in the prison cemetery. As of 2025, Alice Lundgren, Damon Lundgren, Ron Luff, and Danny Kraft are still in prison. Damon will be the first one eligible for parole, assuming he lives to see 2098. If he does, it'd be a bonafide miracle.

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